Crisis Management

An infographic illustrating how quickly crises can move, spread around the globe and ruin a brand’s reputation.

Brands, in an effort to get out a shareable tweet or a super-likeable post, are often caught in a daily trap of shallow engagement with its communities. Your stakeholders — humans just like you and… Continued

There’s good news and bad news when it comes to managing crises in the digital era. On the upside, brands are able to reach their stakeholders directly via social, yet digital tech spreads word of crises, accurate or not. The five minutes that Warren Buffett once said it takes to ruin a reputation is no longer the case. It’s now been reduced to the time it takes someone to create a Facebook post.

The public apology is dead. Long live the indignant counterattack. Thanks to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, public figures and corporate chieftains who find themselves on the receiving end of scrutiny by media or other actors may no longer need to recite painfully scripted statements with stoic spouses standing by their sides. They just need to fight back.

A wrap-up of the week’s top PR stories, trends and personnel announcements. This week’s edition includes stories about Wells Fargo and its ousted CEO John Stumpf, EpiPen maker Mylan agreeing to pay a fine for underpaying on rebates to government medical authorities and Bisquick’s tone-deaf Twitter comments.

Samsung officially stopped production on its Galaxy Note7 smartphones on Oct. 11, following an earlier recall of the product and months of increasing scrutiny from the media, its customers and investors for a malfunction that caused the phones to dangerously overheat. Here are three ways the electronics giant has executed its crisis messaging amidst the allegations facing it.

At the heart of the crisis management response to an outraged community is the apology itself. An apology should have three parts: Say you are sorry; express sympathy for specific victims, real or perceived; and accept responsibility. Donald Trump has just had an opportunity to put that theory into action.

In terms of the rules of crisis communications, Wells Fargo and Samsung have been following all of them, although sometimes they’ve moved slowly. Still, both brands issued apologies, took action, offered compensation—and nothing has worked. The problem in these cases is that no amount of abject apologies can make up for a lack of ethics and an overabundance of bad choices. In other words, both brands primarily are facing crises of culture, not communications.

A look at the week that was in PR, including stories about: Wells Fargo’s troubles in Chicago and its attempt to return to the Windy City’s good graces.

Chicago joined several cities and states across the country in halting business with Wells Fargo. In response to the decision, Wells Fargo released a statement that highlighted the good the company does in the community. Will focusing on the money it put back into the city do enough to stem the negativity surrounding the brand?