When a Crisis Continues: Maintaining Focus and Momentum
In business, we often think of a crisis as something that happens quickly, creates a flurry of activity and negative publicity, and then is solved. But a crisis can play out over months or years, and that presents a real challenge to a company. Blue Bell, the little creamery in Brenham, is getting to live through its own nightmare. From its voluntary recall on April 20 to its current negotiations with the FDA and state health departments,
From grocery stores to medical practices, the dramatic shift in customer expectations is changing the face of American business. Customers want services when and where they want them—and they want to be able to quickly schedule those services, often using their smart phones. For physicians, that can mean a dramatic shift in delivery of care.
Around the country, businesses are springing up that offer medical care at home, scheduled through your smart phone.
Mobile devices are just like computers, right? Only smaller?
Hardly. And that means how people interact with your website on a smartphone or tablet is very different from how they do it on their computers. The way your site looks, how it navigates and how it reads needs to change—the rules about web readability don’t even apply. Writing for mobile is a whole new world.
A recent article by Neil Patel gives some great advice on how to write for mobile readers.
New Trends in Consumer Spending Can Challenge Retailers and Others
Quick question: This year, when people have charged a jewelry purchase on their MasterCards, what was the average price? Any guesses? $250? $750? $1,000? How about $2,400?
It’s not 2008 anymore—or even 2012—and data at the recent Global Retailing Conference showed that consumers are spending more money. That’s the good news. The conference also presented evidence that consumers may be spending their money differently.
As Mad Men comes to its end, and we bid adieu to the series that focused on the world of advertising in the ‘60s, it may be a good time to think about all the changes that are taking place in advertising right now.
In a recent column in Forbes, Daniel Newman, author of The Millennial CEO and TheNew Rules of Customer Engagement,
When bad things happen, companies can either stand up or they can back down. This week, Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries takes the first step on a long road back to profitability and consumer confidence as it launches an intensive cleaning program and a new employee training program at four production facilities. So far, Blue Bell is doing an admirable job of crisis management—and that professional response could mean that “Pralines and Cream” and “Banana Split” addicts may get to indulge in their favorite flavors sooner rather than later.
For those of us who work in advertising, Photoshop has long been a way of life. The big donor you photographed for the cover of the college magazine doesn’t look quite young enough? No problem. The physician featured in an ad doesn’t like his hairline? Easy to fix. The CEO thinks her teeth aren’t white enough. Changed in an instant. And I’m sad to say that this has become so routine,
Once merely reviled as unnecessary clutter, outdoor advertising has evolved in the last decade. While interstate highways can still boast their share of truck stop billboards, increasingly outdoor advertising has become bold and dramatic and inventive in urban markets. While Austin doesn’t boast giant intercity billboards—and may be a little behind the curve on dramatic designs used to wrap buses—cities like New York take outdoor to a new level.
Did you get fooled on April 1st? Once a slightly obscure holiday that focused on practical jokes aimed at people you know, April Fool’s has now become a way for companies to boost their social media presence by poking fun at themselves. The goal? Getting people to repost the company’s “April Fool” and generate more social media buzz.
The University of Texas joined in on the fun yesterday, posting that a new mixed use development mall was going to be built around the UT tower.
Bad things happen to good people. Bad things also happen to good companies, to well-run companies, and to companies that are less than efficient. To be ready for the bad things, your company must have a strong crisis communications policy.
Without a good crisis communications policy, you and your company can face disastrous fallout when things go wrong: problems with daily operations, investor relations, customer loyalty, and profitability. So if your company or organization doesn’t have a crisis communications policy,
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