Should you say sorry?
Should you say sorry, and if so, how?, what chocolate makers can teach us about strategic communications, and integrating AI into your videos and films.
Almost every person, company or organisation has, at some time, had to apologise for something.
And when they do, their reputation is at stake. Failing to take responsibility for a mistake, or apologising badly, can damage reputations and relationships.
Given how important it is that when we apologise, we do it well, there is little objective evidence showing how best to do it.
Yet, knowing how to best apologise is a crucial skill when communicating, and particularly during any crisis communications.
A quick review reveals there is relatively little objective evidence as to how best apologise in a professional or corporate situation. We will run through that evidence now, as it suggests a few tips that may benefit you.
But keep reading, as we’ll also get to why embracing the act of apologising can actually be an immensely powerful tool for you and your organisation.
First, to the evidence:
A study published in 2022 showed how a company apologised to customers for messing up, in this case losing their data in a cybersecurity breach, made no difference to the way their customers reacted.
In fact, the researchers found only one difference - that audiences from one country, in this case Belgium, responded more positively to news of the cybersecurity breach, being more likely to still recommend the company, than customers did from another country, which was the US.
That at least suggests that you must account for your audience’s culture when thinking about how to apologise. However, you should always consider your audience’s culture whenever you’re communicating any factual news, event or story, as we coach in our lesson Why Audience Culture Matters.
And it doesn’t reach teach us much else we can apply to future scenarios where we need to apologise.
Another study published in 2022, showed that, in work emails at least, women tend to use the phrase “I apologise”, whereas men prefer to say, “I’m sorry”. It’s unclear why, but the researchers conclude it may be due to women being more formal in their email correspondence compared to men.
The study was conducted by researchers trawling emails of the failed US corporation Enron, an energy, commodities, and services company that in 2001 collapsed due to financial scandal.
At the Factual Storytelling School, we also use the example of Enron to show how a logo can negatively impact factual storytelling.
See The Power Of Logos And Motifs, which is part of our course module Embrace Visual Storytelling.
What that study didn’t do, was ascertain whether certain types of apology are more effective. So again, it’s not that useful.
The study ‘How sorry are you? Intensified apologies and the mediating role of perceived remorse in corporate crisis communication,’ was recently published in the journal Public Relations Review by Effrosyni Georgiadou at Zayed University, United Arab Emirates.
It found that apologies that included adverbials were better received. An adverbial is a word or a group of words that modifies or more closely defines the sentence or the verb. So saying you are sincerely sorry, or you really are sorry, works better then just saying sorry.
Other studies have investigated how corporate apologies can relieve the level of public anger during a crisis situation. They have shown that statements of apology where the apologist actively takes responsibility for their actions are more likely to relieve anger, compared to passive statements of apology.
Another study examined a relatively new media phenomenon known as the YouTube apology video - a new approach to crisis communication where prominent YouTubers, from beauty influencers to gamers, offer a public apology for their offense or scandal through their YouTube channel.
The research paper, ‘So sorry, now please watch: Identifying image repair strategies, sincerity and forgiveness in YouTubers’ apology videos’ lists celebrities, such as Paula Deen, Chris Brown, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, who have made such videos in an attempt to recover from wrongdoings, and also influential YouTubers like James Charles, PewDiePie, Laura Lee, Logan Paul, and Jaclyn Hill.
Many of these apology videos have reached audiences in the tens of millions.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, prior connections with the YouTuber increased viewers’ chance of forgiveness, and perceived sincerity was the predictor of forgiveness.
Yet another study takes things a step further, finding that it’s better to say thank you and show some appreciation of your audience and their complaint, than it is to just say sorry. Although it may sound obvious, often companies don’t think about the self esteem of their audience, and take steps to acknowledge and boost their self esteem by thanking them at the same time as addressing their issue.
Research published in 2021 titled ‘“Just Say You’re Sorry”: Avoidance and Revenge Behavior in Response to Organizations Apologizing for Fraud’ also suggests how you say sorry can affect your audience’s reaction.
In this case, the research simulated a fraud conducted on investors. And specifically how an apology for that fraud influenced whether the defrauded investors would then try to avoid future exposure to the company, by selling their shares, or go further and seek revenge on the company, by starting litigation.
The research found that apologies can backfire: when management apologised for the fraud, investors tended to seek revenge by litigating. An apology didn’t change whether they wanted to distance themselves by selling their shares.
And being more sincere in the apology didn’t necessarily help; with results show that apology sincerity is positively associated with revenge behaviour.
Despite the lack of evidence about how best to apologise, we at the Factual Storytelling School coach that saying sorry actually offers an incredibly valuable opportunity to tell a unique and powerful factual story, that can really benefit the person or organisation telling it.
That’s because there is a unique story plot structure, known as ‘the tragic event’ that can be used to articulate the story of a personal or organisational mistake, and how you’ve worked hard to fix the issue.
This admission can actually lift or improve your reputation.
See our lesson ‘A Tragic Event’ in our module Stories You Can Tell.
