Toyota's Crisis Management Sub-Par

Toyota executives have been virtually silent amid a recall of millions of their cars because gas pedals can become dangerously stuck. For their customers, oh, what a feeling _ fear, frustration, confusion and anger.

Since Tuesday, when the Japanese automaker said it would stop making and selling some of its top-selling models, the company has had few answers for dealers and drivers _ most notably about when Toyota owners could get their cars fixed and hit the road without worrying.

The AP article from which this quote was taken, which also features comments from Jonathan Bernstein, is just one of many slamming Toyota's handling of their enormous product recall. Considering the issues with Toyota vehicles are putting not only their owners and passengers in danger, but also everyone on the road with them,  one would expect their crisis management strategy to be proactive and wide-reaching. Instead they appear to have been ill-prepared for a major recall and you can see the result.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Need for Crisis Management

Many organizations who had never before considered hiring a crisis management team are now scrambling to find one. Why is that? This quote from a Finance & Commerce article has the answer:

The trend has been fueled by the national recession that spawned a plethora of business bankruptcies and corporate layoffs; also, the proliferation of social media that has left businesses more vulnerable to far-flung and instant adverse communications, according to industry insiders.

The article interviews several crisis communications professionals, including BCM President Jonathan Bernstein. Although each has their individual viewpoint, all agree that the rapid changes in the business and financial markets, combined with the prominence of social media and global reporting, make devoting time and money to effective crisis communications a no-brainer.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Audi's Lack of Research Puts them in Crisis Management Mode

German car manufacturer Audi is playing with fire in their latest advertising campaign, which is acting as a lead-in to the premiere of their new Super Bowl commercial. The trouble? This quote from social media strategist Danny Brown's blog explains:

The campaign is based around a new creation called the Green Police, who will spearhead a social media program to build interest in Audi’s ad at this year’s football showcase. The Green Police enforce ways to protect the environment, and encourage people to a better understanding of environmental issues. There’s currently a series of  YouTube mock education videos as part of the program, as well as a  Green Police Twitter account.

The problem is, there’s already been a Green Police enforcement organization, but not one that you’d want to be associated with. This Green Police was part of the Nazi persecution and execution of millions of Jews in the Holocaust of the Second World War.

When launching a public campaign of any sort, it's just good crisis management to do your research. A simple Google search for your key terms can prevent a lot of headaches.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Protecting Against an Ambush

The Ambush Interview is an interview in which an investigative reporter catches their subject off guard in hopes of causing them to make a mental error which the reporter can then exploit. In her article for the latest Crisis Manager newsletter, aptly titled "The Ambush Interview: Taming the Wild Animal," PR expert Monte Martin explains why it pays to make training for these situations a part of your crisis management plan:

Reporters are people. They appreciate being acknowledged and like Mom always said, politeness counts! Never brush off a reporter! They have an assigned story to do and you (good or bad) have a story to tell. How the ambush is handled can turn a story from bad to worse, bad to much better, and maybe even as far as decent.

Every crisis presents an opportunity for you to improve. Start things off right by getting the media on your side.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Don't Snap!

From the moment the day begins, we are juggling work and our personal lives. Before we know it, we're making snap decisions or we're snapping at each other. When we don't feel that we have the time or the need to get curious we can (1) get angry or defensive or (2) make hasty decisions.

This quote from Nance Guilmartin's book, "What Happens When We're Wired to Snap?," featured in the latest Crisis Manager newsletter, tells of one major danger caused by the rush of activities we encounter every day. Unfortunately, engaging in these behaviors in professional life can quickly create major problems for you and your organization. As the article explains, sometimes simply taking a moment to pause before acting can be a very effective crisis management strategy.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

New Crisis Management Newsletter!

A new issue of Crisis Manager is up on the Bernstein Crisis Management website, and we have guest articles from two seasoned crisis management experts. The first, an excerpt from Nance Guilmartin's book "The Power of Pause," illustrates the challenges created by the rush of today's pressured working environment.  Following that up, we have Monte Martin sharing her tips on surviving a harrowing experience for any exec - a Ambush Interview. Would your CEO know what to say?

The Crisis Manager newsletter is free and easy to subscribe to, just click here and enter your email address!

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Twitpoll re Terrorism in U.S.

This is my first trial of the Twtpoll free polling service. Supposedly both the poll and results will show up here.

Crisis Management Time for Toyota

It's time for Toyota to roll out the crisis management plan, as the Japanese automaker joins the recent string of manufacturers forced into massive product recalls. Here are the details, from a USAToday story:

Last Thursday in the U.S., Toyota said it will recall 2.3 million Toyota-brand cars and trucks, back to 2005 models in some cases, for potentially faulty throttle pedal assemblies.

