Gazelles Learn to Dance with Elephants at InsurTechNY

Posted on December 11, 2019 by rgeller
Panel 2:at InsurTechNY December Meetup: Victor Dan, Daren Moreira, Brian Gilman, Megan Protas, and David Bradford

Insurtech startups and insurance carriers: they’re the perfect combo.  Startups love the budgets, distribution and big brand cred of the major insurance carriers. Plus, they can hone their tech in a real-world environment and maybe even find a nice exit.  Carriers crave the startup moxie and tech improvements that insurtechs can bring.

If it’s the proverbial match made in heaven, dancing with insurance stars can be challenging and frustrating for both sides.

InsurTechNY’s December meetup featured two great panels that covered just about every aspect on partnering for success, from those who have lived through it, covering the mechanics of POCs (proofs of concept), selecting the right partners, managing the process, and covering the HR and legal angles.

It was a great crash course in helping gazelles and elephants cut up some rug together without stepping on each other’s toes.

Read on for the details; but first, on a side note, let me say how happy I am to have discovered InsurTechNY. David Gritz, Tony Lew and team do a great job, bringing people together from across the industry. Each event offers the opportunity to make great connections and learn from the panels and content presented.

Fusion PR does much work in the space. We are headquartered in NY, although our clients come from all over. But it is good to know more about the thriving insurtech ecosystem right here in our backyard, and InsurTechNY is a key part.

War Stories Working with Insurtech Startups

This meetup focused on improving collaboration and results between insurtech startups and those who can make a big difference in their success, namely carriers and brokers. It featured two panels, which shared startup and carrier perspectives, respectively. Below I feature a small sampling of the great insight provided by the panelists.  Check out the video to see the entire session.

Panel 1: Magic formula for Proofs of Concept

David Gritz moderated the session, and started by asking the panel to explain proofs of concept vs. pilots vs. commercial implementations.

On POCs

It’s important to get everyone from the carrier who needs to kick the tires on a tool in the same room… POCs can be formed in different ways… always try to build one in steps…

Make sure the process to enter the organization is clearly defined; do not pass go if you don’t have this. Ask the carrier: “what would a positive outcome look like for you; how can I show that with this project?”

Dawn LeBlanc

A POC is about the cultural fit, and optics, not just technology

There are three potential pitfalls: selecting POC objectives; if you don’t set the right ones in the beginning, it is tough to change course later… is it measurable, easy to explain? Selecting the POC team; and setting up the right communications process at the beginning.

Oleh Shestakov

Try to get business and tech alignment up front; frame it as “If we check these seven boxes is there a path to doing biz together?”

Zander Steele

On finding the right champion

Find the person who directly feels the pain of the problem we’re solving; they should have significant influence and be someone who can sell effectively on our behalf.

Zander Steele

From POC to commercialization

If objectives that translate to success are defined at the beginning, then there’s less of a chance that [the POC] falls off a cliff. We advise carriers, if you’re not interested, just be honest, If you’re a startup, try to understand why it’s a no.

Dawn LeBlanc

Don’t be afraid of procurement; Involve them early, ask who we should be working with.

Zander Steele

Panel 2: War Stories Working with Startups

Insurance industry veteran David Bradford moderated the session.

Selecting the right startup

It starts with a strategic planning process, and defining problem statements: what do we want to solve?

Divide Into “food groups”: do you want to enable distribution, accelerate technology, focus on customer experience? Then you try to match problem statements to solutions that come from insurtech and fintech companies. If they can address the problem statement need in a crisp way, the faster the conversation goes.

Victor Dan

What criteria do you apply?

When a company acquires or invests in a joint venture with the startup, they’re buying the entrepreneurial spirit, the vision, technical expertise.

Megan Protas

Startups and carriers approach it from very different places; for the startup is it their whole world, their number one priority is to see the project become successful.

Daren Moreira

How to assess the viability of early stage company

It’s a little different than for more mature companies. It starts with strategy, does theirs fit well with ours? How do their capabilities fit? Can we work together to address a larger market or do things faster?

