Because of the stress and strain a crisis brings to any organization, having realistic, workable plans is crucial to success in crisis management. In a recent post on her blog, 2M Communications Ink, Margaret McGann provided an excellent list for ensuring your crisis communications plan is workable: 1. Avoid minutiae …
For my newsletter, Crisis Manager, I’m developing a major article about Journalistic Ethics (please, no comments about oxymorons, two of my prior careers were as a journalist and as a member of military intelligence), I’m looking for generic, not specific examples of ethics violations. In other words, I don’t need …
“If you’re going to tell your [brand] story in a world of blogs and streaming video, you better be able to communicate digitally,” summed up Hershey CFO Bert Alfonso. The many companies working on social media strategies, including Hershey, Sunny Delight and Best Buy, reflect management’s understanding that “sitting on …
We have already taken the stand that Apple should consider itself in the midst of a crisis, and as iPhone 4 reception issues continues to irritate users and grab headlines worldwide there are few that would disagree. This quote from Appolicious.com has more details about the actions (and lack thereof) …
Nearly every business collects some type of personal information these days, and whether it’s email addresses or credit card numbers, a data breach brings many questions and immediate reputation damage. As the following quote from a Property & Casualty article explains, it is crucial for organizations to include this possibility …
The past couple of weeks has seen the rise of a new issue for computer provider Dell as a recently-unsealed 2007 lawsuit charging the company with knowingly selling millions of faulty computers made headlines. PC Magazine has the details: Advanced Internet Technologies (AIT) sued Dell in 2007 over charges that …
It was not long ago that the name Toyota was on the tip of everyone’s tongue, and the talk was anything but positive. After briefly ducking out of the spotlight, the Japanese automaker is attempting to mount a comeback, starting with new statements promising improvements in safety and communications. The …
In an effort to educate the public about the world of crisis management, Bernstein Crisis Management President Jonathan Bernstein presents Ask the Crisis Manager, a series of Q&A sessions featuring both Jonathan and selected members of the public. Offered exclusively as a service to subscribers of his Crisis Manager newsletter, …
With my tongue slightly in cheek, and foot hopefully not in mouth, I wanted to introduce a very off-topic subject here — actions which I humbly submit SHOULD be felonies and which COULD (possibly) be deterred by the level of punishment typically associated with a felonious conviction. Or is that …
“BP’s handling of the spill from a crisis management perspective will go down in history as one of the great examples of how to make a situation worse by bad communications,” said Michael Gordon, of New York-based crisis PR firm Group Gordon Strategic Communications. “It was a combination of a …
Apple has experienced a number of troubles with the launch of the iPhone 4, including severe reception issues and a controversial email conversation that may or may not have occurred between Steve Jobs and a disgruntled customer, but is the company truly in need of crisis management? In a post …
Arizona plans to spend $250,000 on a public relations campaign to counter concerns about its controversial, new immigration law and promote itself as “a safe and welcoming destination.” The state’s hotel trade group will add another $30,000 to the effort, according to the Associated Press. The PR campaign is one …
As oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico, experts from across the globe are touting their crisis response plans in the media. From caps to relief wells, it seems we’ve heard it all, but with concerns growing by the day some more extreme measures are beginning to draw …
The British Red Cross is preparing to hold its annual Disaster Response Challenge, a real-time crisis management exercise that spans two full days, now scheduled to be held from September 24-26. Proving an opportunity for participants to experience the same situations and critical decisions that face first responders in real …
We often write about the necessity of starting crisis management before an issue ever arises, but the reality is that very few actually heed this advice. While convincing higher-ups to take the first step is tough, there is a proven path that leads to success, as this quote from the …
