Popchips Crisis Plan

7/30/2019 Popchips Crisis Plan

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Boyle, Lin, Ling, Sineni JOUR 568

brands struggle to relinquish control and move beyond the comfort zone of tight,passive marketing practices. The issue is that brands lost control a long time ago. Tosolve the problem, brands need to look at involvement, conversationand memes asbrand affinity, not theft, and reward it, not ignore it.

While a borderless domain provides the opportunity to spread a message beyondimmediate proximity and easily build on a participatory culture, the problem is thata participatory culture lacks diversity. Literacy skills and access to technologies areunevenly distributed across populations making the online community samplerather narrow. For example, You Tube amateur curators and viewers still primarilyrepresent the white and middle-class.i With minorities under-represented in socialmedia, it is difficult to generalize conversations or feedback from the online

community sample.

Another unfortunate peril of social media is that it is a forum where informationspreads unpredictably and uncontrollably. A catch-22 paradigm in social mediaforces brands to relinquish control and give fans content to discuss and spreadwithin their own virtual communities for that brand to remain relevant. However,giving power to the consumer on social media opens up a window for which theycan make critical comments about companies whenever they feel disappointed,insulted or aggravated. Uncontrollable spreadability is a sensitive subject andcreated a challenge for brands in monitoring virally voiced expressions and knowingwhen to react or how to respond.

Social media as a trend-monitoring tool is another unique challenge to publicrelations. Monitoring trends via social media, otherwise known as netnography is aqualitative, computer-mediated form of communication that helps brandsunderstand target audiences and their underlying social motivations. Netnographyprovides the opportunity to listen and observe shifts in the cultural economy.Paying attention to what people are saying is no easy task. Fragmented nichegroups exist within virtual communities. Cultural norms constantly change.Monitoring whats cool and hunting for insiders and influencers takes time anddevotion. In the end, there is no exact science in justifying if the strategy directlycorrelates to business ROI. For example, Retweets and Facebook Likes bring

awareness to a company, but researchers find it difficult to determine whether thesequantifiable numbers directly result in an increase in sales.

The practice of using social media to monitor brand conversation and build aparticipatory brand culture presents opportunities. When used appropriately, socialmedia enhances a brands social ties with its targetaudiences and advance bottom-line goals, but the rewards must carefully meet with acknowledgement of all therisks.


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Crisis Containment Plan Components

ContextFor the purpose of this assignment, our crisis management plan will come in assupplementary strategic support to Popchips initial attempt at crisis management.Our team will essentially mentor Popchips and act as a resource to the company forthe most appropriate and sensitive ways to manage this crisis within the first 72hours of the video going live.

The one major distinction to note in our crisis management plan versus the oneactually deployed by Popchips is that we will advise Popchips to post a videoapology. At the advent of the crisis, Popchips only deployed a written apology.

Our crisis containment plan will further explain our rationale behind the decision,and our strategies and tactics will justify its reliability. All strategies and tacticslisted in the crisis containment plan are our groups original work.

Campaign Objectives

Communication Objectives Restore and regain stature of Popchips positive image one that was

presently enjoyed before this reputational risk - by diverting 50 percent of

negative attention regarding the crisis to more positive awareness ofPopchips via Twitter and influential lifestyle blogs by the end of the 72-hourcrisis management campaign.

Ensure the Popchips reputation has not been tarnished long-term - affectingthe businesss profitability and bottom-line business goals - by seeking toincrease positive opinion about the crisis issue and Popchips crisismanagement style amongst opinion-leader Tweeters by 10 percentproceeding the campaign.

Business Objective Maintain the healthy sales growth of Popchips products

o Since its inception in the competitive snack market, Popchips hasgrown at a vertiginous 70 percent each year. Sales are 2012conservatively estimated to reach $93.7 million. The estimate willreliably indicate the impact of this crisis on bottom-line businessgoals.ii


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Mediums for Notifying Stakeholders

1. Social Media Platforms Popchipsofficial social media platforms (Twitter [@popchips], Facebook

and YouTube) will be the major forums for which the brand willcommunicate with crisis stakeholders and succeed in meeting the campaignsobjectives

o This will be the most appropriate format of communication seeing asthat social media platforms, most notably, Twitter, were the hot spotsfor public outcry regarding the ads perceived racist nature.

