Crisis Management (Chapter 13)

Strong brands take years to build, but can be destroyed in days. Understanding and implementing a crisis management plan can reduce the negative impact of an event and save a brand’s reputation.

Resources:

• What is Crisis Management?
• Crisis Management – Top 5
• Best Crisis Management Principles
  
• Crisis Communications – Right Ways to Apologize
• Mattel CEO Apology
• Dominos CEO Apology
• Top 10 PR Crisis of 2012
  

Discussion Questions and Exercises:

1. According to the first video, what is a crisis? What is crisis management? Describe the components of crisis management and how to handle a crisis.
   
2. According to the second video, what are the five steps in managing a crisis?
3. Watch the third video. Discuss the principles the speaker outlined. Explain why crisis management is important and how to handle a crisis.
   
4. Good crisis management normally requires an apology strategy. Watch the fourth video and outline the right and wrong ways to apologize.
5. MediaCurves did a believability study during the apology strategies of the CEOs of Mattel and Dominos. Watch both videos. What makes the apology strategy believable? When was it not believable? Why? What could the CEO say that would make it more believable?
   
6. The last video identifies 10 PR crisis in 2012. Choose one of the crisis. Describe the crisis. Use the Internet to see if you can locate what the brand or company did about the crisis. Report the actions taken and evaluate the company’s method of handling the crisis. If you cannot locate information about the crisis, then describe the action steps you would recommend.