Hearts & Minds: The corporate agenda and world events – a constant judgement call

These are treacherous times for corporate comms. It’s always tricky knowing when to make an announcement without clashing with a global event. At present there is so much occurring as to make it even more difficult. The Air India crash, protests in Los Angeles and the use of troops, assassinations in Minnesota, war in Ukraine, Gaza and now Iran and Israel, are all combining to close scheduling windows.

One of the dilemmas facing CEOs and comms advisors is knowing when to proceed or delay or tone down. Some must go ahead - they’re a diarised market update and they cannot be dropped. With others, though, it is a question of being overshadowed and your news not receiving the mainstream coverage it would normally achieve. Or it is a matter of taste - striking a jarringly sour, possibly insulting note, which may cause serious harm to you and the brand that will be hard to repair.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.

Sometimes, the clash is self-evident – promoting tourism to a region hit by a natural catastrophe. Deciding to pull it is obvious. Painful but necessary. All the stakeholders understand. Yes, cancelling may be expensive but the consequences of ploughing ahead are far worse.

But it might not be so apparent. The rule is simple: study it every which way: forwards, backwards, upside down, sideways. Stand back from what you’re intending to do and ask yourself: if I was not attached to this but heard it and read about it, how would I feel, how would it seem? Should the answer be that it would make me wince, it could cause offence to someone, then best to scrap it.

It can be difficult disassociating yourself from something you’ve personally invested so heavily in. But you must: you must be objective as if coming to it completely fresh. Ask yourself honestly if you are able to do this. If the answer is no or you’re not sure, then share it with those you trust and seek their opinion.

That may seem over-the-top but keep reminding yourself what is at stake here: a development that can wait, and they usually can, or lasting reputational damage. The short-term hit you will experience is nothing versus the long-term fallout.

This really is the occasion for examining the unintended consequences, for deploying an over-abundance of caution.