Brands

#smcrisis, Brands, crisis communication, critical feedback, Facebook, Negative reviews, reputation management, , TripAdvisor, Twitter, Yelp

The subtitle to this post should be: “in a way that doesn’t blow up in your face”. No reasonable person expects brands to be perfect. Mistakes happen, it’s the response (or lack of one) that counts. But sometimes businesses seem…

Why brands need to simulate a social media crisis

Brands, crisis communication, crisis training, reputation management, ,

It’s not hard to understand why your team needs to train to deal with a crisis breaking on social media – one look at the news shows the power that social media posts have over the headlines. Whether it’s the…

Brands are more than their CEOs

boycotts, Brands, CEOs, crisis communication, reputation

On a business level, when it comes to reputation with clients, governments, media and the industry that they are in, CEOs (and their actions) carry a lot of weight. But what about their wider reputational impact? For example, I’m currently…

Brands & Politics: why it’s time to get involved

action, Brands, crisis communication, politics, , values

A regular star of the crisis simulations I write for Polpeo is someone I call AnarchySteve. For years, he’s been one of my go-to guys for causing simulation participants headaches. He’s arrogant, stubborn, opinionated and unyielding. Just when you think…

July in crisis

#smcrisis, Brands, crisis communication, empathy, flexibility,

Issues that used to be dealt with between the customer and the organisation are now easily shared with the wider world. As a result, organisations need to be willing to defend their internal guidelines, or flexible enough to listen to…

May in crisis

apologies, boycott, Brands

It was another month full of brands dealing with (or, in some cases, avoiding dealing with) reputational crises. Here are three that caught our attention. When apologies come far too late Global consumer goods company, Reckitt Benckiser, owns several household…

April in Crisis

#AlienDay426, Brands, Cheerios, Reebok, Snapchat,

Brands can’t always control how people use their products, but, as we saw with Snapchat in April, they still have to deal with the fallout when things go wrong. Other brands head into crises due to their own actions –…

Brands in crisis: controlling the risk

#smcrisis, Brands, crisis communication, crisis plans, Risk Management

Anyone who’s been involved in running a business will know that it’s impossible to completely eliminate risk. You can assess risk, and manage it, but you can’t eliminate it. Businesses need thorough risk assessments, but they also need crisis plans…

February in crisis

#smcrisis, Apple, Brands, CEO, crisis communication, Mars, , Yelp