A leading media analyst has argued 2DayFM could have saved itself from a major financial and PR blowback after the royal prank and the following tragedy, if it had kept all of its advertising and taken a different approach.
Cox Media principal Peter Cox has suggested that the station should have kept all ads, and instead donated the proceeds to the family of the deceased nurse, who reportedly took her own life after 2DayFM presenters made a prank call to the hospital where she worked.
Southern Cross Austereo made the decision to remove all advertising from 2DayFM Sydney following the tragic news of the nurse's death, a move which is reportedly costing the company $180,000 a day, or $1 million a week.
Cox told AdNews: “The company is facing some major blowback – both financially and in terms of image.
“But the company's reaction seems very knee-jerk.
“If they had kept all advertising and donated the proceeds to the family, it would have generated good will, and could have saved them from such a massive financial set back as well. Maybe if there was more good will, the share price wouldn't have dropped as far as it did yesterday.”
The company's shares dropped nearly 6% yesterday, but at the time of writing they have climbed back up 2.4%. Cox said he expected any hits to the share price to be “short term”.
“They should have dedicated a day or a weekend to the family, and this would have won them some PR plaudits, and would have protected the share price.”
He said the “knee-jerk” reaction from the the company was most likely partially spurred by a fear of social media.
“Social media is a strong component of fighting corporate life against community interests, and it is clearly making boards nervous. The whole thing is an over-reaction to a very unfortunate incident.
"They could not have foreseen this would have happened. But after it did happen, the obvious move should have been to help the family.”
He also suggested that by supporting the family, the network might have been able to salvage its relationship with advertisers like Coles.
"They could have asked for Coles support with the initiative, and made it a joint effort to support the family."
Meanwhile, Fusion Strategy managing director Steve Allen also suggested the situation has been “blown up” by people on social media trying to get their “fifteen minutes of fame”.
“It's people on social media exercising their power because they can,” Allen said. “It's ridiculous, because they are using their freedom of speech to campaign against freedom of speech.”
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