What else can Didi do for crisis public relations?

From Didi Taxi , to Didi beating people due to a dispute between investors and drivers at the beginning of the month, to Didi killing people and Didi arresting people now, Didi has been given labels that it does not want and should not bear, although it carefully used the wording of the statement "because it involves important matters" and did not say "arrest the murderer."

Did you feel a chill down your spine when you released an unconfirmed criminal suspect’s photo and personal information to the public?

Do you feel a chill down your spine when you see someone exceeding their authority and doing what a police officer is supposed to do? When would the police issue a public wanted notice? Why didn’t they do so this time?

Didi's actions were certainly an overreaction and a desire to show off, and there was even a possibility that Didi had some kind of tacit understanding with the Zhengzhou police. However, Didi subsequently deleted the statement, indicating a lack of public relations awareness when issuing the statement, and it may also be the helplessness of public relations under high-level decision-making.

The public relations department is sometimes unwelcome in the company because of this kind of bad mouth. But this is indeed the most important step in crisis public relations.

I used to work as a public relations director for a large American company for many years. Other foreign company colleagues would organize crisis simulation drills for corporate executives and spokesperson training. I mentioned this several times in the company, and everyone said it was great, and then they said they were too busy to give time for training.

Later, the company headquarters hired a retired American general as director of global security and defense, who required that businesses in all countries conduct simulated crisis drills. The crisis in the general's eyes is not the public opinion crisis that we often encounter in public relations, but disasters such as terrorist attacks on companies, chemical leaks, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc.

There are now better big data public opinion monitoring systems for crisis prevention. What the public relations department can also and must do is to give necessary warnings to management through "public opinion potential judgment."

The Didi Hitch incident is another very typical example of "judgment of public opinion potential" after Baidu.

On May 2, 2016, a Didi Hitch driver killed someone in Shenzhen. At that time, according to the Shenzhen Evening News, Didi responded to the media in this way:

Similar call words may also include: fairness, carcinogenic, corruption, double standards, scams, discrimination, toxic, cold-blooded, vulnerable groups, getting rich quickly, sexual assault, and cheating. A seemingly ordinary concept, if it has an abnormal connection with a company or product over a period of time, it will form a crisis warning.

Influencing CEOs, influencing decisions, and serving as a bridge for dialogue between companies and the public is the core mission of public relations. Didi Public Relations can do it, and it is worth the efforts of all public relations professionals.