Lululemon Fails to Make Lemonade      

From the Editor  

We discussed not one, but two separate crises for yoga outfitter Lululemon on our blogs this past week, giving the company the dubious honor of becoming one of the few organizations which have had completely separate crises close enough together to be featured in the same newsletter.

 

The most damaging was, of course, CEO Chip Wilson's disastrous Bloomberg interview, which outraged women pretty much everywhere and has led to major fallout across Lululemon's social media presence.

 

Obviously an apology was in order, but when we saw the one below, posted to YouTube last Friday, we knew right away the company was headed for more of the same.

A message from Chip Wilson.

First off, Wilson completely lost me 12 seconds in when he practically rolled his eyes while telling everyone how very, very sad he is. 

So, he's sad, sad that his company faced repercussions from his actions and sad that the people at Lululemon had to take the brunt of the anger from stakeholders. He takes responsibility for the impact...but only on employees, and he makes certain to tell everyone at Lululemon they're above participating in the discussion thousands of their stakeholders are having right now.

Uhm...where was the apology exactly? 

Wilson completely and totally ignored the audience he angered with his comments during the Bloomberg interview, failing to address them once or show a single drop of compassion for anyone but himself and his company.

Lululemon had the perfect opportunity to make lemons out of lemonade here, and utterly failed to do so. 

Inviting women of various shapes and sizes to focus group and assist the company in bettering their product, a campaign aimed at encouraging everyone, regardless of body type, to get out there and exercise, these are just a couple ideas off the top of my head. I'm certain a good PR team could have dreamt up an amazing list of ways for the Lululemon brand to show just how much it cares about keeping everyone fit and helping them to enjoy yoga together

Instead, they did none of this, making it pretty clear Wilson, and the shot callers at Lululemon, simply don't care as long as they're still raking in the dough. 

Thank you, and read on.

Want to get your feet wet with social media but don't know where to start? Maybe you have accounts, but aren't sure what to post, or how to reply?

Being active on social media is a must these days, but you have to do it right. Erik Bernstein, Bernstein Crisis Management's Social Media Manager, now offers social media training sessions in person or via Skype for groups and individuals.  

For questions or pricing info, please email erik@bernsteincrisismanagement.com 

Bernsteins Available to Deliver Free Guest Lectures, Q&A Sessions

Jonathan alone, or the team of Jonathan and Erik Bernstein, are available at no charge to deliver guest lectures and host Q&A sessions with college classes via Skype or Google Hangout. Our latest presentation was to a graduate-level Healthcare Marketing course at Cal State Long Beach.    

The lectures are fun for both us and students, and we're more than happy to allow recording for your future use. All you need at your end is a single computer with webcam and a strong broadband connection for us to appear in your classroom in real-time.   

Contact us for more info!

Attention Corporate Boards of Directors (and those who serve them). 

If you're connected with a corporate board of directors in some way and think that board would benefit from having a veteran crisis management pro amongst its membership, please contact me. -- Jonathan

Business Announcements
(aka blatant self-promotion) 

Are your employees putting your company at risk?

Most people don't recognize a well-crafted online phishing scam when they see one, and that's exactly what cybercriminals count on.

With more than 500 million phishing emails being sent every day, and the increasing use of uncontrolled environments for accessing and sharing sensitive data, the need for proactive training has never been greater.

You can help your organization fight back by changing the way security training is done. Here's our process:

• Assess: Even before training begins, a simulated attack is launched on your employees. This not only helps you to assess current vulnerabilities, it also helps motivate employees to learn because they immediately realize how susceptible they are to an attack.  


• Train: Our tactile approach to learning is proven to reduce employee vulnerability. Each 10-minute interactive and game-based module presents realistic examples and practice to engage your employees, improve their cyber security knowledge, reinforce learning, and measurably change their behavior.  


• Measure: Data collected during training enables you to measure and report on the progress of your employees' learning. You'll know which employees are strong, and which are weaker in their cyber security knowledge - not just whether they completed the online training.

