The David Politis Company | CASE STUDY: Crisis Communications Program Helps “Stop the Bleeding” in Under 24 Hours for CleanFlicks
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CASE STUDY: Crisis Communications Program Helps “Stop the Bleeding” in Under 24 Hours for CleanFlicks

OVERVIEW:

 

What do you do if you’re an owner of a family-friendly business, but you watch an evening news report tie your firm to two men arrested for allegedly paying for sex with two teenage girls? And then you learn that this all apparently happened after hours inside one of your stores?

 

Jan. 25, 2008: KSL-TV highlights mugshots of Daniel Dean Thompson and Issac Lifferth.

 

Unfortunately, this was exactly the dilemma  facing Allan Erb and Ray Lines (the owners of CleanFlicks Media) on Friday, January  25, 2008.

 

That was the day Erb and Lines learned that two other men had been arrested in Utah County (Utah) on felony sexual abuse charges and media reports began to circulate incorrectly and falsely stating (or implying) that one of those arrested, Daniel Dean Thompson (a twice-convicted felon) was a founder, owner and/or operator of CleanFlicks.

 

As partners in a business dedicated to providing family-friendly DVD movie rentals over the Internet, Erb and Lines were horrified at the false connection being drawn between CleanFlicks and Thompson. Unfortunately, the negative stories incorrectly tying CleanFlicks to Thompson soon grew from a local media trickle into a national news story.

 

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS PLAN:

 

Based upon their research, CleanFlicks’ attorneys suggested that CleanFlicks might be able to take legal action against Thompson.

 

“It was nearly a week later when I got the first call from CleanFlicks’ law firm — Fillmore Spencer,” said David Politis, president of Politis Communications. “As Barney Madsen (CleanFlicks’ attorney) laid out the facts for me, I was dumbfounded to learn the truth, because I too had seen the stories falsely tying CleanFlicks to Thompson.

 

“It soon became clear that CleanFlicks was in danger of losing everything because of the inaccurate reports linking CleanFlicks to alleged crimes that were shockingly sensational and diametrically opposed to everything the company stood for. It was also obvious to me that CleanFlicks had to stop the bleeding, and we had to do it fast.”

 

By 7 p.m. that same evening (Thursday, January 31), CleanFlicks had retained David and Politis Communications for crisis communications services to help the company clean-up misperceptions and false allegations connecting CleanFlicks to Thompson. Additionally, CleanFlicks decided to proceed forward with legal charges against Thompson, charges that would help further distance CleanFlicks from the alleged sexual abuser. The time frame was daunting, however.

 

A CHALLENGING TIME FRAME:

 

The fact that it was Thursday evening when CleanFlicks hired Politis was not in and of itself a problem. But there were external forces at play that required serious consideration. Specifically,

 

  • Saturday, February 2 was the scheduled funeral of Gordon B. Hinckley, the former President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Naturally, all Utah-based media would be focused on this story over the weekend.
    • {Politis and his team also anticipated that the LDS Church would likely announce a new leader over the weekend, an event which did occur and which led to even more coverage about the Church and allowed less time/space for other news items.}
  • Sunday, February 3 was the date of Super Bowl XLII, the annual championship game of the National Football League that would attract worldwide media attention on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
  • Additionally, Tuesday, February 5 was “Super Tuesday,” the day the most Presidential Primaries and Caucuses were held during the 2008 U.S. Presidential Elections. Obviously, worldwide media attention would be focused on the Super Tuesday polling on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

 

In other words, the Politis-led team had less than 24 hours to act or the misrepresentations about CleanFlicks were likely to continue for nearly another week.

 

After a three-way consultation between the attorneys, Politis and CleanFlicks, the decision was made to move forward with a press conference the next day at 1 p.m. (MST) in Salt Lake City.

 

JUMPING INTO ACTION:

 

While the legal team pulled together all of the materials necessary for the court filing on Friday, David and the Politis Communications team

 

  • Wrote and edited a Media Alert announcing the CleanFlicks press conference, which was distributed at 7 a.m. Friday;
  • Researched, wrote, edited and prepared a CleanFlicks News Release denying recent media reports and allegations;
  • Produced CleanFlicks Press Kits providing background information, including materials provided by the law firm;
  • Provided strategic crisis communications counsel to CleanFlicks’ executives and coordinated efforts with CleanFlicks’ legal counsel; and
  • Conducted and directed the Press Conference and distributed the CleanFlicks’ news release and press kits.

 

RESULTS OF THE POLITIS CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAM FOR CLEANFLICKS:

 

By Friday evening, each of the four network TV stations in Utah had carried at least one story each announcing CleanFlicks’ lawsuit against Thompson and stating that he had never been a partner, officer, affiliate, dealer, franchisee, collaborator, consultant or representative of any CleanFlicks entity in any capacity. The leading talk radio station in Utah also ran multiple stories about the announcement.

 

The two largest Salt Lake newspapers (the Salt Lake Tribune and the then-named Deseret Morning News) each ran clarifying stories about CleanFlicks on Saturday, as did The Daily Herald (the leading newspaper in CleanFlicks’ hometown).

 

Within 10 days, the Politis-led team had also landed or placed corrections on more than 40 news Websites and/or blogs, including items with:

 

 

CONCLUSION:

 

“David and Politis Communications came through for us in a huge way in a very short period of time and in a very comprehensive manner,” CleanFlicks’ Erb said. “It was overwhelming to see how quickly the false information had spread across the Internet and through the various news outlets, and it soon became clear we were fighting for our corporate life. Thankfully, we were able to work with top attorneys and the best PR firm to get this problem addressed as quickly as possible.”