CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS OFFERINGS
PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE
Crises do not discriminate, and each are unique.
No organization is immune to crisis. How a company responds to an issue significantly impacts its reputation, its business and its stakeholders. Organizations need to ensure that they are communicating timely, accurate, consistent and responsible information about serious issues or crises to the appropriate internal and external audiences.
There are inherent risks to every business. There are many facets of an organization that could be at risk for facing scrutiny, including:
- Reputation
- Sales/Product
- Internal Comms/HR
Brands are coming under fire now more than ever, with geopolitical events, social causes and more pushing stakeholders to demand action from the brands that impact their individual lives. But actions and communications need to line up closely with who your brand is and what you stand for. There are a few ways to be proactive in managing crises and brand reputation, including protocol development, media training, practice drills, real-time monitoring and other strategic messaging documents. Matter is available to guide your business through every step.
OUR EXPERIENCE
For numerous situations involving sensitive, complicated and legal/regulatory matters, Matter created comprehensive incident response plans; developed strategic messaging; media trained client executives and successfully handled media relations to mitigate the incident:
- Employee layoffs at an iconic U.S. entertainment brand as part of an outsourcing contract award to our client; ensuing lawsuits filed by impacted employees
- Employee layoffs/”re-badging” situations involving several large U.S. corporations for whom our client provided extensive IT services and then hired former employees from the clients’ IT teams as part of the contract
- Employee death at the workplace
- Theft of sensitive information by an employee working onsite at a large U.S. manufacturing company
- Insensitive commentary made by company CEO to press and financial analysts on the topic of IT professionals’ skillsets and employability
- Transition of high-profile CEO
- Various H1-B visa-related matters
We've also helped clients across industries navigate various business challenges from messaging all the way up to full blown active crisis management. We're nimble, proactive, and ensure our approach works to resolve a situation, not add fuel to the fire.
A snapshot of specific scenarios we've worked on:
- Counseled a baby products manufacturer through class action lawsuit and safety recall
- Provided social and strategic messaging assistance for lawsuit involving leading honey company
- Created crisis response plan for food recall for frozen food brand
- Drafted communication materials to support DE&I efforts at the height of the social justice movement in 2020 and ongoing support since
- Fielded media requests for a major manufacturer during a chemical investigation and subsequent law suit
- Assisted with managing surprise media appearances at a closed event discussing sensitive, confidential information
- Proactive communications and holding statements for security breaches impacting customers for a robotics company
- Led communications around workplace safety and injury for clients in the AEC and manufacturing industries
- Preparation leading up to IPOs/SPACs with executive training, FAQs and other critical communications for a major business shift
CRISIS & STRATEGIC COMMS OFFERINGS
PROTOCOL DEVELOPMENT
One way to be proactive about addressing issues before they spiral is to have a crisis communications protocol in place so the right people react at the right time with the right message, no matter the situation.
Elements of a crisis communications protocol:
- 1.Defining a crisis – outlining specific categories and situations for your organization
- 2.Creation of a Crisis Management Team (CMT) with defined roles and contact details
- 3.Full details of rapid-response procedures – the specific steps the CMT will take to resolve a crisis or serious issue, possible materials needed, and holding statements to be adapted for internal/external situations
Additional proactive measures:
Crisis-specific Media Training
Half-day or full-day training (in-person or virtual) with key spokespeople on specific crisis scenarios, broadcast-specific interview techniques, difficult reporter conversations, and other areas for improvement (i.e. bridging, redirecting conversation)
Crisis Audit
In-depth exploration and analysis of potential threats and scenarios paired with strategic recommendations.
Crisis Audit & Roundtable Discussion
In-depth exploration and analysis of potential threats and scenarios paired with strategic recommendations and holding statements, presented in a roundtable discussion by crisis experts.
Crisis Drill
After an in-depth exploration and analysis of potential threats and scenarios, facilitate a live mock crisis for a priority scenario. This is a great opportunity to identify weak spots, gaps in your processes, and where more work is needed to prepare and protect your organization.
REACTIVE COMMS
In addition to proactive communications, we also manage "always on" strategic counsel programs in addition to ad hoc management of active crises. Always-on programs are particularly beneficial if your business will be going through a prolonged crisis event and/or if there are inherent risks to your business that need to be managed on a monthly basis with strategic comms. Ad hoc support is available to any client that is undergoing a crisis communications challenge.
Strategic Counsel, Content and Social Programs - Ad Hoc or Ongoing
- Serve as strategic communications counsel on call 24/7
- Draft stakeholder communications and media statements (if necessary)
- Review client-created content
- Advise on and implement active media inquiries and social postings