Oh $h%t! How to survive a crisis and not destroy your brand

Charlie LevensonWriter / Media Strategist /Spokesperson

Oh $h%t!How to survive a crisis

and not destroy your brand.

It's gonna

happen.

A Company Crisis...Product

PersonnelIndustry orCompetitor

Tylenol Capsules

Ford Pinto

Gulf Oil Spill

Dave's Killer Bread

Fukushima

A Personal Brand Crisis...You? Family/Entourage? In the past?Justin Bieber

Rob Ford

SkeletonsLil Za(Bieber's entourage)

And Lil Twist(yeah, also Bieber's

entourage)

How will you know? Constant monitoring of social media

Internal reporting of potential CRM issues

How will you prepare?

Your team in place. Your plan in place.

Communication lines established & practiced.

Is it a mountain or a molehill? Mountains: Triggerthe IRP (IncidentResponse Plan)

Molehills: Handled byyour day-to-day team

Geographical Considerations

24 / 7 / 365

Bad news doesn't take the weekends off.

Media cycle no longer controlled only by mass media.

Something small on Friday afternoon can be big by Monday morning.

A Weekend: The Motrin Moms September: Motrin begins campaign geared towards

Moms Friday, November 14: Blogger Jessica Gottlieb starts

tweeting with tag #MotrinMoms Saturday, November 15: Blogger Katja Presnal

produces YouTube video based on Tweets Sunday, November 16: Other media begin noticing Monday, November 17: Motrin website crashes/taken

down and returns with campaign gone. J&J apologizes.

How the Team RespondsWill Determine Everything

TransparencyHonesty

Immediacy

Who is your team? CEO and their staff Spokesperson(s) and their staff In-House Counsel Outside Counsel (if necessary) Internal Experts External Experts

The Process

Highest possible person available.

Bring the fullteam together.

Spokesperson has to know everything.1. 2.

3. 4.Appropriate experts are available.

Who is your spokesperson?It's a balancing act.

CEO is on a yachtwhile spokesperson

deals with crisis.

Not having a spokesperson

means you are it.

The Spokesperson's Role: 1 of 2

Absolutely NO stonewalling.

Respond immediately. Sooner the better.

Answer every question. Always follow up.

1.2.3.

The Spokesperson's Role: 2 of 2

Understand 24-hour-news cycle deadlines.

Frequent scheduled updates.

More information is always better than less.

1.2.3.

Control the side stories.4.

Why things go wrong...

Living inside a bubble.

Unwillingness to invest in crisis response.

Ego. Believing that mistakes=weakness.

1.2.3.

Not “getting it” that there is a problem.4.

When Crisis Management Won't Help

If you can't take responsibility,at least take action.

When what you've done is criminal, whether you knew it or not.

When your lawyer is your spokesperson and tells you to say “no comment.”

1.2.

Advice

A Last Thought

Sometimes, a crisis (if it's not your crisis)can be an opportunity

Charlie LevensonWriter / Media Strategist / Spokesperson

CharlieLevenson.com

All graphics, images and illustrations usedwith permission or under fair use doctrine.