Social media will deliver all crisis management campaign strategies andtactics or, if not, Popchips official social media platforms will mention the

strategies and tactics to increase spreadability of management efforts andhelp the brand achieve campaign objectives.

2. Popchips official blog Any Facebook posts and tweets communicated via Popchips link to the

official Popchips blog (www.popchips.com/blog). During this 72-hour time frame, the Popchips will dedicate its blog solely to

communicating with audiences about the crisis.o When clicking through to the blog, audiences will see the video

apology from CEO Keith Belling first.o Other crisis management strategies and tactics deployed will be

communicated to the blogs audience after scrolling past Bellingsapology.

3. E-mail In addition to utilizing social media platforms to communicate with

stakeholders, it will be important to contact the companys top investorsand loyal snackers via e-mailto explain the crisis plan, ensure theircontinued support and maintain a positive relationship with them.

o Communicating openly and transparently with the investors in apersonal manner will remain important to validate to investors thatPopchips values their presence and powerful role in the company.

o Popchips offers the option for snackers to sign up to receive e-newsletters and stay on top of whats popping with Popchips. Thosethat previously subscribed to this e-mail list will receive updatesregarding responses to the crisis.

4. Telephone Hotline A telephone hotline will employ brand representatives to remain on-call 24

hours/day during this 72-hour crisis management campaign as a supplement
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to the e-mail to investors. Investors can call the hotline and get answers toany other questions or concerns not previously addressed in the e-mail.

Crisis Communication Team Our Group + Alison Brod PR

o Our group and the Alison Brod PR teams crisis specialists will worktogether in providing strategic PR consultancy, including:

Assisting in media training for the campaigns spokesperson Developing clear, consistent holding statements Stakeholder-relations handling

The Alison Brod PR team will also be responsible for assigning a crisisspecialist to surveillance online communication amongst Popchips keystakeholders.

Media Spokesperson(s) Popchips CEO Keith Belling will act as the media spokesperson and the

face of the crisis campaigno Popchips is a privately owned company, and maintains more personal

relationships with its target audiences in comparison to a publiccorporation. Popchips credits its customers with fueling the brandsastonishing success. It makes sense to capitalize on building and

maintaining authentic relationships with Popchips stakeholders in theadvent of a crisis and avoid any disconnection or impersonalinteractions during the crisis clean up.

o Belling will be the most appropriate media spokesperson in ensuringstakeholders that the Popchips brand is not an autonomous machine,but made of real people and a CEO who humbles himself in presentinga public apology.

o Using Belling will additionally: Foster a sense of connection and trust Humanize the company Creative a cohesive, consistent voice for the campaign

Back-ups to the designated spokespersonwill also be identified to fill theposition in the event that the primary spokesperson, CEO Keith Belling isunavailable. In this case, Brian Pope, Communication Chief Officer ofPopchips, and Pat Turpin, the co-founder and president the designated back-up spokespersons.


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Anticipated Questions Worksheet for Media Spokesperson(s)

As part of the crisis management plan, our group and Alison Brod PRpresented an Anticipated Questions Worksheet for Belling and Pope tofamiliarize themselves with immediately. The following questions will beincluded in the worksheet:

o When were you first notified of backlash and adverse complaints to thead?

o What are you doing to make sure the situation is under control?o What is Popchips doing in response to complaints specifically stemming

from the Indian community?o How was such a crisis not anticipated?o What was the creative motivation behind this ad? Did you think the

approach of imitating people in different races was funny?o When did your response to the crisis situation begin?o Do you think those involved (i.e. Ashton Kutcher) handled the situation

appropriately and respectfully?o Do you think people are overreacting?o What do you think is social medias role in this crisis? Do you think it has

worsened your companys situation?o What would you like to say to those who were offended by the ad?o Do you believe the ad was a bad judgment call or do you stand by it?o Is this ad still up? If so, is it public or private? What is the rationale

behind this?

o How does this affect Popchips moving forward?o What lessons were learned?

