When Sarah Kohl-Leaf wrote a letter to the owners of the St. Croix Falls Cinema 8 voicing her concerns about a bad experience, the last thing she expected was to receive a furious, expletive-filled rant in reply. Here’s a sample, from an article in the Star Tribune: “Drive to White …
New Crisis Manager Includes Excerpt from Keeping the Wolves at Bay
Jonathan Bernstein’s “Keeping the Wolves at Bay: Media Training” has just been published, and in celebration Crisis Manager is featuring an excerpt about a seldom covered topic – how to maintain your skills after the media training is over. After that, Rick Kelly, director of Crisis Communications at Triad Strategies, …
Cultural Differences in Crisis Management
The Toyota brand is in serious danger. With more vehicles being added to their already-massive recall list almost daily, the Japanese automaker’s carefully crafted reputation is quickly degrading. One explanation for their seemingly relaxed crisis management may be cultural differences, as Weber Shandwick Japan CEO Akihiko Kubo pointed out in …
Including Employees in Crisis Management
How your company communicates with its staff, clients and customers defines whether they respond by rising up in unison to support the business, or instead spread gossip on coffee breaks, complain loudly and publicly, and turn to the competition for inspiration. Nowadays crisis communications are a proven concept and their …
AA’s Crisis Management Prep Pays Off
A false Twitter post, sent out shortly after the Haiti earthquake, stating that American Airlines was offering free flights to the island, caused the company to be flooded with phone calls, emails and many, many Tweets. The problem was exacerbated when popular Tweeters, including film critic Roger Ebert, re-Tweeted the …
Navy Needs Crisis Management
When 7,000 people sue you, there is a lot of crisis management in your future, even if you’re the U.S. Navy. The landmark lawsuit, which involves much of the population of Vieques, Puerto Rico, alleges that the six decades of weapons testing the Navy did there has caused residents to …
Need for Crisis Management
Many organizations who had never before considered hiring a crisis management team are now scrambling to find one. Why is that? This quote from a Finance & Commerce article has the answer: The trend has been fueled by the national recession that spawned a plethora of business bankruptcies and corporate …
Audi’s Lack of Research Puts them in Crisis Management Mode
German car manufacturer Audi is playing with fire in their latest advertising campaign, which is acting as a lead-in to the premiere of their new Super Bowl commercial. The trouble? This quote from social media strategist Danny Brown’s blog explains: The campaign is based around a new creation called the …
Don’t Snap!
From the moment the day begins, we are juggling work and our personal lives. Before we know it, we’re making snap decisions or we’re snapping at each other. When we don’t feel that we have the time or the need to get curious we can (1) get angry or defensive …
New Crisis Management Newsletter!
A new issue of Crisis Manager is up on the Bernstein Crisis Management website, and we have guest articles from two seasoned crisis management experts. The first, an excerpt from Nance Guilmartin’s book “The Power of Pause,” illustrates the challenges created by the rush of today’s pressured working environment. Following …
Crisis Management for Technology
The ever-increasing level of connectivity among devices and services has made handling large volumes of personal or business information easy, whether you’re at home, the office, or on the go. Along with new technology comes new risks as well, as this quote from an AP article demonstrates: A Georgia mother …
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 …
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 …