Crisis Management

Regardless of a settlement, MGM still needs to repair its reputation—not only with the people of Vegas, but America as a whole. It’s easy to throw money at a problem and walk away, but the sting of the initial reaction by MGM after the shootings will never be forgotten. 

No amount of money can ever bring a person back from death. And a settlement reached two years after a national tragedy might be too late to repair a consumer’s perception of a brand.  While… Continued

Brands need to be certain their values align with the actions they take. For nonprofits that means being cognizant of the sources of donations. As the venerable Royal Shakespeare Company in the U.K. learned this week, hell hath no fury like students with tickets that an environmentally-unfriendly brand subsidized.

Neumann stepped down from his role as CEO on September 24th, and less than a week later, on Monday, September 30th, WeWork’s IPO was halted indefinitely. For PR pros working in a startup environment, WeWork’s very public fall from grace holds many lessons to take back to the open office. Let’s look at a few things that communicators at any startup can take away from WeWork’s problems.

Everything old is new again. The nation’s largest public transport system has turned to a newsletter to keep commuters informed and entertained as they learn about the latest developments concerning The L-Train Project. NYC commuters love it.

The White House hosted a master class yesterday in how not to do crisis communications. Following the release of notes of a July telephone call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, some Democrats received a surprise—the GOP’s talking points about the call. Along with other mistakes this week, the incident emphasizes the importance of PR pros double-checking their work.

One person’s disaster can be another’s success. In the case of Thomas Cook’s fall, brands and organizations had a chance to help or hurt their reputations. Communicating and acting with compassion and care helped, of course. Taking advantage of the situation for excessive profits was bound to hurt, with communicators left to explain their brand’s seemingly predatory actions.

Social media has made listening easy, right? Not so fast. There’s listening and then there’s critical listening. It’s not hard to figure out which kind is more advantageous for communicators. Tips and thoughts about listening will help your career blossom.

Anything can be politicized, however, it takes a very serious turn when the safety of people is at stake. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, home of the National Weather Service, continues to be at odds following a tumultuous week with the White House on the communication of disinformation regarding Hurricane Dorian and the state of Alabama.

The M.I.T. Media Lab’s long, underreported history of recieving donations from the late convicted sex offender and philanthropist Jeffrey Epstein contains several lessons for those working in industries that have recurring moral and ethical crises, most noticeably around acknowledging roles, calling out patterns of bad behavior and scrutinizing philanthropic relationships.