New questions will be added and anticipated for in the event that the crisisevolves

List of Emergency PersonnelThere is no physical emergency in this crisis, so Popchips management and theAllison Brod PR team will suffice as the emergency personnel.


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List of Key Media

Key media in the case of this crisis management plan will include all the influentialpublications that reported on the crisis, and essentially contributed to the spread ofthe controversy. The following publications will remain aware of Popchips crisismanagement efforts:

LA Times Forbes Fast Company Yahoo!News NY Post ABC CBS TMZ MTV News Perez Hilton People Magazine

Key Issues to Solve

Should we pull or edit the commercial?

Ashton Kutchers donning of a brown-face and stereotypical accent in acting out theRaj character created the perception of the commercial as racist. Therefore, themost important decision to make before carrying out the social media crisis

management plan is to rationalize whether or not to pull the video or edit outcontent with the Raj character.

The 72-hour time frame limits the time for us to conduct comprehensive primaryresearch, like focus groups or surveys. However, we did carry out limited secondaryresearch by looking into the similar consumer branding racist cases to get a betteridea about the most strategically sound move.

First, we studied the European Commissions 2012 TV commercial, called GrowingTogether. The video ad intended to promote the expansion of the European Union.However, the European Union was forced to recall the ad amidst allegations that the

commercial was racist. In the commercial, three men of different ethnicbackgrounds confront the commercials heroine, a white Caucasian female dressed

in a symbolic yellow jumpsuit. The woman clones herself into 11 copies (symbolic ofthe eleven stars in the EU flag), thus giving herself the competitive edge ofoutnumbering her would-be assailants. The commercial closes with the heroinedelivering the message: The more we are, the stronger we are together. The rally

for camaraderie and the message that a serene Europe can subdue her foreign foes

was not received well. Instead, viewers saw an ad thatshows a white female being


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threatened by foreign men with weapons. Critics also deemed it ofdubious tasteand judgment.iv

Others flocked to social media, accusing the ad of being racist, sexist andimperialistic. Twitter account SydneySteve85 posted a message under the adsaying: No wonder the Euro and the EU are collapsing. Instead of fixing thefinancial crisis they're spending money on racist propaganda videos.v

EU resisted pulling down the commercial at first, claiming that the commercialdemonstrated the mutual respect between different countries and itby no meansintended to be racist. They stood their ground further adding that the commercialtargeted young adults who should understand the martial culture and therefore

accept the commercial.vi

The tough attitude and arrogant response ultimately aroused further publicdissatisfaction, and only made the situation worse and a more contagious viral crisis.It was not until pressure from the public and shareholders reached its peak that EUfinally decide to pull down the commercial, at which point the reputational damagehad been done.

We also studied Volkswagens 2013 Get Happy Super Bowl commercial ad. The adplayed on Jamaican stereotypes, specifically its peoples pronounced accent and

generally bubbly personality. Volkswagen received mixed reactions to the

commercial, with some people calling it racist while others found it entertaining.

Unlike EUs commercial crisis, VW did not pull or edit the commercial, defending itsdecision by noting that it tested the ad among consumers, 100 of which wereJamaicans, and received no negative feedback. In the hours since the issue blew up,VW said it continued to received plenty of compliments, which ultimately validatedits decision to keep the ad public. The company continues to capitalize on the GetHappy theme, offering a clip of Jamaica's Reggae sensation, Jimmy Cliff singing

"C'mon, get happy" on the official VW website.

EUsand VWs decisions and the implications of those decisions will assist our group

in making our final statement on whether or not to pull the Popchips ad.

