March 28, 2003

Buyers' Guide

Who You Gonna Call?
How to prepare for a crisis,
and five crisis management firms
you hope you'll never need.

By Lindsey Wyckoff

Never let ‘em see you sweat.
Chalk it up to the stupidity of others, an abundance of crises or whatever you wish, but crisis management has hit the limelight of late. It is a crucial behind-the-scenes PR tool few businesses can live without. And if they try to, chances are they won’t last long.

As individuals, we recognize the need to apologize when we bump into someone. But, for some reason, during a business crisis the basic courtesies of life often become lost amid the corporate positioning and rhetoric. Fortunately for the business world, crisis management firms are popping up almost as fast as overpaid CEOs of bankrupt companies.

Crisis Management 101
We have dealt with crisis management in an article in one of our previous issues, so for some background, you may wish to start there. And there is an informative white paper available for sale on our Web site measuresofsuccess.com entitled “How to Measure Your Image During a Crisis.” For a Web site that will put crisis backround and resources at your fingertips, visit www.crisisnavigator.org. And for the interested student, there is some extra-credit reading material at the end of this article.

In the wake of about a zillion seemingly impossible crises, businesses are often being judged less on what caused the crisis than how they handle it. News now travels at lightning speeds and, let’s face it, flubbing up a little crisis can hurt far more than cruising smoothly (relatively speaking) through a doozy. Watch out for those that seem insignificant. Jim Lukaszweski of The Lukaszewski Group Inc. (see below) points out that crises that evoke an emotional reaction are the ones that capture people's attention and can bring down a company if not handled properly.

When most people think of crisis management, what comes to mind is that spokesperson in front of all the cameras. But crisis communications is just one piece of a bigger pie. Vulnerability audits, staff training, planning, and crisis run-throughs are some examples of pre-crisis management. Here in the measurement world we applaud the growing popularity of the aptly named “postmortem.”

Searching for a crisis management firm.
Determine in what capacity you expect them to provide service. Are you looking for a firm to establish a crisis plan within your organization, or one that will actually step in when a crisis occurs? Some services are off the shelf and some are fully customized. Regardless of your requirements, there is a firm out there that will meet them. Here are a few of the industry’s big names and what they do best.

Bernstein Communications, Inc.
At first, I was not sure what good a “If you have a breaking crisis NOW…Click here!” button on a Web site could do—but it certainly caught my attention. Turns out, when you click on that button you email the partners that run the firm and they’ll get back to you immediately if necessary. When they say 24/7 crisis response, that’s exactly what they mean.

Bernstein offices are in California and Arizona, with team members nationwide. At the helm are Jonathan Bernstein, President and CEO, former director of Ruder Finn’s Crisis Communications Group; and Phil Cogan, Executive Vice President, former deputy director of FEMA's Office of Emergency Information and Public Affairs. Prior to joining BCI, Cogan coordinated media relations and press pools for federal search and rescue teams at the World Trade Center’s “ground zero.” BCI has been in business since 1994 and offers full crisis management services. They also publish Crisis Manager, a free twice-monthly newsletter on developments in the field. On their site there is a lengthy list of crises and how they were handled.

Bernstein has been lead troubleshooter for Del Webb for 10 years and recently helped them design and implement a new communications program. They also worked with the family of actor Robert Young (Marcus Welby, M.D.) to ensure he would be remembered for his acting and not his drinking. One of the coolest aspects of Bernstein is their new PIER technology, which allows them to launch Web sites for clients almost immediately without the services of a webmaster or designer. (Let’s hope he keeps a lid on this one, as it may put some of us out of a day job.) They charge clients either hourly or by the project. Their hourly rates are in the $150-350 range.

Lexicon Communications Corp.
Steven Fink, President of Lexicon, authored Crisis Management: Planning for the Inevitable. He firmly believes in the proactive approach to crisis management and noted that since 9/11 there has been an “uptick in proactive planning.”

Lexicon Communications has been providing a full range of crisis services for more than 20 years. It is one of the oldest and most experienced firms in the country, working with clients from every industry group. Lexicon has recently developed an economic espionage specialty that aims to prevent economic espionage and help limit damage if espionage has already occurred.

