Unclear wording created a PR crisis for the payment service PayPal found out firsthand the troubles incautious wording can cause after not only customers, but also industry regulators, voiced their concerns about its new user agreement. In it, PayPal appeared to give itself the right to fire up the robocallers, …
SeaWorld's Hashtag Disaster
Before you launch that “hot” new hashtag, stop and think about what could go wrong What’s it going to take for people to learn that you can’t just slap up a hashtag and assume the outcome will be a positive one? From huge organizations like McDonald’s and British Gas to …
The Dangers of Oversharing
Watching what you post is a must for both personal and business crisis management Sharing on social media seems innocent enough to most, but it can create all sorts of issues. One of the most common, and most damaging, is oversharing of personal info. As you can see in this …
Krispy Kreme’s KKK Crisis
“We didn’t know” is a weak excuse these days Krispy Kreme was left apologizing after a store in Hull, England started promoting “KKK Wednesday”. Meant to stand for “Krispy Kreme Klub”, the promotion was shared on the popular doughnut shop’s UK Facebook page and quickly drew shocked reactions from stakeholders, …
UCLA Using ‘Net for Superbug Outbreak Crisis Comms
Becoming a go-to the source for information is a proven crisis management tactic The deadly “superbug” outbreak at UCLA Medical Center that left seven sick, two dead, and 179 potentially exposed to bacterial infection has made headlines across the country. Several news stories we reviewed referred to statements from Medical …
Guest Post: Too Much Joy About Brian Williams
[Editor’s note: This guest post comes to us courtesy of Andrea Obston, president of Andrea Obston Marketing Communications, LLC., and touches upon a topic we felt relevant to today’s social climate.] There’s been entirely too much joy floating around about Brian Williams’ fall from grace. Folks are either wagging their …
Investment Firms Requiring Cyber Crisis Planning
The rising trend of insisting on crisis preparedness reaches the investment industry Last year we saw widespread insistence by insurance providers that the insured have crisis management plans in place, and now it looks like other industries are hopping on board in force. Here’s a look at new requirements being …
What the Google-Twitter Deal Means to Crisis Management
Social media’s impact on search position gets another boost Twitter Inc. has struck a deal with Google Inc. to make its 140-character updates more searchable online. In the first half of this year, tweets will start to be visible in Google’s search results as soon as they’re posted, thanks to …
Erik Bernstein Named Vice President of Bernstein Crisis Management
February 10, 2015 – Monrovia, CA — Erik Bernstein has been named vice president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), a 21-year-old national crisis management consultancy based in the Los Angeles area. Erik started with BCM in 2009 as a writer and subsequently became social media manager for the consultancy …
Crisis Management Must – Coping with Workplace Conflict
Creating a plan to deal with clashes is essential to crisis management Conflict in the workplace is unavoidable. You have groups of people, brought together for their individual thoughts and abilities, and it’s just not realistic to believe they will all naturally agree or get along without a bit of …
Advice for Church Officials in Drinking and Driving Case
We share the crisis management steps they should be taking Details are emerging in the case of the Maryland bishop who struck and killed a bicyclist while drunk driving this past December, and although church leadership has taken a step in the right direction by sharing some details, it’s not …
Hacking Wi-Fi Networks is Literally Child’s Play
It doesn’t take a hardened criminal to steal your data Public wi-fi networks are everywhere, from coffee shops to entire metro areas. They’re also astoundingly easy to hack. In an eye-opening experiment out of the UK, one security researcher turned a 7-year-old loose on a hotspot with nothing but a …
GoDaddy’s Super Bowl Ad Draws a Penalty
Failing to anticipate public reaction is a costly oversight Domain registrar and Web host GoDaddy has a history of questionable taste for its ad campaigns, and its latest addition, axed after uproar from stakeholders, looks to have been a costly mistake. The ad, which features a lovable puppy making his …
Guest Post: Cybersecurity Takes Centre Stage as a Crisis Risk
[Editor’s note: The below article, originally published in the Managing Outcomes newsletter, is an excellent look at the hot topic of cybersecurity from our colleague and frequent contributor Tony Jaques.] 2014 was a landmark year for cybersecurity, which saw a real change in reputational risk for corporations and other organisations. …
Crisis Management for a Major Nor’Easter
A scramble to prepare for this historic storm A massive blizzard is set to hit the Northeast today, and everyone from local governments and businesses to just about every major airline are putting crisis management plans into action. With three feet of snow expected to bury major metropolitan areas including …