ABERCROMBIE & FITCH LIBRARY CASE STUDY ANALYSIS - CAP 320-02 KATELYN A. DEWALL GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY TIM PENNING

 
	
  
          Abercrombie & Fitch

       Library Case Study Analysis
                 Katelyn A. DeWall

            Grand Valley State University

                    CAP 320-02

                    Tim Penning

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Situational Analysis

        Your popular teen clothing story, Abercrombie & Fitch, was put under severe scrutiny

after the CEO, Mike Jeffries released a statement about only wanting thin and beautiful people

shopping in his stores in a 2006 Salon interview. The comments resurfaced after the author of

The New Rules of Retail, Robin Lewis, spoke to Business Insider of the incident (Levinson,

2013). As a result, the public reached out to their social media accounts bashing the brand,

created negative videos and boycotting the store. Also, public anger continued after discovering

that the company does not carry sizes XL and XXL (Levinson, 2013). This story exhibits the

philosophy that “the internet never forgets.” The backlash that materialized concluded to a drop

of revenue for the company. A large initiative for the company was rebranding for the spring

2015 clothing line, the company has decided to decrease their placement of the logo on the

clothing. Also, an anti-bullying campaign was initiated to help combat the negativity that is

associated around Jeffries statements. Even with their efforts, the public are reserved about the

initiatives that are being done, believing that it is just a tactic to boost sales and not genuine

(Berman, 2013). All the efforts that are being done may be questioned based on the actions that

were taken hours after the statement resurfaced, something that could have been avoided if your

company handled the situation differently.

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Executive Summary

          After this situation occurred, it cant be certain if any public relations efforts were taken in

order to jump back from this crisis. This paper is evaluating the measures that were taken after

this crisis communication took place, and suggests what could have been done different. Also, I

hope to present information that can be a tool to use in case another similar crisis happens in the

future.

          With the use of research, I was able to discover how the company and the media handled

the events that occurred after the statement was released. Communiquepr stated that, “once

Jeffries’ comments went viral, he stayed silent, which was perceived as insensitive” (Zuluaga,

2013). In order for this campaign to succeed, I would have recommended that research would

have been executed to find the target public that was most affected, to identify the crisis,

compare to the competition and research media outlets.

          The objectives for this campaign will show your company how effective public relations

can be during a crisis. With these objectives, strategies and tactics were developed to help to

assist in the overall success of the campaign. These strategies are made up of shifting the focus to

your response, establishing Jeffries as the single spokesperson and rebranding in marketing and

advertising. Multiple tactics will be explained in this paper that will correlate with the strategies

made.

          The end of the report will contain suggestions on how to evaluate this campaign and

leave you with information to compare to for future cases.

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Research

                 The most detrimental issue surrounding this case was that not much action was taken

after the crisis happened. I was able to discover that the CEO released an apology through the

use of social media accounts, and can be inferred that little to no research was done before the

released apology. Since I am unable to gather information about the research, I would have

recommended that the first thing to have been done during the research process would be to

indentify the type of crisis. By incorporating factors used in Situational Crisis Communication

Theory (SCCT), such as the initial crisis assessment, it may help you to have determined what

course of action would best suit your company. During crisis assessment, you can analyze how

media is framing the situation, determine the response strategies and evaluate the best platforms

to reach the public (see Appendix A1). For the future, I would recommend a crisis

communication plan that incorporates SCCT response strategies to help assist in delivering a fast

response. By doing this, it will establish a more genuine apology and that your company truly

feels bad for the words that were said. It wasn’t until a petition was released on social media that

your CEO finally released another apology online (Walker, 2013).

                 Other recommendations would have included assessing the target public who were

affected by the statement; this could include current consumers, non-consumers, shareholders

and employees. It is important to reach all those who may be affected to help build a better

reputation with them for the future. Public opinion can be researched through social listening.