The throttle pedals, supplied by a Canadian facility of CTS Automotive, can wear prematurely and stick open. General Motors' 2009-10 Pontiac Vibe is to be recalled, too. It is similar to the Toyota Matrix and was built for GM's defunct Pontiac brand by Toyota at a California factory.

Toyota says it has not yet figured out how to fix the problem, which an ABC News report last Thursday tied to the deaths of four persons.

Clearly an issue that has caused death is a serious threat to an organization's reputation. Toyota will have to convince both their current and potential customers that they have made things right before they can return to business as usual.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Crisis Management Camps

Gathered in meeting rooms at universities and offices in four different countries, a flurry of typing, conversations, collaborations and snacks are powering an army of technology volunteers committed to helping the situation in Haiti.

CrisisCamps, sponsored by CrisisCommons, are open, collaborative events that allow digital citizens to come together using technology to support the Haitian earthquake relief efforts.

This quote, from a Huffington Post article by Christina Gagnier, sums up exactly what these volunteer-powered events, popping up nationwide, are all about. The CrisisCommons organization is taking advantage of the massive numbers of tech users by giving anyone who wants to aid in the crisis management effort for Haiti a job to do - anything from programming new applications to be used on the front lines to following Twitter feeds. The groups have even had the honor of being tapped for use by the United Nations, which has asked them to aid in monitoring news and information on the still-developing situation.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Red Cross Disaster Response Challenge

The time is coming near again for the UK Red Cross Disaster Response Challenge. A true test of real-world crisis management strategy and skill, the two-day event is built around a simulated humanitarian disaster which you and your team will be tasked with responding to.



Participants will the rare opportunity to face the same decisions and problems that first responders and crisis planners encounter in the field, all while working alongside real Red Cross Emergency Response Unit team members with years of experience.

To find all of the event and registration info just visit the Official Red Cross website.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

French Pirates Go Into Crisis Management Mode

When your company takes a strong public stance on an issue, displaying any behavior that contradicts that position is very dangerous. If you need proof, look no further than the crisis management French anti-piracy group Hadopi, who was caught red-handed last week using a font which was created exclusively for another business, is being forced to do. This quote from a FontFeed.com article describes what happened after a few type-savvy Web users spotted the similarities:

By the end of the weekend the story was raging like a wildfire, and on Monday it even was a news item on LCI, the news channel of French commercial broadcaster TF1. Of course you have to appreciate the irony – the agency in charge of enforcing France’s new anti-piracy legislation using a pirated proprietary font in its very own logo. Bienvenue isn’t available for licensing, and neither France Télécom nor Jean François Porchez were contacted to request an exceptional permission to use it. It painfully demonstrates the amateurism and general cluelessness of the agency’s communication consultants, and puts Plan Créatif in a very bad spotlight. 

Hadopi's crisis response created even more of a backlash when their claim that the presented logo was in fact a "sketch," and not the intended final release, was blown out of the water by bloggers who revealed that the "intended" logo had been created and purchased the very morning it was released.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Pampers Crisis Management

Failing to control your brand's story is one of the most common, and most dangerous, mistakes in the corporate world. With the amount of credence now given to information on the Internet, a few vocal people with time on their hands can cause a serious problem. Manufacturer Proctor & Gamble is finding out first-hand after customers raised a furor over them launching a revamped version of their Pampers diapers before launching the marketing that would explain the changes. This quote from an AdAge article sums up the issue:

Pampers' breakthrough new Dry Max diaper is 20% thinner and way more absorbent than its predecessor or the competition in tests, leading Procter & Gamble Co. executives to hail it as the iPod of baby care. But a vocal group of internet critics compares it to another marketing milestone: New Coke.

A small group of grumblers have turned what had been overwhelmingly positive reviews at Diapers.com highly negative, jammed Pampers.com with negative reviews and created by far the most active thread on forums at the PampersVillage.com site.

Although the offense was totally unintentional and unexpected, P&G is now finding itself doing major crisis management that includes handling negative conversations on nearly 75 websites and on several major social media sites.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Bad Tweet Forces Crisis Management

A UK man has found himself doing serious personal crisis management after making a joking reference to blowing up Robin Hood airport on his Twitter page. Although it initially drew no response, once someone brought it to the attention of authorities they reacted quickly. The Independent UK reports:

Unfortunately for Mr Chambers, the police didn't see the funny side. A week after posting the message on the social networking site, he was arrested under the Terrorism Act and questioned for almost seven hours by detectives who interpreted his post as a security threat. After he was released on bail, he was suspended from work pending an internal investigation, and has, he says, been banned from the Doncaster airport for life.

