When saying sorry really counts
Britain's banks are suffering reputational loss on a massive scale, says Dougal Paver. Saying sorry for buggering things up might just help.
It's there, in all the PR text books. Often on page 1, but if not you won't have to dig too deep to find it.
We're talking about the paragraph marked "apologising when the cock-up's yours." They normally mention Perrier as the exemplar of how to get it right; the next editions will point to the British banking industry in their case study on how to get it wrong.
Sorry really does seem to be the hardest word. And the longer it remains unsaid the more the banking industry's reputation goes south.
Not everyone's culpable. Yorkshire Bank seemed to have the wit to avoid lending money to the great unwashed; Barclays' chairman has actually said sorry. But acts of rampant contrition from people who have blown hundreds of billions of our money are rarer than rocking horse deposits.
And so it will be that the sector's PR professionals will spend the next two decades fighting a huge rearguard action, the success of which remains massively in doubt. Because when the men at the top don't give a fig, why should the rest of us?
PS. Everton Tigers won the cup yesterday in a one-sided final at the National Indoor Arena. Martyn's chuffed and I rather enjoyed my introduction to this cracking sport.
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