Apologising was all the rage last month – but some do it better than others. In this month’s word cloud analysis, Zoltan Marfy, creative director at Merchant, looks at two apologies from either side of the political divide:

It’s been a particularly tumultuous few months for bankers and politicians. Both are currently competing for the coveted position of most reviled profession in the country – and that means that even politicians have been struggling to find the best communications approach in recent weeks. Given that this column recently looked at how Royal Bank of Scotland dealt with its public vilification in its annual report, we felt that it might be time to give the public affairs viewpoint an airing. Last month was a horrendous time for the UK’s politicians from all parties with a series of revelations from the Daily Telegraph on MPs’ expenses, after which all the other media jumped on the bandwagon.

There are, of course, lots of corporate communication lessons to be learned from how the big-hitters in politics deal with difficult stories. They are constantly in the news and in the sights of the media yet, even for them, the daily disclosures on abuse of the expenses system led to, what might be called, a taxing time in May. As the BBC’s political correspondent, Nick Robinson, pointed out at the time, politicians from all parties were left reeling – it certainly wasn’t business as usual.

Good corporate communications revolves around a number of factors that draw neat parallels with the pain felt by the political parties last month. For business, it is equally crucial to understand when it is ‘not business as usual’. Those circumstances require a different approach, a swift turnaround from the usual communications pattern. Hence, as detailed here in previous issues, many of the banks have been keen to show a different type of transparency in recent months – a real desire to interact with their audiences
that wasn’t there a year or so ago.

Similarly, you really have to know when to don the hair shirt in corporate communications and when to keep on as if it is business as usual. Sorry is a very hard word to say. Some would say ‘rightly so’ – in corporate communications terms, there are generally all sorts of legal ramifications involved in admitting guilt. Sometimes, though, it’s absolutely appropriate for business – just as it is for politicians.

Both David Cameron and Gordon Brown sought to apologise in the wake of the expenses scandal this month, although a neutral observer might argue that Cameron stole a march on the Government by being
first to utter the S-word, effectively forcing the Prime Minister down a similar route.

Likewise, this month also saw the London Evening Standard unveil its ‘Sorry’ advertising campaign, apologising to its readers for ‘losing touch’ and being negative and complacent in recent times. And M&S ran its ‘We boobed’ campaign to apologise for charging larger-sized ladies for largersized underwear.

Sorry might have been all the rage of late but the wildly differing reactions to these various campaigns/utterances/grovellings suggests that you’ve really got to know when to say it – and, crucially, how to say it. Apologies are the extreme example but, equally, companies have to know when to tone down their look and feel and take a different approach.

If you’re having a tough time, is a new all-singing, all-dancing website and brand appropriate? Possibly not. But a clear, concise well-designed, well-written communication – in print or online – could really carry an audience with you during a difficult period. That’s where Merchant come into the equation. And we never apologise for creative thinking.

 
David Cameron
The Conservative leader was first off the blocks with his apology for MPs’ expenses claims. His speech is packed full of humble phrases with lots of talk of responsibility, pay back, putting the country first and, that all important word: sorry.

He focused solely on the apology in his statement, but linked it to wider Tory policy goals on social principles and values. The focus is very much on positive actions as a result of this bad behaviour on the part of MPs. That means lots of talk about ‘actions’ and ‘scrutiny’ and claims, claims and more claims.

Gordon Brown
The Prime Minister seemed to be put onto the backfoot by Cameron seizing the sorry agenda over the weekend when the Tory party was dragged into the fray. That meant he too felt under pressure to apologise come the start of the following week. Brown chose a speech to nurses to apologise “on behalf of politicians, on behalf of all parties for what has happened in the events of the last few days.” His word cloud focuses far more on issues such as professionalism – linking the conduct expected of MPs to the dedication of nurses. He goes on to talk of standards, service, trust and errors. Sorry does seem to be the hardest word for Gordon – but apologies are certainly not lacking.

Zoltan Marfy can be contacted at: zmarfy@merchant.co.uk