Here, we have a list of 5 great examples of companies having disaster plans ready to go, demonstrating their plan for crisis communications.
- The first example is from Southwest Airlines when they had the plane land nose first at LaGuardia Airport in New York. When the plane landed, the airline was immediately on social media updating people on the situation and keeping their calm. They gave statements about what was going on. The airline's example of franchise public relations was commended by many people who gave thanks to the airline for their open communication and quick timing.
- The second is from the Red Cross. Social media has been known to be the cure (or at least a help) to a PR crisis, however, it has also been known to be the cause. Back in 2011, the American Red Cross had a goof on their twitter when an employee tweeted about "getting slizzerd" from the organization's twitter. The company responded with speed and assurance to their followers by saying that they'd deleted the tweet and had "taken the keys." The person at fault then responded later with a tweet from her personal twitter about how she didn't know how to use Hootsuite and was confused if she was posting to her twitter or RC's.
- The Hitler kettle from JC Penny. A couple years ago, JC Penny had ads featuring a kettle they recently debuted but there was a problem; in the ad, the kettle looked like Adolf Hitler. JC Penny realized that they had a situation that could turn into a really bad situation if they didn't handle it with grace. They responded to tweets about how it was unintentional and what possible redesigns they could do.
So now we have seen some examples of great crisis communications and how it's important to have those plans in place and utilize them. Also, we see that sometimes, to help the situation, some humor helps the crisis. If you want a franchise PR agency to help you with any PR issues, then contact All Points PR.