In recent years we have witnessed the growing concern that companies and their managers have in relation to the potential impact that litigations might have on their reputation. The department of Communications and Litigations of LLORENTE & CUENCA sought to develop a tool which, in a more objective way than intuition, helped people anticipate which legal conflicts might receive broader media coverage and generate more online conversation.
Therefore, we analyzed over 70 cases in which we have worked during the past 20 years and shared our conclusions with the main journalists of national media specialized in legal information. Subsequently, the network of over 40 senior consultants in Spain helped us to determine and weigh up which factors might influence this process and generate broad coverage in both the media and the online universe.
Based on the results, we developed a model, the FRAC analysis, which does not only take into account the factors that might influence the coverage of the litigation, but also to which degree each of them influences the final result. Moreover, it distinguishes between “intrinsic” factors, such as the notoriety of the company or the person in question as well as the topicality of the issue in the media and “extrinsic” factors: elements that are not directly related to the litigation at hand but which might influence the coverage it receives, for example: availability in the media or the agenda of the journalists during the main points of the process.
Thus, FRAC analysis is a useful measuring tool (which helps compare different cases as well) to anticipate the potential coverage that the legal proceeding will generate. And thanks to the index result of the Analysis, we will be able to design a more appropriate reputation management plan and, therefore, decide the best possible communication strategy according to the circumstances of each case.
Luis Miguel Peña, Senior Director of Communication and Litigations of LLORENTE & CUENCA.
Alba García, Consultant of LLORENTE & CUENCA Spain