Fink explained that for the last 6 to 9 months they have been working with several clients in anticipation of the war with Iraq, putting in place crisis management plans to help these clients “weather the storm” in countries with a primarily Arabic population. They also have provided crisis management for such clients as Swinerton & Walberg, the contractor of a high-rise tower in Los Angeles that collapsed while under construction. A team of engineers, inspectors and Swinerton employees was put together by Lexicon to assess possible causes. (See this page for a partial client list.)

The Lukaszewski Group Inc.
The cornerstone of The Lukaszewski Group practice is the development of customized crisis simulations, available at three varying degrees of intensity. The key players in the client company are involved from the beginning, to ensure a meeting of the minds to realize the results that meet their needs. Prices range from $25,000 for a basic simulation to $200,000 for the more involved, video-enhanced variety.

1) “Table topping” is a low- intensity session where participants use discussion and some role play to work through a situation. 2) Facilitated, scenario-driven sessions are medium intensity and involve hands-on role play by participants. 3) Video-enhanced, situation-specific sessions are high intensity and designed to throw participants into a real-life crisis involving outsiders. These can be up to 2 years in development and can cause surprising reactions. (After a particularly realistic simulation, one chairman shredded all of the papers involved because he was so worried about what would happen if they were discovered.)

Situation-specific sessions are highly realistic and include such details as protesters, newscasts, disgruntled employees and—my personal favorite (from a chemical spill simulation exercise)—“the chief executive of the non-U.S. parent [company] attempts to cause an international incident over the matter to embarrass the President of the United States.” (Check out more of the company's recent projects.)

Run by Jim Lukaszewski, the firm has over 25 years experience in the field. The oft-published Lukaszewski is giving what I am sure will be a very interesting and informative IABC webinar on “Managing Angry Publics” as we go to press with this issue.

Marbles
Although most crisis management companies serve clients worldwide, we thought we ought to include one firm based outside the U.S. for good measure (you can find others in your area at www.crisisnavigator.org). Besides, Marbles happens to have one of the cleverest Web sites we ran across. Based in the United Kingdom, Marbles offers their Dry Run service for refreshing media skills without tons of time and effort. Dry Run is a phone-based media training service that gives companies an opportunity to test out their stories, practice interviews and answer difficult questions without leaving their office. Dry Run begins at £350 per person. There are packages available for team sessions and batches of sessions over time. Marbles also offers in-person media training, audits and numerous other crisis preparedness services. If you are totally without crisis planning, they can provide you with a full crisis communications and public relations team.

Institute for Crisis Management
The Institute for Crisis Management is a consulting firm that offers a variety of research-based services for clients worldwide. Larry Smith, President of ICM, is a 35-year veteran of the news and public information arenas.

ICM designs crisis communications plans and maintains a database of coverage of more than 60,000 business crises. This database provides the data on which many of their consulting services are based. In addition to consulting, the company offers courses. A 2-day certification course in crisis communications costs $945 and is run several times throughout the year. A spokesperson interview training course costs $745 and includes such sessions as “Being Used but Also Using the Media.”

What’s It Going to Cost?
When you are up to your chin in trouble, pinching pennies will be the last thing on your mind. So it is no wonder that the sky is the limit when it comes to fees in the crisis management world. Prices vary depending on the specifics of your crisis as well as the services you require. Who wouldn’t charge a pretty penny to be on call 24/7?

Do-It-Yourself
As with most measurement-related fields, do-it-yourself options are becoming more available. Our favorite is the Crisis Management Toolkit from Real World PR. For $97 you get the advice of experts. Although you could read up a lot and probably accumulate this knowledge on your own, the busy professional will find this package can’t be beat, especially with the nifty slogan, “Don’t leave the office without one.”

Crisis Resources to Read:

• Turning a Public Crisis Around
• Crisis Management Becomes the New Corporate Discipline

This issue is on us!
In celebration of our first birthday, all articles in this issue are free of charge! Here is what is new this month:

Army Intelligence:
Army Public Affairs Gets It Right this Time

Four Tips on Measurement When Your News Is Just Not Getting Out

Five Crisis Management Firms

Seven Experts on Accounting for Extraordinary External Events in Your Ongoing Measurement Programs

Bach to Basics: The Symphony Searches for a New Audience

Report from the Miami IIPRRC conference

Moves and Shakeouts

Can Charlotte Beers’ Reputation be Saved?

...And Found Lacking

The Monthly Measurement Menace and Maven

The PR Weather Report

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