What were the four moves in SeaWorld's response?
SeaWorld Entertainment answered Blackfish in four moves, and the table shows the date of each and how many days it came after the CNN premiere on October 24, 2013.
| Move | Date | What SeaWorld did | Days after CNN premiere |
|---|
| Rebut | Dec 20, 2013 | Open letter in national newspapers and a "Truth About Blackfish" web page | 57 |
| Reinvest | Aug 15, 2014 | Blue World Project: a larger San Diego orca habitat, $10 million in matching research funds, an independent advisory panel | 295 |
| Name the critics | Mar 23, 2015 | National ad campaign and AskSeaWorld.com, with PETA named in the ads | 515 |
| Concede | Nov 9, 2015 and Mar 17, 2016 | End of the Shamu show in San Diego announced, then an end to orca breeding and a Humane Society partnership | 746 and 875 |
The first rebuttal and the first change to the parks were 238 days apart. That first change, the Blue World Project, came two days after SeaWorld's shares fell about 33% on August 13, 2014, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
How did SeaWorld rebut Blackfish in 2013 and 2014?
SeaWorld rebutted Blackfish in three steps: a critique sent to film critics in July 2013, a statement to CNN in October 2013, and an open letter in national newspapers on December 20, 2013. The letter made six claims about the orcas in its care, according to the DePaul case study: SeaWorld does not capture orcas in the wild, does not separate mothers from calves, spends millions on their care, sees lifespans equal to those in the wild, benefits wild orcas, and leads in animal rescue. The same claims ran on a "Truth About Blackfish" page on SeaWorld's website.
Partners and performers moved faster than the letter. Barenaked Ladies canceled a SeaWorld concert on November 27, 2013, Willie Nelson followed on December 5, and Heart on December 7, all before the letter ran. In July 2014, Southwest Airlines and SeaWorld ended a promotional relationship that dated to 1988, and Taco Bell ended its partnership in September 2014.
SeaWorld Entertainment reported 22.4 million visitors in 2014, down 4.2% from 23.4 million in 2013, and revenue of about $1.38 billion, down 6%. Its shares fell 38% in 2014 while the S&P 500 gained 12%, according to the DePaul case study by Stefani Duhon, Kelli Ellison and Matthew W. Ragas. Blackfish was not the only factor. Robert Niles, editor of the Theme Park Insider website, told NPR that many of SeaWorld's problems traced to the lack of new major attractions, especially in the Orlando market.
What happened to SeaWorld in 2015?
SeaWorld spent 2015 trying to answer Blackfish while a new chief executive took over. Joel Manby, formerly the head of Herschend Family Entertainment, was named president and CEO on March 19, 2015, four days before the paid campaign launched. By November 2015 the Associated Press reported that park attendance was still falling and the company's stock had fallen about 50 percent over two years.
What did the 2015 numbers show?
| Measure | Result | Source as reported |
|---|
| Q1 2015 attendance | Up 5.6% year over year | Fortune, Behind the Thrills |
| Q2 2015 attendance | 6.478 million versus 6.584 million a year earlier | Times of San Diego, California Diver |
| Q2 2015 net earnings | $5.8 million versus $37.4 million a year earlier | Times of San Diego |
| Q2 2015 earnings change | Down 84% | Fortune |
| Full-year 2015 attendance | 22.5 million versus 22.4 million in 2014 | BuzzFeed News |
Manby attributed the second-quarter attendance decline to the timing of Easter, record rainfall in Texas and continued brand challenges in California, and said fully resolving those challenges would take sustained focus. A Motley Fool analysis noted that the Easter shift flattered the first quarter and hurt the second, so the first half of the year was roughly flat. The picture was mixed: attendance stabilized overall, but spending per guest and profit lagged.
What was the 2015 counter-campaign?
SeaWorld launched a national reputation campaign on March 23, 2015, with print ads in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, followed by television spots. Fortune reported a $10 million advertising effort that used experts, and in one ad a SeaWorld veterinarian rebutted the belief that killer whales live shorter lives in captivity. SeaWorld said the aim was to correct misinformation.
The campaign went further than the 2013 letter by naming critics. In a web video for the campaign, Chris Dold, SeaWorld's head veterinarian, told viewers "don't believe what PETA and Blackfish are saying," as NPR reported. PETA called the campaign a last-ditch effort, and PETA's director of animal law, Jared Goodman, said the tide had turned against SeaWorld.
