Brought to my attention via The Financial Brand, it appears Westpac Bank, based in Australia, wanted to educate its customers on why it decided to increase lending rates. So, in a proactive approach, Westpac decided to address customer concerns via video. Awesome, very few financial institutions make good use out of video. Well….unfortunately, this is where the good news stops. Instead of giving customers the honest truth, Westpac decided to rationalize by comparing their decision to that of growing bananas. Yes, you read that correct. A financial institution compared the economic crisis and its impact on doing business to bananas.

Think I’m joking? Here’s the video:

To the best of my knowledge, Westpac has yet to offer a follow-up apology or comment. Strike 2.

As a result, NAB – competitor and only other Australian bank to follow Australian Reserve’s 25 basis point increase, decided to capitalize on Westpac’s blunder. NAB assembled street teams to try and recruit unhappy Westpac customers. Pretty clever on NAB’s part.

What’s the PR lesson here? It’s pretty obvious. Westpac had the right idea when it decided to inform their customers why they were increasing their lending rates. Keeping your customers informed is critical to any business, let alone a financial institution. However, their attempt to be cute completely backfired. Had Westpac simply been open and honest, this backlash would have never happened. Believe it or not, banks have increases lending rates before. Even during tough times!

Additionally, Westpac should have came out with an apology and addressed the issue again in a more appropriate manner. Admit your mistake, apologize for the blunder and reaffirm to your customers that you have their best interest in mind. Again, not rocket science.

So quit trying to be cutesy, and try being honest. You’ll be amazed how much your customers will appreciate the truth.

What have we learned in the PR world recently?
- We’ve seen Dominos’ image tarnish in a matter of minutes, if not seconds.
* Respectfully, here is their response.
- The KFC mess via Oprah.
- And my personal favorite, KFC attempts to prank El Pollo Loco. Ouch, KFC has had a rough 2009 thus far!

With all these, we learned that word spreads fast. Especially when it’s negative. But let’s focus in on the recent PR stunt that the Golden State Warriors’ PR head pulled.

Raymond Ridder, a 10+ year PR veteran, decides that public opinion about his employer (GS Warriors) isn’t very positive. Forget the fact that they only won 29 games this year, but that’s another issue for another time. So, what should a PR pro do? Let’s go to the source of this negative opinion and try to “spin” the community’s thoughts. That’s ethical, right? After all, it’s up to the brand (again, the Warriors) to shape public opinion. It’s the job of the PR department to shape how our community (in this case NBA fans) is talking about us. We determine the message, we determine the response. That’s how PR works, isn’t it?

I understand that PR has changed over the years. Heck, it’s changed drastically since I graduated five years ago. But I’m pretty sure this was Rule #1 in that ‘Ethics 101′ course I took. You know that class you dreaded because it talked about all those boring case studies. *Professor Menke, I really don’t think the ethics course you taught was boring. I actually enjoyed it.

What this guy did (I won’t refer to him as a PR pro anymore) is basically take all the work us honest and ethical PR folks are doing to clear our industry, threw it to the ground and spit on it. It’s people like this Ridder character, and his actions, that cause our industry to be referred to as “flacks”. Mr. Ridder, if you prefer to be called a “flack,” by all means, we can arrange for that.

You’ve heard of Intel, right? Pretty big company. Let’s take a look at their social media guidelines. Skip over the first section, although it is important, and go to ‘Rules of Engagement.”

#1 – be transparent. You failed there.
#2 – be judicious. He said he did it on his own, so maybe it didn’t violate company policy.
#3 – write what you know. Ummm…I’d say you failed here too.
#4 – perception is reality. Ah, here we go. I like this rule. Well, you had no chance at following this basic guideline, err rule.

I think you get where I am going here. How can a so-called leader of an organization blatantly try to mislead and lie to its community and expect any sort of trust and support from said community? Posting anonymously and trying to “guide the conversation in the ‘right’ direction” is basically like telling your audience that you think they’re stupid. That’s what it comes down to.

If the PR industry has any chance of finally getting rid of the “flack” label that is associated with it, actions like this MUST stop. It’s scary how often basic ethics are often overlooked in an effort to advance an organization’s message. PR folks, you need to realize that the public will eventually call your bluff. Quit trying to be sneaky. Your audience will call you out. What Mr. Ridder should have done is engage his community, acknowledge the concerns and find methods to cure those concerns. Instead, the Golden State Warriors have a bigger issue than their losing record to solve.