Social listening is monitoring what the public is saying about the company through Facebook,

Twitter, and other popular social media accounts. This will allow you to monitor the

	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  
1	
  Protecting	
  Organization	
  Reputations	
  During	
  a	
  Crisis:	
  The	
  Development	
  and	
  Application	
  of	
  

Situational	
  Crisis	
  Communication	
  Theory	
  by	
  Timothy	
  Coombs	
  	
  

                                                                                              5	
  

conversation throughout the campaign. Another suggestion would be to research your

competition such as H&M and American Eagle. This will help you to compare and contrast what

makes other clothing companies successful or not. By doing this, it can assist you when

developing a communication plan.

        Also, I would have advised to research the media outlets that talked the most about

Jeffries statement. Gathering all information that is being said about your company will help you

formulate the types of messages that are being spread throughout different channels to assist you

in your response.

       Last, a crisis management team should have been developed to help with answering the

media’s questions or directing them to those who will be able to answer their questions. Those

who reached out to your company for comments went unreturned and therefore showed no

remorse for what was said. This created a greater negative image among the public and caused

the media to have full control of the story. By having a crisis management team, it will allow

your company to be able to respond fast to questioning and display transparency.

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Objectives

       Establishing objectives will help this campaign to reach its full potential by providing a

base to formulate your strategies and tactics. While it cant be determined if objectives were

formed during the crisis, the measurable objectives I would have recommended would have

consisted of:

             •   Aware of the CEO apology statement and change of clothing line by eighty

                 percent within 48 hours of the launch of the campaign.

             •   To create a one to one ratio of positive public sentiment about Jeffries statement

                 and apology within one week.

             •   To maintain or increase sales by ten percent for the first-quarter sales following

                 the release of Jeffries statement.

       The first objective is important because it shows that the target public is aware that an

apology statement was released and you’re willing to change your clothing line to meet the needs

of all your consumers. Many media outlets gave out information that stated that your company

provided little to no commentary, which lead to the public as believing the company to be

insensitive to those who were affected by it (Temin, 2013). When a company is undergoing a

crisis, it is best to be transparent and be the one to provide the information to the public. This

will allow the information to not be misconstrued between media outlets. Stating that you have

adding XL and XXL shows that even though your CEO said those statements, it doesn’t mean

that your company agrees with it.

       The second objective is important to the campaign because it is not just measuring the

awareness of the apology, but the public sentiment after an apology was released. Even though

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Jefferies was willing to apologize for the comments that were said in the past, doesn’t mean that

the public is willing to forgive him. Forbes released an article that stated, “An apology that is not

an apology is enraging. It takes no responsibility for the action that prompted the apology. It has

no sense of mea culpa, or remorse, but rather seems to transfer the blame to you” (Temin, 2013).

This is a perfect example to monitor how the public responds to an apology, and to provide a

statement that is clear of your admission of fault. You don’t want to release an apology that

causes more of an uproar.

       Last, the third objective shows that the apology was effective enough to keep the public

to continue to buy or be involved with the brand. Also, continuing brand use can pertain to still

having a positive reputation within the public. This is imperative because a positive reputation

may help with being accepting of the apology statement.

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Strategies and Tactics

       Based off these objectives, strategies and tactics can be formed to help deliver your

company’s message and help to maintain a positive reputation. After research, it can be inferred

that the strategies that the company exhibited were rebranding and an anti-bullying campaign.

While these efforts are propitious, they were executed too late for the public to consider them as

genuine (Berman, 2013). I would have recommended that the strategies pertain to:

           •   Shift the focus to be about your response.

           •   Establish Jefferies as the single spokesperson.

           •   Rebranding in marketing and advertising initiatives.

       The first strategy will allow your company to gain control over the conversations in the

media. With handling crisis communications, it is important to disseminate the facts and respond

as fast as possible. By doing this, you wont only have control over the conversation, but by

responding fast it shows that you have indentified the problem and you’re willing to do

something about it. Also, being the first to respond will mean that you are the main source for the

story, which again shows that you have control over the conversation.

