Last week, Equinox Fitness and SoulCycle were put in the unenviable (and maybe no longer unusual) position of responding to a political crisis related to the president of the United States. Their reaction was not all that strong, and was much criticized. However, we have some sympathy for the difficulty of their situation.
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Police in Galveston, Texas, faced a nasty crisis this week. They handled the response fairly well, showing the importance of actually doing something to confront a crisis. In this case, that included quickly organizing a community meeting and announcing a change in policy.
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Capital One, the fifth-biggest U.S. credit-card issuer, announced this week it was the victim of one of the worst data breaches at a bank. The intrusion involved information on 106 million U.S. and Canadian credit-card customers and applicants. Capital One responded fairly quickly and, uncommonly, was able to communicate that the culprit had been caught.
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Consulting giant PwC did its first global crisis survey, and to our minds the most interesting finding is the ability to come out of a crisis stronger and better. How did these companies emerge stronger? PwC points to some answers.
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The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has released a review of its performance during the mass shooting in 2017 that left 58 people dead and more than 800 injured. The report focuses on the operational response, but it does have a section on external communications. While few crises are as big or as tragic as this one, the report offers food for thought for all crisis communicators.
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Starbucks had a crisis over the Fourth of July weekend involving the treatment of customers who happened to be police officers. The company handled the situation well — as did the police department and the police union. In fact, the communications became something of a love fest. It’s a good example of how you can reach a positive outcome from a negative beginning.
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