On May 19, 2009, the Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation was given an opportunity to promote our new Grilled Chicken line. We were delighted to find that thousands were happy to oblige by checking Oprah’s website for the coupon and come to our stores for the free chicken. Sadly we didn’t expect the outcome of the free chicken coupon and many of our stores had to temporarily close.
First things first we need to create a press release to notify the public of our understanding of the situation and assuage their disappointment. This can take place as a press release or recorded message. Number two we need to create an internal memo to explain the situation to the employees of the Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation so they can make sure this problem does not happen twice.
The Press Release should be posted on both Oprah’s and KFC’s website and the rain check should be posted in both areas as well as in the document as well. As for the recorded message we will make an immediate response and post it on our website. One of the executives will make an appearance on Oprah’s show to explain the situation since it is where most found out about the coupon in the first place. As the corporation deals with the incident we will periodically send emails to the managers and distributers of the stores to keep them informed of the situation.
The purpose of us doing all of this is to explain that we are doing all of this to prevent the loss of costumers and prove that we are willing to do close to anything to make up for our mistake. To ask questions and to get answers is the job of the consumer and as a company which made a mistake it is now our job to take those questions and provide those answers. Our biggest need is to speak to our investors, as a company we need to make sure they understand what is happening and what we are willing to do to make sure it never happens again.
As for the recorded message, being on the Oprah Show and explaining the ‘Crisis’ is to alleviate the anger of the costumers and explain the reasons that this will never happen again. For the internal memo we need to ask how we can make sure this will not happen as well as addressing what made it happen. Any questions by any of these groups will be addressed which does include (hopefully) a questionnaire on the Oprah Show.
As for strategies I have always believed that to the audience always be clear, concise, and true to your word; Sorry is only for mothers, fathers, and girlfriends. For a recorded message always show regret and appeal to the emotions of the audience. To the employees speak with assertiveness and keep them informed with any information they request, short and specific with the optimism of a kid.
First off for the arrangement, we will state what went wrong, for the customers and employees. Number two, we need to arrange some sort of Rain check for the mishap and stock our store with more grilled chicken just in case, we don’t need the same thing to happen twice… Number three, we need to talk to the employees about what will come in the future for the company and how this will affect business. Lastly make sure we have made ourselves clear in our plans with more recorded messages and press releases.
RE: KFC
This document appears to be on the right track. You should think about your audience and language choice. There are some statements in this document that are superfluous or don't fit a corporate readership, such as "first things first" and "sorry is only for mothers, fathers, and girlfriends." Your primary audience is corporate readers, and you must keep secondary, tertiary, and gatekeeper audiences in mind too. As the Rumsfeld memo shows us, document can leak.