Crisis Management

PR pros can learn plenty from the NY Mets’ handling of a recent employee sexual misconduct episode. While the team moved quickly to dismiss the employee, it botched the follow-up, failing to own the incident and attempting to pass it off as a failure that couldn’t be avoided.

Consumers have little patience these days for brand screw ups. With red-alert crisis hitting them every which-way in the news cycle, it doesn’t take much for someone to throw their hands up and be finished with a brand. This can be seen in many cases for sports fans. Most modern fans want to cheer on respectable organizations, and can do without outside distraction impacting their team’s possibility for success. 

PRNEWS welcomed Gil Bashe, Managing Partner, Global Health, at Finn Partners, to LinkedIn Live to discuss various messaging campaigns surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine.

Most communicators understood that the online presence of what others regarded as fringe groups needed serious consideration. It was this lack of concern that, in part, led to last week’s violence on Capitol Hill. Going forward, PR pros will need to redouble their obligation to act ethically and responsibly.

There are many lessons from the violence on Capitol Hill January 6. For PR pros, one of the biggest takeaways is the need for prompt and transparent communication during a crisis. DC Police, Capitol Police and federal law enforcement remained relatively silent initially, allowing others to create narratives.

For many Americans, the arrival of a second government stimulus check can’t come soon enough. The payments began arriving in eligible citizens’ bank accounts this week, but not all are available for immediate access, and that has some people very upset. On Jan. 4, many H&R Block customers took to social media to complain about delays in getting their stimulus check.

If you are a crisis consultant, 2020 was your banner year. When we look back at the year, clearly there were societal changes that contributed to a proliferation of attacks on brand reputation.

Those who thought PR crises were finished for the year probably hadn’t counted on Hilaria Baldwin’s identity issues popping into the news just days before 2020 ended. OK, so Ms. B. isn’t who she’s claimed. Instead of coming clean, she and her husband have made things worse. Fast, someone, get them a PR pro!

Given the breadth of the recent SolarWinds hack, PR pros’ 2021 crisis plans would do well to include a cybersecurity response. To file away for your reference when (not if) that day comes, here are some communications takeaways from organizations responding to the hack to date, including Microsoft and CISA.

Vaccines for COVID-19 have arrived and logistics for distribution seem to be in place. Now another hurdle exists: convincing enough of the public that the vaccines work as advertised and that they’re safe and necessary. Reciting data and statistics to bolster trust will work only to a point. The communication piece of the vaccine effort must proceed carefully, speaking to people in language they can understand.