Founder and CEO, Rubin Communications Group
Fortunately, we don’t have a crisis every day in Hampton Roads. We often bemoan the fact that we are not major league in sports, but we also do not have many major-league emergencies either – political, criminal, natural or otherwise. Unfortunately, we do have our share of tragedy and turmoil and on occasion, clients ask Rubin Communications Group to be the go-between with the outside world.
So it was on Sunday morning June 23. The attorney for Guadalajara at Town Center in Virginia Beach contacted me for assistance. He told me someone had shot and killed a man and wounded four others outside the restaurant nine hours earlier. That’s all he knew and all, I would learn, police reported at the time. I drove to Guadalajara and met the owner, Jerry Rodriguez, who was in his office rewinding surveillance tape, looking, as police had done earlier that morning, for images of the victim or possibly the perpetrator walking in or out of his establishment sometime before it closed at 1:30 am. There was no sign of either person.
So Jerry and I were in a quandary. Given there had been a shooting three years earlier outside the restaurant, precipitated apparently by an argument inside during a birthday party for quarterback Michael Vick, the public was bound to believe, evidence notwithstanding, that Guadalajara caused this latest crime. Detectives, understandably, were little help that Sunday. Except for a brief statement, they offered few details and as the week went on released little more. All we learned was the name of the deceased and the fact that the shooting occurred at the foot of a staircase a number of yards from Guadalajara, not in or in front of the restaurant itself.
Yet in the perception department, we still weren’t in the clear. By Wednesday, Jerry Rodriguez and Armada Hoffler had agreed that Town Center and Guadalajara (or more specifically, its after-hours club Guads) were no longer a good fit. The restaurant would close by Sunday, a decision my client, maybe reluctantly, accepted.
What was a PR counselor to do? Should I wage a media war against the landlord, which many loyal patrons and others who viewed Jerry as blameless would have supported? Should I put Jerry in front of TV cameras so reporters could pursue that line of questioning? Admittedly, Rodriguez’s predicament put my judgment to the test because in these dynamic episodes, I almost wanted to second guess my own advice, particularly when the media asked for more access than I felt comfortable providing.
In the end, I decided Jerry would gain nothing from an aggressive campaign, and he agreed.
I repeat. He agreed.
I have worked over the past two decades with others clients who, when faced with a setback, insisted on trying to turn reporters into advocates. As a former journalist, I always urge them to think like one. “Reporters work for the public, not the newsmaker,” I tell them. “Don’t expect them to be your publicist.”
Jerry listened closely and together, we worked on strategies and statements. He returned my calls and texts expeditiously. He could have brought his attorney into every conversation. He didn’t. He trusted his gut and my suggestions.
Jerry was a stand-up guy in a tough situation as he watched his business go under from no apparent fault of his own. He realized the nightclub he tried hard to manage was in the wrong place and now had a brand so tarnished it could not be saved. He had enough faith in his own talents to believe he could recover and create another Mexican-themed restaurant in Virginia Beach or elsewhere. I trust he will for his sake and those of the employees who lost their jobs when Guadalajara locked its doors for the last time.
At week’s end, I came away with a positive professional experience. I had a client willing to be guided through a difficult period because he understood that failing in one battle was better than losing an entire war.
My goal, during that trying week, was to help Jerry resume his career in hospitality after the press and public moved on to the next crisis, which even in relatively calm Coastal Virginia is always just a news cycle away.
Joel Rubin, APR is the Founder and CEO of Rubin Communications Group. You can reach him at joel@rubincommunications.com.