Should we apologize and how much responsibility should we take?

Public relations teaches that sincere and truthful apologies always win overaudiences in the case of corporations wrong-doing. However, legal counsel willcounter that argument in saying corporate apologies, if worded incorrectly, mightcreate poor legal implications and liabilities. Corporate attorneys routinelyrecommend against immediate apologies in crisis situations to avoid possible


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lawsuits. It becomes increasingly important to find a balance between the two increating a crisis management plan for Popchips. To do this, we looked at crisis caseswhere the phrasing of apologies and wording helped or further hurt companies.

First, we looked atAcuras seemingly racist casting call for its 2012 Super Bowlcommercial. It acted as a great case-study example demonstrating an apology gonerogue. Acura and its ad agency wrote in its casting document that they were lookingfor an African-American actor who was "not too dark." The company apologized tothe public soon after saying We apologize to anyone offended by the language onthe casting sheet used in the selection of actors for one of our commercials.Audiences were unsatisfied with the apology and its lack of sincerity and emotion.The statement did not indicate Acuras remorse for doing wrong, only that it was

sorry if some people might have found it offensive. It was obvious that Acura onlyintended to issue an apology to avoid possible legal liabilities, but in this case, theapology created an adverse impression on the brands ethics, or lack thereof.

Acase that exemplifies good communication strategy in a crisis situation is TimCooks apology for the release of a faulty new Apple Maps app that did not remotelymatch its predecessors capabilities.vii

Tim began his deep and sincere apology, saying We are extremely sorry for thefrustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to

make Maps better. What really sets his apology apart from others is that he

provided a solution to the problem by recommending other applications that woulddo the job better.

The case studies confirm that a corporate crisis apology should balance emotion andresponsibility - one that manages to address stakeholders outrage and concern,while understanding the risk that apologies could backfire and increase liability.

We conducted additional secondary research, seeking survey results and/orstatistics reporting how consumers react to corporate crisis apologies. We foundthat the nature of the apology was very important. A publication of the AmericanJudges Association revealed, Apologies that accept fault have more impact than

apologies that merely express sympathy, but take no responsibility.viii

The final question to consider regarding the issue of responsibility and apology isthe strength of the issue among Popchips target audience to avoid bringing moreattention to the controversy than needed. Over-apologizing can come across as adefense mechanism and may actually attract new unwanted attention to the issue.Monitoring real-time talk online among our key audiences will address the issue.


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The secondary research provided four major takeaways, all of which we will use tocounsel Popchips moving forward. These takeaways include: 1) accept fullresponsibility; 2) apologize directly to those offended by the commercial; 3) refrainfrom speaking out about any other parties involved and their crisis managementactions; and 4) communicate with its audiences about the on-going actions taken toaddress the problem.

Key MessagesThe following key messages were developed to drive the campaigns objectives:

1. We put our snackers first, no matter their race or ethnicity, and embrace alltypes of shapes, flavors, and colors ix

o The message takes a playful approach to emphasizing that Popchipsdoes NOT support racism.o The message will divert negative attention and perceptions about

Popchips cultural insensitivity, to more awareness about Popchipsmanagement of the crisis and the brands lovable nature.

2. We take full responsibility and apologize to anyone we offendedo The message will fall in line with our campaign objective: to ensure all

steps are taken to avoid affecting bottom-line business goals andsales.

o The word full in the context of full responsibility is very important,because we do not play the blame game-form of communication andinteraction with influential bloggers and Tweeters. Doing so couldpotentially extend the life cycle of the crisis and run the risk ofalienating the brands user-base, leaving those offended feelingexploited rather than served.

3. We will not let the media drive the agenda and will use the advent of thiscrisis to improve our brands culture.

o Essentially we want to turn what-could-be pain and turn it into futuregain. We will extract value from the situation and consider widerstrategic issues in getting the crisis under control. We will use this

unfortunate occasion to make cultural transformations, build a bettercrisis control system and create a better flow of communicationwithin the company. Ultimately, we will take this crisis as anopportunity to improve transparency and accountability.