When it comes to financials, we are trying to understand how the company will evolve when we become partners. Would the customer funnel expand? What’s the conversion rate once they become part of Prudential? Great concepts need a brand behind them; life insurance is all about trust.

Being able to assess those metrics first, before looking at income statements and book value is very important to get a picture of the startup.

Victor Dan

Discuss best and worst engagements

At NY Life, we are excited about startups that are solving a problem that has never been tackled with tech before. An example we are proud of is Vault, formerly known as Student Loan Genius.  It’s a company that helps employers provide employees with student loan repayment programs.  We are proud that our benefits team is taking that initiative to help support our employee population.

Hire an attorney that knows the product…  In addition, there’s nothing more frustrating than insurtechs not caring about their own insurance coverage.

As much as it’s important for companies like NY Life to understand a startup’s sales cycle, it’s equally as important for startups to recognize the incumbent’s sales cycle.

Megan Protas

Vonage‘s role

We are at the crossroads of build and buy for insurers, who use communications providers to build mobile or desktop apps.

Our visual APIs power the top ten insurers; remote visual inspection solutions.

Make sure startups are looking holistically at the communications stack for adoption and utilization of a solution between customer and provider.

Brian Gilman

How important is executive sponsorship?

It’s critical; 9/10 times the tech works.  You must get over that hurdle of what you’re trying to accomplish. It’s about finding what the end game is going to be for inviting a champion.  Once you identify the executive where it is a win, things move faster.

Brian Gilman

There’s no implementation without a business unit sponsor.

Megan Protas

Entrepreneurs underestimate regulatory hurdles – how can the carrier smooth the way make process easier for startups?

You must devote resources (personnel or funding) to projects. The carriers who struggle the most try to take people who have a full time job not working in the tech space – tag on an hour a day, to try to help startup launch – what happens is emails go unanswered for weeks, it dies on the vine.

Daren Moreira

What about the team, and financial side?

Founders of startups are equally as important if not more than the product. We look at their backgrounds, experience. Have they had exits? Do they understand the pain points of your business?

Megan Protas

How can startup determine the best carriers – and how to approach them?

Be aligned with the mission (not the same as culture or strategies). Have same purpose. Look at mission statements. Startups should find carriers that share the vision.

There are things we want to change based on the culture we see at a startup; e.g. how to make decisions.

Assurance IQs Chief Strategy Officer said they don’t pend a lot of time debating.  It’s different than what we do, we have meetings, we debate. They measure, cut, measure.

Find out what kind of culture the carrier wants to aspire to. If your startup has that culture, e.g. moving with speed, testing and learning, it’s appealing to a carrier that wants to fix things.

Victor Dan

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How to Overcome Startup PR Challenges

Posted on November 26, 2019 by rgeller
Pixabay

Some may assume that those who work in technology PR have similar gigs – but the assignments can vary substantially.

First, almost every company is a tech company today, right?  So just adding “technology” to PR does not shed much light. Job requirements for those pitching consumer tech products may be more like general CPG.  Getting press coverage for enterprise tech vs. chips vs. telcos are all very different challenges.

The most important variables that can shape tech PR are brand strength and company stage/maturity. The PR playbook should be very different for startups vs. established and recognized companies.

That was the point I made in the article I wrote for O’Dwyer’s November Technology issue: PR Challenges for Tech Startups. It discusses how to overcome some of the challenges the young company faces, here’s an excerpt:

Startups… need to play offense. This means taking risks and being bold to fight for attention. New can mean newsworthy. Disruption, taking on the giants: these are appealing storylines. Plus, there’s an affinity for the entrepreneur and a natural rooting for the underdog.

The new ventures, the lesser-known competitors should launch communications aimed at the weaknesses of the leaders to get coverage. A tried and true tactic in technology is sowing FUD: fear, uncertainty and doubt.

In addition to taking more risks, startups can use their small size to advantage. For example, they can be nimbler when responding to news and marketplace developments. Big brands can be constrained by bureaucracy and disclosure regulations governing public companies.

Please check out the full article on O’Dwyer’s, and feel free to comment and share.

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He fired me and Launched my Career in Tech PR

Posted on November 12, 2019 by rgeller

People sometimes wonder how I started out in engineering and wound up in PR. Something that happened recently really made an impression and brought my career journey full circle, 35 years later. Read on to learn more, and I hope you enjoy the story!

