Ifantis: Crisis Communication Project

I. Introduction

Ifantis is one of the largest companies dominating the food market in Greece. It has been controlling a big part of the shares for a few decades now and has managed to build a reputation for themselves. In my opinion, when we hear of these brands, we think of them as something very familiar and close to us. We grew up watching their continuous advertisements on TV and snacking on their products whenever we felt hungry. This household brand, however, has had its downfalls as does everything. Over the years, but more specifically over the course of the past decade, Ifantis has been found upon the face of a few crises. Now, what is a crisis? Usually, for companies and organizations a crisis refers to an occurrence of any event that seems to be of threatening nature towards their resources. As a result, every company should embody a strategic and effective crisis plan that grooms the efficacy of their risk management.

Throughout this paper, a thorough company profile for Ifantis will be provided in order to determine the company’s main components. Furthermore, based on prior scandals and crises, a list of risk identifications will be enumerated and subsequently a crisis plan will be constructed in order to effectively deal with and cover all of them.

II. Company Profile

Overview of the Company

Ifantis was founded in 1980, by the Ifantis brothers. They initiated the first factory located in Moschato, Athens, which produced and sold cold cuts. The company soon attracted the attention of the public, gaining a national reputation and respect. The company’s headquarters are now located in the area of Kifisia. The company consists of the production factory and the privately owned distribution center in Athens and the capacity of the factory is 50 tons of cold cuts per day one shift (Ifantis, n.d.). Ifantis works in collaboration with the parent company Ifantis SA and other companies of the Ifantis group. They produce cold cuts of all sorts, boiled, smoked and cured meats, as we all as sausages, and other various products. The distribution takes place from their factory in Alexandroupolis. In 1998, the company founded its first production surpassing the Greek borders. Ifantis Romania is now located in Bucharest, producing 10 tons of cold cuts per day (Ifantis, n.d.). Currently, the company also operates in Bulgaria as of 2008 and in Cyprus as of 2012.

The company operates in five different sectors, which are processed meats, frozen foods, traditional Greek salads, feta cheese and extra virgin olive oil. Overall, it produces more than 500 high-quality products (Ifantis, n.d.). Ifantis has managed to generate their success to all of their products, due to the exceptional quality but also the relationship they have maintained with their consumers. By creating a trust bond with the audience, it is almost guaranteed that they will prefer the specific brand over another competitor one.

Ifantis has faced a few crises over the years. It was actually an accomplice in a huge scandal, in which many food companies were involved throughout Europe. The horse-meat scandal took place in 2013, and it prevailed in a few parts of Europe, including Greece. Products that were advertised and sold as beef were contaminated, following the detected DNA of undeclared horsemeat they found. This took a toll on Ifantis (See Appendix 1).

In addition, it was very recently, around 2015-2016, that Ifantis’ chicken nuggets were withdrawn from the market by the Hellenic Food Authorities due to salmonella (Insider, n.d.). This stigmatized and weighed the company down even more, since the two scandals occurred in a small timeframe; not allowing Ifantis to fully recover from one crisis before being hit by another (See Appendix 2).

The impact of these crises has affected the company and their attribution quite a lot. Since they are a leading brand in the Greek food market, competitor brands have found supporting ground to elevate their own name.

Mission

Ifantis seeks to create a healthy and balanced diet for their trusted consumers. By offering safe and good-quality products to their consumers, they help them eat and live better without being deprived of taste and nutritional value (Ifantis, n.d.).

Vision

The vision of the company is to maintain their leading position in the food production market, whilst offering their excellent quality products to their consumers, whether they are located in Greece or abroad. In order to succeed, they want to create a working environment that inspires trust, respect and the importance of teamwork, but mostly pride in their products (Ifantis, n.d.).

Values

Even though the company has gained mass recognition over the years, their values remain the same and they are at the heart of their corporate philosophy. Their main value is the maintenance of a ‘humane’ foundation, with its mail goals being the quality, innovation, evolution and continuous improvement (Ifantis, n.d.).

Goals and Objectives

Every company’s ideology is oriented around the main goals and objectives of the organization. For Ifantis, people are the foundation of a company. Therefore, as an organization, their goal is to constantly respect and support their employees in order to seek and achieve their highest performance.

Moreover, they emphasize how important respect is to them, towards their employees, society, the environment and, of course, the consumers. Their objective is to manufacture and sell products of high nutritional and quality value at a price that is compatible with the standards under which we live (Ifantis, n.d.).

Another objective of the company is behaving with responsibility and integrity towards their employees, partners and suppliers as they have shown the company as well throughout all these years (Ifantis, n.d.). This ensures healthy working relationships, and a mutually respected environment in which everyone can be content.

