Cover Ups are so Passé

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

Stick to Crisis Management 101, admit your mistakes When it was announced that traces of the agricultural chemical DCD had been discovered in milk powder produced by New Zealand dairy company Fonterra, and, even worse, that Fonterra had discovered the problem months before it became public knowledge, it created an …

Crisis Management & Cyber War

Erik Bernstein crisis management, crisis preparation, Crisis Prevention, cyber threats, Cyberheist, cybersecurity, Erik Bernstein, hackers, hacking, internet security, Jonathan Bernstein Leave a Comment

Defend your virtual borders We recently wrote on the NY Times Hacking and what it means to you, but the latest news from the world of cyber-threats makes that attack look like small potatoes. In a groundbreaking move, U.S. computer security firm Mandiant released a 60-page account of activities conducted …

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 …

Practice for Crisis Preparedness

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Perfect crisis management takes practice, practice, practice Practice makes perfect. We’ve heard it from parents, teachers and coaches all of our lives, so why do so many organizations neglect the fact that they need to practice their crisis management plans in order to effectively put them into practice for the …

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 …

Social Media Hijacking – an Inside Job

Erik Bernstein social media 2 Comments

Don’t make this crisis management mistake, control your social media accounts Chances are, unless you’re a very small organization, someone (or several someones) besides the CEO or president is running your official social media accounts. In fact, it’s quite common for higher ups in organizations we speak with to not …

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 …

PepsiCo Removes Controversial Ingredient after Online Petition

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

Although the company denies its actions were influenced by an online petition that received more than 200,000 signatures, the 15-year-old who started the petition has claimed victory. Corporations are being held accountable by the public like never before thanks to the Internet. Beverage giant PepsiCo announced that it would no …

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 …

Boeing Not Flying Solo in Dreamliner Crisis

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Airlines conducting crisis management on the ground as well There has been much ado about Boeing’s crisis situation following the grounding of its 787 Dreamliners, but what about early adopters of the aircraft, like Japan’s All Nippon Airways? In a recent Bloomberg article, Chris Cooper and Kiyotaka Matsuda spoke with …