Maurits says sorry, but is it too late?

Maurits says sorry, but is it too late?

Maurits Hendriks, chef de mission of the Dutch national team at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro is an ambitious man. Even though the Netherlands, a relatively small country, finished 11^th in the overall medal ranking, Maurits claimed not to be satisfied by the results of TeamNL. However, as Stefan Wilten argued in his blog on September 15^th, Maurits Hendriks’ decisions, especially regarding communication, during the Olympics were far from perfect. The so-called ‘loser-flight’ was one of the main issues that Maurits had to deal with during the past summer Olympics.  

                                                     (picture by www.upcoming.nl)

And now, on October 11^th, Maurits apologized for the loser-flight. That is 56 days after it landed on Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands. Maurits stated that he would like to finish his mission in Tokyo in 2020 and strongly believes that the Netherlands can be part of the 10 best countries at the next summer Olympics. Was his reputation damaged too much or will he get a second chance?

What is wrong with a loser-flight?

As mentioned previously, the loser-flight was one of the main issues for Maurits. He greatly underestimated the media attention that it would receive. Sung and Hwang (2014) argue that during crisis situations, it is essential to monitor and engage with relevant sites and social media communication. Because NOS-NSF had underestimated the media coverage in the first place, their response, which was very limited, was not based on monitored communication and did not engage with relevant sites and social media influencers. From the very beginning the loser-flight had a negative annotation to it. The word will always be associated with those who failed to win a medal and had to leave the Olympics before the closing ceremony. The loser-flight has become so-called key event. As van Gorp (2007) argues in his article, key events can lead to the activation of alternative frames in the media. Especially if these key events become part of the collective memory. After this issue and the dismissal of Youri van Gelder, the frames regarding Maurits Hendriks and NOS-NSF became very negative.

Crisis communication

Coombs (2007) introduced several crisis communication strategies. One of these is the 'diminish crisis response' strategy where an organization tries to reduce the negativity surrounding the crisis or distance itself from the crisis situation. These claims need to be supported by solid evidence and even if there is evidence it might fail. And if it fails it can backfire. In the case of the loser-flight it clearly backfired. Nearly all the media outlets and people posting comments on social media continued using the negative frame regarding the loser-flight. 

                                                      (picture by the Volkskrant)

Conclusion

As mentioned in the introduction, Maurits would like to continue his job and finish his mission in 2020. He has already made clear that there will be no loser-flight flying home from Tokyo. However, I do wonder whether or not his reputation among the athletes, the public, the sponsors and NOS-NSF is strong enough to be part of the team in 2020. Can he stimulate the athletes to achieve maximum results if these events have greatly damaged his reputation? Maybe he could start by developing a clear and solid crisis and communication strategy. I guess time will tell if he will be there in 2020.

Niels van der Plas is a student in persuasive communication at the University of Amsterdam. He loves to watch and play football and is passionate about the world of online marketing. Niels writes about social media, online marketing and current (sport) events.