Ducking Reporters, Literally.

Erik Bernstein crisis management, crisis preparation, Crisis Prevention, crisis public relations, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, media relations, media training, PR, public relations, reputation management 2 Comments

Why you need to include media training in your crisis management prep Knowing how to handle media relations is one of the core components of crisis management, but to this day there are very few organizations that really take it seriously. In a recent case study, published on Ragan’s PR …

Dead Body Found in Water Tank: a Hotel Crisis

Erik Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, PR, public relations, reputation management Leave a Comment

No playing ostrich with this one, crisis management is needed, and fast The story of the young woman who disappeared late last month and was found dead in a hotel’s water tank this week is still being unraveled, but what’s certain is that the Cecil Hotel, located in Los Angeles’ …

Twitter, Where’s Your Response?

Erik Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, internet reputation management, Jonathan Bernstein, online crisis management, online reputation management, PR, public relations, reputation management, social media, Twitter Leave a Comment

Silence is a major crisis management no-no In case you’ve missed the social media headlines of the past couple days, the Twitter feeds of both Burger King and Jeep were compromised, big time. Burger King was the first to be hit, and the hacker (or hackers) gleefully defaced its profile, …

Every Avalanche Starts Somewhere

Erik Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, crisis management training, crisis preparation, Crisis Prevention, crisis training, Erik Bernstein, internal crisis management, Jonathan Bernstein, reputation management Leave a Comment

Large crises often have their roots in small incidents It’s painfully common for organizations to only learn invaluable crisis management lessons AFTER they’ve experienced costly problems of their own. Thing is, there are plenty of people messing up out there, and you can save a lot of time, money and …

Canadian City’s Rogue Tweet Crisis

Erik Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, online reputation management, PR, public relations, reputation management, social media, Twitter 4 Comments

Errant tweets, offended followers and weak crisis management – a bad combination The city of Vaughan, located a bit north of Toronto, was the latest organization to find itself in crisis as a result of rogue tweets. Last week, in the midst of a snowstorm, the following tweet went out …

Horsemeat Crisis Stampedes Across Europe

Erik Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, horsemeat, Jonathan Bernstein, PR, public relations, reputation management Leave a Comment

What crisis management steps should EU meat producers take as scandal grows? [WARNING: The following blog post may contain puns dangerous to one’s sanity.] As British police and regulators raid meat processors and slaughterhouses with unbridled enthusiasm, and French prosecutors open a formal judicial investigation into whether there was fraud …

Give the People What They Want

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You can defuse many crises just by saying, “We hear you.” These days, it’s just as likely that a stakeholder with a question is going to turn to social media as pick up a phone and call your customer service line. Yet statistics show that some 70% of inquiries from …

Google vs. i-Privacy

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Google caught tracking UK users after being busted in the States If you use any one of the massively popular i-products, we’d just about bet our hats that you’re accessing Google through Apple’s Safari browser on a regular basis. Whether looking up sports facts, driving directions or the best place …

Popeye’s Favorite Needs Crisis Management after CDC Report

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News outlets pile on leafy greens following findings from the CDC If we were spinach farmers, we’d be calling a crisis management firm today. In an example of how the way news is reported can create crises, most major news publications this week ran a story on the CDC’s latest …

Eating Mr. Ed

Erik Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, online reputation management, PR, public relations, reputation management, social media Leave a Comment

Vendors in crisis management mode after horse meat found in “beef” burgers Last week many shoppers in the UK and Ireland were dismayed to hear that they very well may have eaten horse meat when consuming what they believed to be pre-made beef burgers sold in several popular supermarket chains. …

L.A. Catholic Officials Caught in Scandal…again

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New documents further damage an already-battered reputation As a result of ignoring the basic tenets of crisis management, not to mention human decency, for years the Catholic church takes a major reputation hit every few months as new revelations expose the scope of child molestations by clergymen, as well as …

An Alpine Road to Redemption

Erik Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, PR, public relations, reputation management, Rick Kelly Leave a Comment

Editor’s note: In this post, which originally appeared on the Triad Strategies blog, Rick Kelly perfectly describes the situation Lance Armstrong finds himself in following his doping confession, as well as the opportunities that lie ahead of him should he be up to the challenge. An Alpine Road to Redemption …

IBM, Bribery and Crisis Management

Erik Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Prevention, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, PR, public relations, reputation management Leave a Comment

If you’re caught, pay the price, or risk your reputation It’s well known that many countries around the world use and accept bribery so openly that it’s all but an official part of the business culture, but that doesn’t make the consequences any less damaging when an organization gets caught …

Watch What You Say…

Erik Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Prevention, crisis public relations, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, media training, PR, public relations, reputation management Leave a Comment

Guard what you say around reporters, it’s just good crisis management There hasn’t been much news from the Mars rover in a while, so when the chief scientist for the project proclaimed that the latest discovery picked up through Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars instrument, essentially an on-board chemistry lab, …

Sexism and Crisis Management

Erik Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, online reputation management, PR, public relations, reputation management, social media, Tony Jaques Leave a Comment

Avoid sexism in messaging, or find yourself knee-deep in crisis management With the U.S. women’s rights movement approaching 165 years in action, one would expect organizations to assiduously avoid sexist comments in their communications.  Of course, if every organization did the right thing, then what fun would we have writing …