The BOM’s horrible new site provides a great comms case study

There’s a golden rule that should apply to all crisis communications: “It’s not what happens. It’s what happens after you learn about an issue.”

Australians are a forgiving lot.

We’ll nod if a company shows genuine contrition during a crisis.

But that golden rule doesn’t apply this week.

Bureau of Meteorology, step on up.

You’re delivering one of the best case studies in crisis communications in years.

This is about that dog of a website refresh that has become a talking point across the nation.

It has key elements of popular stories: it involves taxpayer money; it’s about the weather; and it involves allegations of incompetence. Audiences love to talk about all three elements.

The reason the golden rule doesn’t apply is simple.

Enjoying Mumbrella? Sign up for our free daily newsletter.

It’s hard to respond effectively to a problem that has been years in the planning.

Think of the chef who spends days preparing a meal only to watch diners gag on their first bite.

No amount of salt, pepper, herbs and spices will rescue that meal.

Website refreshes don’t happen overnight. They sometimes take years.

They’re supposed to be thoroughly tested with people representative of audience demographics.

Yes, the Bureau’s website was old.

There were more attractive websites around.

But the Bureau isn’t selling merchandise, tickets or holidays.

It’s not there to stun us with 4K videos or fancy fonts.

It’s there to provide information about the weather. Give it to me quickly, simply and locally.

The website refresh doesn’t do any of that.

If you can navigate your way through the Soviet-era colour palate, you’ll find it takes more clicks to get information.

Some of the information is presented in an inferior way.

The author Michael Crutcher

And some of the information just isn’t there.

The Bureau would have known immediately that its new site was in trouble.

Radio hosts reported a rush of text messages from listeners before news stories had been published.

#changeitback emerged as a trend on social media.

So, how should the Bureau respond?

There are some basic crisis checks that should have guided them.

Firstly, is this really a story or will it be gone by tomorrow?

It’s a story. No doubt.

That’s why a bunch of politicians jumped on the bandwagon. It’s better to be marching with the masses than to be accused of defending a mess.

Does it impact many people?

It’s the weather. Whether you’re rich or poor, old or young, cat or dog, the weather’s important.

Is the timing bad?

It’s the start of the hot months. Southeast Queensland was hammered by storms last Sunday yet the radar was hard to find and it showed unfamiliar colours.

(The Federal Government should take note of timing as it prepares to stop under 16s from using YouTube as the longest school holiday break of the year begins.)

Is there an easy fix?

The Bureau could always bring the old website back. It’s still being used by plenty of people who can’t stand the new one.

But that would create fresh problems. That’s an admission that years of work and more than $4 million in funding has been taken out back and shot. And it would ensure plenty of media scrutiny when a new site was launched.

The Bureau has really done the only thing it can do.

It said sorry. It promised to listen to feedback (except when it repeatedly stopped comments on social media platforms). And it said we’d soon notice improvements.

It’s promoting its website tutorials which are an admission that the site is confusing.

This is one of those crises that will cover an organisation in mud. There’s no way to avoid that.

Yes, time improves everything.

The Bureau will get over it. It’s been around for more than a century.

But it should prepare for extra scrutiny in the months ahead.

And it should brace for a long summer of being the butt of jokes. Just don’t expect to find them on the new site.

Michael Crutcher is the director of strategic communications firm 55 comms. He was the editor of The Courier-Mail from 2010 to 2013.