By Jonathan & Erik Bernstein on December 17, 2010
Communication is important in a crisis, but say the wrong thing and it can quickly backfire Foxconn, the Taiwan-based manufacturer of devices for Dell, Apple, and several other high-end electronics companies, has been facing criticism and protests following the ninth worker suicide at its southern Chinese factory. The company has been failing spectacularly at crisis […]
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By Jonathan & Erik Bernstein on December 13, 2010
Strong customer service creates valuable crisis management opportunities In an article from my most recent Crisis Manager newsletter, friend and reputation management consultant Jeff Chatterton wrote about the significance of customer service in crisis management and the negative results that quickly come from ignoring said customers. On the heels of that came a posting by […]
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By Jonathan & Erik Bernstein on December 9, 2010
Crisis management doesn’t stop when the fires die down When the immediate threat of a crisis passes, it’s seductively comforting to breathe a huge sigh of relief and return to business as usual. However, the fallout and subsequent consequences are likely just beginning. Trust will need to be repaired and confidence restored. Uninformed second-guessing will […]
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By Jonathan & Erik Bernstein on December 5, 2010
Google nails its latest crisis management effort Although Google has been at the center of several controversies, the notoriously tight-lipped search behemoth has the advantage of being a public favorite, which means that it has already banked a good amount of reputation “credit” that can be renewed when the need for crisis management arises. Furthering […]
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By Jonathan & Erik Bernstein on November 29, 2010
Crisis management continues after the problems are over It seems counter-intuitive to some, but crises can present amazing opportunities to grow and learn. In a post on his Harvard Business Review blog, expert business consultant Ron Ashkenas explains the shift that occurs during crises, and gives some excellent advice on how to stretch it as […]
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By Jonathan & Erik Bernstein on November 23, 2010
How you communicate is just as important as what’s actually said Many business execs think of written statements as powerful tools, tools that satisfy reporters and the public while quelling any questioning or doubt. The rest of the world…not so much. In an article for his website, Mr. Media Training, Brad Phillips composed a solid […]
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By Jonathan & Erik Bernstein on November 17, 2010
BBB in crisis management mode after being caught taking cash for ratings Over the years, Bernstein Crisis Management has often had the challenge of protecting businesses from the abuses of the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the less-than-honest organization whose mission is supposedly to protect the public from bad business practices, so when I spotted an ABC News story calling […]
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By Jonathan & Erik Bernstein on November 13, 2010
Crisis management and social media are like PB&J Ruh roh. A new survey from German consultancy Gartner Communications found that while nearly 85% of companies worldwide have general crisis plans in place (yea!), only 20.7% have social media crisis plans set (boo!). Moreover, while 71% of in-house communicators think social media will become even more […]
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By Jonathan & Erik Bernstein on November 8, 2010
Airline ignores opportunity to communicate and connect via social media You don’t have to look hard to see the prominent role Twitter is playing in major crises. When engine problems forced a Qantas Airbus A380 to make an emergency landing in Singapore last week, passengers were tweeting pictures of the damage as their plane sat […]
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By Jonathan & Erik Bernstein on November 3, 2010
Popular drink maker’s poor crisis communications could be its downfall You would think one of the nation’s largest independent PR firms would know better than to argue with a reporter, but when Edelman PR, which represents Phusion Projects, makers of the controversial caffeinated alcoholic drink Four Loko, contacted the writers of a Seattle Weekly blog […]
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Jonathan L. Bernstein, founder and Chairman of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. has more than 25 years of experience in all aspects of crisis management – crisis response, vulnerability assessment, planning, training and simulations.[Read more ...]
Erik Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management. Erik started with BCM in 2009 as a writer and subsequently became social media manager for the consultancy itself as well as for a number of BCM clients before moving to the president position.
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