The pitfalls of corporate tributes around the coronation

Reacting to the news agenda is a key part of communications for businesses, but it can be a challenge  to get right, with many falling victim to accusations of ‘jumping on the bandwagon’. To both protect and promote their brand image, businesses must strike a balance between demonstrating they are engaged and switched on by reacting to news-flow, while also ignoring potentially damaging stories. As was shown with the myriad of tributes for the King’s coronation, this balance is difficult to achieve.

The enticement of big events 

Big public events offer an enticing opportunity to get a business’s brand in the public eye, but often these efforts do not have the desired positive outcome for businesses, resulting in cheapening of the brand image. 

It isn’t just the fear of missing out on easy coverage opportunities that lead many businesses to fall into these pitfalls when commenting on big events. Modern day “cancel culture” acts as a deterrent against standing out, as many fear not following the crowd will result in their business receiving online criticism. Failing to pay tribute to the King, for instance, could be seen as unpatriotic act or political statement and lead to a loss in business and/or clients.  

In reality, big events such as the coronation take on a life of their own, with the media focused on covering the event itself. Attention is on the event, rather than businesses and brands. This attention is often only taken off the event itself when businesses make misguided reactions in an attempt to reflect the moment.

For example, Center Parcs inadvertently became the story during the passing of the Queen, when it announced it would close its UK sites for 24 hours to pay tribute to her funeral. The announcement felt like Center Parcs simply didn’t want to be seen to do nothing while the majority of businesses paid tribute by closing or pausing external activities.

So, how can businesses make sure to get it right at the next big event?

The pursuit of authenticity

At the root of the problem, and the heart of the solution is authenticity. Many businesses who made tributes to the King lacked authenticity, as they lacked a good reason to pay tribute and doing so did not align with the core values of the brand. This meant their tributes came across as meaningless, and cheap. 

By re-evaluating the goals of the business’s brand, leaders can ensure future tributes are done in a genuine and authentic manner which will lend itself to success. By only paying tribute to events that make sense for the consistency of this brand, businesses will avoid pitfalls. Cadbury has historical links to the monarchy, having been granted its first Royal Warrant in 1854, and it consistently tributes royal events. Therefore, it was meaningful and authentic when Cadbury paid tribute to the coronation.

To aid in this pursuit of authenticity, businesses should ensure to research is done into the subject. This will add relevancy to their tribute, and ensure it slots into current affairs rather than feeling out of place. Research can also ensure that the tribute is appropriate, but impactful. The Alzheimer’s Society paid tribute to the coronation by twisting a popular phrase in the lead up to the day: “a moment people will tell their grandchildren about”. The tribute demonstrated that the business had done research into common trends of the time and managed to fit its research and brand image into the news-flow successfully. 

Final Thoughts

To conclude, businesses must strike a balance between reacting and staying silent on big events. This balance can be achieved by reviewing a business’s brand image and ensuring that all communications is in line with this identity. Research must be done to ensure there is a plan in place for communications and all things have been carefully considered. Remember that sometimes the best course of action is to stay respectfully silent on matters. This will stop a business from becoming the story by trying to react to the story.

Neil McLeod is director of corporate at The PHA Group.