Geeking out with Audio

I was walking the NAB show aisles at the Javits Center in NYC a few weeks ago, taking in the exhibits and scouting new business when I decided to check out the neighboring AES (audio engineering society) show.

Audio has always been a passion and was one of the reasons I wound up in the tech field. I play keyboard, and liked to consider myself an audiophile back in the day; I attended AES meetings while in college in Boston, where luminaries like the Amar Bose of Bose Speakers and the “K” from KLH speakers also hung out.

I had briefly toyed with becoming a sound engineer before my parents convinced me that “real” engineering was a better career choice.  So, I switched majors, transferred schools and pursued an EE degree at B.U. – a move that cost an extra year in my studies, since I got a late start.

That was 35 years ago. Now I was in NYC at an audio trade show and basking in all the gear. I had recently decided to buy Avid Pro Tools, set up a home studio and finally figure out this sound engineering stuff – maybe get to compose and record the right way.

Anyone watching would have noted a shit-eating grin on my face. And then, I saw a large booth for a company whose name I had been trying to recall recently. I was amazed to see that it was Eventide – a manufacturer of effects processors for professional musicians.

Yes, that was the one! The company that gave me my first job. They looked like they were doing great – it was an impressive booth, humming with activity. And standing nearby, holding court among several admirers, was the man who had said: “You’re hired!”

It’s Agnello!!

His name is Tony Agnello.  

After flailing around after college, going on a European tour with my bros, and striking out on the job front for the better part of a year, I had lined up an interview with this man at an audio company in nearby New Jersey. If I wasn’t going to be a sound engineer, I was excited about the chance to work as a design engineer for a cool audio company like Eventide.  

It’s been a long time and I forget all the details.  At one point I made the mistake of calling him “Mr. Angelo.”  He snapped “It’s on-YELL-oh” (it seems the mispronunciation was a sore point).  That slip-up didn’t blow my chances and I was amazed to land what I thought would be my dream job.

So, I went to work at Eventide, which was in a cool office in a place called Little Ferry.  There was a funky vibe there, with much talk of gigs and name dropping of famous musicians who used the gear.

In addition to Tony, Richard Factor was a key exec (and is still there, Tony confirmed). He was a long-haired, cool, fast-talking dude who was funny. I once overheard Richard describing Little Ferry as “the most carefully pronounced town in NJ.” I remember there was a great hot dog place nearby, a local institution called Callahan’s.

I was given my first assignments, a station at a drafting board, circuit designs, chips, and testing equipment, and I set to work figuring out this design engineering stuff. But it was not the thrill ride I’d hoped for. My eyelids would grow heavy as I did my best to figure out the circuits and assignments. No amount of coffee seemed to help.

And now, son of a gun, there he was, big as life, looking good, no worse for the 35-year wear. OK, a bit grayer but fit and a little like Jerry Garcia in his later years, or Tommy Chong.

Remember Me?

The name on his show badge clearly identified the man; there was no chance I had the wrong guy. I waited for an opportune time and then tapped him on the shoulder.

“You’re never going to remember me?” Tony turned around with a broad smile, looking worried and eager at the same time. He said something like: “Try me!”

Tony Agnello, the Man, the Legend at AES

I told him my name and explained who I was. He had given me my first job. It lasted just two weeks. In the second week, I accidentally fried an expensive chip. Tony fired me soon after, telling me (not the exact words) that I had no idea what the fuck I was doing (and he had said that Richard agreed; seemed surprised about my fumbling around with the testing equipment).

Hearing all this 35 years later, Agnello was crestfallen and apologetic. He asked if he’d been mean about it.

“No,” I reassured. “You were actually very nice and told me what I needed to hear.” I explained that it really was OK, he had been right. I was not an engineer. But I’d gone on to a successful and fulfilling career in PR.

From EE to PR

These days when new business prospects ask how an EE geek wound up in PR. I sometimes talk about my ill-fated experience at Eventide.

