Monash IVF narrative out of control as CEO quits
Monash IVF can’t keep itself out of the headlines lately. And its latest PR disaster has come at a big real-world, business and reputational cost, as former Mumbrella editor and comms expert Vivienne Kelly explains.
The Monash IVF CEO is gone.
The Herald Sun used the inflammatory word “sacked” in its email blast on Thursday morning, and “axed” in its opening paragraph. The official ASX release was a little softer, calling Michael Knaap’s departure a resignation, which the Board acknowledged and respected.
Either way, it’s the latest in a string of dramatic headlines for a company that usually prefers to focus on positive, miraculous and heart-warming narratives.
Lately, it’s been anything but positive.
Earlier this week, the company revealed it had transferred the incorrect embryo into a patient – her own, rather than the embryo of her partner, which had been the treatment plan. This admission comes months after a woman in Brisbane gave birth to a baby created from a stranger’s embryo incorrectly transferred to her.
The Herald Sun has revealed that as a result, multiple families who have had children via IVF are now considering DNA tests to confirm whether they are actually their biological children. Should this turn out not to be the case, the headlines, questions and legal cases will only pile up further.
The consequences already go all the way to the top, as health ministers prepare to meet in Melbourne with IVF regulation now firmly on the agenda.
Fertility companies are promising people, in particular women, hope. The freedom of time and security against the crushing anxiety of a ticking clock. Potential life when there is currently just longing.
These are huge commitments to make to vulnerable consumers, so when they get it wrong, or break these promises, there are consequences, and then a bucket load of communications challenges.
The author Vivienne Kelly
The CEO is the first head to roll. To tackle the comms challenge, Monash IVF’s ASX release was deliberately brief.
Often, when companies don’t know how to farewell someone in awkward or difficult circumstances, they default to a three-pronged formula.
They give a feeling. They offer up a fact. They point to the future. Feeling. Fact. Future.
This was very much in play with the Monash IVF statement in light of the latest development.
After the opening paragraph laid out the resignation, it said: “The Board acknowledges and respects his decision [Feeling]. Since his appointment in 2019, Michael has led the organisation through a period of significant growth and transformation [Fact], and we thank him for his years of dedicated service. Monash IVF group chief financial officer and company secretary, Malik Jainudeen has been appointed as acting chief executive officer [Future].”
It’s understandable why so many companies default to this cliché when drumming up yet another press release about an unremarkable departure. It’s easy, tried-and-tested, and communicates the three necessary pieces of information. When you’re dealing with issues as big as using scientific intervention to bring human life into the world though – and what happens when that goes wrong – people are going to expect to hear a little more detail from you.
Sometimes you simply do need to say more.
It’s worth noting that the rest of the release is about Jainudeen’s career history, and ends by clarifying that he won’t be getting a pay bump from his current base salary of $378,309 (plus the potential to earn an annual incentive of 45% of total fixed remuneration). When Knaap was in the position he was on $630,515, and the annual incentive potential jumped to 65%.
So, they’re saving money, but what else? What now?
The company’s annual report messaging is focused on “inspiring today and tomorrow”, being “at the forefront of reproductive healthcare”, and helping people in Australia and Southeast Asia “achieve their dreams of starting and expanding their families”.
It is, however, an ASX-listed company, meaning that for all the storytelling (and story-selling), it actually comes down to economics. Indeed the opening words of the (now-departed) CEO Knaap in the most recent annual report are “Monash IVF Group has delivered a second consecutive year of double-digit revenue and underlying earnings growth, which is a significant achievement given the cost of living and inflationary pressures that families are facing”.
The Group’s share price was 0.75 at market close on Friday. This week, it’s fallen as low as 0.54, hovering around the lows that came with the uncertainty of the pandemic. Headlines are screaming about embryo mix ups, share price falls of 25%, and the need for intervention or regulation.
Monash IVF needs to get its internal processes in order, so people stop having the wrong cells implanted, and get on top of how it’s communicating with the public.
The story is now bigger and broader than just those who have fallen victim to the internal errors of Monash IVF. The wider population are talking about it, questioning the ethics and processes, and, no doubt, waiting for the next headline about a “scandal”, “bungle” or “mistake”.
You can’t have external messaging about being “the most admired reproductive care provider in the world” with the “best in class fertility solutions, diagnostics, genetics and pathology”, when real-world customers are suffering the consequences of those very systems failing.
The annual report’s entire section on “Brand & Marketing”, which points to its “range of new services and marketing campaigns designed to target new patient cohorts at different life stages” is redundant when the headlines are this bad.
Indeed, the report even boasts: “Public relations has been a cornerstone of our brand strategy, resulting in a remarkable increase in our PR share of voice of 60%, outpacing our competitors. Through strategic PR campaigns we have strengthened our brand’s presence and credibility in the fertility sector. These efforts have positioned Monash IVF Group as a trusted and authoritative voice in fertility treatment.”
All of which may have been true at the time of writing, but right now they might very well be dreaming of the time when their voice, their story, and their mistakes had slightly less presence and prominence.
Perhaps, while it has our attention, the company needs to reassure its customers and the market a bit more, and answer a few more questions.
How will the tenure of CEO Jainudeen be different and safer, while remaining transparent about any future mistakes? How will the company align its sparkly messaging with the gritty reality? And why should customers who have put their money (and emotional energy) into the business, return with any confidence?
Starting there might help it undo some reputational damage, and meet its stated ambition of being “the most admired fertility provider in the world” – something it would struggle to lay claim to today.
Vivienne Kelly is a former editor of Mumbrella. She has spent time as a senior comms specialist, and now co-hosts ABC Radio National’s MediaLand program, and freelances across various publications including Mumbrella.
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