How Activists And Populists Now Control Your Corporate Brand — And What You Can Do About It
From our colleague, Richard Levick: “Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.” – Niccolo Machiavelli C-suite executives and board members often ask if their corporation needs a new Facebook strategy or a better way to communicate on Twitter. As pleased as I am that they’re exploring ways to institute change, I […]
The 13 Golden Rules of Crisis Management
Any business, at one point, will face some sort of a public relations crisis and the way you respond can either give you a much-needed image boost or significantly damage your brand, ultimately alienating your customer base and business partners. Especially in this day and age, when news goes viral almost instantly, organizations need to […]
Hennes Communications Crisis Planning Work Helps Win Two Silver Anvils at National Awards Event
Our firm was proud to be part of the communications team, led by one of our clients, Destination Cleveland, that accepted two Silver Anvil Awards last week in New York City in recognition of the work done to support the 2016 Republican National Convention (RNC), held here almost exactly one year ago. The two awards, […]
Crisis Leadership: Five Principles for Managing the Unexpected
From Deloitte and The Wall Street Journal: Domestic terrorism, cyberattacks, power outages, white collar crimes and other catastrophic events are just a few of the potential crises companies can face. While many companies have a crisis plan in place, they may not have actually tested their plans, or the plans may be inadequate. A Deloitte […]
Don’t Get Too Obsessed with Recent Airline Customer Service Incidents – There are Bigger Sharks in the Risk Waters
Chris Britton writes: Target is a great place to shop. I love going there, and I bet many of you do too. But I also find the company fascinating because over the past few years it has provided huge debating points for those of us who make a living managing issues and crises. Until United […]
Never Tell a Journalist It’s Not a Story
Is the CEO or P.R. person the best to face the cameras in a crisis? How do P.R. reps get into journalists’ good books? Daily Mirror editor Peter Willis gave the lowdown at a recent PRWeek’s Crisis Communications conference. Asked what advice he’d give a PR facing a journalist who is acting aggressively, Willis said: […]
Preparing For a Company Crisis: Protecting Your Business’ People, Assets & Reputation
A Conversation on Company Crisis Preparedness with former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, from Boss Magazine — Every business leader thinks and rethinks their business strategy, weighing the strengths, analyzing the weaknesses, pondering the opportunities and scrutinizing the threats. But when it comes to a company crisis, how many are applying that same due […]
Why ‘Sorry” is Still the Hardest Word
From Michael M. Grynbaum at the New York Times: “I’m sorry.” Two simple words, not so simply said. On Wednesday, the public representatives of two embattled American institutions — United Airlines and the White House — found themselves on national television grappling with a delicate and increasingly common ritual of the corporate and political worlds: […]
Apologies, Non-Apologies, Fauxpologies, Conditional Apologies & Past Exoneratives
By Stan Carey: Writing in 2012 about the nature of apologies, I said that being sorry is about more than just saying the words, “but the words, as an explicit admission of wrongdoing or shortcoming, can be an important part of reconciliation.” With a non-apology the aims and effects are wholly different. The person delivering […]
Crisis Management: Preparing for the Next Big Event
From Deloitte: No matter the crisis—a billion-euro loss, a breach that leaves millions of customer records at risk or a major airline accident with the CEO on board—organizations can take steps to weather the storm, according to Jeremy Smith, global leader of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited’s Crisis Management practice. But instead of aiming merely for […]