McDonald’s Rebuffs Burger King’s International Day of Peace “McWhopper” Proposal
So Burger King decides to join forces with McDonald’s to support a good cause. To that end, Burger King created a joint promotion and spent megabucks on full-page advertisements in newspapers across the U.S. From the “It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time” Department, it couldn’t have been more clever. Perhaps too clever? […]
Lessons from Ferguson: Are You Listening?
[By Thom Fladung, former managing editor, The Plain Dealer] A year after Ferguson, the lessons continue to reverberate. Is anyone listening? At the recent National Association of Black Journalists convention in Minneapolis, a panel of journalists spoke about the lessons they learned in Ferguson, Missouri, covering the shooting of Michael Brown, its aftermath, and how […]
Beyond the Chaos: 3 Stories of Those Under the Gun During Major Crises
From our colleague, Jim McKay, editor of Emergency Management Magazine: In this feature, we look at three separate disasters through the lens of someone in command. All three of these emergencies were incredibly tragic and difficult or impossible to predict. Besides the tragedy, these emergency managers share lessons learned, some of which we discuss here. Frank […]
Thom Fladung, Former Managing Editor of The Plain Dealer, Joins Hennes Communications
NEWSPAPER AND DIGITAL MEDIA VETERAN THOMAS FLADUNG JOINS HENNES COMMUNICATIONS CLEVELAND – Hennes Communications, one of the few firms in the U.S. focused exclusively on crisis management, crisis communications and reputation management, today announced that Thomas Fladung has joined the agency as vice president. Fladung brings more than 33 years of daily newspaper and digital […]
Why First Impressions Stick
By Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D, writing for CommPro.biz: Two seconds – thirty seconds, tops – that’s all the time it takes some to assess your confidence, competence, status, likeability, warmth, and trustworthiness. That’s how much time you have to make a first impression. In fact, it’s impossible for us not to make these snap judgments about […]
We’re Not Hennes Paynter Anymore
Hennes Paynter Communications, one of the few firms in the U.S. focused exclusively on crisis communications and reputation management, is now Hennes Communications. The firm also offers litigation communications and media training services to its clients that are “on trial” in the Court of Public Opinion. The change follows the departure of former partner Barbara Paynter, […]
Issuing a Public Warning Is Not an Easy Decision
The decision to issue a warning to the public is never an easy one. Crisis Manager Lucien Canton writes about one of the most common reasons for failing to issue timely warnings: the fear of creating public panic. He argues that fear, particularly one that is contradicted by social science research, is never an excuse for […]
OP3 Conference – For Ohio Companies Concerned About Disaster Prevention, Response & Recovery
Ohio Emergency Management Agency Ohio Public Private Partnership Conference Cleveland State University June 23, 2015 In an effort to increasingly serve Ohioans before, during and after a disaster, the Ohio Department of Public Safety (ODPS) relies on strong partnerships between citizens, government, and private business. To strengthen these partnerships across the state, ODPS created the Ohio Public […]
Up Periscope! Everyone’s a Live Reporter Now
[by Howard Fencl, APR] I’ve media trained dozens of industry leaders who are just now getting their arms around social media and grasping how a single iconic photo snapped during their organization’s crisis by a disgruntled party can spiral into a viral flame storm in seconds. They’re horrified. And they ought to be. Because whether […]
Selecting the Right Spokesperson
[By Nora Jacobs] One of the most common decisions we encounter when clients face a crisis situation is helping them choose the individual who will serve as their spokesperson. Rarely does anyone volunteer for this assignment and most draftees accept it with grudging resignation. In truth, being a spokesperson is a high-risk job and even […]