From there I moved on to roles with GE, IBM, several startups, to where I am today – at Fusion PR, a tech PR agency that I helped grow from its earliest days. My roles were progressively less hands-on tech, more involving communications and people skills.  The common thread throughout has been working in the tech industry.

I am grateful for my engineering background; it has served me well in technology communications.  I might not be great at designing circuits, but I know what CPUs are, how a computer works and can explain digital signal processing.

So, I thank Tony and Eventide for giving me my first job and firing me, setting me on this path.

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The Call was Perfect! The PR pitch, Even Better!!

Posted on October 30, 2019 by rgeller

Recently, we’ve heard a lot about a phone call between a certain U.S. leader and a Ukrainian head of state. The call was said to be perfect at least by the former, and it must be true because he’s said it not once, but over and over again.

Some disagree, and there’s controversy on this (and even a non-proverbial act of Congress).  But without getting all political, let’s cut some slack.

We’ve all done things we thought were great but were not well received, or where reality crashed the perfection party:

  • The golf putt that almost went in
  • The drunken wedding toast that seemed funny at the time
  • The baseball pitch that was for sure a strike, until the ump ruled “ball!”
  • Perfect pitch (tonal) – this YouTube video explains that you can’t attain the skill after childhood; despite one adult who insisted he had. It’s by Rick Beato, a musical genius with a great and informative YouTube channel.

And what about PR pitches?  Public relations is my turf, after all.  In the spirit of transparency, I share a PR pitch that I thought had been stellar but that somehow missed the mark.  I asked others on the team to do the same.

Early in my PR career, I was getting a lukewarm reception when pitching a data storage startup.  This was before the tech took off in the early 2000s, and many did not seem to care about the subject or the vendor.  I took a humorous approach (and a clever one, at least I thought), likening covering storage to reorganizing a sock drawer:

“Last time I broached the subject 4 out of 5 people quickly demurred, citing the need to ‘reorganize a sock drawer’.

I didn’t get the chance to explain that amidst a tech downturn, one segment has continued to rack up impressive gains (IDC predicts an amazing 86% compounded annual growth rate through 2002), creating boundless value for shareholders and fostering a dynamic and innovative market. Do I have your attention?”

Pitch for Data Storage Vendor

One reporter did not agree it was so clever – and went so far as to rewrite the pitch:

You’re obviously not a salesperson.

Create dynamic tension. Sock drawers? Sure– most anyone would yawn the way you’ve approached the subject. Then cite IDC, the people that were sure that OS/2 would be the dominant operating system by 2000.

How to do this? Easy. Data is multiplying like horny rabbits in a good month. The madness: The powers that be estimate that data stored on the Internet is growing at a rate that actually doubles the size of all storage of anything anywhere in the world circa 1990 EACH MONTH!

How are people coping? What’s the impact? What about reliability? It’s not just about hard disks any more. It’s about a world that lives on magnetic and optical storage. Talk to our expert– he can give you the information, the timelines, the stuff that’ll make sense in a world that doesn’t make sense.

He’s strong, virile, and maybe even right sometimes.

See? Did I get your attention? Looking for left-hand socks.

Mark from our team shared these examples:

Early in my career, one of my clients released a Pink Panther computer game for kids.  I wrote a semi-humorous pitch letter from the point of view of The Pink Panther.  My boss thought it was creative and adorable.  At least one reporter disagreed, replying simply, “I HATE THIS PITCH.”

I also once put together what I thought was a truly fascinating pitch based on the information given to me by a client.  It resulted in MULTIPLE reporters informing me that I had my facts wrong.  One of them basically wrote a full essay explaining why I was so wrong. The lesson here: Never assume your clients know what they are talking about!  Research everything.

Emily also shared an example of a pitch she wrote based on inaccurate info given to her by a client; whose take on the market was 23 years out of date!  She started sending the pitch – only to learn from a friend in the industry that the assumptions were outdated.

And what about you? Got perfect pitch? Please share!


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Webinar: Scoring Great PR for you Blockchain Venture

Posted on October 24, 2019 by rgeller

You Don’t Need a CMO invited us to host a seminar earlier this month about PR tips for blockchain initiatives. The recorded session, called Thinking Out of the Block ran on YouTube and is also share above in this post.

