Journal Article

How to save your brand in the face of a crisis

Johar, Gita V, Birk, Matthias M, Einwiller, Sabine A

2010

Overview

Drawing on scientific research on persuasion, we have assembled a comprehensive crisis communication framework that highlights when specific communication strategies should be used to help a brand recover from a crisis and restore trust and brand image with customers. While other stakeholders, such as investors, need to be considered as well, we focus here on practices in response to customers and consumers in general. And here's an amazing thing: Recovering from a crisis in the right way may sometimes even improve brand image. When a crisis hits, consumers reading or hearing about it likely ask themselves a predictable set of questions. With this understanding of the public mind-set, we can provide communication strategies that help consumers answer the questions in a variety of real-world situations. We evaluate the situation along three dimensions: 1. The truth/falsity of the accusation of wrongdoing - that is, is the crisis real? 2. The severity of the crisis. 3. Whether customers (existing and potential) have forged a strong personal identification with the brand. Our research has generated a comprehensive crisis communication framework that offers the manager an arsenal of communication strategies in different types of situations.

• Publisher: School,Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
• Subject: Automobiles / Brand image / Business communications / Communication / Consumer behavior / Consumers / Corporate image / Customers / Deutschland / Krisenmanagement / Management of crises / Markenführung / Product recalls / Public relations / Strategic planning / USA / Öffentlichkeitsarbeit