4. Moving forward, we will practice more sensitivity in designing ourcampaigns as we attempt to represent all demographics and lifestyles.


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o We want to communicate (through our campaign strategies andtactics) that we recognize discriminatory stereotyping is taboo andirresponsible in an era where multiculturalism awareness is essential.

o This crisis campaign will seek to honor criticisms to the ad campaign,as opposed to ignoring them, and turn a threat into an opportunity bycreating mutual ties with minority cultures.

Strategies

1. Be cohesive on all social media platformso When it comes to social media, consistent communication is

important. Tools such as TweetDeck, HootSuite and others allow us to

post the same message to several different social media platforms atonce. However, slightly different content on different networksincreases effectiveness since each platform embraces its own cultureand language. For example, Twitter is most often used for quick andinstant communication, while Facebook allows for more detailedinformation and provides space to address issues at length. Thus,being cohesive doesnt mean to make the content of every message

identical, but instead create cohesive themes.o Agreeing on a unified voice will also remain an important element to

the cohesive structure of the campaign. Ashton Kutcher, Allison BrodPR and Zambezi also take part in the crisis, so all parties involved

must come to a collective decision on the content and channel ofcommunication before releasing any statements.

2. Communicate, respond and react on a needs basiso After CEO Keith Belling delivers the initial (and official) apology for

the crisis, we will monitor conversation and avoid saturatingaudiences with meaningless or unnecessary conversation.

o Quick and real-time updates and responses are essential indeveloping the correct and effective social media campaign. However,transparency does not mean reacting to every Tweet or simplyputting something out there for the sake of responding. A speedy

response that isnt well informed can do more damage than good. It isalso unwise to release a statement or make reactions without carefulconsideration, research and collaboration among all crisis teammembers. Even though it is the goal of the campaign to mediate thiscrisis as soon as possible, Popchips must make certain allcommunication and all messages are concise and serve a purpose.


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3. Focus on monitoring the tolerance level of our stakeholders in regards to thiscrisis

o Following strategy #2, gauging the seriousness of the crisis viaTwitter and other online conversations will be important. If, forexample, Twitter shows conversations about the Popchips ad trendingon a national scale, crisis management efforts will grow stronger thanif say the crisis seems to have remained neutral.

o Netnographic research will provide a systematic way to investigateconsumer behavior, attitudes and opinions surrounding the crisis andhelp create meaning out of the natural interactions that arise betweenaudiences online.

4.

Let the Popchips human show, being as visual as possible!o The humanization strategy will involve demonstrating the real person

in the Popchips company. In this case, our person is CEO Keith Belling,the social media outreach vehicle. Audiences engage with the brandand participate in healthy two-way conversations about the crisisknowing they are talking to or hearing from a real person.

o Popchips customers are human. Popchips employees are human.Popchips fans and followers on the social media are human too. Thebest strategy is to capitalize on Popchipsrealness by putting a real,trusting face to the crisis management campaign and injecting thebrands personality into its messages.

o

Using video and visual platforms for communication, as opposed torelying strictly on written word to deliver our message, will serve ourpurpose best.

o It is our hope this minimizes the lifetime of the crisis and makes it oldnews sooner.

Main Tactics

On-going Tactics

Assign a team of social-media monitoring strategists, represented byPopchips, to gather information about the scope of the crisis through socialmedia analysis and mainstream media content analysis. This will include:identifying, tagging, tracking and analyzing the opinion-makers who areinfluencing conversation about the crisis via Twitter and other onlinecommunication platforms.

o It is not simply about who is on Twitter or tracking the gross numberof Twitter followers Tweeting and Re-tweeting about the crisis.


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Instead, we must look for people who drive and will drive thecontroversial conversation - the people that count.

o Due to overwhelming size of the Web, we only want to respond topeople who will affect the Popchips bottom line.