With the weight given to things said on Twitter and other social media sites, professionals must be careful of what they, and their employees, publish.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

J&J Fails Crisis Management

Johnson and Johnson's 1982 Tylenol recall set a precedent for effective crisis management, laying out the guidelines of communication, cooperation and transparency. Because of this, it comes as a surprise that they recently strayed from their practices by failing to react to customer complaints or FDA questioning about many of their various brands for months. A NY Times article has the details:

According to a federal inspection report, the response was anything but swift. The recall came 20 months after McNeil first began receiving consumer complaints about moldy-smelling bottles of Tylenol Arthritis Relief caplets, according to a warning letter sent by the Food and Drug Administration to the company on Friday. Since then, a few people have also reported temporary digestive problems like nausea, vomiting and stomach pain, the agency said.

The McNeil unit of Johnson & Johnson had recalled some batches of the arthritis drug at the end of 2009. But the company did not conduct a timely, comprehensive investigation, did not quickly identify the source of the problem, and did not notify authorities in a timely fashion, prolonging consumer exposure to the products, the warning letter said.

With batches of nearly every popular J&J medicine now being recalled, the company's mismanagement of the issue is causing serious damage to a previously sterling reputation.  Lesson:  NEVER rely strictly on your past reputation to protect you from today's faux pas.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Crisis Management for Technology

The ever-increasing level of connectivity among devices and services has made handling large volumes of personal or business information easy, whether you're at home, the office, or on the go. Along with new technology comes new risks as well, as this quote from an AP article demonstrates:

A Georgia mother and her two daughters logged onto Facebook from mobile phones last weekend and wound up in a startling place: strangers' accounts with full access to troves of private information.

The glitch — the result of a routing problem at the family's wireless carrier, AT&T — revealed a little known security flaw with far reaching implications for everyone on the Internet, not just Facebook users.

While there was no harm done in this case thanks to the honesty of the three women, imagine the crisis management you could find yourself doing if someone with flexible morals found themselves logged into your CEO's email or social media accounts.  We can only hope that the hole in the system can be plugged quickly!

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Twitter's Role in Crisis Management

In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, Twitter again is playing a key role in providing communications and news, as are other social networking sites, cementing their role as information providers during a time of crisis.

Twitter, a micro-messaging blog that limits posts to 140 characters, has been dominated by news from and about Haiti in the past 24 hours. It's a replay of what happened last June during the violence following Iran's presidential election, when communication was virtually shut down and protestors took to Twitter and Facebook to let the world know what was happening.

The above quote from an MSNBC article is yet more proof of the increasing role of social media in crisis management. As shown by its leading role in most every major disaster or crisis in recent memory, Twitter is leading this trend with its ability to be used from relatively low-tech devices in remote areas and by providing an effective platform for large organizations to send, receive and coordinate communications

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Crisis Management for Haiti

The U.S. has pledged to provide as much aid as possible to the people of Haiti after an earthquake devastated the small nation earlier this week. and has already began to move an aircraft carrier, Coast Guard cutters and a Marine unit into the area. Unfortunately, there are significant issues preventing the crisis management effort from getting underway at full strength, as this quote from a Canada.com article demonstrates:

...the initial U.S. effort was being hampered by a near total loss of communications in Haiti and substantial concerns over the conditions at the Port-au-Prince airport, parts of which were badly damaged when the 7.0 earthquake struck on Tuesday afternoon.

With so much damage done to the infrastructure of the country, it will take a lot of work to simply coordinate communications among those providing aid.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Crisis Management and Social Media

The advent of social media has presented valuable new tools for public and shareholder relations, but organizations cannot use these tools recklessly or they risk a crisis, as this quote from a Law.com blog by corporate counsel Douglas J. Wood explains:

On the one hand, companies want to capture the attention of potential customers roaming the social media space. On the other hand, conversations in the blogosphere are largely uncontrollable, and raise a myriad of risks—labor and employment, privacy and data security, defamation, intellectual property, attorney-client privilege, securities, trade secrets, advertising, marketing and promotion, regulated industries, product liability, and more.

All these conversations are breeding regulation and litigation. Social media can cause serious losses if not handled correctly.

