How a Transparency Slip Sparked a PR Firestorm
6/25/20267 min
In this episode of Embracing Marketing Mistakes, Chris Pharo CEO from 72 Point talks through the controversy that erupted after critics on social media challenged the term guaranteed coverage.
What began as a few confused comments quickly grew into a public discussion about ethics, transparency and how PR teams work behind the scenes. Chris explains how two members of his team were unexpectedly named online, why the situation became so stressful for everyone involved, and how a lack of clarity around their processes helped fuel the reaction. He also shares the steps 72 Point took in response, including bringing in industry expert Stuart Bruce to carry out a six-week review of their methods.
The findings surprised many people and led to important changes in how the company communicates its approach. This episode offers valuable lessons on communication, expectation setting and how to respond when a story takes on a life of its own.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsChris Norton· Host0:00
I mean, we haven't really talked about the... 'Cause we- you've sort of started to talk about the, the mistakes. So obviously the show's about mistakes. We're trying to talk about mis- we, we've sort of got into the mistake here. So what was... So for those of you that don't know what's happened, I'll explain. In October, was it October last year?
Chris Pharo· Guest0:16
Yeah.
Chris Norton· Host0:17
Um, a couple of, a couple of PR people who I, who I sort of know on Twitter, um, talked about the fact that they were cr- they were saying it, that you used the term guaranteed coverage, and how can an, how can somebody guarantee coverage? 'Cause if it's guaranteed coverage, it's an advertorial, it's not earned media. Now, for those marketers that listen don't work in PR, are you, do you really care about it? Well, if you're a PR person like I am from, we're all about authenticity, earned media. That is a, a key part of what we do, and we say to a j- we say to a client, "You, you can't just put a story out and it'll get published." That's what... That, that's the battle we PR people face all the time. We've got clients going, "I want you to get me coverage about this story." And we go, "Okay, we need to quick craft a story around that. It's not just that." And if you want to get that in the press, [chuckles] you're gonna have to pay for an advert or you're gonna have to do an advertorial. So I can see that... So that story sort of broke, that people said guaranteed coverage is not a thing. And, um, and PRWeek did an article on the 17th of October, and several people had comments about it. So that's what we're talking about, isn't it, Chris? So what happened at your end then, in terms of w-