‘I would have thought the Qantas and PwC PR disasters would have been a lesson for all CEOs’: How Woolies got it wrong
Australia Day merchandise is barely in the backyard bins, yet Woolworths has crashed head-first into another PR crisis.
Banducci dummy-spat on the ABC, then announced his retirement on the eve of a price gouging Senate hearing. But how could this all have played out differently?
Phoebe Netto of Pure Public Relations, Mark Forbes and Benjamin Haslem from Icon Agency, Amanda Rose, CEO of Entrepreneurial and Small Business Women Australia, Justin Kelly from Media & Capital Partners, and Taurus Marketing founder Sharon Williams have their say.
The PR lessons behind Woolies’ game of CEO musical chairs
Phoebe Netto is the founder of Pure Public Relations.
Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci has announced his departure from the supermarket giant after copping heat for walking out on an interview with ABC’s Four Corners.
The grilling was part of the ABC’s wider investigation into alleged price gouging amid ongoing the cost of living crisis. During the interview, reporter Angus Grigg quoted former ACCC chairman Rod Sims, to which Banducci interrupted: ‘Retired, by the way’.
Pre-recorded interviews for news/current affairs programs are generally safer as producers are looking for a ‘quick grab’ and are happy for retakes. However, longer form interviews should be treated the same as live – but with even more risk as you have no control over the edit. It is truly amazing that both PR teams agreed to it in the first place.
There were so many red flags in Brad’s performance even before the walkout that showed he had thrown everything he’d been taught in media training out the window: repeating the journalist’s negative language back as quote, sipping water mid-response etc.
And Lea’s performance wasn’t much better – saying she didn’t know what Colesworth was showed she was either extremely out of touch or blatantly lying. She made no attempt to answer the questions – just straight into the key messages which made her look robotic and evasive. I think we’d all be talking about the six second pause if it weren’t for Brad’s walkout!
I hope this helps everyone in PR and comms for the foreseeable future get much needed prep time in the calendar ahead of media interviews and budget signed off for proper media training. A great reminder that even experienced spokespeople could use a refresh and a mental reset!
I totally endorse the prior comment; “Lea’s performance wasn’t much better – saying she didn’t know what Colesworth was showed she was either extremely out of touch or blatantly lying. She made no attempt to answer the questions – just straight into the key messages which made her look robotic and evasive. I think we’d all be talking about the six second pause if it weren’t for Brad’s walkout!”, with particular EMPHASIS on the final sentence.
Having watched the 4 episodes of “Mr Bates vs the Post Office” in the preceding week, I could not get out of my mind that Lea came across as a clone of the dishonoured former CEO of the British Post Office: her only interest being “protecting the brand at all costs”; absolutely no empathy with individual people and their wants and needs.
How about not price gouging in the first place, rather than use weasel words to evade scrutiny?
A well-run company needn’t fear ACCC or Senate enquiries if they have nothing to hide?
Robodebt & Big4 enquiries presented a conga line of CEOs & Senior management acting as laws unto themselves in their fiefdoms, unable & unwilling to explain their actions or take responsibility.
It’s symptomatic of the sort of people who boards appoint to such positions & why, whether similar-to-me bias or bowing to the current groupthink in search of easy money & eyewatering remuneration.
Bring on the NACC & Senate enquiry.