Competition

To comprehend the standpoint of a company within a specific market, it is vital to acknowledge its competitors. The food and drink industry in the Greek market represents approximately 21% (Demiris et. al, 2005, p.169). More specifically, Ifantis is amongst the ten largest processed meat companies in Greece. First comes Creta Farm with 13.5-14.5% of market shares, then Ifantis comes second with 12-13% and Nikas is in third place with a percentage of 11-11.5% (Karaxristos, 2012, p.19). According to these shares, Ifantis is a very dominant brand name within the market.

(See Appendix 3 for more)

Target Audience

The target audience is the backbone of a brand. When it comes to food, the audience tends to take a broader perspective, since everyone buys and consumes food one way or another. Cold-cut brands have an audience within the age range of 18-55. They penetrate the age group of young adults, because college students and young adults embarking on their journey of living alone tend to favor easy and quick food options, and cold-cuts are ideal for sandwiches and snacks. At the same time, families are also included, especially those who have kids and are in the look for quick sandwiches that they can make for their kids. Considering that, they also have specific products that are directed towards kids like parizaki. As far as the older age group goes, women have a higher relation with food penetration since they tend to do the grocery shopping more often. Nonetheless, gender is less significant in this case. As far as psychographics go, the brand targets middle- and high-class people since their products vary from basic to more gourmet tastes and options like Fouantre for more special occasions.

Stakeholders

The stakeholders of a company include anyone who has an interest in it, whether that is internal or external. For Ifantis, stakeholders include employees, partners and suppliers. One of their suppliers is called Tzioumakis. As they emphasize on their website as well, “our human resources, partners and suppliers are based daily on the integrity of our work, our workplace, our research, our production, our products, our sales and marketing, and finally our relationships with society,” (Ifantis, n.d.).

SWOT Analysis

See Appendix 4 for the analysis.

Messages & Communication Channels

Ifantis’ slogan is “You choose Ifantis…You choose quality.” Slogans play a very essential role in the way a brand is established in the market and upon the eyes of the consumers. “Advertising slogans act as a hook whereby the customer grasps the concept of a brand, and intensify everything that makes the brand distinct,” (Abdi & Irandoust, 2013, p. 63). This specific slogan makes an appearance in the majority of their posters, TV spots, and social media.

(See Appendix 4 for more)

III. Issue/Risk Identification

There is a significant distinction between a crisis and a risk. “We separate crisis and risk, because we believe that, while risk is a natural part of life, crisis can be often avoided,” (Ulmer, Sellnow & Seeger, 2017, p. 8). Having said that, and while crises can be averted, poor risk management can very easily lead to one.

Risk identification is the initial step of risk management. Enumerating the potential risks an organization or a company can face, ensures effectiveness and prevention. However, “if risk managers do not succeed in identifying all possible losses or gains that challenge the organization, then these non-identified risks will become non-manageable,” (Tchankova, 2002, p. 291). This process is continuous, and one should not seize to look for upcoming, potential issues.

In order to identify risk that is narrowed to the specific organization/company at hand, one should ask three questions:

1. “How can the organizational resources be threatened?

2. What adverse effect can prevent the organization from achieving its goals?

3. What favorable possibility can be revealed?” (Tchankova, 2002, p. 291)

Furthermore, risk identification is described through the use of four elements: sources of risk, hazard factors, perils and exposures to risk (Tchankova, 2002. p. 291). When identifying potential risks, this criterion aids the process. Additionally, it is essential to keep in mind that when scanning for risks, it is only deemed one if it affects the resources of the organization.

When it comes to identifying the sources of risk, they are highly dependent on the environment out of which they emerge. According to Williams, the potential environments can be physical, social, political, operational, economic, legal and cognitive (Tchankova, 2002. p. 294).

Given Ifantis’ history with previous crises, they seem to have handled them efficiently. The horsemeat scandal was circulating like wildfire at the time, and surely it corroded some of the reputation some companies had worked so hard to build. However, Ifantis managed to retaliate quite fast, and repair some of the damage.

However, not even 3 years after the horsemeat crisis had blown over, an entire batch of Ifantis’ chicken nuggets were recalled and withdrawn from all stores by the Hellenic Food Authorities, due to salmonella detection. As it is known to everyone, salmonella is a type of bacteria which can go as far as hospitalize you for days. Certainly, Ifantis was found with another crisis at hand. In fact, Ifantis received major counterblast from this since they did not come up with an apology straight away.

Very shortly after they were accused of their involvement in these crises, in 2015, they introduced the FreshPress technology; an innovative tool that exterminates bacteria and preserves food for longer, maintaining its freshness. They have a whole section dedicated to this newfound technological advancement in their website, and they emphasize how important it is to them that their products are safe and fresh for consumption. This response appeals to the Discourse of Renewal Theory, which practically discusses how an organization learns from their mistakes after they have been faced with a crisis.

These product crises are mainly focused on the operational environment because it is the organization’s activities that resulted in them.

