by David D. Menzies
An example of a challenging media relations situation is still playing
out here in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina, specifically
Durham, as a local drug company -- Chimerix -- deals with fallout from
high-profile coverage of a tragic situation involving a sick child. For
those unfamiliar with the story, Chimerix is developing antiviral
medicines for the treatment of life-threatening diseases. The family of
an ill child petitioned Chimerix for use of a drug they are developing
that is in the trial stage and has not been approved by the FDA. Due to
several reasons, Chimerix declined to allow the family access to the
drug, and the family went on the attack in the media to force Chimerix's
hand. A plethora of negative press followed, with the CEO of Chimerix
being quoted directly and indirectly nationally and regionally,
including this from the Raleigh News & Observer: "He told
journalists Monday that he would refuse to provide the drug to Josh even
if he visited the child at his bedside and saw his deteriorating
physical condition."
The long and short of it is Chimerix, despite whatever their intentions
might have been, came off sounding like an impersonal, cold and
calculating corporation refusing to help a very ill little boy. They
eventually changed course and announced they would indeed help the
child, but much damage was already done to their brand. This is a tragic
situation affecting real lives, both in terms of the
ill child and the people working at Chimerix to make drugs that will
help people. With that in mind, this situation does serve as an
effective media relations case study as Chimerix could have avoided much
-- if not all -- of the negative reporting by taking the simple step of
considering their audience before talking to reporters and tailoring
their responses to that audience.
There are many things Chimerix could have (and perhaps should have) done
differently with their media relations efforts, but first and foremost
they needed to have a better understanding of who their audience was. To
determine that, they needed to understand what type of story was
actually unfolding before them.
It is true that Chimerix is a corporation, with investors, employees,
and many other stakeholders dependent upon its success as a business.
But its products are all about people. The media firestorm surrounding
this situation was not sparked by some type of stock analysis or
business announcement; it came about because some people -- namely, the
sick child's family -- were crying out for help, turning this
immediately into a human interest story. Judging by the information
attributed to Chimerix in multiple articles and television stories, it
sounded to me like the company did not realize what type of story they
were dealing with. There was a bunch of businessy, corporate-sounding
information about clinical trials, placebos, the FDA, and the process
involved with getting a drug developed. The news outlets covering the
story were mainstream operations, not business-specific, meaning that
hundreds of thousands of readers and viewers were seeing this story play
out through their prisms which were, again, not business-specific.
Had Chimerix understood this was a human interest story, they could have
decided to approach it as such and tailored their strategic messaging
to a non-business audience. Statements such as, "We're developing
antiviral medicines to help people" or "Our number one priority is to
help people" or "Helping people get better is what we do" would have
connected with the audience for this particular story and helped to
explain what the company actually does in the context of the storyline
of a dying boy's family trying to save his life.
Other talking points could have been developed quite easily to showcase
the fact that the company was proactively trying to find a solution to
this situation rather than acting as a stumbling block to the boy's
recovery. "Our team is working tirelessly to find a solution to this
situation" or "We're trying to figure out a way to reach a positive
outcome" are concise, simple statements that apply to this situation
but, alas, are nowhere to be found in any of the news articles I saw.
For an audience demanding something be done, showing that Chimerix was
indeed trying to figure something out would have been a major plus for
the company.
Finally, Chimerix could have connected directly with their audience by
understanding that since the focal point of the story was a boy and his
family fighting for his survival, that would tap the emotions of a great
deal of the audience who are parents or have families. With statements
like, "We at Chimerix have children, brothers, and sisters too and
understand the family's grief" or "We want to do what's best for this
child and all children, even ours" the company would have been able to
tap into the emotions of the audience and put themselves on the same
level, breaking down the "cold, calculating corporation" moniker.
Without knowing the inner-workings of Chimerix's PR efforts before and
during this situation, it's tough to tell what type of support and
advice was provided to the company's CEO as he went before the media.
Ideally, he should have been given a decent amount of media training and
armed with audience-specific strategic messaging to provide helpful
answers to reporters' questions while representing Chimerix in a
positive light. Despite the negative press, Chimerix nonetheless has an
opportunity now to engage in proactive reputation management to minimize
the damage to their brand and move forward with positive publicity to
help grow their company and, in turn, continue to develop new drugs to
help people. It will be fascinating to watch what the company does in
the days and weeks ahead.
Other business owners and C-level executives watching this play out
should take heed, and adjust their approach to media relations
appropriately.
David D. Menzies is president of Innovative Public Relations, a PR
and media relations consultancy. He is a 22+ year public relations
professional with expertise in strategic messaging, publicity and
branding. For more information visit www.innovativepublicrelations.com. Copyright © 2014 Innovative Public Relations, Inc. Publicity and branding solutions from Innovative Public Relations
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