• PR
• Crisis Comms
Crises come in many forms - from a single journalist inquiry into a particular issue, right through to a full-blown crisis that has the potential to damage the reputation of a brand or leader. Whatever it is, two things are required to get on top of a crisis - speed, and the right information, delivered in the right way to the audience.
At Here Be Dragons, we have a tried and tested formula, covering:
Over the years, we’ve helped our clients navigate choppy waters, creating strategies that have allowed us to quickly get on top of the crisis, align all messaging, and respond quickly to move the narrative on.
We’ve included some different examples below, but if you’re reading this and thinking that you might be in need of some support with putting out fires, get in contact with us at contact@herebedragons.co
Working with a major mobile network in the UK, we successfully navigated its biggest crisis - a record fine from Ofcom for overcharging customers over a number of years.
The way the brand was created, we knew that we needed to prioritise customers, getting them on side and treating them the same way we would media.
Key to our success was scenario planning, allowing us to agree key responses to various outcomes that would minimise the impact on the business from both a reputational and commercial standpoint.
As part of the process, we set up a ‘war room’ where the customer forums, media and social channels could be monitored, and key decision makers could be on hand to move quickly. With this approach, we were able to define key messaging and issue a single, full length comment from the CEO that was posted across the customer forums, on social channels and to media at the same time, tightly controlling the narrative. This resulted in neutral media coverage and minimal conversation online, with a short shelf life of 24 hours.
We then followed this up with an in depth interview with the CEO on BBC Radio 5 Live a month later, re-establishing confidence in the telecoms operator and ensuring the audience that it wouldn’t happen again.
We partner with an alcohol brand each year to maximise their summer brand campaign, landing positive media coverage across consumer and trade titles as a part of wider brand building.
In 2021, in the middle of the integrated campaign launch, the TV advert inadvertently appeared on the newly launched GB News channel - a result of programmatic media buying - which caused a flurry of online conversation stoked by the influential @stopfundinghate campaign.
We worked quickly to jump on the conversation on social, providing a simple, factual statement direct from the brand to neuter the argument - then pointed media to the same statement in response to reactive enquiries, not getting drawn into further statements.
This approach meant that, after an initial spike in online conversation and initial interest from media, the conversation dissipated and moved on to talk about other brands, allowing us to progress with the pre-agreed campaign media strategy.
Following a change in regulation within the EU, we worked with a global health and wellness brand, to recall one of their products from all EMEA territories, giving clear communication as to the reasons why - a simple re categorisation of pomegranate seed oil as a ‘novel food’.
Whilst the internal product teams worked on a new formulation, we worked proactively to create a positive campaign to reassure consumers that the product would still deliver the same high-quality results to customers as before, and give media and influencers a reason to write about it when it was ready for market.
As the biggest market outside of the US, we knew that the UK would be a priority market to get people on side, and so we partnered with a noted UK-based food influencer to create a series of recipe-based content that focused on the product USP - algae - an ingredient that was still central to the formulation.
