Crisis communication is a form of public relations that is focused on preserving an individual or organization’s reputation, public perception and maintaining trust in its stakeholders. Crisis communication involves the process of gathering intelligence, developing a narrative and disseminating timely communications and important information to the appropriate audiences. Crisis communication is about how information is shared, leaked, and escalated. It’s about what short term sacrifice will make the story go away and preserve value and reputation, and about understanding exactly what is behind a potential, current or future disruption.
The list of potential crises is ever-evolving. In the past, LEVICK has guided companies or individuals through many crisis scenarios including cyber breaches, ransomware attacks, regulatory pressure, reputation recovery, employee sabotage, DOJ investigations, #MeToo matters, CEO malfeasance, drilling and exploration oil spill, FDA findings, food recall, helicopter or other aviation accidents, kidnap and ransom, labor issues, large crane collapse, manufacturing chemical spill, patent litigation, retail/consumer data exfiltration, Black Lives Matter, pandemics/Covid-19, diversity, equity & inclusion and race relations.
Crisis communication playbooks and crisis management plans are designed to reduce the amount of damage to an organization or person’s public reputation, or to prevent organizations from falling prey to potential crisis scenarios in the future.
LEVICK offers a variety of crisis communications services including 24/hour rapid response, crisis planning, risk assessments, crisis plans and playbooks, tabletop exercises, crisis simulations and drills, media coaching, online reputation management, intelligence gathering, social and traditional media monitoring, message development, third-party ally development, spokesperson training, and more.
For nearly two decades, LEVICK has helped organizations navigate crises that threatened their brands, revenue and, in some cases, their very existence. This experience gives us on-the-spot judgment and the ability to anticipate what’s coming next critical skills in the highest pressure situations.
Our team has unique expertise handling the crises organizations face today, including data security and privacy matters; product recalls; whistleblower lawsuits; executive leadership transitions; and incidents affecting environment, health, and safety. Our hard-earned reputation as one of the world’s premier crisis agencies has made us the preferred provider of crisis communications services for corporations, top law firms, and insurance companies everywhere. Whether it’s preparing for a potential crisis, responding to an incident as soon as it happens, or rebuilding a brand or reputation when the dust settles, we have the track record, team, and resources to manage it expertly.
To make a crisis go away, reduce exposure and rehabilitate reputation, you have to be able to anticipate what’s next. You must understand what is causing the underlying problem and how to fix it. It’s not simply about message points and reporter contacts, but about understanding adversaries and what makes them tick.
A company can only prepare so much for a crisis. With increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity threat actors, growing civil unrest, the rise of social media and keyboard warriors, and movements such as #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter, corporations must be prepared to respond to as many “known unknowns” as possible. To best prevent a crisis, an organization must invest in a comprehensive crisis management playbook that outlines key stakeholders, risk assessments, prepared public responses, inquiry protocols, organizational flowcharts, and strategic operations plans.
There are three main stages to a crisis from the crisis management perspective. Pre-crisis, crisis response, and post-crisis. Pre-crisis is typically when intelligence gathering, prevention, preparation and planning occurs. The crisis response is when an organization or individual responds to the crisis through the pre-determined channels and with the developed messaging. The post-crisis stage is when a crisis and its response is analyzed for future preparation and planning to ensure no similar future missteps. This is also typically when organizations will re-assess their long- and short-term crisis management needs, including future crisis management planning.
Most crises present opportunities to show courage and leadership, fix the problem, re-earn trust and rehabilitate and even accentuate reputation. But they require solid intelligence, proper timing, a deft understanding of political machinations, and the echo chamber to write the first draft of history.
