When a major participant in the complementary healthcare sector was embroiled in Australia’s largest ever product recall it approached fowlstone for assistance in devising and implementing a strategy to manage the issue.
The client’s products are household names and had featured prominently in national television and radio coverage of the product recall, leading to a sharp decline in sales.
Client spokespeople had also featured extensively in national media commenting on the impact of the crisis, serving to heighten the focus on the company.
fowlstone worked overnight to develop a comprehensive communications program to quarantine the client from day-to-day media coverage of the issue while proactively educating customers and the media on the differentiating aspects of the client’s systems and processes.
An effective, rapid response capability was developed to facilitate early detection and timely response to emerging issues to ensure containment.
fowlstone also orchestrated events which demonstrated the company’s early and comprehensive action to remove potentially tainted product from circulation and to underline its commitment to address underlying issues.
Web-based communication, highly targeted advertising and a network of opinion leaders associated with the company were used to drive the communication and reinforce the overall message.
The strategy was successful in re-focussing the media debate and largely extricating the client from day-to-day coverage of the issue.
Ultimately this created a platform for the client to re-launch its suite of products resulting in trust being restored and its market position being regained.