Who is Happiest With The Facebook Debacle?

Now that most of the breaking news is about Facebook, Nasdaq and Morgan Stanley, the heat has come off of JPMorgan. At least from a press perspective things have likely quieted down for Mr. Dimon and his communications team.  I am sure it is a welcome break to get off the front page, for now at least.  This is a good opportunity for them to have a breather, even though it will be a brief one. Plus, they can relish the fact that Mr. Dimon has been named one of the best-dressed CEOs, according to CNBC.

Or is the happier party NYSE Euronext? They suffered a blow when they lost the Facebook IPO after successfully listing other tech-based firms including LinkedIn and Pandora.  But now they can jump on this opportunity get Facebook back in their corner as well as sway other firms that may have been on the fence about where to list their IPO.

Not all bad news is bad for everyone.  

NASDAQ. WOW.

I believe that I speak for many of my peers when I say that watching the swirl of media around Nasdaq OMX’s handling of the Facebook IPO is cringe inducing.  Let’s be clear, this is obviously a mess created by the business not the poor pr folks trying to put out the press fires.

I apologize in advance for this awful comparison. The Facebook IPO was about seamless as Kim Kardashian’s marriage.  A lot of hype, a lot of money, a lot of press coverage, and apparently a lot less rehearsal and preparation than needed. It appears that neither was fully prepared for the speed bumps ahead. 

Nasdaq seems to be making a lot of enemies right now.  This event was supposed to earn back its credibility and make it some new “friends” along the way.  But now everyone is coming out swinging against Nasdaq. Knight Capital’s CEO Thomas Joyce told CNBC that he dubbed the fiasco “the worst performance by an exchange on an IPO, ever.” EVER!

On Monday, The Wall Street Journal added insult to injury by outlining all of the crises that have occurred in the past 18 months under Bob Greifeld’s watch.  That paragraph alone likely caused the most angst for Nasdaq and its press handlers.  And today, the New York Post rubbed it in a little more by featuring an eleven-year old whose highly anticipated Facebook stock purchase is still in limbo.  It’s never good for any firm to have an eleven-year old victim. Ouch.   

So what is a pr and communications team to do? Get ahead of the problem when possible.  Make sure that all hands are on deck during any large event. Second, decide early on how to best handle potential pitfalls.  Nasdaq’s initial response to the press was to decline comment and avoid any press questions on Friday. The press and the public do not expect to have all of their questions answered during such frenzy but they expect something beyond a no comment.  There was obviously a problem at Nasdaq.  How about “We are addressing the issues and when we have definitive answers, we will communicate them.”   It wasn’t until two days later that reporters were given any answers. That was a lot of time for others to fill the gap of silence.  And finally, be sure that you loop in industry observers who can speak positively about your organization.

We can safely assume that the executives at the New York Stock Exchange are closely watching the press coverage.  They are likely confident that they would have handled the Facebook IPO better than Nasdaq.   Well, based on the bungling of this latest IPO, I think the NYSE has a pretty good shot of winning its next pitch.

JPM Handling PR the Right Way

THE DALY DOSE

JPM IS HANDLING THEIR PUBLIC RELATIONS ISSUES THE RIGHT WAY

It’s obvious that JPMorgan is dealing with a PR nightmare right now.  In these situations, it’s very easy to criticize their handling of a $2 billion trading loss.  But JPM is doing a great job of owning up to its problems, communicating what went wrong and the steps that they are taking to address them.  Lifting their veil to show vulnerability and humanity is gutsy and will pay off in the long run.  The public and government officials do not want to see arrogance or a lack of accountability.

The easiest thing to do right now would be to hunker down, keep journalists at arm’s length and decline to comment.  It’s commendable that the executives at JPM appear to want to set the record straight, admit to faults, show their pain and demonstrate that they are not infallible.

JPM is telling their story before others can tell it for them.  It would appear that they are actively engaging with journalists to help them understand the problems and potential solutions. If the execs at JPM decided to bury their heads, journalists would be left with no alternative other than to speak with outsiders.  Those outsiders can only guess about what is going on in the JPM war room and they have little to lose by criticizing JPM either as a named source or industry insider.

No business is perfect and every organization has the potential to have something or someone derail which could jeopardize a brand. It’s the handling of a crisis that shows the true strength and grit of a firm and its people.