Crisis Communications
Franken's Resignation: The Crisis-PR Precedent That Broke
Al Franken resigned in 21 days. Jane Mayer's 2019 New Yorker piece broke the rapid-resignation playbook. The crisis-PR lessons that still hold.
Tag
crisis pr
PR News
Jennifer Garner vs. People — The Polite-Rebuke Playbook
Jennifer Garner’s 2017 response to a People magazine cover story about her divorce from Ben Affleck is a canonical example of the “polite-rebuke” playbook for celebrity press corrections. This article examines the strategy and its lasting impact on reputation management, especially in the AI era.
Pharma
EpiPen: $100 To $600 In Seven Years
The Mylan EpiPen pricing crisis of 2016 — from $100 in 2009 to $600+ in 2016, the congressional hearings, the defensive CNBC interview, the generic EpiPen response, the eventual Viatris merger. Four enduring lessons for pharmaceutical crisis communications.
Corporate Communications
45 COMPANIES OPPOSED NC'S HB2. THEY FUNDED IT.
In 2016, 45 companies publicly opposed North Carolina's HB2 while their donor records showed they had funded the legislators who passed it. The reference on corporate donation/posture mismatch.
Crisis Communications
Handling Negative PR: How to Protect and Rebuild Your Reputation
What separates organizations that recover from negative PR from those that don't isn't luck. It's preparation, speed, and the discipline to execute a framework under pressure. Here's the playbook.
Insights & Strategy
The Walmart Walden Avenue Episode: When Corporate Comms and Local Community Relations Disconnect
A small but instructive 2016 Walmart community-relations crisis on Walden Avenue in Buffalo, New York \u2014 and what it reveals about the structural gap between Fortune 1 corporate-affairs discipline and store-level municipal community relations.
Retail & eCommerce
Walmart's 269-Store Reset: The 10-Year Retail Footprint Communications Arc
January 2016. Walmart closes 269 stores in one announcement — and quietly builds the best community-impact communications operating system in U.S. retail. The 17-year footprint-reset arc.
Crisis Communications
VW vs Chipotle: The 10-Year Crisis Communications Retrospective
In 2015-2016, VW faced Dieselgate and Chipotle faced foodborne illness outbreaks. Ten years later, Chipotle recovered into category leadership. VW is still working through the consequences. The 10-year retrospective on why two simultaneous crises produced opposite outcomes.
Industry Leaders
Liz Kaplow and Richard Levick: PR CEO's
Liz Kaplow and Richard Levick built two of the most respected independent PR firms in the country — one built around lifestyle and consumer brands, the other around crisis and litigation communications.
Crisis Communications
Hill+Knowlton PR: Have a Crisis Preparedness Program in Place
Hill+Knowlton's 'Flight School' crisis preparedness program puts companies through a fully simulated media crisis — social feeds, live callers, SMS alerts — before the real thing hits. Here's what crisis readiness actually looks like.