       The tactics that would have been used to execute this strategy would be to immediately

release an apology statement through the media and social media accounts. Abercrombie & Fitch

are active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube. I would have recommended

to be engaging on these accounts and to participate in two-way symmetrical communication. To

assist in this process, a media kit could be developed to hand out to the press, as well as media

training for employees who may be asked to respond. This will help to provide a consistent

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message. This is important because stakeholders receive information through interaction, reports,

word of mouth and blogs.2

                    Establishing Jeffries as the single spokesperson for the campaign will allow his apology

to feel more genuine and sincere since he is the one who is the closest to the situation. Presenting

a different spokesman besides Jeffries may come off as him not caring about what he said in the

past, and the company is just releasing an apology to decrease the outrage. Those who hear the

apology come directly from him may be more trustful in the brand, therefore, helping to maintain

a positive reputation. Also, one spokesperson supports no miscommunication among the media.

In a case where his apologies continue to produce a negative response, a backup may be

appointed. This could be the president or someone else who has a strong affiliation with the

company; this person should also go through media training.

                 The tactics for this strategy contains being open to the media, press conferences,

interviews, media training and monitor news sources for any inaccuracies. One of the worst

comments that can be provided to the media is “no comment”. By saying this statement, it

pertains to not caring about the situation or hiding something from the public. Instead, it is

important to be open to all questions being asked by the media and responding with the truth. In

order to show that this company is open to the public, press conferences and interviews could

have been scheduled to enhance the sincerity of the apology. Monitoring news sources of

inaccuracies allows you to discover if anything that was said throughout this campaign was taken

in the wrong context.

	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  
2	
  Protecting	
  Organization	
  Reputations	
  During	
  a	
  Crisis:	
  The	
  Development	
  and	
  Application	
  of	
  

Situational	
  Crisis	
  Communication	
  Theory	
  by	
  Timothy	
  Coombs	
  	
  
	
  

                                                                                                 10	
  

       Last, while I was able to discover that rebranding initiatives are being done, some believe

that the efforts were taken too late (Berman, 2013). Decreasing the use of logos for the upcoming

spring line is your rebranding strategy. Since there is a low perception of the brand, I consider

this to be a right step to increase sales. Except, just because there is an increase of sales doesn’t

mean there is a change of perception. In relations to this specific crisis, I would recommend

rebranding through marketing initiatives to direct the reserves of the public wanting to buy the

brand. Even though anti-bullying t-shirts were created for your campaign, they were still featured

on teens that exhibit a specific appearance of being tall, skinny and preppy (see Appendix B).

Changes to the overall brand may decrease negative perceptions and help to boost sales.

       The tactic I would have recommended for this strategy would be to incorporate all sizes

into advertising, especially when advertising the anti-bullying campaign t-shirts. Your company

says that they are a diverse organization, but when it comes to employees and models, a specific

appearance is requested. Stating you encourage a diverse culture, but not displaying it in your

advertising shows that you don’t completely grasp that concept (Dwyer, 2014). This goes along

with saying that you now carry XL and XXL sizes for females, but yet not showing any of those

sizes in advertising. This shows that Jeffries still believes in the statement that was said in 2006,

and that the company is not willing to change for consumer wants. Most importantly, while some

rebranding efforts have been put into effect, it still is pertained as being too late in the game

(Berman, 2013).

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Evaluation

       It can’t be stated if any evaluation was done after the Facebook apology was released or

for the anti-bullying campaign. Also, not much evaluation can be done about the rebranding

initiatives for the reason that the line will not be coming out till Spring 2015. I believe that

evaluation of these efforts would have helped your company better understand public sentiment

after the interview resurfaced.

