Do you remember Chi-Chi’s? If you do, you are probably wondering what happened to them. If you don’t, then take this as a cautionary tale. Chi-Chi’s was a Mexican casual restaurant chain that was all the rage in the 80s and 90s. With more than 200 locations in five countries as well as a...
crisis response
Insights into crisis leadership, reputation and readinesscrisis response
How to Dig Out of a Mess of Your Own Creation
The headlines were unsettling, not shocking at first. But when UnitedHealth, the healthcare behemoth responsible for processing 50 percent of all US patient medical claims annually, revealed it was the victim of a ransomware attack described as “the most serious incident leveled against a US...
When a Publicity Stunt Backfires
There are times (April Fool’s Day, I’m looking at you) when a company decides to pull a publicity stunt to see how big a splash they can make. They engage in intentional misrepresentation – of their business’ product, service, or brand – pushed out as a cheeky, hardy-har-har prank. Sometimes the...
Daily Harvest Needs To Be a Lesson for All Startups
Have you stuck to your New Year’s resolutions? I didn’t make any this year. Instead, I built a plan that will build on small changes throughout the year. January has been a focus on slowing down. But even with my change of thought, it was pretty hard to ignore the barrage of ads about weight loss,...
Kyte Baby: How It Could Have Been Avoided
There have been some really great dissections of the #KyteBaby crisis response. Jeremy Tunis and Eleanor Hawkins to name my favorites. But for all this great analysis, I want to dive a little deeper into how this could have been prevented. I see there are three points: It’s a commonly held...
Preparing for Risk
I’ve been getting a lot of questions about this through the frame of crisis and crisis response and what organizations should do. In fact, I was speaking about this on a panel and was joined by an intelligence analyst.
‘Crucial Conversations’: Lessons for Crisis Communicators
Critical takeaways The book ‘Crucial Conversations’ is a great guide to managing high-stakes conversations but it also provides useful guidance for crises. Many of the same techniques the authors advise for critical conversations can be used by crisis communicators to shape messages - externally...
Crafting Hard Messaging: How to Communicate Difficult Decisions
As we continue to face the daily uncertainty of how this pandemic will unfold, there is one thing we know for sure. Companies will continue to make extremely difficult decisions in the weeks ahead and will be faced with communicating those tough decisions to those who matter most. This webinar...
Leveraging Stakeholder Research for Your COVID Communications Strategy
Bill Coletti and Karlan Witt, CEO of Cambia Information Group, discuss using stakeholder research so you don't have to guess when it comes to crafting your next COVID-19 response message. The webinar covers: Robust research options: the recipe for strong survey research, message development,...
Turning Inwards: Tips for External Communicators Managing Internal Communications
Critical Takeaways The changes forced on businesses by COVID-19 are placing greater emphasis on internal communications. This is requiring external communicators to turn their attention inwards but this change requires a shift in perspective. We’ve outlined five considerations that external...
What’s Next for Communicators re: COVID-19
On the first webinar in Kith's COVID-19 Communications Series, Bill Coletti and guest presenter Gerard Braud share their insights and top recommendations on "what's next" and what to do in this very uncertain phase between shutting down and re-opening for business. Specifically, they discuss: ...
Are you ready for a crisis?
Is your organization prepared to respond to a crisis and protect its hard-earned reputation? Take our quiz and find out!