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According to Collins Dictionary, the 2022 word of the year wasn’t Goblin mode (that’s officially two words), gaslighting, war or woman. It is in fact ‘permacrisis’ – which is “an extended period of instability and insecurity”.
Brexit, pandemics, wars, elections, the rise of cancel culture, strikes and recessions have seen global economies, businesses, politicians and everyday people lurch from one crisis to the next in recent years. Early indications are that this year will be no exception – and there are some stark learnings to be found in the events of 2022.
From the Royals’ rollercoaster of reputational ruin (thanks ‘Haz’ and Andrew), the Government gaffs of Johnson, Truss and Kwarteng, to stellar corporate comms disasters from P&O Ferries, BrewDog, FIFA and Balenciaga – the year almost charts every lesson in reputation mismanagement.
But getting it wrong isn’t just about bruised egos. It’s also something that has a real financial impact. According to our client, Guinness World Records, Elon Musk has just broken the record for the largest loss of personal fortune – an estimated $182 billion – which is, in part, fuelled by poorly considered tweets (and actions) since becoming Twitter CEO.
According to the World Economic Forum, a quarter of a company’s market value can be directly related to its reputation, and 87% of executives think that reputational challenges are more important than other strategic risks.
Clearly, it’s not just billionaires having sleepless nights over corporate reputation. In a world that’s now predictably unpredictable, more businesses than ever are grappling with the best way to plan and prepare for the impact of negative news. This could be because of poor economic performance, restructuring, supply chain issues, bad customer service or Glassdoor reviews. Or, it could be a full-blown crisis linked to accidents, negligence, cyber-attacks, product recalls, and activist targeting. It may even be just a simple cock-up. Whatever the reason, a mismanaged crisis casts a long shadow over the value and reputation of a business and its leadership team.
Being prepared to manage communications in a crisis isn’t just good comms or business sense. Rather, it’s an essential element of risk management and business continuity planning. And despite all the chatter (sorry, it had to be done) about Chat GPT being the cat’s pyjamas (full disclosure – that idiom did in fact come from Chat GPT) it’s something a chatbot won’t fix.
It’s no surprise therefore that we’ve seen a huge surge in requests for crisis planning (and response). As a result we’ve launched one of the most comprehensive crisis planning and response units on the market. The Brand Protector is Definition Group’s integrated division bringing together the customer experience, employee engagement, media and social experts from Definition Agency, Words&Pictures and Brand Vista into one team focused on crisis planning, training and response. Our experts have worked agency and client side either firefighting for some of the world’s biggest brands, law firms and public bodies, or reporting on them for national media.
The team spans former national and international journalists, digital media and search specialists and internal communications experts, as well as consumer sentiment, brand research and customer engagement consultants. All of them work across the division’s four distinct offers – Prepare & Plan, Train & Test, Respond & Review, Retain & Reassure.
So to help anyone starting to think about what they can prepare for and how, should the proverbial hit the fan, here are our five essential tips that should be central to ANY crisis response – no matter the scenario.
Louise Vaughan is Co-Founder & Chief Client Officer at Definition Group. Find out more about the group’s Brand Protector programme.
This blog was first published in Business Reporter