All Entries in the "Crisis Communications" Category
Crisis Communications Online During an Oil Spill
Google “BP” or “Transocean” … and the first page of search results, alone, reveals the magnitude of the metastasizing online brand image and reputation crisis facing these two publicly traded companies.
A Case Study of Poor Crisis Management
Toyota has become a case study in how not to do things in a crisis of brand and reputation. Toyota, the world’s biggest car maker, has turned consistently to teams of political lobbyists and attorneys as the company has been ravaged by one safety recall after another to “fix” the company’s problems.
Consumer Reports Takes on Corporate Bully
Consumer Reports is to be applauded for factually, responsibly and ethically warning motorists that Toyota’s 2010 Lexus GX 460 sport utility vehicle has a dangerous handling problem that could lead to a rollover and possibly “serious injury or death.”
Consumers are Not Crash Test Dummies
Toyota’s PR initiative to aggressively work to discredit drivers who have encountered apparent problems with Toyota cars and to complain that the news media has not treated the company fairly is big bully PR from a bygone era.
Southwest: Too Fat to Fly
Here’s where Southwest Airlines really fumbled in handling its customer and social media crisis caused when filmmaker Kevin Smith was kicked off one of its flights because he was deemed to be too fat for one seat.
Corporate Dumb and Dumberer
CTS Corporation of Elkhart, Indiana – a company many of us have never heard of – has bubbled into the news as the maker of the faulty Toyota accelerator pedals linked to the biggest vehicle recall in automotive history, a recall even NPR, which chooses its words carefully, has called “unprecedented.”
Tick … Tick … Tick … Tick, Tiger
It’s not good enough that Tiger Woods – the world’s best golfer – has accepted responsibility for a minor accident by driving his Cadillac Escalade SUV tank into a fire plug and tree. We all have bad days … or rather nights, because Woods car accident happened around 2:30 a.m.
Northwest Airlines: A Communications Nightmare
Northwest Airlines has had problems with its pilots, flight attendants and medieval company policies for some time now. Can you imagine trying to handle corporate communications/PR for such an outfit?!
Nokia, Siemens Risk Image for Profit
Nokia, the mobile phone maker, and Seimens, a German electronics company, are facing growing boycotts of their products and services around the world today by being accomplices-for-profit with the repressive regime in Iran. It is becoming a global PR nightmare for the two greedy companies.
Doing “A Heck of A Job”
As we enter another summertime storm-tornado-wildfire-hurricane-disaster cycle, one would think that the communications people at FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, would be ready, especially online, with the latest communications techniques. But, that’s not the case.
Crisis Communications: It’s Online
I had a terrific time last evening speaking before members of IABC’s Washington, DC, chapter to share some idea about crisis communications in the Internet era. The whole landscape has changed for how to handle a crisis.
Crisis Response in the Internet Era
Web 2.0 has changed crisis response in the world of PR from “announcements” by an organization to a “conversation.” Forget the old days of Mike Wallace kicking in the door with his camera crew behind him. That never really happened, anyway, even though it has become folklore in the corporate world where many CEOs fear [...]
The Brandeis Ripple Effect
The headline in The Boston Globe online boldly told the story – “Crisis raises questions on Brandeis campus.” The recession and the depth of America’s financial is clobbering universities, which seemingly are unprepared for a crisis on every front. Were it not for the famous and respected name of Brandeis, this story may be replicated [...]