Don't let your employees fall for phishing scams hook, line, and sinker. Teach them how to recognize      and avoid today's most advanced attacks before it's too late.

Learn more! Our always-available, cloud-based training content is available in 7 languages. For pricing and demonstration information, contact erik@bernsteincrisismanagement.com

Expanded Crisis Manager Bookstore 

We've recently expanded the Crisis Manager Bookstore to include offerings from esteemed colleagues like Melissa Agnes, Gerald Baron, Chris Syme and Jim Lukaszewski that cover topics from crisis communication and traditional PR to social media and cutting-edge crisis management.  We'll be adding other authors we admire in the weeks ahead. 

Visit the new Crisis Manager Bookstore to see all of the  material available now!

Keeping the Wolves at Bay: Media Training 

Learn how to deal with traditional or social media during a crisis in this educational and entertaining guide from Crisis Manager publisher Jonathan Bernstein. $25 for the hard copy and $10 for the PDF.

Head to the Crisis Manager Bookstore for more information and/or to purchase.

Whether you're a seasoned manager, aspiring up-and-comer, or student of crisis management, Jonathan Bernstein's textbook, Manager's Guide to Crisis Management (McGraw-Hill, 2011) will put you in control of any situation. 

Looking for a Turn-Key Social Media Solution?

More info:erik@bernsteincrisismanagement.com.

Guest Authors

Guest authors are very welcome to submit material for "Crisis Manager." There is no fee paid, but most guest authors have reported receiving business inquiries as a result of appearing in this publication. Case histories, experience-based lessons, commentary on current news events and editorial opinion are all eligible for consideration. Submission is not a guarantee of acceptance.

About Us

 

Jonathan Bernstein is both publisher of Crisis Manager and president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., a national crisis management public relations agency providing 24/7 access to crisis response professionals. The agency engages in the full spectrum of crisis management services: crisis prevention, response, planning & training. He has been in the public relations field since 1982, following five-year stints in both military intelligence and investigative reporting.

Write to Jonathan at: jonathan@bernsteincrisismanagement.com.

Erik Bernstein is editor of Crisis Manager and is also Social Media Manager for Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc.

Write to Erik at: erik@bernsteincrisismanagement.com.

Legal Disclaimer (aka the small print)

All information contained herein is obtained by Jonathan Bernstein from sources believed by Jonathan Bernstein to be accurate and reliable. 

Because of the possibility of human and mechanical error as well as other factors, neither Jonathan Bernstein nor Bernstein Crisis Management is responsible for any errors or omissions. All information is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Bernstein Crisis Management and Jonathan Bernstein make no representations and disclaim all express, implied, and statutory warranties of any kind to the user and/or any third party including, without limitation, warranties as to accuracy, timeliness, completeness, merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose.  

Unless due to willful tortuous misconduct or gross negligence, Jonathan Bernstein and Bernstein Crisis Management shall have no liability in tort, contract, or otherwise (and as permitted by law, product liability), to the user and/or any third party.  

Under no circumstance shall Bernstein Crisis Management or Jonathan Bernstein be liable to the user and/or any third party for any lost profits or lost opportunity, indirect, special, consequential, incidental, or punitive damages whatsoever, even if Bernstein Crisis Management or Jonathan Bernstein has been advised of the possibility of such damages.  

A service of this newsletter is to provide news summaries and/or snippets to readers. In such instances articles and/or snippets will be reprinted as they are received from the originating party or as they are displayed on the originating website or in the original article. As we do not write the news, we merely point readers to it, under no circumstance shall Bernstein Crisis Management or Jonathan Bernstein be liable to the user and/or any third party for any lost profits or lost opportunity, indirect, special, consequential, incidental, or punitive damages whatsoever due to the distribution of said news articles or snippets that lead readers to a full article on a news service's website, even if Bernstein Crisis Management or Jonathan Bernstein has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Authors of the original news story and their publications shall be exclusively held liable. Any corrections to news stories are not mandatory and shall be printed at the discretion of the list moderator after evaluation on a case-by-case basis.