Crisis Management

A tweet, statement or leaked email from the likes of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and former CEOs John Schnatter (Papa John’s) John Schnatter and Travis Kalanick (Uber) could make or break a company’s reputation. Regardless of your organization’s size, preparing for leadership gaffes is an essential part of any PR pro’s job.

If you don’t have a crisis communication plan with designated strategies, roles, actions and follow-up, you will be hopelessly behind before the trouble starts. What follows are tips to serve as guides to best practices, and, depending on your level of acquaintance with crisis management, I hope they are helpful as new ideas, refreshers, jumping-off points, a checklist or a combination.

In this month’s Buzz Box, we explain the Tinkerbell Effect and Green Hydrogen and their impact for crisis communicators.

Months ago, it seemed clear much of the COVID-19 story, at least in the United States, revolved around communication. It still does. The word ‘communication’ wasn’t used often when discussing battling COVID-19, but it remains… Continued

This month’s Crisis Insider dialogue considers why two entities can react similarly to PR crises and obtain vastly different results: One company exits the crisis promptly, the other continues to experience issues. Our dialoguers are Maureen Cahill, partner, Bellmont Partners, and Dan Jasper, VP, communications, Mall of America. Interestingly, Cahill was Jasper’s predecessor at Mall of America.

The remarks not only allow the public to drag Smith through the mud, but take ESPN right along with it by showing that it will continue to allow these short-sighted, inflammatory takes and attitudes. 

Although the headlines in the last year have been been laser-focused on COVID and racial equity workforce violations, the #MeToo era is far from over. Recent responses to harassment, sexual violence and misogyny at a Michigan boutique and Virginia Military Institute indicate a lack of accountability and action following instances of harassment.

How should communicators handle bad facts that they’re called on to clean up? When they’re true, own them, say veteran PR pros.

A typical summertime activity, visiting an amusement park, turned tragic at Adventureland Park in Altoona, Iowa. On July 3, an 11-year-old boy, Michael Jaramillo, died after a group tube on the Raging River ride flipped over, trapping him and his family members underneath. The park’s response could have been more sympathetic.

Whether it’s tennis associations pitted against athletes, NHL hockey teams covering up sexual abuse, the NCAA battling its member universities and athletes, European soccer bosses jousting with fans or organizers of the Tokyo Olympics seemingly ignoring athletes, doctors and the majority of Japanese citizens–the antediluvian approach of these sporting entities to stakeholder communication is inescapable.