Stories by Matthew Schwartz

At a crisis management workshop at the Counselors Academy conference led by Joan Gladstone of Gladstone International, attendees were asked if they were prepared to say yes whenever a clients asks for help in a crisis. “If not, you’re taking a big risk that your clients may go elsewhere for crisis communications counseling and other PR services,” Gladstone said.

Fiorina, who has never held public office, is a long shot for the White House. Nevertheless, the launch of her presidential candidacy provides a few takeaways for communicators on how to deliver a sharp message.

It’s one thing when agencies help their clients to manage an external crisis and/or cauterize a wound. But what happens when the crisis is happening right at the table and an otherwise stable relationship may be headed for the rocks?

Agencies still provide media training and crisis management, of course, but they also offer strategic counsel, execute and measure campaigns and protect brand reputation.

When an organization is hit with a crisis, the response will often determine how long the crisis will last, in terms of negative media coverage, as well as any long-term erosion in brand reputation or lead revenue. That’s why PR execs need to keep a close eye on how the crisis now engulfing Blue Bell […]

For brands and organizations, the change means that they’re most likely going to have to redouble their efforts to produce more user-generated content.

Ben Affleck, who directed the political thriller Argo, should know better: you foster what you try to hide. Affleck now is learning that the hard way.

Google has prepared a response to antitrust charges from the EU, and it may hold some key lessons for communicators who want to keep employees in the loop while grappling with difficult cases.

Porter Novelli, brought in to contain the damage in Indiana after the Religious Freedom Restoration Act controversy, has its work cut out.

These days there are few PR and marketing campaigns that don’t include blogs one way or another, whether it’s pitching influential bloggers who cover your market, producing blogs in-house to get the message out, or both.