In case you have not been following Nestlé, the brand is under fire for their activity in Asia- buying palm oil (used in Kit Kat chocolate bars, plus other treats) from large palm oil plantations that are destroying the rain forest in Indonesia and further endangering the orangutans towards extinction. Is this all true? Not sure. But in the court of public opinion, Nestlé is guilty.
The first thing you stop doing when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging. Nestlé has been attacked by multiple organizations (Greenpeace) and discussed negatively in the press (Huffington Post). A natural temptation when you are a large corporation is to challenge any negative criticism – deny and defend. What Nestlé will realize is that Greenpeace and Huffington Post are just the start. The real risk to the brand are the billions of consumers. Consumers don’t usually side with big companies in an unpopular fight.
The current Nestlé crisis reminded me and few others of another corporate crisis – Dell Hell. Having been a small part of helping improving the Dell Hell episode, I have a few suggestions for Nestlé. You cannot drown out all the negative sentiment by either ignoring or just talking about positive aspects of Nestlé. So here are 4 recommendations to improve your brand during this crisis (disclaimer: all of the steps must be completed by a sincere human, not a soulless corporation):
1. Listen. Easy to say hard to do. Already Nestlé has started by reading and responding on Nestle facebook fan page. Don’t stop. Nestlé has been silent since March 19 on their fan page.
2. Apologize. If you are misbehaving or being rude. Stop and say you are sorry. Again on the Nestlé facebook fan page the tone was snarky and rude. But the tone has improved with an apology.
3. Stop playing defense. Accept the criticism. Criticism will continue because you did not respond well during this crisis.
4. Play Offense (Tell your story). If you are going to continue to use palm oil (from Indonesia), then state your intentions. You have provided a Q/A about Nestlé and palm oil. But just publishing a Q/A is not enough. Time to take popular actions. Nestlé, if you are outraged, like members of the public about the environmental wounds in Indonesia, then stand up and talk about what you will do moving forward. You should be prepared to make uncomfortable choices (example: invite independent 3rd parties to help source next gen of palm oil, introduce palm oil substitutes, require your existing suppliers to alter their business practices, invest in deforestation practices/agencies). Communicate in a variety of mediums and do so with a person, not the corporate logo.
Nestlé, you are a large company with power and influence. You did not personally cut down trees to make way for a palm oil plantation, but you are a large brand caught in the cross hairs of an angry mob. Will this crisis go away? Of course, but what you want to influence is how history remembers Nestlé’s actions during the crisis.
30 day trend of Nestle negative online sentiment (chart created in Radian 6)
Online negative sentiment (about Nestlé) has grown 20x during this crisis. Opportunity now is to continue to act responsibly and human with the public. This will write the next chapter in Nestlé’s corporate history, and the story the public will tell on your behalf.