Rather than shying away from having made a mistake, turn it into an opportunity and use the power of a narrative story to convince your audience of your redemption.
This scenario happens to businesses far more often than they or their staff, clients or customers would like.
For example, companies routinely make mistakes or missteps in customer service. Often these are ad hoc mistakes that don’t represent any greater malaise in how the company operates. But they still matter to the customer affected.
Rather than just say sorry, it is more convincing if a company at fault admits their mistake, is honest about why it happened, and then outlines how it will take steps to reach the goal of satisfying the customer.
The implication of this story, is that the company is willing to transform itself, and do things differently, to better serve its once aggrieved customer.
Occasionally, companies are called to account for inappropriate corporate behaviour or polices. Here too, it is better to pro-actively tell the story of how this flaw has been recognised, and work is now being done by the organisation to reach the goal of betterment.
Audiences recognise that we all make mistakes. Yet people and corporations regularly make the further mistake of not admitting it, or worse, trying to hide it.
However, admitting a failing can lead to a very positive story to tell, one that can leave a lasting favourable impression on audiences.
If you have cause to tell such a story, remember that to audiences, the change in status quo is naturally interesting, and they are willing to embrace people and organisations going on a journey of redemption. They will respect that you have made a difficult decision to resolve an issue, overcome that challenge, and share your experience.
Another reason to tell such a story, is because audiences view people and organisations that admit failings as authentic. To fail or make a mistake is to be human, and people also view such stories as inherently personal.
Though some among your audience will judge, many will actually empathise with the error that was made, and particularly the honesty and transparency shown in admitting to it. And the work then undertaken to fix the issue, and overcome any difficulties it has caused, particularly to others, such as clients, or customers.
What the chocolate industry can teach us about strategic communications
Well the truth is that we can glean a few tasty morsels from a new research paper titled ‘Corporate social responsibility communication from multinational chocolate companies’ published by Antonina Sparacino from the University of Turin, Italy and colleagues in the journal Sustainable Futures.
This study analysed the largest chocolate and cocoa producers in 2021, focusing on their communication strategies. According to the research, its “objective was to identify how these companies communicate their sustainable practices.”
What the paper revealed is how each company placed a different focus on which sustainability practices to communicate to its customers.
Did they prioritise promoting the environmental credentials of their chocolate, or that they embraced and supported Fair Trade practices, for example?
Each can be a challenge for chocolate producers. The supply chain for cocoa, from which chocolate is made, is one of the longest in the agricultural business, where cultivating and manufacturing chocolate and delivering it worldwide consumes forests, water and energy. Most cocoa-producing countries worldwide are located in the equatorial zone, with poor working conditions and a risk of exploiting local populations.
The research covered the world’s biggest chocolate makers, including Ferrero, Hershey Co, Lindt, Mars, Nestle and others, and whether they strategically communicated about the environment, people, community or Fair Trade.
One company, Glico, stands out from the crowd, by focusing the majority of its communications on promoting its support for Fair Trade, whereas for almost every other company, Fair Trade was the third or fourth of the four priorities, with some, such as Pladis, barely speaking of it at all.
Ferrero and Hershey Co both prioritised communicating about how their chocolate products helped support communities, using their communications to highlight issues supporting women, sports, culture, charities, education and child nutrition.
About half the companies preferentially communicated about how their chocolate products helped support the environment.
Each company is therefore taking a different strategic approach in how they communicate their sustainable practices, trying to empower their reputations in the process.
And that, rather than the focus on what they say, or the fact they are chocolate companies, is the point.
Because it highlights the importance of looking at your competition, and developing a communication strategy that makes you stand out.
That’s something many companies and individuals forget to do. Instead, they simply communicate their objectives and achievements without considering how those messages sit relative to similar messages being promoted by others.
Examine your own communications and think about whether you have a strategy in place, what that strategy is, and how your communications strategy, and its focus, may lift you or your organisation above the competition.
Adobe integrates AI into video-editing
We share news of yet another AI advance that may help or challenge content creators, depending on your perspective. But this one is a biggy.
Adobe produces one of the most comprehensive sets of software tools to help people and companies produce content and tell their factual stories.
From InCopy and InDesign used to produce text-based publications, to Illustrator and Photoshop for imagery, Audition for audio, and After Effects and Premiere Pro for video editing.
Adobe integrates a product called Adobe Firefly into this Creative suite, which is a form of AI that can help turn text-generated prompts into language and visual material.
Now Adobe has announced that it is bringing generative AI to video editing workflows within Adobe Premiere Pro.
You can read more about it here.
Adobe is promising ‘professional editors will be able to do things they’ve never been able to before,’ using the technology, including:
Generating entirely new frames at the beginning or end of a clip.
Easily select and replace moving objects within a shot.
Generate b-roll, for example, scenes that illustrate difficult-to-shoot or fantastical concepts.
Each of these should make creating videos easier, more cost effective and facilitate more creativity in film-making.
So if you make videos to promote or tell the story of your organisation or business, or for yourself and your social media channels, pay attention as Adobe continues to develop this new functionality.