Often the best role for a Crisis PR team is neither seen nor heard. Crisis PR is often best practiced in the shadows. The reason is simple: Make the client look good…
Author: Gillott Communications (page 17)
Knowing When to Clean House
Mopping up fast is good. But be sure of the facts. At first blush, it seems the University of Missouri today and Penn State in 2013 were using the same playbook: Clean…
Rushing for the Exits
Do something that endangers the public, and you may find yourself isolated. Even in Japan, the land of the keiretsu — interlocking business and shareholding relationships where partners are helped through difficult…
Three Things To Do During a Recall
Whenever there’s a recall, your natural response is to think, “Oh no! Does this affect me?” If you’re an ice cream lover, Blue Bell made your stomach churn. If you’re a Volkswagen…
Testing Brand Stamina
In a crisis, who you are will dictate how you’ll fare. What do the recent Volkswagen scandals mean for legacy brands? When our trust is violated, do we respond differently to people…
Will You Go Down Fighting?
Breaking up is hard to do. So do it right. What’s your goal? That nobody noticed? That you catch and keep the other side off balance so they can’t recover publicly? It’s…
Being Heard
News coverage unfavorable? Can’t tell your story because the media no longer cares? File suit. That’s an effective way of getting the attention not only of the other side — but also…
Truthiness
It’s a fun word for a bad idea. Hard to say — and even think — without smiling. Try. What’s it mean? “Preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather…
Sounds Good
Tell inconsistent stories and you lose credibility. “Some of my fondest memories are of things that never happened,” a prominent lawyer and raconteur told hundreds of guests at a retirement party, poking…
Rules to Live By
Go public or lay low? Miscalculation is costly. Yoda had one: “Do, or do not. There is no try.” So did Kermit the Frog: “Life’s like a movie. Write your own ending.”…