What went wrong with #AskSeaWorld?
#AskSeaWorld was an open-question hashtag the company invited on Twitter during the 2015 campaign, and critics flooded it. The campaign also opened a question channel, AskSeaWorld.com. SeaWorld said it had answered 300 questions by April 2015, and also said about 70% of the questions came from PETA, other animal-rights groups or bots. Trade and business coverage at the time described the hashtag as having backfired, with the replies dominated by activists and negative responses. Behind the Thrills called it one of SeaWorld's public relations bungles, and a Motley Fool review said the ads and the hashtag campaign backfired.
The mechanics explain why. An open Q&A on a platform where critics are organized gives the critics the microphone, and every reply is public and searchable. A brand that opens a channel without moderation or a plan for hostile volume is effectively publishing its critics' arguments for them. For wider context on social listening and platform choice, see EPR's guide to useful social media insight for PR.
What was the activist infiltration episode?
In July 2015 PETA accused SeaWorld of having a human resources employee pose as an activist and join PETA's action team. On February 25, 2016, Manby told analysts that SeaWorld employees had posed as animal-rights activists and that the company would end the practice, describing it as a response to credible security threats, as the Christian Science Monitor reported. BuzzFeed News reported that the employee involved remained with the company in another department. The episode gave critics a second storyline about the company's methods at the same time it was trying to rebuild trust.
When did SeaWorld move from defense to concession?
SeaWorld moved from defense to concession between November 2015 and March 2016, first ending the Shamu show in San Diego and then ending orca breeding. On November 9, 2015, SeaWorld said it would phase out the San Diego Shamu show by 2017, and Manby said the change responded to guests rather than activists, according to the DePaul case study.
The Blue World Project, announced August 15, 2014 as a 10-million-gallon San Diego habitat, did not go ahead as announced. The California Coastal Commission approved the expansion in October 2015 only with a ban on orca breeding at the park, and SeaWorld sued, according to the Associated Press. On March 17, 2016, SeaWorld announced that orca breeding would end immediately, that it would partner with the Humane Society of the United States, and that theatrical shows would give way to "natural orca encounters" beginning in San Diego in 2017. Manby said, "We needed to move where society was moving," according to the AP's March 2016 report.
What did the SEC say about SeaWorld's statements?
The SEC filed a complaint on September 18, 2018, alleging that SeaWorld and former CEO James Atchison made untrue or misleading statements or omissions about Blackfish's effect on the company between December 20, 2013 and August 13, 2014. Final judgments in that case and a separate case against a former SeaWorld communications vice president required a combined $5,099,338 in disgorgement, prejudgment interest and penalties, according to the SEC's case page. SeaWorld settled without admitting or denying the allegations.
The complaint covered statements in SEC filings, earnings releases, earnings calls and press comments about Blackfish's effect on the business. A company that writes a public rebuttal about business impact should expect the same comparison between its public statements and its financial disclosures.
What should SeaWorld have done differently?
These lessons are EPR's analysis, drawn from the record above:
- Lead with third-party voices. Trust after a documentary tends to come from independent scientists, veterinarians and conservation groups, because audiences discount a company speaking about itself.
- Do not open an unmoderated channel to a hostile audience. #AskSeaWorld invited the exact conversation the company could not win.
- Publish the evidence. Inspection reports, health data and outside reviews give reporters something to cite, which a campaign slogan does not.
- Keep covert tactics out of the playbook. The infiltration episode created a second crisis from a tactic that did not need to exist.
- Match the response to the accusation. The charge against the company was emotional, so the answer had to be both human and factual.
- Settle the operating changes before drafting the letter. The first large change came 295 days after the CNN premiere, and the change that ended orca breeding came 875 days after it.
- Check every public claim against the financial disclosures. The SEC complaint's period runs from the day of the open letter to the August 2014 share drop.
- Brief partners before a public statement. Three musical acts canceled before the December 20, 2013 letter ran.
For the discipline behind these points, see EPR's crisis PR guide.
Sources
DePaul University, Case Studies in Strategic Communication (Duhon, Ellison and Ragas); U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission case page; NPR (March 26, 2015); Associated Press (March 23, 2015, November 2015 and March 17, 2016); Christian Science Monitor (February 25, 2016); Fortune (August 6, 2015); Times of San Diego (August 6, 2015); California Diver; Behind the Thrills; Motley Fool (August 2015); BuzzFeed News.