Chris Nicholas of the No CMO team introduced me and led the Q & A portion. Here are some notes from the session; please check out the video, about 30 minutes long to view the entire session.

  • What is blockchain? A distributed decentralized network, database or ledger
  • Agenda: We focused on the state of buzz in blockchain space, a case study, the new rules in PR, how to attain PR and branding success for your venture.
  • Where is blockchain now?
  • Gartner Group, leading IT advisory and market research in enterprise tech published a Hype Cycle report that showed blockchain is in the trough of disillusionment 
  • Blockchains rose with the growth and excitement of crypto and bitcoin, with people looking into currencies such as Zcash kaufen to see how they can make money.
  • The space is still relevant; it will take longer for mass adoption
  • BlockSafe technology was the first to market for solutions that protect crypto wallets 
  • We got attention and media coverage by busting the myth that blockchains are inherently secure.
  • It is a street fight for attention even in this industry 
  • Journalists mostly don’t care about your news because of all the pitches, noise and challenges of their jobs.
  • Success means not getting mired in tech for tech’s sake, thinking outside the ‘block’ 
  • Immutable Laws of Marketing and PR
    • Focus on long term brand building
    • Sharpen targets 
    • Connect with needs
    • Be interesting and relevant 
    • Tap content, social, influencers 
    • Understand the user

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Art of Communication: Q & A with Norm Magnusson

Posted on October 14, 2019 by rgeller

My friend Cecilia invited me to an exhibit of artist Norman Magnusson’s work. I don’t know a lot about art despite being engaged to a wonderful artist, Sine Hjort. But Cecilia would not steer me wrong, and she raves about Norm and his work. Plus, the theme for the exhibit is Communication – so I had to check it out.

The show opened two weeks ago, at Mount Saint Mary College, a beautiful campus overlooking the Hudson River in Newburgh, NY. I am glad we went, as I really enjoyed it and was extremely impressed. His art features playful riffs on how we communicate, or more often fail to, in a range of media.

Each work drew me in, and shed light on the foibles we call modern communication. They were compelling, easy to relate to, and made this PR guy grin.

For example, here’s a look at his piece: “I am Sorry…” Norm explains: “Individual words and phrases can be overused to the point of completely losing their sharp edge as carriers of thought and sentiment. Here, below is a drawing entitled ‘I’m sorry’, in which I’ve written ‘I’m sorry’ 1,000 times on a piece of nice thick watercolor paper.”

As he says, “Communication is a bitch.” Tell me about it!

Norm is a former ad agency copywriter and creative guy, so perhaps it is not surprising that he chose communication as a theme. I wanted to learn more about his work and asked if he’d agree to an email interview.

Norm said yes – so see the Q & A below.

Please tell me about your background; I understand you come from the advertising field?

I worked on staff as a creative director/copywriter at ad agencies in New York and london. one spring I had my first solo show (of allegorical animal paintings) lined up and I was sick of telling people “what I really wanna be is a painter” and I quit. I’ve been working primarily as an artist ever since. This exhibition, which has a lot of text-based work, feels, to some degree, like coming full circle.

Tell us about your work as an artist – when did you get into it, and why?

A deeply political piece in this era of “fake news”, one side reads “FACTS”, the other reads “LIES”. The effect of seeing both through this glass is obfuscation.

I started painting shortly after I moved to NYC in 1982. My mom had sent me a set of paints and some canvases just for kicks and they just sat there and then one night my roommate said: “Let’s paint a picture” and we did. He was amazing and I was mediocre but I got the bug and he didn’t.

I’ve been making art ever since. I still have the bug.

One of the things I’ve realized I really like about it is exploration and discovery and the CHANCE that things will work out as I’d dreamed they would. It’s kind of a gambler’s mentality: trying something new and hoping it turns out. In this show, there are a lot of pieces where the finished product made me really happy because it worked out. It’s like winning a little lottery. I’d never etched glass before but “Fake News” worked out exactly as I had hoped. I’d never written anything 1,000 times before but “I’m sorry, a thousand times I’m sorry” worked out even better than I’d dreamed. There are a few other pieces in this show that were brand new territory for me as well. I’ll tell you if you want.

