Trust in your brand builds crisis resilience
You might not be able to stop a crisis hitting, but you can control your brand’s reputation going into that crisis. Using a combination of long-term public relations work and…
Posts by Gemma Storey
Doing the right thing is hard, risky and worth it
We know that allyship, and acting in line with your values, isn’t easy. If those values are to support, work with, recognise and represent marginalised communities putting those values into…
Lessons in activism
Values aren’t about marketing, they’re about strategy. It’s easy for brands to say what people want to hear (and to switch messages once the political climate changes, as we’ve recently…
Systemising risk – how to take the personal out of crisis planning
Our latest episode of What Just Happened? looked at fallout of the sexual assault that happened at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup medal presentation. Kate and Tamara spoke to…
Miracle on the Hudson: lessons in crisis leadership
In a recent episode of ‘What Just Happened?’, Kate and Tamara talked to psychologist, Gill Green, about the psychology behind the successful emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 on…
Deepfakes & trust in the age of accessible AI
Deepfake frauds are the next step in social engineering attacks. They exploit our relationships, our trust in people – whether it’s Taylor Swift appearing to endorse Le Creuset or our…
The age of rage: how rage farming is harming brands
Bad news. Trolls have evolved. We’ve known for some time that social network algorithms favour emotive content that makes people want to act – whether that’s sharing, liking, subscribing, commenting…
Why organisations need diverse crisis teams
Organisations that work to create more diverse cultures and hire diverse teams perform better than those that don’t. It’s something that researchers and analysts, like McKinsey, have reported for years. …
The biggest brand crises of 2024
2024 saw some big crises for brands. Here is our pick of the biggest: Boeing’s bad year It was a(nother) bad year for Boeing. A 737 Max 9 lost a…
Tylenol’s 1982 recall and lessons in leadership from Johnson & Johnson
The first episode of our new Polpeo podcast, ‘What Just Happened?’ explores the so-called ‘Tylenol Murders’ and subsequent mass product recall of Tylenol in the US by owners Johnson &…
Preparing for a crisis: crisis strategy essentials
Going into a crisis without a crisis strategy is a bit like saying, “I want to be a CEO by age 40”, but having no actual plan to get there.…
What risks are leaders concerned about now?
In January, we looked at the risks that were top of mind for leaders in the coming year. But what are the reputational risks that comms leaders are worried about…
Supporting your teams with crisis simulations
It seems like every day there’s another crisis in the news. Some are crises the organisation could have prevented by making the right choices, at the right time – others…
Preparing for future risks
Running regular crisis simulations gives our team first-hand experience of the risks leaders believe they need to prepare their teams and organisations for. These are often very specific sorts of…
Does backlash always mean backdown? No. Here’s why.
Like every month, June had its fair share of challenges for brands, but three things stood out for me – and they all involved backlashes. Brands backing down in the…
Data breaches, fines and…friend requests?
We’re living in a world that increasingly thrives on data. As consumers, we can only hope that once we hand our data over to an organisation, it will do everything…
Dealing with outrage cycles and community polarisation
Social networks love posts that provoke strong emotions – these tend to be shared widely as we often can’t help but react to them. A like, an outraged quote post…
How “good intentions” can create a backlash
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, or so they say. A brand might have the best intentions in its social content and marketing, but if it fails…
People don’t want pledges, they want action
There are several reminders in the news about the importance of living up to the promises and pledges we make. It’s easy for marketing departments to come up with the…
Why social networks shouldn’t ban anonymity
A debate has raged for some years now over whether or not social networks should ban anonymous accounts. As someone who’s on Twitter daily, I see a lot of abuse,…
What to be aware of when working with influencers
We’re seeing some lifestyle and travel influencers being called to account for their foreign travels during a global pandemic. Many of us are in lockdown and even at the start…
How to help your employees navigate social media storms
Social media has created a whole new headache for brands and their employees, and many are still getting to grips with it. It’s an issue that’s become more prominent as…
How do you deal with a crisis you never imagined could occur?
Have you ever considered what you would do if, say, a newspaper said that your business was (incorrectly) a dogging site? (And no, I’m not defining that!) It might seem…
Creating resilient teams: how to support teams through a crisis
While you can pay special attention to your team’s wellbeing during a crisis, one thing that’s a big help for people navigating tough situations is resilience. Resilience isn’t developed overnight.…
The role of leaders during a brand crisis
Strong leadership can make the difference between a crisis that damages your reputation irrevocably, and one that you recover and learn from. A leader’s role during a crisis should include…
The art of the apology: 5 ways to do it well
Some people may think that it’s a bad idea for brands to apologise to their customers when they get something wrong. Doesn’t an apology imply blame? Couldn’t that have legal…
Want to participate in a crisis simulation?
If you’re a member of the PRCA and you’ve ever wanted to take part in a live, interactive crisis simulation now’s your chance! Polpeo will be running a simulation at…
What is empathy? How can brands put it into action during a crisis?
When we run crisis simulations, we look for the participants to respond using empathy. What we often see is teams that prepare an official statement on the crisis, and then…
Does brand reputation matter?
Axios has released the results of the latest Axios Harris Poll 100 survey. It conducted the research by asking U.S. adults to rank companies based on their corporate reputation. The…
Ocado’s response to warehouse fire brings its community together
At 2:44 am on Tuesday 5th February, Ocado’s high-tech Hampshire-based customer fulfilment centre caught fire. Firefighters have been working to control the blaze, and were still dealing with the fire…
How brands can safeguard their reputation in a post-truth era
Years ago, I had a Homer Simpson #doh moment when I fell for, and re-shared, some inane Facebook post warning people of something dire and technology related. This post had…
Brands in crisis: controlling the risk
Anyone who’s been involved in running a business will know that it’s impossible to completely eliminate risk. You can assess risk, and manage it, but you can’t eliminate it. Businesses…
How consistent is your crisis messaging?
The adulterer’s website of choice, Ashley Madison, recently went through a significant reputational crisis when hackers cracked its database and stole the records of more than 37 million users (or…
Judging authenticity during a #smcrisis
According to a recent article on bbc.co.uk, during a crisis, the believability of a tweet is linked to how authentic and spontaneous it appears. Spontaneous tweets – ones that people…
The human-driven social media crisis
When people talk about social media crisis, what do they mean? The most serious crises are those that happen in the real world, and play out online. In this post,…
Communicating through the crisis
Communication is one of the key factors in getting through a crisis. At Polpeo, we help brands test their crisis communication plans through our social media simulations. Before social media,…