Business in the Bullseye: The 2020 Elections and the Importance of Proactive Reputation Management

By Michael Kempner & Carreen Winters

With the 2020 election campaign heating up, the interests of business and politics are intersecting on a daily basis. Companies are increasingly “taking a stand” on matters of public policy in areas from immigration to civil rights to trade to demonstrate their values, burnish their brand for customers and address the concerns of employees. However, brands aren’t the only ones taking a stand. Increasingly, we are seeing presidential candidates speaking out more forcefully regarding businesses and industries on issues from antitrust to the environment to agriculture. Brand-bashing on the campaign trail has become a preferred way for candidates to test what messages resonate – or not – with the electorate. 

While the desire to keep an organization “out of politics” is understandable, this is no longer at the discretion of the company. With the volatile 24-hour news cycle driven by current events and the never-ending stream of social media conversation, a simple comment, tweet or offhand reference by a candidate can put your company at risk, and in the spotlight. And as candidates seek to generate notice and support with the public pronouncement of topics ranging from tariffs to regulation; tax policy to industrial competitiveness the risks are real, both to reputation and to the actual business itself.

Increasingly during this 2020 election cycle, we have seen a new tactic gain traction – candidates calling out specific companies in their campaign stops and in their policy positions. Headlines referring to companies by name are appearing daily in national and local outlets. These candidates are emboldened by the often-viral response of social media, and the tendency for traditional news media to amplify any candidate’s commentary that gains social traction. 

Companies and industries are in the bullseye. They can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines hoping that they will remain under the radar as candidates duke it out and posture for name recognition and position. Simply put, hopeful watching and waiting is an ill-advised strategy.

What’s the alternative? A proactive issues management strategy for the 2020 election is the only effective means of protecting your company’s reputation, business relationships, and even the bottom line. 

These three steps will serve as a blueprint for navigating the complex and highly politicized environment.

Vulnerability Audit & Action Plan:

Your company must be able to anticipate the news cycle, and realistically assess where your business is vulnerable to exploitation by candidates looking to score political points. This isn’t your ordinary vulnerability assessment and stakeholder map. It requires an opposition research approach aided by access to the actual candidates and staff to understand their current positions, and the context in which those positions can be evolved. Who are the third-party influencers whose positions will have merit? And how can they be deployed effectively to keep your company, or entire issues, on the sidelines? 

Once the issues have been identified and influencers mapped, you can begin to craft a matrix or framework to guide the criteria for response, as well as the tone, level, and approach of that response. The plan should consider factors such as any current policy pronouncement or public positions taken by your company (or others in your industry), prior expressions of support for candidates or issues (both by your company and its executives), locations of your facilities, characteristics of employees and key customers. All these things need to be analyzed against the primary calendar and the likelihood of new (and bigger) issues to come into the forefront as the campaigns progress. 

Engage/Educate:

Working with candidates is entirely different from lobbying elected officials. While their campaigns may be more accessible than an Administration, their decisions are driven by success in the immediate campaign, which doesn’t always align with sound policy, facts or reason. Additionally, candidates vying for office are often only superficially knowledgeable about any particular issue, and their advocacy for a policy detrimental to your company may be a result of misinformation or lack of information entirely.

It is not too late to help educate candidates and help shape their perspectives as well as the staff that is guiding campaign positions and messaging, particularly if those conversations can be prompted through an existing relationship. A proactive approach may encourage candidates to modify their view of an issue, focus on a different company or industry in their narratives or just stay on the sidelines. This dialogue also provides clarity on the positions and priorities of candidates and aids in the development of your potential response strategies and protocols. 

Respond:

Though your company may be preparing for this seemingly never-ending election cycle, and engaged candidates or their staff, you may still find your company in the center of a conversation you would prefer to avoid. If this happens, the rules of good crisis and issues management still apply, beginning with the decision about whether to respond at all. If responding makes a story bigger, extends the news cycle or invites “tit for tat” response, it can be best to let a situation pass. In other cases, quick, decisive and clear correction of the record is necessary to stop a potentially viral story in its tracks, keeping a small one-day story to the local news vs amplifying an issue in national media over a protracted period. Predictive analytics applied to social conversation and news can be an effective tool to make that decision. 

As we get closer to the Iowa Caucuses at the beginning of 2020, the intensity will increase, and the competition for press attention will become even more fierce. With some advanced strategic planning, you can ensure that your company’s reputation does not become the victim of a candidate’s policy position, rhetoric, or social media post. 

Michael Kempner is the founder and CEO of MWWPR, a leading public relations agency that has been counseling clients on the intersection of public policy and business for more than 30 years. 

Carreen Winters is MWWPR’s Chief Strategy Officer and leads MWWPR’s reputation management practice, counseling clients on how to build, leverage and protect Company reputation among all stakeholders.