When someone added cyanide to Tylenol capsules in the Chicago area in 1982, killing seven people, Johnson & Johnson, owner of Tylenol was faced with an unprecedented crisis. How they handled that situation is still the gold standard for corporate crisis management. Today, the “gold standard” for how to not handle a crisis continues to be Volkswagen. […]
From InsuranceJournal.com: Within hours of a deadly mining spill in November that would become Brazil’s worst environmental disaster, BHP Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie was in front of a camera offering his sympathies to those affected. Meanwhile, his counterpart at joint venture partner Vale SA, Murilo Ferreira, took nearly a week after the mine wastewater […]
From the Harvard Business Review: All of us, at some point or another, are asked to break the rules at work. It may be a small action, like rounding up or down in an accounts ledger, or a small inaction, like looking the other way while others do so. It may be a one-time request, […]
[By Thom Fladung, Hennes Communications] Communications crises don’t take a holiday. We can’t predict what crises will break in the short time left in 2015, but is anyone willing to bet that there won’t be at least a few? And someone’s crisis probably will arrive at a profoundly inopportune time – say, the night of […]
Creating a brand used to take years. Companies often started locally or regionally, developed loyal customers and built a market identity — supplemented by print or electronic advertising as brands grew. In addition to taking a long time, brand-building also took a great deal of money. Flash-forward to today: While it’s still possible to build a […]
[By Nora Jacobs, Hennes Communications] The first car I ever owned was a ’57 Volkswagen that I bought for $100. Its most memorable features were a cloth sunroof and turn signals that flipped out of the side pillars like miniature wings. It was almost as fanciful as the Morris Minor I learned to drive on, […]
[By Thom Fladung, Hennes Communications] Saying “I’m sorry” can pay off – psychologically, because it’s the right thing to do, and literally, because it may get you or your business out of a tough spot while saving money and your reputation. Last month, I wrote about how an organization’s apologies also say a lot about […]
[By Howard Fencl, APR] In the ongoing story of the Duggar family sex abuse scandal, the TLC cable television network on Thursday, July 16 announced that “after thoughtful consideration, TLC and the Duggar family have decided to not move forward with 19 Kids and Counting. The show will no longer appear on the air.” The […]
[By Bruce Hennes] Restaurant workers putting disgusting substances in customer’s food. Politicians seeking and accepting favors. Employees on disability doing yard work. Police officers committing crimes. Every day, a new shocking story on Twitter, another Facebook “caught on tape,” a “you won’t believe what the camera saw” on YouTube. Everyone you know now carries a […]
[By Bruce Hennes] Some months ago, I had lunch with an editor from a major metropolitan newspaper. At the end of the meal, after swapping childhood and industry stories and a few opinions, she asked me if there was anything she could do to help me. When an editor asks that question, you better have […]