BulletProofBlog the blog on crisis communications

Three decades ago, Johnson & Johnson wrote the modern crisis communications playbook with its response to the Tylenol tampering scare. Soon after that crisis erupted, the company voluntarily recalled all of their over-the-counter pain medications – not just those in the affected area outside Chicago – at great cost to its bottom line. While J&J and law enforcement worked together on the case, the company communicated often with all its stakeholders to keep them informed of ... READ MORE

In the Digital Age, search engines are the gatekeepers of information. As such, keeping up with the latest online search innovations has become an absolutely essential element of 21st Century corporate message management. In December 2009, Google fundamentally altered the search engine landscape by introducing its Realtime Search capability, which enables Web users to aggregate and sort the latest online information related to their keyword searches – including posts to social networking sites such as Facebook, ... READ MORE

As part of a continuing series of Bulletproof Blog™ video interviews with thought leaders across multiple disciplines and industry sectors, I recently sat down with Stasia Kelly, an Of Counsel with DLA Piper, to discuss the key elements of corporate crisis response in an age of increased transparency and accountability. Having served in key leadership positions at Sears, Roebuck & Co.; WorldCom; and AIG during several of the most highly-scrutinized corporate crises of our time, Ms. ... READ MORE

As part of a continuing series of Bulletproof Blog™ video interviews with thought leaders across multiple disciplines and industry sectors, I recently sat down with Suzanne Folsom, the former Vice President, Chief Regulatory and Compliance Officer, and Deputy General Counsel at AIG, to discuss how companies can best navigate an increasingly tough regulatory environment. Ms. Folsom was hired by AIG after the determination of the material weakness in 2008. Her primary responsibility was to coordinate and ... READ MORE

While last week’s announcement that Wright County Egg was recalling a record-breaking 380 million eggs because of a salmonella outbreak certainly qualified as a nightmare scenario, it was a crisis a well-prepared agribusiness company should be able to manage. Even with the next week’s news that the total number of affected eggs ballooned to more than half-a-billion, the situation wasn’t necessarily fatal. Unfortunately for Wright County Egg, however, survival in such lingering high-profile crises often ... READ MORE

Late yesterday, as the last U.S. combat brigade remaining in Iraq was making its way for the Kuwaiti border, Obama Administration officials confirmed what everyone in the defense industry already knew – that the significant drawdown in U.S. military forces in Iraq will require greater numbers of stability operations contractors to keep the peace and protect fragile infrastructure. As Operation Iraqi Freedom segues to Operation New Dawn – a State Department lead mission that will primarily ... READ MORE

The top six social media tips to know before you leave the office. In today’s digital world, where everyday Web users are empowered to broadcast their thoughts and opinions across the globe, it is easier than ever before for a single disgruntled customer or former employee to permanently stain a company’s image. Attacks on companies take place every second – on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and elsewhere on the Web – sometimes leading to irreparable damage. Just ... READ MORE

Last Friday, Hewlett-Packard Chairman and CEO Mark Hurd resigned his post amid allegations of sexual harassment and falsified expense reports, bringing an end to one of the most successful CEO tenures in recent memory. This week, many media pundits are wondering why HP would be so amenable to the idea of ending what was a highly-lucrative run. After all, the company found that Mr. Hurd had not violated HP’s sexual harassment policy and the dollar ... READ MORE

The financial regulatory reform package signed into law by President Obama last month includes new whistleblower incentives that will dramatically alter the corporate anti-corruption landscape. Under a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is required to pay whistleblowers a cash reward of between 10 and 30 percent of any monetary penalties it recovers as a result of civil or criminal cases brought with the assistance of original whistleblower information. While there is ... READ MORE

The top six social media tips to know before you leave the office. The seemingly authoritative and impartial articles found on Wikipedia often provide Web users with easy-to-access information on the topics, issues, companies, and products they care about. As the Internet’s “free encyclopedia,” articles on this popular information-sharing site are almost always at the top of search results for millions of keywords and topics. This deep library of content has made the site the seventh ... READ MORE