Radian6.com will analyze noteworthy metrics, such as:o Date of Tweets/ReTweets/postso Number of Tweets/ReTweets/posts/commentso Number of online media articles and blogs mentioning the ado Relevance of Web contento Peoples influence, credibility and number of followers on Twitter

The number and importance of the people discussing the crisis, and whetheror not the crisis is increasingly generating further conversation willdetermine crisis management success.

1-hour Mark

Hold a mandatory meeting with Popchips C-suites and the Allison BrodPR team to communicate our crisis management plan in its entirety, andensure that all those involved stay on the same page.

Draft ane-mail to send to investors and Popchips loyal snackers thatprovides a detailed account of the crisis and that most importantly, provides

a sense of assurance by outlining our solutions to the crisis.

Prepare Belling for the video he will be delivering at the 3-hour mark.o Preparation will be ideal to create a video that appears authentic,

while not too commercialized.

3-hour Mark

Video Belling delivering the official video apologyo The video apology will appear on the front page of the official

Popchips blog (www.popchips.com/blog). Rationale for using the official Blog: Posting on the blog will

avoid the risk of over-communicating the message andsaturating audiences who may be unfamiliar with the crisis. If,for example, someone previously unaware of the crisis choosesto go ontowww.popchips.comto buy product or learn aboutthe different Popchips flavors and then sees the video apology,he or she now knows about a crisis of which he or she waspreviously unaware.
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o Rationale for removing the video:We understand that with todaysWeb 2.0 technology capabilities, audiences will find ways to see the adeven if Popchips takes the ad off its website. However, the negativesoutweigh the positives in keeping the ad video up.

1. We decided that the World Wide Lovers campaign will remainjust as effective without the Raj character, so removing himfrom the campaign and eliminating the original video from anyPopchips online platform will be the most appropriate andrespectful action.

2. Removing the ad will not detrimentally strike finances, seeingas that the additional elements of the World Wide Loverscampaign (i.e. billboards, commercials, print ads, etc.) have yet

to go to print or go live. Had Popchips released the full WorldWide Lovers campaign advertising and marketing piecesalready, the decision would create a more costly move.

o In the apology, Belling will:1. Address many of the questions in the Anticipated Questions

Worksheet.2. Communicate the apology via Popchips social media platforms

for the next 72 hours ONLY. The campaign aims to mediate the crisis on social media

within 72 hours. It makes sense to create a 72-hourtime frame to communicate and spread the apology. The

capability to view the video will still remain precedingthat period, but communication about the apology willnot be tweeted or posted.

3. Communicate that moving forward the controversial Rajcharacter will be removed from further advertising andmarketing.

Communicating this will illustrate Popchips sensitivityto the concerns.

It will also demonstrate that Popchips came to acompromise between business profit and acting morallyresponsible.

12-hour Mark

Send e-mail to loyal snackers investors, closing the e-mail withinstructions on how to contact the Popchips hotline number with any furtherquestions or concerns.

24-hour Mark


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The majority of our tactics will be delivered during this 24-hour mark, because thisis when the news outlets and media will be reporting on the crisis. Thus, it will beoptimal timing to deploy our tactics in coordination with anything on the mediasagenda so that we dont give the media the opportunity to monopolize contentregarding the crisis on this day.

Release the video of the official Popchips apology (a.k.a. make it LIVE)viathe official Popchips blog.

Use Popchips official Twitter account and Facebook page to tweet and postthe link to the video apology on the Popchips blog.

o Communicating through all of these forums will increase spreadabilityof Popchips apology.

