J. Vander Stoep Principal Sound Counsel Bruce Cordingly Principal Sound Counsel WHO WE ARE.
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Transcript of J. Vander Stoep Principal Sound Counsel Bruce Cordingly Principal Sound Counsel WHO WE ARE.
J. Vander StoepPrincipalSound Counsel
Bruce CordinglyPrincipalSound Counsel
WHO WE ARE
CURRENT CRISIS
Susan G. Komen mistakes Not forthcoming Was not prepared Did not express empathy
for those affected No social media
plan
HUMAN COST
AGENDA
Crisis communications best practices Obstacles to good crisis communications Preparation: What you can do now Discussion
POSSIBLE CRISIS SCENARIOS
Management deceiving consumers/investors
Mislabeling Technological breakdown Business discontinuity Organizational crisis
Bribery Sexual harassment lawsuit Race discrimination lawsuit Misuse of funds/lavish
spending Embezzlement Wrongful dismissal Workplace violence
Congressional Hearings 20/20 Investigation Company truck hits school
bus, driver found using drugs Crane collapse Executive DUI accident Repeated employee injuries Oil spills, chemical releases,
toxic waste spills Fire, earthquake, flood,
terrorist incident Executive giving money to
controversial organization Product tampering
The response is often more important than the event.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF CRISIS RESPONSE
Credibility
Speed
Be Prepared to Own the Problem
GUIDING PRINCIPLES TO A CRISIS RESPONSE
1. CREDIBILITY
CREDIBILITY Be honest Be forthcoming
Assume damaging information will out If you deliver it, you help shape
narrative If you don’t, you look like you are
hiding If you don’t know the answer, say
so Use third-party validators
Apple and Fair Labor Assn Keep employees informed
CREDIBILITY:BP & Deepwater Horizon
Declared 1K barrels leaking into ocean every day; it was 5K.
CEO claimed environmental impact, “very modest.” Now called worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.
Would not release live feed of spill.
Bad publicity = U.S. President saying, “My attitude is, we have to verify whatever it is they say about the damage.”
GUIDING PRINCIPLES TO A CRISIS RESPONSE
2. SPEED
SPEED The “Beast” will be fed, with
or without you. Either you help shape the
story or it will be shaped by others without you.
Press is trying to create narrative of good & bad guys
Establish yourself as the primary source of information for the story. This must begin immediately.
Credible allegations that go unanswered are assumed to be true.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES TO A CRISIS RESPONSE
3. BE PREPARED
TO OWN THE PROBLEM
BE PREPARED TO OWN THE PROBLEM If you are at fault, accept some
responsibility. If you do not accept, you will
anger constituencies, and that will prolong the crisis.
Express empathy. Tony Hayward, “I’d like my life
back.” Do what you can for victims. Develop and communicate a
plan to fix the problem. Consider steps to become an
industry leader in the area in which you had problems.
IT’S HARD TO DO WELL
We are human Lawyers Adrenaline Not core competency Incomplete info
IS YOUR COMPANYPREPARED TODAY?
“If possible we want
to avoid any negative
publicity.”
CRISIS READINESS:How organizations prepare
Clear chain of command Identified spokespeople Trained executives &
spokespeople History of your company’s
safety preparedness Supporting collateral Dark Sites Draft press releases Video
Technology audit Contact lists Third party experts identified Relationship with PR firm
SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter
People will use Twitter to talk about you. You should be able respond using the same medium.
In a crisis you want to use that channel to broadcast messages.
For industry-wide issues, SCRA has a Twitter feed and can respond
Video -- increasingly large portion of the social media world
SC&RA ISSUES
Applying this principles to your industry risks:
Crane Collapse Worker Safety Fleet safety Environmental issues Labor issues
ABOUT US:EVENTS SINCE LAST YEAR
Food tampering Food packaging Food contamination Product recall CEO indictment Labor/management conflict Management conviction Negative air pollution publicity
SERVICES WITH SC&RA
Specially-priced services Media Training Crisis Communications
Plans Crisis Communications
Readiness Training Annual Crisis
Communications Audits
Thank You.
Contact us with questions,
soundcounselcrisis.com