Your work seems to have the same playful quality found in Dadaism – did the movement inform your art?

I remember the first time I saw Meret Oppenheim’s piece “Object”. The fur-lined cup, spoon and saucer at NY’s MoMA. It just killllllled me, it was sooooo beautiful. Not just on an aesthetic level, but on an intellectual level too. Same with “Cadeau”, the iron with sharp tacks welded to its smooth surface or the metronome with the eyeball, both by Man Ray or the urinal “Fountain” by Duchamp and many others, and these things really got under my skin in a big way. Some were considered “surrealism” and some “dada” I guess, but for me (I didn’t study art history and knew very little about any of it when I moved to NYC) they were all “absurd objects” and I loved them to bits. I even created and curated an exhibition a few years back on the subject. It was such fun. No one has ever asked me this question before. I guess it was the beginning of an understanding of conceptual art for me, a description that, increasingly, people attach to my creative output. I’m becoming less uncomfortable with it.

What inspired this exhibition?

I worked in advertising as a copywriter. A part of that craft is to say things JUST SO. So that they can be read only one way. The opposite of poetry, if you will. You would never want to write a line of copy that could be misinterpreted in an unflattering way or in any way at all!! I feel that I’m GOOD at that, both professionally and personally. And yet……miscommunications happen. ALL THE TIME!!!! I’m always wondering why? And how? And there are soooo many reasons….. It’s really fascinating to me. And I started to think about it and make art about it and started to think that it could make a really fun exhibition. I think maybe one of the first pieces I made happened when I was dictating through the voice recognition software, Siri, and it was just getting things wrong. Honestly, I think I could make art on this theme forever. There’s no end to how interesting it is to me. Communication is tough and it’s fun to figure out why.

What’s next for your work?

I’m working on a series about internet pornography sites like midget porn. It’s been percolating for years and finally, it’s ready to be created. I’m fascinated with how there is, as they say, something for everyone out there. It’s ubiquitous, 12% of existing websites are porn, 35% of all internet downloads are porn-related. Every second, 29,000 internet users are viewing porn and 1 in 3 of them are women. Every other minute, someone buys a sex toy like the belladonna pocket pussy. Every 10 minutes, someone signs up to premium porn sites that they pay for. It’s an amazing force in our contemporary lives and I’ve planned a bunch of obsessive pieces on this topic and made one small example of one of them. I’m thrilled to get going on it.

Thanks Norm!

If you are in the NY northern suburbs I strongly recommended visiting the exhibit, which will be on display through November 13. You can see all the work in this series (some in the show, some not) here.

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Think outside the Block in Promoting your Venture: Join our 10/2 Webinar

Posted on September 26, 2019 by rgeller

Looking to launch or grow a blockchain venture? What are the secrets to success?

It’s a noisy world and a never-ending battle for the consumer’s attention. If the average user is slammed with info and updates, just think about journalists! They’re an especially tough crowd to reach and impress. Sure, you can try to take your message to the crowds directly, via social media. But it is not easy to rise above the noise in crowded newsfeeds and social streams.

This is especially true in the realm of blockchain. People are trying their best to understand what it all means – and if the tech really will be a game-changer that lives up to the hype. There’s some baggage associated with the ups and downs of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

To be successful and breakthrough to a mainstream audience, you need to think outside the box. At a high level that means going beyond technology to talk more about utility and benefits. It means using the latest tactics and tools to unleash the marketing and PR that can help your venture get the attention it deserves.

Something to remember is the fact that there are loyal and dedicated communities that follow updates in the crypto and blockchain worlds. They look forward to putting together an asic mining rig or other rigs sometime in the future, and earning profit from the block.

Please join me, and Chris Nicholas in a No CMO webinar, on Oct 2, 2019 02:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada). Click here to register.

Thanks! We hope you can make it.

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How to Contain PR Fallout from a Cyber-attack

Posted on September 11, 2019 by rgeller

Fusion PR works extensively in the cyber security space. We are often asked about how to handle the PR fallout from breaches. What are the similarities and differences with other kinds of crisis management?

