When Actions Speak Louder than Words
A lot has been written about the disconnect between what a company “says” about itself and then what it actually “does” — the most notorious example of this being BP, who, for years, made itself out to be the industry’s top advocate for environmental protection…until it came time to show that it was really anything but.
The fastest way for the public to lose trust in a company is to say one thing and do another. Spectacular examples of this hypocrisy — in the financial, automobile and health insurance industries — have proven more than ever the need for PR to be aligned with policy. “Prove it with action” is one of the top guidelines of the Arthur W. Page Society: perception is largely determined not by what the company says, but by what it does.
Twenty years ago, when my kids were two and three, we took our first family vacation, down to the Embassy Suites Hotel in West Palm Beach, a resort advertised as “perfect for young families.” But the hotel lost all credibility the moment we entered the lobby. The front desk clerk offered my kids plastic bags (the size of a toddler’s head) filled with coupons, crayons and balloons. Once we finally landed at our suite, exhausted, my son immediately found a way to pop out the glass top of the coffee table, unlock the door to the terrace, and scald himself with hot water from the bathtub. At the same time, my daughter ripped apart the matchbooks in the room, made “tea” in the three-foot high microwave, and drew on the refrigerator with the crayons from the front desk. All this happened in the space of time that the bellhop was showing us how to adjust the thermostats.
It suddenly occurred to us what a marketing opportunity this could be. So that night we created what was to become the world’s first FamilyFriendly™ hotel. It would have one floor designated for childproofed rooms (wall socket protectors, locks on microwaves, paper cups). The refrigerator would be stocked with juice boxes, apples, and peanut butter. And along with the toothpaste and combs, the front desk would now stock diapers — from infant to toddler size.
With all those things in place — including a housekeeping staff trained in keeping rooms safe for crawling babies, a wait staff who knew not to set a steak knife in front of a three year old and a supervised playroom to allow parents some free time — the Embassy Suites West Palm Beach could now be called a hotel truly “designed with your family in mind.” These small and inexpensive additions to the hotel could effectively close the gap between promotion and reality, and speak with far greater sincerity than any release ever could.
The next morning, I presented the FamilyFriendly concept, along with logo, ad and timeline, to the hotel’s franchise owner and manager. Being fathers themselves, they immediately understood the campaign’s potential. They realized right away that creating the world’s first childproofed hotel would be a true differentiator in the burgeoning family travel industry.
The FamilyFriendly concept was then spread throughout Florida, up to Times Square, down to Texas and then to scores of Embassy Suites hotels out west The concept became the industry standard for hotels looking to attract the lucrative family market.
In 1993 the program won the Gold “Best in Show” Creativity in Public Relations Award. In his review, Paul Holmes wrote that wall plugs, plastic cups and safety-trained housekeepers communicated the hotel’s commitment to guests far more credibly than any words ever could: a great example of “medium as message.”
Aligning PR with policy is never easy. (Imagine convincing an all-male corporate board to mandate that every front desk carry diapers!) But, more than ever, to maintain our companies’ reputation we must take our responsibilities to a higher level: Instead of just communicating corporate policy, we must help formulate it, and assure that it is aligned, not only with our PR programs but with the best interests of all of our publics.