       The first objective, of being aware of the CEO apology statement and change of clothing

line by eighty percent within 48 hours of the launch of the campaign, can be measured with the

use of social media impressions, Google Analytics and media clippings. This is significant

because it will allow your company to know that the public doesn’t believe that you decided to

do nothing or chose to not respond. Even though the statement of only wanting “cool kids” to

wear the brand was said by one man, that one man happened to be your CEO, who represents

what the brand stands for. His actions have effect on the company, and for that reason, he needed

to take responsibility for what happened. Measuring awareness of the apology will help to

distinguish differences of opinions and determine if the message was accepted.

       The second objective, to create a one to one ratio of positive public sentiment about the

CEO statement and apology within one week, can also be measured through social media

impressions, Google Analytics and media clippings. In addition, surveys and focused groups

may be conducted to help with measuring sentiment. The goal of this objective is to obtain a

positive public sentiment for every negative public sentiment. This shows that your message of

being at fault is being understood and people still value the company as having a good

reputation. Evaluating social media accounts will help you to gather public opinion about the

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brand and public perception of the apology. Google Analytics will assist in discovering all that is

being mentioned about the company and what media outlets are reporting. This can also be

measured through media clippings, which can be documented to assist if this situation should

arise again in the future.

        The last objective, rebranding in marketing and advertising initiatives, can be measured

through social listening, focus groups, surveys, media clippings and sales. Whenever a clothing

company goes through a change in positioning and branding, it can be expected that the public

will respond in two different ways, either loving it or hating it. When going through rebranding,

employees are a public that is sometimes not recognized. Those who work in the clothing stores

can be considered brand ambassadors for the company; they are representing the brand for you.

Surveys and focus groups should be handed out internally to find out what employees think

about the change, and opinions they hear from customers. Not only that, but surveys and focus

groups should be handed out externally, to gather information on whether the rebranding was

successful or not. Last, an increase in sales can contribute to a positive reaction to the rebranding

and gain non-consumers attention.

        While it is clear that your company took little to no initiatives during the aftermath of the

crisis, it can be said that some efforts were taken weeks later. I believe that if these efforts were

executed at a closer date to the crisis, your company could have been more successful.

Furthermore, the company and your CEO should have done more to show the public a genuine

apology. While you can’t change how the situation unfolded, I hope this case study will provide

a foundation if this scenario should happen again.

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                                           Work Cited

Berman, J. (2013, June 11). Abercrombie Anti-Bullying Campaign Met With

       Surprise, Criticism From Protestors. Retrieved from (http://www.huffingtonpost.

       com/2013/06/11/abercrombie-anti-bullying-campaign_n_3423081.html

Dwyer, L. (2014, October 9). Abercrombie & Fitch Sells Anti-Bullying Ts, Still Has

       Controversial 'Look Policy' Retrieved December 2, 2014, from

       http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/10/09/abercrombies-selling-anti-bullying-tees-still-

       has-its-controversial-look-policy

Levinson, S. (2013, May 3). Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Explains Why He Hates Fat Chicks.

       Retrieved December 2, 2014, from http://elitedaily.com/news/world/abercrombie-fitch-

       ceo-explains-why-he-hates-fat-chicks/

Temin, D. (2013, May 17). When Is An Apology NOT An Apology? New Lessons From

       Abercrombie & Fitch. Retrieved December 2, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/

       daviatemin/2013/05/17/when-is-an-apology-not-an-apology-new-lessons-from-

       abercrombie-fitch

Walker, J. (2013, May 23). Abercrombie & Fitch Apology: Brand Issues Another Mea Culpa For

       CEO's Past Comments. Retrieved December 2, 2014, from http://www.huffingtonpost.

       com/2013/05/23/abercrombie-and-fitch-apology_n_3323668.html

Zuluaga, H. (2013, May 24). How the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch Failed: Takeaway PR

       Lessons. Retrieved December 2, 2014, from http://www.communiquepr.

       com/blog/?p=5262).

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       Appendix A

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       Appendix B