I decided to answer these questions in this post, with input from our team.

Like other PR Crises?

A cyber-attack is a special kind of crisis. It has some things in common with other types (e.g. product liability, malfeasance) in that the company’s reputation can also be at stake.

But by their nature problems related to cyber-security and data leakage can be more challenging to understand and contain.  It is not always easy to know the cause, the damage or even where and when the problem begins or ends.  They can be insidious, confounding and always seem to find new ways to bedevil.

As such, these incidents add wrinkles to the traditional crisis management playbook.

The Role of PR in Cybersecurity

PR can and should play a vital role. Unfortunately, most companies take an overly cautious and defensive approach when it comes to communications. They are reluctant to go public in a positive and proactive way about the measures they are taking to protect their networks and data (see my post We’ve been Hacked! Call the Press). And they may say the wrong thing or not enough after an attack.

When an organization is attacked, assuming it is significant (not the everyday attempt but real damage has happened or is underway), the PR team should advise the client (or employer, if in-house PR) to respond according to the tenets of crisis management.

That means moving quickly to gather the facts and implement a crisis management plan.

The Crisis Plan

One of the best ways to limit the fallout is to be proactive and vocal, sooner, rather than later.

If it is a major breach, word will get out and the potential damage to brand and reputation will be compounded (and possibly open the door to legal penalties).  You need to be transparent and address the concerns of all stakeholders (customers, shareholders, employees) early on.

There can be a life cycle to these things that requires different statements at different times. E.g. if it is a major attack, do you say anything if it still is happening and/or before damage has been contained?

An example that comes to mind is the recent wave of ransomware attacks – if a company or government is being extorted, should there be public statements before it has been resolved? Again, the rules of crisis management and even hostage negotiations can come into play.

In general, you need to act quickly and transparently (guided by the crisis plan and with input from the CISO, PR team, legal advisors and C-level execs).

Piecemealing information is a way to prolong the PR pain – it can be like death by 1000 paper cuts. Boilerplate responses should be avoided.

How to Prepare

Organizations should have a crisis plan in place that includes specific measures for breaches and other cyber-attacks.

Plans should spell out things like crisis team, process, stakeholders, communications channels and include specifics (e.g. contact details, links) – so that you don’t have to hunt the details down when an actual crisis such as a cyber-attack occurs.

The plan should be deployed at the first sign that trouble is brewing – even if it is a false alarm, it is better to be ready.  On that note, good crisis plans include steps to pre-empt real crises.  That means anticipating vulnerabilities, taking steps to limit exposure and practicing via simulated scenarios to ensure readiness for when one occurs.

A good plan will help mitigate backlash, but it may be impossible to completely avoid this if there were egregious errors and extensive damage.

Other Thoughts

Several members of our team chimed in with additional thoughts, see below. And what do you think? Please chime in!

As is true for any other crisis – tell the truth, tell it fast, tell it all.
Also, some things must be done simultaneously – monitor all social media channels to address customer concerns, identify rumors and counter them, offer updates in regular intervals…

Ruchi

I think there’s an argument on saying too much too soon vs. saying too little too late. And as far as putting a plan in place so it doesn’t happen again, don’t make promises you can’t keep, that’ll make things even worse.

Brian

The main concern of cyber crisis management is ensuring that the customers know what to do and feel safe. Tell them to change their passwords or give them a place to go to see if their data was affected. Let them know what you’re doing to make changes and how the breach happened in the first place. It’s important to show compassion and customer care for the victims rather than blaming the breach on somebody else.

Mark
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Getting Political in Branding and Messaging

Posted on August 21, 2019 by rgeller

It used to be a much simpler world for brand development. The tough questions related to name, design, and color. If you were launching a new tech company circa the early 2000s, you might wonder whether to include a swoosh with your logo.

The messages – i.e. the copy surrounding the graphical components – might have been hypey but seldom were too controversial.

Today it’s more complicated, as I wrote in my post: United we Brand. We live in turbulent, divided times. It’s tempting to play it safe, but companies and their leaders are either being dragged into politics or proactively taking stands and speaking out.

