Why You Need to Prepare for the Crisis You Don't See Coming

Someone said to me recently: “We don't really need crisis support. We're careful. We do good things. We don't do anything controversial. Our reputation is good.”

And I get that. If you're doing good work, why would you expect a crisis? The problem is that a crisis doesn't always start out as one. And I'd argue you need to be even more prepared for one that you're NOT expecting. You never know what's going to damage your reputation.

Just look at some of the things that have been in the news over the last 7 days.

Chester Zoo advertised a new attraction to see its animal predators. Except a computer error meant it was advertised as a “child predator tour”. You still have to deal with the fallout of the error.

Oxford United launched a new sportswear collection with United 93 on it for the club's founding year 1893. Except it went on sale around the 25th anniversary of 9/11 where “United 93” has a very different association. But someone born after 2001 may not even know the connection?

Converse pulled an advert after people looking at the images said it evoked KKK and lynching imagery. The advert was made in Korea, so how much consideration was given to how it could be interpreted elsewhere?

And I won't even get into Ed Sheeran's US tour (the amount of texts I've had about that!)

A zoo advertising a new attraction. A football club launching a new clothing range. A global brand selling shoes. A pop star putting on a concert. These aren't the things people expect to turn into a crisis, right?

I'm not saying any of these organisations weren't prepared. I'm sure they had processes in place. But I would ask - who saw the work before it went live? What discussions happened behind the scenes? Did someone look at it from the outside? How could this be interpreted by someone who doesn't know what we mean?

That's where I come in. I help you think about what could go wrong before it does. The amount of times I've been facilitating a crisis comms session and someone has said "That couldn't happen, could it?" And I've said yes....

My support might be an awareness or consultancy day where I run through all of the things that could become a crisis. Scenario planning or stress testing your current processes. Having me on retainer for that outside perspective - or calling me when something has already gone wrong.

Because you don't have to be doing anything controversial to have a crisis - you could be the most altruistic organisation there is - but sometimes there's a rogue computer system, a piece of creative work, something said by someone associated with you, or a decision that seemed perfectly reasonable at the time.

You can't predict every crisis - I mean neither can I - but I can help you prepare to think about the things you can't predict and spot the risks well in advance.