Resource nationalism, radicalisation, terrorism and labour disputes have recently thrown a stark spotlight upon the very essence of any company’s ‘licence to operate’ in troubled parts of the world. But do corporates get it?
Mar 212013
Issue management is often a misunderstood or ignored function within organizations. The complexity of today’s operating environment dictates that just getting away with it is no longer an option.
Mar 012013
It takes years to build a good reputation, but it can be shattered in hours through the media, and relying solely on a spokesperson to save the day or wielding unprepared and untrained senior staff is asking for trouble.
There are two drivers of crisis communications responses. One is based up reputation and one is based upon public safety and well being. The first affects share price; the second directly affects people. In the event that the latter is an issue, the former automatically takes second place.
As stakeholders go your staff are very near the top of the list – the achievement of your organization’s objectives is very much in their hands, on a daily basis and equally so during a crisis. And therefore, internal communications is undoubtedly a mainstay of crisis communications.
The idea of having a dormant website – a dark site – pre-prepared beforehand, able to handle large amounts of data and be updated quickly in the event of a crisis is an eminently sensible idea.
Good, objective-based message strategy and sound preparation will take a media interview far, but just who is it that should be delivering this vital weapon in crisis response?
Jan 262013
During crises, a well-drilled, competently led and organically managed response should rely upon sound and focussed strategic guidance rather than celestial navigation.
The greatest failure of any press conference is borne of refusing to consider the event as an orchestrated, planned and managed piece of theatre. Especially during a crisis.
Jan 112013
Even during steady times communications personnel can be busy just dealing with the day-to-day demands of 21st century media and public. In a crisis they can be overwhelmed, outgunned and outmanoeuvred. But they needn’t be.
PR’s contribution to modern society often finds itself in constant tension between the two ends of a spectrum – the enabling of the ideal citizen through to the creation of the ideal consumer.
Contemporary public relations far exceeds, even shuns, the dark art of spin. But spin remains and due to the very nature and frailties of human nature and its practice of communications, will not go away.
Dec 092011
When it comes to media training, marketing, corporate communication, PR and the like, there remains an annoying and unhealthy preoccupation with the idea of ‘the message’. There’s more to it than that.
Without doubt the information age has brought with the idea of ‘real’ dialogical communication, in which the global extent of networked society has blossomed. What does that mean for the ‘message’?
The contemporary information environment has changed many rules but are modern organizations merely adapting old practices or transforming their game?
Even in these times of economic uncertainty, the public of the rich West will still dig into their pockets to alleviate suffering in the most desperate areas of the planet. But if they were more informed, would they continue?
Definitions of strategic communications are replete with the notions of coordination, coherence, management and synchronization. But what is really at the core?
The cleverest, most capable, experienced, sensible, respected, even honest, CEO is never necessarily capable of dealing with a media storm.
Sep 212012
Bad news is often reason enough to feel like pulling the trigger, but just plain bad communicating is just asking for the metaphorical bullet between the eyes. So how can we try to avoid the bullet?
The establishment of a free media in developing countried is well served by many respected NGOs but nascent government institutions and political bodies are often ill-prepared to engage with this free media and the public at large.
May 222009
A common fault amongst those trying to communicate messages is the belief that if they put the message out often enough and loud enough it’ll get through.
Heuristics – we’re all doing it every day – but do we account for it when we actually communicate? And especially on camera?
Aug 022012
Networks and collaborative working: There’s lots of hype but whether we like it or not, they are fundamentally changing our environment – not quite earthquakes but slow, subtle and monumental shifts are afoot.
Aug 242012
The technology to create Video News Releases (VNRs) is ubiquitous. The knowledge and training to produce quality ones is not. They are often utterly wasted opportunities, as those newsrooms which receive them can attest.
You can be articulate, gregarious, the finest after dinner speaker, suave and sophisticated, witty and always with a quick turn of phrase but amid the heady and complex environment of a media interview, a real cerebral battleground, even the best can slip up.
Feb 022012
It’s a question that is under-used in any media campaign. But knowing the basic newsworthiness factors may provide very useful answers and good media coverage.
Exercising of media handling and management is a little discussed aspect of preparing any organisation in crisis management – but it can pay huge dividends.
Mar 032012
Strategic communication in the foreign policy, development and security arena – what’s that all about?
Jun 142012
Strategic communication – its utility is laden with difficult issues, variously described in different fashions depending on who one talks to, which government or organisation they represent, the particular context and the phase of the moon.
Apr 012012
The latest generation of, not only, technology but its users that are really multiplying the power, but not necessarily the control, of communication and information.
