The news headline hit me a few days ago. Two words that make any ‘high risk communications’ consultant sit up and take notice.
See – there are certain words guaranteed to elicit emotional responses in people. Certain combinations and phrases just punch through the ether and slap you in the face.
Sometimes the slap is a good one. Smart companies recognize the power of a simple tag line like that and call it marketing. Sometimes it sticks, sometimes it doesn’t. But when it does stick, that’s where dynasties are made. Coke is it, will always be it, and that’s just it. Unless, of course, you appreciate a fine running shoe, in which case Nike will just DO it, rather than BE it. But I digress.
Other phrases instantly elicit a powerful emotional reaction. Ask any Buffalo Bills fan what “Wide Right” means. Everyone instantly knows what “9-11,” or “D-Day” means. Closer to home, in the Chatterton household, whenever something powerful is about to happen, we’ve been known to call out “And now the 2-2,” which were the last words uttered in the television broadcast before Joe Carter hit the World-Series winning home run in 1993.
When it comes to high risk communications, there are certain catch phrases that do the same thing. Some are bad: “Exxon Valdez.” Some are great. “Tylenol Recall” belongs to the High Risk Communications Hall of Fame.
For those who don’t remember, it was 1982. Someone was tampering with Tylenol caplets by adding cyanide, and several people in the Chicago area had died.
Tylenol could have said “Look – we’re not responsible if some nutcase tampers with our product.” They could have instigated a limited recall in the Chicago area. They could have, in other words, kicked up a fairly legitimate fuss about being the victim, not the responsible party.
To their credit, they did not. In fact, Tylenol pulled every product off the shelves. Every single one. Nationwide. It cost over $100 million. When they determined only capsules were tampered with, they offered to exchange all Tylenol capsules already purchased by the public with solid tablets. The company won widespread praise for their handling of the voluntary recall, and despite taking a very significant short-term hit, rebounded to become the number one pain relief brand in North America.
The message to the public was clear – Tylenol can be trusted, even when bad things happen. That was 1982.
“Tylenol Recall” is the poster child of risk communication case studies. A shining beacon of why companies don’t have to be afraid of bad news – they simply need to be prepared for it, and prepared to ACT on it. Running away from the issue would have saved Tylenol millions of dollars in 1982. But I would argue that given their share of the analgesic pain relief market today, that $100 million was a fantastic investment.
Today, we fast forward 28 years and see Tylenol has been hit with another set of recalls. The circumstances are FAR less sinister – it appears that no ill effects can be caused by ingesting the contaminated pills, they just smell funny. Regardless, I’ll be watching this one closely, simply because of the players involved.
You go, Tylenol!
