Margaret River Pro:
Crisis Communications under a global spotlight
CRISIS COMMS · MAJOR EVENTS · TOURISM · REPUTATION MANAGEMENT
The Situation
When two shark attacks cancelled a world-tour surf event, the job was to protect a destination, a client and a state’s reputation in real time, on the front line.
During the 2018 WSL Margaret River Pro, one of 11 World Surf League Championship Tour events globally, two non-fatal shark attacks occurred on the same day at beaches 15km away. The attacks were unrelated to the competition, but media coverage tied them directly to the event. WSL cancelled the Pro with no warning to the local team.
What was at risk
Pronto PR was engaged by Surfing WA, the local event manager, as the bridge between the World Surf League and WA media. With Tourism WA as major partner, three reputations were exposed at once: Surfing WA, Margaret River as a destination, and Western Australia itself. The risk: headlines casting Margaret River as shark-infested and the Pro as gone for good.
The strategy
Calm, fast, collaborative crisis communications. Working alongside the WSL media team while making sure Surfing WA’s voice was also heard.
- Front-line local media contact across three days, fielding calls from every major outlet and as far as CNN Hong Kong, BBC London and the Straits Times.
- Advised WSL to hold an immediate press conference on cancellation, before speculation filled the vacuum, then directed media to it and pushed out recorded video and written statements to control the message.
- Monitored coverage continuously and corrected inaccuracies fast. Several stories, including ABC, corrected within the hour.
- Influenced the language of WSL statements to be more favourable to Margaret River as a destination and ensured every Surfing WA statement supported WSL while carrying local key messages.
- Kept the accurate explanation front and centre: unusual shark activity driven by two beached whale carcasses and salmon running, shark attacks were not the norm nor a permanent problem.
Outcome: Reputation protected
Despite the cancellation, reporting was accurate, explaining the genuine reasons behind the unusual shark activity. Surfing WA’s reputation remained intact, and the organisation was positioned empathetically around a decision WSL alone had made. The Margaret River Pro was subsequently granted a further three-year licence.
Good-news stories ran in parallel: a fundraiser for the first shark-attack victim, who was saved by first responders trained through Surfing WA’s free surf first-aid program, raised close to $30,000 and was covered by The Australian, The West Australian and Seven News.
Media Coverage Generated
Coverage spanned the BBC, The Washington Post, Forbes, the LA Times and the Jakarta Post, with more than 175 online articles, not counting TV, radio or print. Accurate reporting that a lay day had been called for conditions, not shark fears.
What they said...
“She proved to be exceptional under pressure and in a crisis situation — her experience really helped us manage the media, and I can’t recommend her services enough.”