Public Relations London

Nexus was called in to work with the board of directors of a top 20 UK food company to handle and control a product recall of a promotional product which was considered to be a danger to the very children at which the product was aimed.

The product had been imported from China and there was a chain of responsibility to unravel.

The promotion was also featured prominently on millions of packs and the toy was already in circulation.

Consultation took place with the board of directors, sources and promotional company and apart from immediate withdrawal, the strategy adopted was to contact each of the recipients directly by letter.

All other documents were drafted including press advertisement copy, press statement, question and answer document, briefing document for the sales team to take to the trade and in-store notices should they be required if the response to the recall letter was low.

78% of all products were returned on receipt of the letter and the matter was handled to the satisfaction of the Trading Standards Office which was involved in every step.

The brand's reputation was unharmed as further applicants were suitably compensated, no scare stories were circulated and media coverage was prevented by damping down rapidly.

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