Crisis Communications: Anticipate Organise Simulate Execute

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1 Crisis Communications: Anticipate Organise Simulate Execute

2 Responding to issues in the always-on world Your world today The spread of digital and social media and the resulting flood of conversations have made responding to a crisis harder than ever. Where once an issue could be contained within a local market, each issue now has the potential to explode into a global crisis. As a result, companies have to work harder to monitor the issues landscape, and must react more quickly when a crisis erupts. Organisations must be joined up and communicate more effectively to defuse crises faster. The importance of crisis response We live in an online, less deferential society where immediacy rules. Companies no longer have days to get their story straight; they have minutes to gather the facts and respond. In a time when communications are moving faster than ever, and bad news can spread across the globe in minutes, it is crucial that your company is prepared to deal with any kind of crisis before it strikes. As leaders in digital communications, we work closely with our clients to help them understand its implications for issues and crisis management. In the digital world, companies must not only be adept at acting and reacting, they must also engage and interact with their stakeholders. Action Controlled public messages and a strong corporate narrative Reaction Preparing for and reducing risk and issues Interaction Influence in online and offline conversations to improve perception, reputation and brand equity 1

3 Anticipation What potential issues would have the most impact on your business and what would you say about them? Companies should anticipate the most likely crises, prepare draft responses and identify and train spokespeople to respond. The MSLGROUP approach to crisis We guide our clients through crisis in four simple steps: Anticipation, Organisation, Simulation and Execution Simulation With staff turnover and time-lags between crisis events, it s natural that your company s crisis muscle will have atrophied. That s why your next crisis response should not happen in front of the cameras. Well, not the real ones anyway. MSLGROUP will prepare and conduct a live-fire, real-time crisis simulation for your crisis team, across all communications platforms and channels. We ll throw the kitchen sink at you, including real journalists asking you tough questions, to make sure you re prepared for the real thing. Following the conclusion of the simulation exercise we will help you to adjust your crisis response plans. MSLGROUP will help you identify and classify the risks that pose the biggest threats to your business and work with you to develop mitigation plans to combat them. We also provide a comprehensive media training programme and will identify a hierarchy of spokespeople. In addition, we will also help you to set up an intelligent monitoring regime that will identify troubling conversations and neutralise them before they break through the surface to become full-blown crises. Organisation You can t afford chaos in times of crisis. Roles, responsibilities and key procedures need to be agreed ahead of time. Companies should have answers to the following questions before a crisis hits: Who is in your crisis war room? How does information flow? How will you communicate with your own staff? Which channels will be used in a crisis response? And, most importantly, who makes the final decisions on tactics and strategy? Execution There is no substitute for experience. Our crisis experts have fought media battles across numerous sectors and will provide counsel as you navigate your crisis response. MSLGROUP will help your company organise, simulate and execute to emerge from a crisis with goodwill and strengthened relationships with your partners, clients and customers. 2 MSLGROUP will survey your crisis architecture and make sure that you have the procedures and structures in place to respond to any kind of crisis. 3

4 Key people Andrew MacDougall Senior Executive Consultant, MSLGROUP UK Andrew has over a decade s experience in media relations, crisis communications, reputation management, and digital and social media. Prior to joining MSLGROUP, he served as Director of Communications to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Andrew served as the chief government spokesperson and was a key component of the government s crisis response team. He was also responsible for crafting the government s overall brand and message strategy, as well as building the government s brand through its advertising programmes. About MSLGROUP MSLGROUP is Publicis Groupe s strategic communications and engagement group, advisers on all aspects of communication strategy from consumer PR to financial communications, from public affairs to reputation management and from crisis communications to experiential marketing and events. With more than 3,500 people across close to 100 offices worldwide, MSLGROUP is also the largest PR network in Europe, and is growing fast in China and India. The group offers strategic planning and counsel, insight-guided thinking and big, compelling ideas followed by thorough execution. Simon Brooks Associate Director, MSLGROUP UK Simon has provided corporate communications advice to and led PR activity for a wide range of bluechip clients at MSLGROUP, including Atos, Coca-Cola, EY and the World Gold Council. An experienced issues and crisis handler, in this area he has advised major brands crossing FMCG, travel and leisure and financial services. Prior to joining MSLGROUP, Simon worked in-house for Network Rail. Holding a variety of communications roles including public affairs and delivering public consultations, he also managed on-site media relations in the wake of the fatal Grayrigg derailment. 4

5 Be interested. Be interesting. Be influential. Victoria Sugg Business Development Director +44 (0) mslgroup.co.uk