The U.S. has pledged to provide as much aid as possible to the people of Haiti after an earthquake devastated the small nation earlier this week. and has already began to move an aircraft carrier, Coast Guard cutters and a Marine unit into the area. Unfortunately, there are significant issues …
Crisis Management and Social Media
The advent of social media has presented valuable new tools for public and shareholder relations, but organizations cannot use these tools recklessly or they risk a crisis, as this quote from a Law.com blog by corporate counsel Douglas J. Wood explains: On the one hand, companies want to capture the …
Blagojevich Failing Crisis Management
Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been on a media blitz of the most sensational kind since his arrest for allegedly attempting to sell President Obama’s vacated Senate seat. His latest dumb move was to state in an interview for Esquire that he is “blacker than Barack Obama,” which immediately drew …
Mommy Crisis Management
When huge posters reading “Career Women Make Bad Mothers” began to appear on the sides of buses and buildings through London, it didn’t take long for the public to react and force the ads to be pulled. This quote from a San Francisco Chronicle article explains how, as well as …
Twitter Forces Crisis Management
When the New York Times broke a story about retailer H&M destroying and discarding large amounts of unsold clothing, the organization refused to comment. Their error in crisis management was picked up by astute Tweeters and suddenly H&M found itself in trouble, as this quote from a Technorati blog explains: …
Ready for Crisis Management
We constantly see examples of public relations gone wrong in the news, cases where organizations neglected crisis prevention and are left to fight the resulting fires. In an article for Crisis Manager, titled 10 Hidden Ways to Sink Yourself in 2010, Jeff Chatterton uses real examples to demonstrate ways your …
Mobile Phone Crisis Management
When it comes to mobile phone security, taking a few easy-to-implement precautions can mean the difference between a minor loss and a corporate crisis. In an article for the latest Crisis Manager newsletter, BCM President Jonathan Bernstein shares some insight into the dangers that these devices can pose: What type …
Government Scrutiny and Crisis Management
After the preceding year’s series of corporate-caused crises caused worldwide shakeups, organizations can expect to face extremely heavy government scrutiny in 2010. In a featured article from our latest Crisis Manager newsletter, Mike Kerwin of Levick Strategic Communications discusses this topic: Global financial crisis, high-profile recalls, and climate concerns were …
Crisis Management Newsletter
The very first Crisis Manager of 2010 is up now on our main website, and to start the year off right we’ve got two feature articles from guest professionals along with one from Bernstein Crisis Management President Jonathan Bernstein. A great read for anyone who finds themselves knee-deep in crisis …
Ready for Crisis Management
In crisis management, as in business, it pays to expect the unexpected and be ready when it happens. In the following quote, taken from a recent UK Financial Times article on preparing for crises, PR expert Colin Byrne hits the nail right on the head: The challenge to business leaders …
Obama Flunking Crisis Management
Presidents get about 210 days to get their vision launched, their dreams in wide circulation, and to marshal their forces to achieve what they set out to accomplish. Then the postmortems begin, coupled with midterm elections. Following the midterms, comes to 24-month effort at reelection. This president has effectively missed …
Perception in Crisis Management
What you say and how you say it is crucial to crisis management because the way the public and your stockholders perceive your statements holds far more weight than whatever you actually meant to say. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is experiencing this first hand as her department faces major …
Tylenol Recall – Deja Crisis Management
The Tylenol brand is no stranger so recall crisis management – their handling of the so called “Tylenol Murders,” in 1982, wherein an unknown person inserted poisoned capsules into store bottles, is still upheld as an example of how to handle a crisis response and product recall successfully – and …
Service Outage Creates a Crisis
In today’s tech-fueled world, service outages can cause a crisis faster than you can possibly imagine as disgruntled users turn to social media and other highly visible outlets to voice their frustrations. The makers of the BlackBerry, RIM, are no strangers to this issue, having suffered through several high profile …
Transparency
Crises can strike quickly and vary widely in both scope and type, but there are some general rules that hold fast for nearly every case. An article, posted today on suite101.com, a marketing and PR site, discusses some of these steps, including one which I consider to be vital to …