Potential Risks

Every company is prone to some type of risk. When it comes to companies that deal with food, the serious risks tend to incline towards contamination, spoilage and food safety. The impact following a crisis as such can be fatal to the company, depending on the scale of seriousness regarding the crisis. Nonetheless, effective risk management lessens the chances of a company having to face something that might be irreversible.

Intentional Risks

a. Food contamination

For Ifantis, given their prior history, product contamination is an issue. When dealing with conventional animal products, it is easy to divert from their safety to consume. “The presence of microbial contaminant, especially pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia Coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Listeria monocytogenes, in fresh meat and meat products is of major concern because it can cause adverse effects on human health and compromise food safety,” (Sofos, 2005, p. 4).

Therefore, big brands such as Ifantis in this case, must and should be very conscious of the products they offer to the mass publics. Especially since, a health crisis applied to a large audience is a disaster at hand. This, in the worst-case scenarios, can result in lawsuits, bankruptcy and a reputation that is unable to ever revive.

Contaminated meats, especially a crisis similar to the horsemeat scandal, is something that could be prevented. The company knowingly puts these products in the market. This action portrays poor risk management, since it is inevitable that something so big will break out one way or another.

b. Sabotage

Given their ongoing rivalry between major competitor brands in the Greek market, it is possible that actions to further sabotage the reputation of Ifantis could be a risk. Creta Farms has taken the lead in the market, as far as deli-meat products go, and unlike Ifantis and Nikas, they have not been involved in any major scandals in the recent years. In 2020, it was reported that Ifantis’ shares fell to 28% from 32.4% (Capital.gr, 2020).

However, this is not a very likely scenario since the company itself has not exhibited any issues with employees inside the company so far.

c. Unethical Leadership

The horsemeat scandal prepared the grounds for dishonesty of the organization. This was a very intentional crisis, that could have been unforgiving if it had escalated further. Nonetheless, consumers might forgive but do not forget. “Unethical behavior can and often is the ultimate cause of a crisis situation,” (Ulmer, Sellnow & Seeger, 2017, p. 10).

If Ifantis has done this once, they are prone to doing it again. Especially given the current financial situation under the restrictions and damages of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies might be more tempted to engage in unethical methods of cutting down on expenses.

d. Robbery

Apparently Ifantis has faced a robbery crisis in the recent years. In December of 2016, an armed robbery took place in the company of Ifantis in Kato Kifissia. The perpetrators shot the owner’s son and brother, whilst escaping with thousands of dollars. Employees were also harmed. There were fortunately no deaths reported. The robbers were arrested due to how many crimes they were responsible for in the span of the year. “The illegal cost obtained by the perpetrators is estimated to exceed 1,100,000 euros,” (Panagiotidis, 2018).

This intentional risk is not considered often, but it can certainly happen. Apart from the apparent outcomes, there are many after-effects to such a crisis. Whilst insurance tends to cover the loss of money, employees involved might suffer serious psychological damage. It is vital to be prepared for ways to deal with this in order to prevent a loss in productivity.

e. Workers Conditions

Without the production, Ifantis is useless. Workers responsible for the production should and must be treated fairly, under conditions that are more than suitable for labor. It is very often heard that the workers’ union of a company is on a strike, and production has come to a halt. This usually happens when the workers are not satisfied. This is certainly an intentional risk that can be taken care of.

Unintentional Risks

a. Natural Disasters

Every company/organization is vulnerable in the face of an unstoppable natural disaster. There is little one can do to prevent risks in the physical environment. Ifantis in Greece has production factories in Athens, Alexandroupolis and Trikala. It was only 6 months ago that a wildfire broke out in their factory located in Trikala. The main office that holds the offices of the company was completely burnt down, additionally with a very large warehouse that was filled with products (NewsIT, 2021). The cost of this damage is estimated to be over hundreds of thousands of euros.

Risks as such can occur at any time and place, and there are little to no measures than can be implemented to prevent it. Therefore, it is essential to at least be prepared in the case of a breakout. It can lead to damages worth a fortune, and more seriously to injuries or even deaths.

Wildfires in Greece are very common. Especially during the summer when the weather is hot and dry, and at times winds are very strong. This increases the chances for a fire drastically, especially in the factories located these cities with a large previous history of fire outbreaks.

b. Disease Outbreak

It goes without saying that a deadly disease outbreak is not a far-stretched scenario given the situation the entire world has been facing during the past year. With COVID-19, safety and health percussions have been reinforced more than ever. Even with a disease outbreak that is not generated to the whole world but specifically targeted within the company, there should be specific guidelines on what to do.

c. Technical Interactions

Such crises are unavoidable for everyone as well. Power outages can occur at any time. When it comes to the production, a long-lasting power outage can cause problems. The company should be prepared with generators and efficient teams to fix the problem as fast they possibly can.

d. Economic Crisis

Given the severe consequences of the 2008-2010 financial crisis, people and huge companies and foundations know what it is like to reach rock bottom. A crisis as such can be catastrophic and fatal to a company. The pandemic currently has contributed very negatively to the economy as well. Already, Ifantis shares in 2020 fell by 6%.

e. Changes in legislation

A change in legislation can increase the costs of a business, whilst tax regulations can increase as well; something that is not ideal.

