Crisis: danger or opportunity?

Crisis is an event that happens in every sphere. The development of the world is impossible without striking situations that can affect the industry or even destroy the business. But luckily people try to  learn from mistakes.

However,a proverb says "it  is easier to preclude, than to cure", many actions on crisis PR and management are taken after the strike happened. These actions are taken to destroy the effects that already exist.

However these days much attention is paid to the preventive measures and actions in the first hours/days of crisis.

There can be 2 ways out of the situation-if use the crisis correctly and do everything wisely, crisis can become a friend,not a foe.

After the Pepsi "syringe crisis" it has been reported that actually Pepsi bacame even more  recognisable trademark than before,the sales of Pepsi after the crisis went up rapidly and it left rival Coca-Cola behind.

This is an example when a crisis can become an opportunity.

The example of a bad crisis management is BP (BP spills oil).

Actually as the crisis is a challenge for the company,it is also a gerat challenge for PR practitioners.

Completing the role of connectors between the world and the organisation, PR profs have a lot of things to do. They have to make right decisions and right moves to overcome crisis and what is more important leave the brand audience still loyal.

It is also a great challenge for PRos to"make a credible showing" and to support the high level of professionalism.

These days PRos have such tool as Social Media. Actually it can also become a friend or a foe.

With the invent of Internet and Social Mrdia platforms,news now spread even quicker than before.

But just imagine what can happen when news is bad for your roganisation?

In this case you should be really fast in your decisions. (See the presentation of Ogilvy below)

PRos play an extremely important role-their decisions either save or kill the brand.

The Chinese sign of "crisis" comes to my mind this time

It consists of 2 concepts:danger and opprtunity. Chinese people are clever enough to understand that crisis can be both.

So it seems that Chinese sign supports my article this time and really explains a lot.

Here is the Presentation of Ogilvy: Social Media For Crisis Management

WSJ and Ogilvy: Social Media For Crisis Management 2009

View more presentations from John Bell.

Here are 2 videos from Youtube: Parodies on BP.

That is how crisis management SHOULDN'T work