Issues and Crisis

Crisis Communications In The Age Of Social Media

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 24th, 2010

I read (and reread) The New York Times article on crisis communications with interest. I want to repeat what I wrote yesterday – for anyone who works in communications, this article is worth a read.

I don’t agree with every expert quoted in the piece, but not agreeing is a good thing. It makes you step back and review why you think the way you do.

One of the experts in this article explains that sometimes, there is nothing you can do when a crisis hits except take your hits and get…

Crisis Communications – What To Do And When

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 23rd, 2010

The New York Times has an excellent in-depth article focused on crisis communications. For anyone in communications and PR, it’s worth a read. It’s long – 5,200 words – and it’s interesting. That The New York Times would produce an article this long says something about the importance and value of this topic and, of course, the flat out interest in it.

Get a coffee or tea and settle in. It will take you some time to read this, but it is worth the read.

I will weigh in tomorrow on what we think of the advice…

How To Respond Using Social Media When Something Goes Wrong

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 11th, 2010

There was a great piece online last week at theglobemail.com that gave five tips to Air Canada about how they may have better handled a PR issue that happened recently. While the piece is focused on an incident with the airline, there is wealth of knowledge in here for any organization. It’s worth a read.

From what we understand, a young boy who is fighting a terminal illness travelled to New York City recently to live out one of his life wishes. At some point during his travels, with Air Canada, his wheelchair –…

Do You Have A Social Media Policy In Place?

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 04th, 2010

There is a very interesting article in the Detroit News about the challenges of having employees say things on social media networking sites. It cites several high profile examples, including the YouTube PR nightmare faced by Domino’s Pizza in early 2009. (If you aren’t aware of this issue and want to know more, the article does a good job of explaining it.)

At AHA, we followed the Domino’s issue and several others quite closely and spent a great deal of time deconstructing the challenges that are now common place because of the widespread adoption of social media.

This article is…

BP’s Crisis Communications

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on June 07th, 2010

There are many discussions online and, I am sure, in offices all over the world, about what BP is doing regarding its crisis communications.  It has been a very hot topic in the AHA office as well.

One of the key points in our discussions is how much the world has changed because of social media. Technology and the online conversations happening all over the world mean that, as communicators, we have to evolve how we deal with an issue or a crisis.

There are many articles and blog posts out there about the crisis…

The Nestle Crisis Keeps Going

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on March 23rd, 2010

There doesn’t seem to be an end in sight for candy maker Nestle. I just checked their Facebook page and the negative comments are still being posted on a regular basis. I also checked out their Twitter accounts (@nestle and @nestlecsv) – which stands for creating shared value. While there are plenty of comments to and at Nestle on Twitter, they aren’t tweeting much.

I found information on their website that announces that Nestle commits to using sustainable palm oil by 2015. It’s interesting that you can get this news via mp3 on their…

When A Brand Is Attacked – A Live Case Study

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on March 22nd, 2010

Jenn Riggle of The Buzz Bin has a great blog post on Seven Ways Hospitals Can Address Facebook Criticism. While Jenn’s post focuses on hospitals, her advice can be translated to any organization that faces public scrutiny and criticism.

Being attacked publicly is one of the main concerns that we hear when we speak with new clients about the potential of using social media as a part of their communications efforts. This is a valid concern and one that needs to be addressed, especially for those organizations that have outspoken critics—critics that understand and use social media and…

When A Good Deed Gets Slammed

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on February 12th, 2010

I recently read an article in drovers.com that I found very interesting. It seems that Yellow Tail wine, based in Australia, was set to support the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). However, according to this article, many U.S. wine drinkers and food producers were unhappy with this decision.

At first glance, I wondered why…isn’t helping animals a good thing? It turns out that there are reports that very little of the money that runs through HSUS actually goes to the care and help of animals. The groups that were against Yellow Tail supporting HSUS used social…

Royal Caribbean Continues to Stop at Haiti Port

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on January 21st, 2010

There is an interesting article in AdAge.com about the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s decision to continue to make a scheduled stop at a private resort in Labadee, Haiti. It’s a pretty strong article with a great deal of criticism from PR pros. As I was reading it, I was wondering where the other side was…there are no quotes from PR pros saying that they “get” why Royal Caribbean made the decision to continue to make stops in Labadee.

As I read the piece, I was thinking that I must not be reading this article right because I would…

Tiger stays quiet

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on November 30th, 2009

I have to admit, when I heard about the accident over U.S. Thanksgiving weekend involving Tiger Woods, I thought “hmmmm.”  There seemed to be something missing from the story when I first heard it – what was Tiger doing leaving his house at 2:30 am on Thanksgiving, distracted enough to hit a fire hydrant and a tree?

There are lots of rumours out there right now. The thing is, Tiger isn’t talking, so the rumour mill is growing. During an issue, if you don’t give people solid information, they will speculate, discuss and even gossip.

Twitter, Facebook, blogs and mainstream…