Lights Out!

Last night 700,000 people were plunged into darkness. Okay, that’s a little bit melodramatic. Our illustrious electric company (HECO) went offline last night at about 6:45, putting the entire island in the dark.

Having been through power outages before (thanks HECO!), we had our flashlights ready. As the storm started, I had a sneaky feeling we would be losing power, so I had a flashlight in the den with me, ready to go. We also had our little transistor radio to keep us company in the darkness.

We sat for four hours listening to the radio. Agreeing with some callers, disagreeing with others. We listened for news about traffic, water, hospital and emergency services. We waited to hear an estimate to when we would no longer be in the dark. We heard which stores were open, which gas stations were pumping gas, and who was trying to make the experience a little nicer for all.

And the PR person inside me couldn't help but craft a plan for what I would do if I was in charge of public relations for any of the entities involved.

Which leads me to some PR winners and losers from the dark night:

Winners:

KSSK. When we had the earthquake in 2006, KSSK was a PR loser, but they learned from their mistakes. In 2006, they continued regular broadcasting for nearly 3 hours after the power outage. Last night, they were up and going after only about 20 minutes of static. Then they called in their top deejays and their news teams. They had representatives from HECO and Civil Defense and periodic announcements in different languages. Perry and Price did an effective job in keeping people calm and cutting off callers’ attempts to rile people up about HECO’s competence.

Mayor Hanneman. He was a little over-concerned with Barack Obama’s well being, but the Mayor managed to 1) relay confidence that everything would be okay 2) affirm that everything was being done to get power back up efficiently and effectively and 3) let people know that the City was safe and ready to handle any problems that may arise from the power being off.

Hawaiian Electric (HECO). Begrudgingly, I have to tip my hat to HECO. Being upset that we had no power for our precious gadgets (computer!), I wanted to find fault with HECO. I wanted them to screw up even more so that I could feed my upset. It was not to be so. Their representative at KSSK, Peter Rosegg, was really effective. He stayed on message “We are doing everything we can to bring power back in a way that won’t overburden the system and cause more damage.” Even when there was bad news (that the last functioning power plant had gone offline), he managed to keep hammering the message that HECO was on top of the problem and had the best engineers working to fix it. He didn’t let himself get goaded off message -- even when someone asked him a direct question, “what’s the worst case scenario here?”, he managed to evade it and stay positive.

Brian Cheplic (Emergency Services). Despite being overwhelmed -- I can only imagine how many phone calls 911 was getting from people wanting to know when their electricity was coming back on -- he was able to get the word out that people should call just for emergencies. Granted, the people calling 911 were probably not listening to the radio, but given the limited communications vehicles, he did what he could.

Loser

Linda Lingle. The most powerful person in Hawaii, and usually one of the most pr-savvy politicians, too. Lingle was giving out the departure times for United Airlines! Not just once, but twice! Once on tape and once live. Where the heck were her PR people? If I had to guess, I'd say her message was: “I work for United Airlines!”

She totally dropped the ball last night. I read in today’s newspaper that she held a press conference shortly before 10pm where she said most of the things people needed to hear. That’s all well and good, but no one got those messages until they woke up this morning and read the newspaper. Some won’t get it until tonight when they watch the evening news. Too late!

Instead, everyone who listened to the radio (after all, isn’t that what we’re conditioned to do...turn to the radio in times of emergency) heard the leader of our state give updates about when the canceled United Airlines flights would depart. Smooth.

Lessons Learned

This situation lends good lessons for public relations practitioners.

Lesson One: It is not just the message that matters. You must also choose your communications vehicles carefully. One without the other is just not effective.

Lesson Two: Advance preparation is a must. KSSK learned from their 2006 debacle that they needed a plan. They executed their plan flawlessly. HECO's Peter Rosegg didn't just happen to be near the KSSK studios, it was part of the plan for him to be there to provide a conduit to the public.

Lesson Three: Pounce on opportunities. Foodland stores received much positive PR when their reps called the station to announce that their stores were open and helping people. Board of Water Supply got good press when their rep called to ask people to conserve water and why.