Why staying silent is no longer an option
Navigating comms in turbulent times.
Our Head of Global PR, Lottie West, explains why in volatile times, brands need to embrace the discomfort.
It’s hard to write a blog about the last five years without resorting to terms like “unprecedented” and “new normal”. But the rate of change and sheer number of macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges businesses have had to deal with cannot be underestimated.
For comms professionals, turbulent times present their own challenges. Leaving aside the very real commercial impact of external headwinds, there is then the challenge of managing your message. How to provide reassurance to customers, investors, and employees. How to avoid a mis-step in an increasingly polarised world. In volatile times where your brand equity can be wiped out by a single tweet, it can be tempting to bury your head in the sand and ride it out.
Boardroom topics are becoming increasingly politicised and divisive. In recent months, many businesses have found themselves in the spotlight over ESG and DEI policies, in what has become an increasingly heated debate. This has left many businesses afraid to speak out, for fear of alienating one side or the other.
Taking a strong political stance very rarely works for a business, unless you’re Ben & Jerry’s or Patagonia, and it is baked into your DNA. But speaking out and having an opinion does not mean sacrificing your political neutrality. On the contrary, digging in and saying nothing can be counterproductive. Trust requires transparency, and in challenging times, employees, investors, and customers will be looking to you for reassurance that you can weather the storm. Saying nothing can ultimately damage that trust.
Take the current conversation around tariffs. With supply chains increasingly complex and globalised, this has created great uncertainty in the industrial, manufacturing, and automotive sectors. Understanding the impact and the reality of the changing trading conditions takes time, and clearly this is a politically sensitive topic, so proceeding with caution is key. A large number of businesses were quick to respond by issuing financial guidance on the impact; with a smaller number prepared to voice an opinion on the topic. What is interesting is when you start to look at market performance, there appears to some degree of positive correlation between share price and businesses which have spoken out.
So what is happening here? While there will be a myriad other factors at play, what this does point to is that speaking out has not negatively impacted these businesses. By being proactive and open about how they are adapting to market conditions, businesses can provide much needed reassurance to key stakeholders of their long-term vision and resilience in the face of geopolitical headwinds. Ultimately the businesses which fare best in tough times are those which foster a culture of openness, bringing employees, customers, and shareholders on the journey with them.
