Month: December 2013

Did Allstate really try to crash its own Twitter account?

Typically, having one of your web pages crash in the middle of a promo is a bad thing, but Allstate actually wanted its @Mayhem Twitter feed to crash as part of a recent social media promotion. If you’ve seen an Allstate commercial recently then you’ve seen their character, “Mayhem,” a personification of the dangers stakeholders may encounter, doing everything from trashing cars to putting holes in roofs.

Allstate brought Mayhem to Twitter, and immediately attempted to induce Twitter’s “fail whale” crash screen with a continuous flow of nearly 450 tweets about whales as part of its #TwitterMayhem campaign. Although they didn’t succeed in creating a crash, the @Mayhem account does have over 22,000 followers after less than a month of existence, certainly no small feat.

Wow. Apparently #FailWhale too scared to show face. Shut down after 447 whale tweets #ChalkItUpAsAWin #TwitterMayhem pic.twitter.com/fcGSQSZRqQ

— Mayhem (@Mayhem) September 25, 2013

 

In the course of having all this fun and driving sales Allstate is also creating a great big cushion of goodwill with stakeholders, something that comes in handy when it’s time for the serious business of crisis management and reputation repair. Having some fun AND reaping benefits? Sounds like a win-win to us.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

University shows how fast you can find a solution if the need is dire

A meningitis outbreak is stirring up concern among Princeton students, faculty, and their families. This isn’t your typical meningitis C, but the far more dangerous bacterial meningitis, which actually kills at least 1 in 10 once contracted.

Simple solution, right? Vaccinate the faculty and student body, spend whatever’s needed to give those who did come down sick the care they need and you should be okay. Well, except for one thing…there is no bacterial meningitis vaccine approved for use in the U.S.

What’s the plan, then? NBC News reports:

Princeton University students could get an imported vaccine as early as December to stop the spread of a potentially deadly meningitis outbreak that has sickened seven since March, school officials said Monday.

Under the plan, all undergraduate students, graduate students living in dormitories, and members of the university community with certain vulnerable conditions would be advised to receive vaccinations to protect against serogroup B meningitis, which is missing from the shots already recommended for U.S. college students.

The move follows a request by the Centers for Disease Control in October to import emergency doses of the vaccine Bexsero, made by Novartis, and approved in Europe and Australia, but not in the U.S.

“Pending final CDC approval, the University is prepared to accept these recommendations and make arrangements to provide access to this vaccine as soon as possible,” Princeton officials said in a statement.

Other universities, schools and really anywhere that houses or provides services to large numbers of people should take note of this case for use in their own future crisis management. You may not face an outbreak of bacterial meningitis, but you very well could encounter a health risk for which there is no available, or no known, prevention tool. In such a case, your prior preparation could literally mean the difference between life and death.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Once in a great while, someone is beyond help when it comes to reputation

You may recall the story we covered early this past summer where we discussed claims from two media outlets that they had seen video of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine with a pair of drug dealers.

Ford and his camp went into conniptions, and alternately blasted out oddball communications or sat silent, avoiding the public eye. Well, Ford may have thought he dodged a bullet, but now Toronto police say they have the video, and its content is damning.

The Toronto Star reports:

Toronto Police have recovered the video that appears to show Mayor Rob For smoking crack cocaine, Toronto police Chief Bill Blair said Thursday.

“The video files depict images that are consistent with what has previously been reported” in the media, Blair said at a news conference on the heels of a release of documents used by police to obtain search warrants during their summer investigation.

“I have no reason to resign,” Ford said at a raucous 2:30 p.m. press conference despite calls from several councillors for him to step down.

If you had any doubts about Ford being high as a kite, that last statement should cement things for you.

Toronto Police don’t just have the video, either. News is coming out about a massive police investigation which has turned up evidence of Ford and the few remaining staff members he has associating with all kinds of shady characters from the area, from drug dealers to ex-cons.

There is, literally, no crisis management tactic that could turn this situation around. In terms of the court of public opinion, the best thing Ford could do is virtually disappear, but the fact that he’s likely to be pulled into a court of law to face charges makes that all but impossible.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]