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Monday, September 14, 2009

Rob Hoskins

by Rob Hoskins

Managing a Client Tragedy

The recent, and for some, untimely deaths of several celebrity figures in our country present valuable case studies in crisis planning for public relations practitioners worldwide.

More than likely, these public figures had public relations counsel. And, if so, there most likely was some sort of crisis media plan in place to respond to any unforeseen event. Most professionally prepared crisis plans include general guidelines for what to say, what not to say and how to get the desired information to the media in a timely enough fashion to avoid rampant speculation. It’s also worth noting that this needs to be done with the utmost degree of honesty.

Whether involving a suddenly-deceased celebrity or a Fortune 500 CEO, a crisis media plan should be a guideline for carefully selected responders who understand the plan of action and are prepared to act rationally in a moment of total chaos.

A particular challenge to this series of events that must be accounted for is the speed by which the bad news can travel in today’s media. Long gone are the days when the only concern was delivering a prepared statement to the local daily before it went to print. In today’s world of online and mobile social networking sites, the death of a public figure can be tweeted to your next door neighbor before the next of kin gets the phone call with the bad news. The same is true for an untimely death of a leader of a corporation that has many concerned stakeholders.

Twitter, Bebo, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Orkut, Skyrock, Hi5, Ning and Elgg are all social networking platforms being used around the globe by consumers and media alike to share breaking news and information at the touch of a keyboard or mobile keypad.

Today more than ever, it’s imperative that a business – be it a small company or a large corporation – is prepared for any crisis scenario including the sudden death of a member of its leadership team. A good crisis media plan, read and understood, arguably represents the best money a corporate entity will ever spend, even if it is never used.


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