CEO Keith Belling, top Popchips executives and Ashton Kutcher will postapologies on their personal Twitter accounts with links to the video apologyon the Popchips blog.

o This will fall in line with the strategy to humanize the campaign. Belling begins personally responding to Tweets that the campaigns social

media-monitoring strategists reported as receiving a high volume ofattention.

o This will illustrate Popchips active responsiveness. Belling will reach out to the top three influential figures reporting or

blogging about the crisis, namelyAnil Dash, Das Racist and Hasan Minhaj.o Belling will speak on behalf of Popchips by first apologizing and

explaining Popchips plan moving forward (i.e. the advent of moreculturally sensitive marketing material in the future).

o Second, Belling will insist that each of these three figures take theopportunity to interview him on the topic of this crisis.

These three figures will receive the rights to the video and theability to post the video on their own blogs. The opportunity topost a video interview with the CEO of a Forbes Most Promising

Companywill most definitely attract viral attention andprovide growth for each figures personal brand. That will act

as the incentive for these three figures to bite on thisopportunity.

For Popchips, this provides the opportunity to use Bellingsface and mannerisms to illustrate true remorse. Belling willinteract with each of these figures in a way that leaves viewers


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with a feel-good, positive image of Popchips at the conclusionof the interview.

At the end of the 24-hour mark, check up on social media conversations,analyze social media mentions and monitor Popchips online reputation inrelation to 24 hours previous. A change in the nature of conversations or adeclined number of posts/tweets will reliably indicate the progress ofmanaging the crisis.

48-hour Mark

Set up a live-Tweet session on Popchips Twitter account, inviting thoseoffended or hurt by the ad to talk it out with Popchips directly. The live-

Tweet session will take place between the hours of 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.,Friday, May 4th.

o Use the live-Tweet session to market a hashtag(#) that Popchipsfollowers can use to direct questions or concerns about the ad if theythink of something after the 12:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. time frame. Thehashtag will be something simple, yet clever like, #popChipsChat.

Ashton Kutcher posts a video on YouTube personally apologizing foroffending any of his fans. He must take a more serious persona in the video,as opposed to his usual playfulness and sarcastic humor. The YouTube videowill be shared as a link via Kutchers Twitter page.

o We will not counsel Allison Brod PR or Zambezi on how to manage thecrisis, however it is important we counsel Ashton Kutchers responsebecause of the fact that consumers now associate his celebrity figureto the Popchips brand. Popchips would not want to lose consumers orsuffer long-term reputational damage because of Kutchers failure torespond appropriately to the crisis.

Popchips reacts to Ashton Kutchers video apology, voicing theirappreciation for his humility and self-responsibility. Popchips may also usethis as an opportunity to assure audiences that the relationship betweenPopchips and Kutcher remains strong and that Kutcher will remain Popchips

president of pop.o It is our hope that Popchips loyalty to Kutcher will reflect positively

on Popchips and in turn build consumer trust, value and loyalty.


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72-hour Mark

At the end of the 72-hour mark, check up on social media conversations,analyze social media mentions and monitor Popchips online reputation inrelation to 48 hours previous. A change in the nature of conversations or adeclined number of posts/tweets will reliably indicate the progress ofmanaging the crisis.

Evaluation Evaluate quarterly salespost-crisis and compare them to the previous

quarters sales numbers.

o If sales numbers are unaffected and continue on the same consistentpath of inflation then the crisis did not affect Popchips user-base and

the campaign achieved the business objective.

i http://henryjenkins.org/2007/05/9_propositions_towards_a_cultu.htmlii http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2013/01/24/popchips-the-next-1-billion-snack-food-or-just-full-of-hot-air/iii http://www.mofo.com/files/Uploads/Images/Deal-Sonora-Mills.pdfiv http://world.time.com/2012/03/07/is-a-new-european-union-ad-racist-controversial-video-campaign-is-pulled/v http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/9126397/EU-campaign-video-is-racist-sexist-and-imperialistic.htmlvihttp://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-european-unions-racist-and-unintentionally-revealing-tv-ad/254100/viihttp://www.apple.com/letter-from-tim-cook-on-maps/

viii http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100602121158.htmix http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/popchips-pulls-ashton-kutcher-ad-over-charges-of-racism/
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Documents

Popchips Crisis Plan