Coronavirus crisis communications

Your coronavirus communications – 7 questions to ask yourself

British businesses are quickly waking up to the reality that the coronavirus is no longer just ‘something happening in China’ but about to become a UK crisis, too. Firms are scrambling to put operational measures in place but — judging from conversations I’ve had in recent days — some are struggling with the crisis communications aspects, while they realise it's vital to protect their reputations and maintain confidence during any disruption ...


Brewdog - offensive ad

Boldness of the UnderDog

I see Brewdog’s latest billboard ad — for its alcohol-free beer — has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority for being offensive. It wasn’t helped by being outside a primary school. It reminds me of the Scottish brewer’s previous run-in with ...


Place marketing: how inspirational is your location brand?

I wrote a little while ago about how there’s been a recent resurgence in location marketing and why UK towns and cities are right to grasp the nettle. I said I’d come back to how relevant bodies can undertake smart marketing to boost their area's economic ...


Dead in 48 hours — how quickly a crisis can kill your business

We’ve just advised a company in a case that shows how fast you sometimes need to act to address a reputational crisis – and the devastation that can follow if you don’t. I won’t name the company so as not to pile on more misery, but this was a relatively new leisure firm running a UK-wide roadshow of family events. Problems arose when it had to cancel ...


Place branding: the time to start is now

It’s funny how certain fields of marketing demonstrate sudden surges in interest. One field showing this lately is place marketing. By this I mean the ...


Is B2B marketing all about millennials?

This was the topic I was talking to a journalist about this week. It’s the idea that shifts are under way in B2B marketing because ‘digital natives’ in their 20s and 30s are being promoted into purchase decision positions. Here’s what I think – and some interesting ...


83% of companies hit by crises last year – and most struggle with speed

A new study of 400 PR professionals has highlighted how often reputational crises hit organisations - despite what many would like to believe - and how speed of response is an increasingly difficult challenge. On the positive side, the research ....


How to do human marketing

Taking a human approach to marketing is close to my heart, so this infographic from marketing author Mark Schaefer really appeals. There's a lot of wisdom in here - particularly points 5, 6, 9 and 10. 


Walking off camera – huge blunder for Persimmon boss

What a blunder for Persimmon CEO, Jeff Fairburn, to walk off camera this morning when politely asked by the BBC about his £75M bonus. Clearly his bonus wasn't what he intended to be there to talk about. And, having been awarded some while back, it isn't news. But - as the biggest ever paid in ....


TSB boss resigns for poor crisis communications as much as IT meltdown

It's striking that today's resignation by TSB CEO Paul Pester seems to be down at least as much to his public handling of the bank's IT problems as the IT problems themselves.  Since first suffering huge operational problems in April when migrating customer data to a new platform, TSB has still not got all its IT systems back on track. Many customers' finances have been thrown into disarray as they've been unable to access their accounts and had money go missing. There's no doubt the IT problems have been enormous. But it's also apparent that ...