PR fiasco makes me wonder will we ever learn?
Driving by the Hyatt over the holidays, I was ticked off by the huge bill board announcing the impending debut Water Taxi service.
To me it was an in your face reminder of a project fraught with delays, empty promises and ego.
The billboard, designed and wrapped up in a sorrel red big Christmas bow, seemed to suggest that it was Government's gift to to the nation, instead of an essential service paid for by taxpayers dollars.
So, I wasn't surprised to see in the Express today that on its debut day, there was confusion on the port as passengers assembled to take the ferry to San Fernando that the service was disrupted. The Express reports conflicting messages:
1) That a sign indicated, "All tickets were sold out"
2) That officials reported that the ferry had experienced engine trouble
Here what's at stake in the confusion that has followed this project from inception; trust.
And elementary public relations should have played a critical role in managing the public's expectations and controlling the mixed messages.
For starters the Minister should have been more cautious about announcing the service launch until the state agency, NIDCO, was absoultely sure that all systems were a go. To promise a date and then break it once, can be forgiven. To do it again and again and again, speaks of ineptness and ensures the political pie (or should I say shoe?) can be legitimately tossed in your face.
Secondly, if the service is going to be hyped so much that it is made to appear that it will be the saving grace of the nation's traffic woes, then make sure you utilise public relations to manage the people's expectations and enthusiasm.
Ensure that your PR team is on call 24/7 during the initial dates. Prepare message points and holding statements for all scenarios including breakdown. Use community service announcements on the radio before the rush hour to inform commuters about problems regarding sailing times, provide a number that the public can access and for heaven's sake, make sure your CSR team at the port is in sync with the messages being prepared by the communications team at head office
http://www.mangomediacaribbean.com/blog/trackback.cfm?ABB6F6E3-3048-2D03-0A05E1C815C963B9
Judette Coward Puglisi (MSc, Dip IR, BA), Managing Director. Find out more 
I do not know why we forget to have all the leaks and cracks checked before opening anything here. After all, would anyone give a gift at Christmas that had stains, cracks or other imperfections on it? Did you say sorrel bows on signs..........?
They fail to realise that there was a reason they hired us and then they arrive at the false impression that they have the bulk of the mind share when it comes to PR/Corp Comm.
This is why I now regret leaving the private sector and probably why I am thinking twice about making a full year in government service.
It is almost as if they research the mistakes from the past and try their best to repeat them. Oh what a sad state of affairs we are witnessing all around.
I follow your angst too much on facebook, you won't make the year, I'd put my money on it and the public service would be poorer for it.
i thought i was the only one who thought "but dis ting eh no gift! is a service that we need!" i find that is like giving a housewife kitchen appliances for christmas.
but with the slaughtering that issue took in the media between yesterday and this morning, bouncing back will be a scene.
The "public relations" of the water taxi project began by kicking Newsday reporters off the gangplank.
Later, soon, the ticketing system broke down, as passengers were surprised to learn they needed picture ID as well to get on board.
A cheerfully efficient (private-sector) water taxi system has operated, beneath media radar, for years, piroguing people Down the Islands and elsewhere around Chaguaramas.
"Public relations" still worse than the north-south water taxi fiasco, and the shutdown of the Licensing Office, mark the short-payment of old people, one of whom was pictured waving a prescription, or some paper, identifying Cataflam the pain-killing drug.
The Ministry has since promised correction of the short payments by the end of January, with no reference to how needy oldsters will afford their Cataflam et al meanwhile.
Lennox, trust you to put meat on the bones of the situation.
How could I have forgotten about the Newsday? I sadly accept that you have put "public relations" in quotes as you recall the horrors of our daily living.
I still maintain that in all of the above scenarios: honesty, transparency in communications followed by quick and effective action will help.
Can someone explain the purpose of the photo ID?
Just now I'll have to show ID when I get on the bus...
Maybe they are working on a frequent traveller card :)
btw Increase in Tobago crime correlation with the introduction of the fast ferry? What do you think?
btw Increase in Tobago crime correlation with the introduction of the fast ferry? What do you think?
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!
Customers ( all stakeholders perhaps) want dialogue, they want to be informed and they want to be listened to, not in a top down manner but more in a peer-to-peer fashion.
The scenario would have been completely different had strategic and effective PR been utilised: from information booths staffed with competent CSRs, to specific numbers to call for information, to a team of communicators on 24/7 standby for crisis scenarios. The public interest in the water taxis was so high, it deserved nothing less.
I subscribe to the latter but I am also realistic enough to know there are two sides here: the business communicator who tries to protect the reputation of the firm and the media who sometimes want information that goes counter to that.
It is not the media's job to make PR easy, it's up to PR pros to advise and educate, to ensure that consistent and transparent messages go across all platforms, including the media.
Sometimes we are at odds and that is a necessary tension in the relationship as the media pursues 'the story'. I know from experience and because I straddle both worlds that there is so much work to be done, (education) on both sides.