The best way to prevent problems is to coordinate your social media and crisis management efforts, that way any missteps can be averted before they go public.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Blagojevich Failing Crisis Management

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been on a media blitz of the most sensational kind since his arrest for allegedly attempting to sell President Obama's vacated Senate seat. His latest dumb move was to state in an interview for Esquire that he is "blacker than Barack Obama," which immediately drew public ire from many different demographics.

A Chicago Tribune article on the story quotes Bernstein Crisis Management President Jonathan Bernstein as saying, "His tactic flies in the face of crisis-management rationale and most legal rationale," and "If the desired result is to create a market for him as an outrageous personality, than he has succeeded," sentiments which have been shared by nearly every PR and crisis management professional interviewed on the subject. While Blagojevich may believe he is innocent, his continued bad behavior is doing nothing to bring the public and media over to his side.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Mommy Crisis Management

When huge posters reading "Career Women Make Bad Mothers" began to appear on the sides of buses and buildings through London, it didn't take long for the public to react and force the ads to be pulled. This quote from a San Francisco Chronicle article explains how, as well as providing an example of the type of sentiment generated by the ads:

The Outdoor Advertising Association (OAA) had planned to run the posters on the sides of buses and buildings for 14 days, but the ads came down early after hundreds of moms on the Mumsnet Web site banded together and expressed their outrage in forums.

"I saw this ad on the side of a building last night and just stood there looking at it with my jaw dropped," one mom wrote. "It doesn't show that outdoor advertising works, it just shows that controversial advertising works."

"The one on the side of a building today felt like a kick in the stomach," wrote another mom.

The Beta agency, which created the posters for the OAA, is not helping themselves with their halfhearted crisis management, which so far has involved only a short apology on their obscure blog and a letter sent directly to the head of the Mumsnet website.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Supply Chain Crisis Management

Disruptions in your organization's supply chain can result in many different types of crises, as everything from customer relations to your bottom line relies on a steady flow of goods and services. SupplyChainBrain.com recently interviewed Phil Renaud, vice president of risk management at Exel, and this is what he had to say:

One important and often overlooked element of crisis management is understanding the different ways in which day-to-day operations will be impacted by adverse events, says Renaud. For example, he notes that a flu pandemic may create disruptions in the supply chain because of employees being unable to come to work or to perform all of their duties. “That could then create security exposures because fewer people are watching the goods,” he says.

While many think of crisis management as involving major disasters or huge media blowouts, something as simple as a snowstorm blocking your shipments or, as Renaud says, employees falling ill, could lead to a loss of reputation and profits.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Twitter Forces Crisis Management

When the New York Times broke a story about retailer H&M destroying and discarding large amounts of unsold clothing, the organization refused to comment. Their error in crisis management  was picked up by astute Tweeters and suddenly H&M found itself in trouble, as this quote from a Technorati blog explains:

Tweets lashed out at H&M for what people saw as gross lack of charity in not donating the items. Others keyed in on the environmental faux pas of throwing useable clothes in the garbage. And almost all marvelled at how the retailer could be so callous to the obvious financial hardships people faced in the current economy. It became a firestorm.

When caught red handed doing something wrong, whether ethically or legally, it's much more effective to respond and make amends. It's a rare case where an effective crisis response involves "no comment."

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Ready for Crisis Management

We constantly see examples of public relations gone wrong in the news, cases where organizations neglected crisis prevention and are left to fight the resulting fires. In an article for Crisis Manager, titled 10 Hidden Ways to Sink Yourself in 2010, Jeff Chatterton uses real examples to demonstrate ways your organization can find itself in crisis. One of my favorites:


Watch your competitors burn with glee (aka 'afflicted competitor syndrome)


When "Balloon-Boy" Falcon Heene was dominating the CNN feed one afternoon last fall, I received a phone call from one of the largest manufacturers of ballooning equipment in North America. Obviously, this manufacturer had NOTHING to do with the Heene family... that contraption was entirely home-built. Nevertheless, by the time I received a phone call, the company had received over fifty (!) media requests for interviews.


If your competitor does something dumb, don't assume it reflects ONLY on them... especially if you share a territory, a technology or a customer base. No matter how awful your competitor is, their bad day can quickly become yours as well.

Failing to prepare for the sins of others can lead to an unwanted need for crisis management!

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Mobile Phone Crisis Management

When it comes to mobile phone security, taking a few easy-to-implement precautions can mean the difference between a minor loss and a corporate crisis. In an article for the latest Crisis Manager newsletter, BCM President Jonathan Bernstein shares some insight into the dangers that these devices can pose:

What type of highly confidential information do you store on your mobile device? Contacts who would hate to see their information shared with spammers or identity thefts? Passwords?  Photos or videos you or others wouldn't appreciate appearing on YouTube?