Risk Matrix

See Appendix 5 for full risk matrix.

IV. Crisis Plan

Risks can arise at any time and place; therefore, it is key for a company to be prepared to face them whenever the time comes. As it is so nicely put by Dyer, “taking an expansive definition of crisis then, who needs a crisis communication plan? The answer in these media logic times is: Everyone,” (Dyer, 1995, p. 39). Every company should have a designated crisis management team because it is an area that requires continuity, upgrade and alert.

There are three stages to a communication plan: pre-crisis, crisis, post-crisis. This generic document gives an idea of the strategic approach which will be used; it is a reference tool, not a given solution.

Crisis Communication Plan for Ifantis

The goal of this crisis communication plan is to protect the company. By setting up a mass notification system, the company can use this plan as a reference guide, in the case of a crisis. Whatever the crisis the hand might be, the general objectives always circulate around the protection of the reputation of the company.

Strategic Objectives

Objectives represent the desired achievement. In this case, the objectives of the plan should be rather generic since they apply to all potential risks that Ifantis can face. They should aim at the protection of the company’s reputation, as well as the protection of their stakeholders since they are a vital part of an organization. In addition, when it comes to the eruption of a scandal, or any given crisis, it is important to avoid as much media coverage as possible. The media feed off bad situations, and often tend to make them worse for effect. This can worsen the situation by a lot.

o To generate accurate information to those affected, including internal and external parties

o To increase positive media statements regarding the crisis

o To make sure more than 90% of the media reports are not false, and if not to correct that

o To provide a full report of all the information needed to the employers within the company by at least 90%

o To offer support to the employees who might have been affected, whether that is financial or psychological

o To offer support to consumers or external stakeholders that might have been affected

o A less than 20% drop in reputation of the company after the crisis

o A less than 15% drop in market shares of the company within the first month of the crisis

o A less than 10% drop in product sales following the next 2 months (depending on how big the crisis was)

Stakeholders/Audiences

When implementing the basis of this plan, it is essential to establish to whom it is referring. Most likely, when a company is undergoing a crisis, the response is directed towards those affected. After establishing that, the target audience is then split into two hemispheres, the victims and the non-victims (Coombs, 1995, p. 148). The victims are those who were directly affected and harmed because of the crisis. In the case of Ifantis, the victims of their previous crises would have been the consumers who purchased and consumed their contaminated products, or the employers who witnessed the fire or the robbery. Harm, however, does not necessarily need to be physical.

Furthermore, the non-victims can either be potential victims or voyeurs. Those who simply observe the crisis. Those are mostly people who work in the media and seek information. The plan also calls for their involvement since publicity can really fuel a crisis if not handled correctly.

The purpose of the plan is to look out for the stakeholders of Ifantis, whilst maintaining a good relationship with them and dealing effectively with what it is that comes their way.

Messages

The messages of a plan are really dependent on the nature of the crisis. For example, if the crisis is a shortage in cold-cuts, then the message can be an apology of light-hearted nature. However, if the crisis has or is compromising safety and health guidelines, then it must be the complete opposite.

Messages should be consistent and should be effectively delivered across. A sincere apology, most likely, is the most admirable way a company can own up to a mistake, unless it is not reversable. For example, “Expect a message from our CEO in one hour,” or “Check our website for further updates on the crisis.” These straightforward messages are exactly what the audience seeks for when dealing with a crisis, whether they are directly affected or not.

Tactics

The use of social media is the fastest way the company can ensure consumer penetration. Therefore, since Ifantis has a strong social media presence, in times of a crisis, it is suitable to send out statements through their platforms. This ensures that their consumers will be reached within minutes. Especially if the company wants to come out with a public apology, it is important to reassure the publics, by letting them know through social media, that an apology is coming.

Evaluation

Eventually, the crisis must come to an end one way or another. Usually, evaluation is done through the collection of feedback. This feedback can come in the form of a survey, interview, or even a meeting. Most importantly, a crisis that affects stakeholders should also be evaluated through employee performance. For example, after a crisis like a robbery, the performance of the employees will certainly and inevitably not be sufficient if Ifantis has not handled it properly.

Another factor for evaluation is media coverage. If the company has handled the crisis at hand in a manner that shed light in the situation whilst respectably taking the blame, if required, then the media coverage will convey just that. This is a form of positive feedback.

Overall, the evaluation should aim at determining whether the objectives of the crisis communication plan have been achieved.

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