The Middle East crisis is impacting many industries and sub-sectors across the world, and it directly intertwines with PR, Communications, and Reputation Management (PRCRM) since PRCRM sits on the frontlines of this conflict, in any global conflict, for that matter.
Unlike the global conflicts of yesteryear, the effects of the Middle Eastern conflict are not limited to the Middle East, per se. The ramifications are global, and in fact, many regions and markets around the world are yet to feel the real effects. Inflation, economic decline, crushing energy costs, higher interest rates, agricultural -livestock-fishery industry slowdowns and resulting food prices escalation, transportation and logistics bottlenecks, and tech and high-tech supply limitations are primary vectors of impact, while secondary impact sectors, such as medical supplies, are quietly unravelling in the shadows.
PRCRM too is affected as it sits in the frontlines of this conflict- for that matter, in any global conflict-and given today’s instantaneous comms, even shapes the very arc of the conflict trajectory. It would be no surprise that in today’s world of high-speed communications, newly erupting conflicts-oddly- have a “feel at home” vibe as the nature of high-speed messaging complements the ‘urgent’ nature of the flareup itself, if not altogether spiraling the conflict further.
A key role that the PRCRM has to play, therefore, is in the moderation of the conflict first, followed by helping to de-escalate it. Given today’s high-speed cycles of constant news/media reporting, this is almost a ‘non-starter’ since news reportage is not structured to de-escalate a situation!
The PR and comms playbook has to re-prioritize ‘Monitoring and Social Listening’ as a leading activity with Sentiment Analysis, but equip it additionally with Geopolitical Intelligence and Fake News Detection filters. Each promotional activity needs to be verified for its sensitivity levels-does promotional content unintentionally pass hints / imply anti-messaging to a party to the conflict? Do they come out when news of the affected population’s misery is aired? Have any fanciful marketing slogans (metaphorical language /phrases) such as “explosive growth” been removed? Is ‘neutrality’ unduly emphasized as if a ‘boast’ or is it integrated into the flow of the message/campaign organically? Critically, if the campaign messaging steps into the ‘reputation management’ terrain, what ‘action steps’ are taken to maintain the credibility in the messaging?…. or, above all, is the best messaging option at the moment to be silent?
This is by no means an exhaustive checklist, but it is merely an entry point. Times of global shock are not regular and demand campaign designs that are more dynamic and highly responsive.
After all, do you want to commence a campaign only to find that the situation has changed dramatically and that the campaign brief itself can no longer exist?
Probably not!
