We all want to create memorable, meaningful messages.
It’s a headline writer’s dream; ‘Royal Mail stop deliveries on rainy days’.
Of course, this is just to grab your attention and the real story is somewhat more complicated. A postman slipped and broke his collarbone whilst delivering letters to businesses in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. The Royal Mail blames the council for poor maintenance of the pavement. The council says there is nothing wrong.
If you look beyond the exaggerated headlines this is a perfect example of a regional story that tickled the fancy of the national headline writers. And once they get hold of it it’s very hard for the communications team to regain control.
The reality is there are likely to be 1000’s of addresses in the UK that Royal Mail refuse to deliver to on the grounds of ‘elf ‘n’ safety’. So why has this example made the national headlines?
There’s no doubt a number of reasons…
Royal Mail recently increased their prices and in doing so they pushed themselves higher up the news agenda. Furthermore, there’s an added layer of trouble to this story as the council are denying that there’s anything wrong with the pavements.
Vitally though, I suspect it’s simply that Royal Mail failed to get their messages right from the start. When communicating with their customers (the businesses that they are refusing to deliver to) and the media the Royal Mail obviously failed to demonstrate that their staff’s safety was at the heart of their decision to stop deliveries.
One of the first lessons of media management is to make sure that you thoroughly prepare and practice what you are going to say and get the right message across from the start.
