The ABC's of Crisis Management

At Ipsos Public Affairs we help our clients avoid crises through forward-looking reputation research. However, even clients who track their reputation closely are often impacted by events outside of their control. When an organization faces a crisis (or a potential crisis) of public confidence it must move quickly. The last thing your organization should have to do is bring your research partner up to speed. Ipsos Public Affairs regularly deals with crisis situations and stands ready to help clients deal with their issues rather than being another hurdle that must be crossed. Good research should tell you the size of the problem, the impact of the problem, and how to best communicate about the problem in order to lessen its size and impact.

Assess the Situation

First, your organization must determine the size and relevance of the problem. Our clients are often able to get ahead of issues by addressing them before they become a major concern - it may be a crisis for you, but the public may not be clued in yet. You need advice on an appropriate, measured response. In fact, an over-reaction can worsen a problem that's already behind you.

• Is this an issue that comes to mind as soon as your organization is mentioned?
• If you prompt people, are they aware of the issue?
• Through what channels of communication are they hearing about the issue?
• Is awareness wide-spread or it is limited to certain sub-groups or stakeholders?
• How concerned are people about this issue?
• Do people think the issue will have an effect on them personally?
• What is the locus and focus?
  • Do consumers perceive this as a "me" problem, a company problem, or an industry problem?
• Do consumers "frame" the problem in a way that affects your organization?
• What actions are consumers/stakeholders planning to take? What are their alternatives?
• How will it shift their long term behavior?

Benchmark and Track

In the best possible scenario, our clients have data from before the crisis that serves as a comparison so that we can help them gauge the erosion of their position. This can be accomplished through either:

• On-going reputation research - many of our clients have annual (or more frequent) tracking studies. We can adapt questions that have fielded in the past to determine specific erosion sites.
• Pre-emptive strike - you may be able to get in and out of the field with a study before the issue hits the media. We offer studies that turn-around in 24 hours. Our client's often know that an issue will arise in advance of public release. In these cases it makes sense to get a benchmark read.

Even if a "pre" benchmark is not possible, you want to measure the awareness and impact of the issue as quickly as possible. Once you have your benchmark, you will want to track the awareness and impact of the issue over time. Tracking over time also gives you the flexibility to explore new angles as they arise. We generally suggest a program of more frequent tracking at the outset of an issue with tracking becoming less frequent over time. For instance, you might want to conduct your first survey as soon as the issue is announced and then follow with tracking studies one week after the announcement, two weeks after the announcement, one month after, three months after, and finally six months after.

Communicate

Once you have an idea of the size and impact of the problem, the next step is to determine what you can do to mitigate the issue and reassure your stakeholders. Communications testing can be conducted during the issue tracking portion of the research, or can be done as separate studies when communications pieces become available. Again, speed is a key element and we work with our clients to turn these studies around quickly.

• What organizations (including the client) are credible on this issue?
• What messages break through (i.e.: what messages move which group of people by how much?)
• What channels provide the best means of communication?