It's an odd quirk of human behavior that we will put certain types of information under lock and key and password at home or office, but then make the same information easily accessible to anyone who steals (or finds) our phone or other mobile device. 

We always say the best form of crisis management is prevention, and with built in security measures present on nearly every major device there's no sane reason not to use them.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Government Scrutiny and Crisis Management

After the preceding year's series of corporate-caused crises caused worldwide shakeups, organizations can expect to face extremely heavy government scrutiny in 2010. In a featured article from our latest Crisis Manager newsletter, Mike Kerwin of Levick Strategic Communications discusses this topic:

Global financial crisis, high-profile recalls, and climate concerns were only a few of the issues that fueled unprecedented consumer and investor anger in 2009. It's all but a foregone conclusion that legislators, regulators, and attorneys general will seek to leverage this prevailing public sentiment into messaging opportunities during what promises to be a contentious midterm election season. Companies that are unprepared for the spotlight could find 2010's branding challenges even more formidable than 2009's.

Thankfully, Kerwin goes on to provide a primer on the most likely sources of government scrutiny so that you can begin to prepare crisis management plans for these scenarios.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Crisis Management Newsletter

The very first Crisis Manager of 2010 is up now on our main website, and to start the year off right we've got two feature articles from guest professionals along with one from Bernstein Crisis Management President Jonathan Bernstein.

A great read for anyone who finds themselves knee-deep in crisis management, whether formally or not, the Crisis Manager newsletter is free and can be delivered semi-weekly straight to your Inbox; all you have to do is click here!

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Ready for Crisis Management

In crisis management, as in business, it pays to expect the unexpected and be ready when it happens. In the following quote, taken from a recent UK Financial Times article on preparing for crises, PR expert Colin Byrne hits the nail right on the head:

The challenge to business leaders is about managing reputation risk. The best cure is prevention, but you have to look at the whole reputation cycle. This means preparation, monitoring, action and recovery. Have an up-to-date, relevant crisis plan that is tested and revised regularly. Listen closely to stakeholders so that emerging issues can be addressed early. Don't be blindsided - the warning signs are out there. Build and maintain relationships you might need to call upon down the road. Manage the crisis itself as openly as regulatory or legal constraints allow. The last phase, recovery, is extremely important. People will judge you less on what went wrong if they feel you took the right steps to remedy a problem.

With the speed that information travels at, thousands, or even millions, could be aware of a negative incident within minutes of it happening. Thoroughly plan and prepare to fend off threats to your reputation, or your business could suffer.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Obama Flunking Crisis Management

Presidents get about 210 days to get their vision launched, their dreams in wide circulation, and to marshal their forces to achieve what they set out to accomplish. Then the postmortems begin, coupled with midterm elections. Following the midterms, comes to 24-month effort at reelection. This president has effectively missed three crucial milestones to his future success: the failure to state a vision this country could strive for (“change” is a jingle, not a vision); failure to assemble a credible, powerful, highly accomplished national team; and failure to execute a credible, productive sense of urgency or crisis management so necessary to mobilize public attitudes and public support.

The President is the most visible CEO and crisis manager in the world. This quote from what could be called a "crisis management report card," posted on Jim Lukuszewski's "Crisis Guru" blog, sums up the lackluster performance of the Obama administration. Their crisis management has been largely nonexistent, with most issues Obama promised to change remaining unaffected and in some cases in worse shape than they were previously.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Perception in Crisis Management

What you say and how you say it is crucial to crisis management because the way the public and your stockholders perceive your statements holds far more weight than whatever you actually meant to say. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is experiencing this first hand as her department faces major backlash resulting from her poorly-constructed statements on a TV talk show, which sent quotes like this one, from a CommCore MEDIAtor blog post, flying around the Web:

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's appearance on a Sunday TV talk show was marked by one sound bite that could come back to haunt her: "The system worked." Huh? The alleged terrorist got on the plane despite missed warnings to American security agencies that he was considered a potential threat, including a warning phone call to US authorities several weeks ago from the young man's father. He carried explosives and an incendiary device through security in Amsterdam. He managed to light the device, but failed to cause an explosion apparently because of a detonator malfunction. And he was taken into custody when a fellow passenger tackled him, preventing him from trying again to cause the blast. The "system" worked? Shades of Alexander Haig.

During a crisis, the last thing you want is for your statements to make you part of the crisis instead of part of the solution!

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/