Nike’s Coordinated Crisis Management

Strong links between departments prevents massive reputation damage

In order to best protect reputation, an organization’s different operating units need the ability to coordinate responses, and fast. Last week, Nike gave us a great example of how it works when it raced to pull shirts reading “Boston massacre” from store shelves. Obviously the shirts were not created in reference to the Boston Marathon bombings, but the situation changed what was ordinarily a classic sports reference into a grisly reminder of a tragic event.

In an interview with Ragan.com’s Matt Wilson, BCM president Jonathan Bernstein had praise for the company:

“This is clear evidence that Nike has what so many consumer product companies lack: a strong, interactive connection between its marketing and PR functions”

For those questioning whether this is, in fact, crisis management, repeat one of our mantras – prevention is THE best form of crisis management.

Need more convincing? Just imagine the type of post we’d be writing right now had Nike left those shirts on store shelves, or the potential uproar across mainstream and social media, and it’s pretty clear the company’s quick reaction prevented a serious blow to its reputation.

We divide our organizations up into specialized segments, but too frequently that means they operate as if they aren’t all parts of a larger whole. The departments in your organization need the ability to coordinate strategies and implement tactics in order to suit the dynamic world around you, and the only way to make moves as quickly as today’s near-instantaneous news cycle demands is to encourage and nurture these strong, interactive connections.

The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/