What does this mean for the arts of messaging and brand development? I saw an article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday which made me wonder where all this is going. It reported that major advertisers are taking brand safety to a new level – by blacklisting news stories based on political keywords mentioned in the content.

Rethinking the Brand Question Framework

It may be necessary to work with your business team to ensure that brand messaging is consistent and clear. For that, understanding target audiences may be important. Furthermore, businesses can hire creative brand messaging firms that can understand their company’s goals and customize their messaging to suit them. That said, when companies are defining their brand attributes, one of the first steps involves sitting down with an expert, who asks innocent but sometimes irritating questions. For example, if your brand was an animal, what kind would it be? These articles explain more: 7 Tips to Find your Brand’s Personality and The 8 Question Framework for Successful Rebrands.

PR messages are workshopped too, although it’s typically a less abstract exercise.

It seems certain that the questions will change based on today’s realities. Maybe companies will start hiring political messaging gurus like Frank Luntz (whom I blogged about) on the right and George Lakoff on the left (see this post) to better tell their brand stories.

You can envision a session involving a startup with no obvious political leanings, e.g. not a gun company. Say a soft drink company.

Branding and messaging guru:

OK, gang today we are going to explore your brand. Let’s start with one word, “Trump!”

Ah, OK, that’s a non-starter, never mind let’s switch gears!

We’re going to play a game called F–, Marry, Kill: AOC anyone? Kelly Conway?

Guys (and gals) the competition is polling strongly in the swing states! We need to get bold!!!

If your brand was a gun, what kind would it be?

You’re stuck on a desert island – who do you bring along? A) Bernie Sanders. B) Sean Hannity

OK, I can see where this is going. Never mind… If your brand was a tree…

Messaging Guru

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The Do’s and Don’ts Of Handling A PR Crisis

Posted on August 14, 2019 by rgeller

This post is by David H. Lasker, Founder and CEO of News Exposure

 

Your company’s hard-won reputation is an immeasurable asset. Start with the fact that your bottom line is built on customer trust. Add the likelihood that employees who steered your brand toward its good standing feel more invested. They may be increasingly productive as a result, further perpetuating the cycle of success.

Intangibles such as these matter. That makes it all the more disturbing to realize how tenuous all of this can be. A PR crisis could ravage your reputation, and any number of potential developments can trigger one. Thanks to technology, news will spread fast and far about a criminal act, a faulty product, a data breach, an offensive remark, an incident involving insensitive treatment of a customer … the list continues.

Between news reports and social media — and do not underestimate the latter — people around the globe can learn about your company’s unfortunate situation almost instantaneously. How will your company respond? Disaster may seem inevitable, but there’s no reason to panic. There are ways to reduce the impact of a PR crisis, the best of which is to prepare for one. This can be achieved even though the specific circumstances that touch off a crisis cannot always be foreseen.

Don’t leave your company in a position where it must resort to scrambling amid the chaos of a PR crisis. Learn these key do’s and don’ts in advance, so the response is polished and smooth if and when a crisis hits.

What to Do During a PR Crisis

  • Act quickly and transparently. If delivering an informative response immediately is not possible, at least communicate that your company is looking into the issue and explain why there will be a delay. Transparency is critical, as the media may have more information than you suspect and attempts to be deceitful might backfire.
  • Understand the scope of coverage. The depth and content of your company’s response to a PR crisis may depend on who is saying what, as well as where it’s being said. A company experienced in media monitoring services can be a great help at keeping you informed.
  • Make sure your response team is engaged. Individuals designated ahead of time to respond to a PR crisis should be briefed and given assignments related to the specific crisis. If you have not already formed a response team and a protocol for internal crisis communications, now is the time. Don’t be afraid to add outside media experts to this team. When a crisis erupts, they can present perspectives your internal team may not consider.
  • Coach your spokespersons. Those who will directly address the media or the public must understand the specific response strategy and be presented with enough information to answer questions. If time allows, set up a practice session. Emphasize that the message must be consistent across multiple channels, regardless of how many individuals are responsible for delivering it.
  • Seek feedback. If you work with a professional PR company, heed its advice. Also gauge reaction to your response. If it’s repeatedly being deemed inadequate from multiple channels, switch gears or risk making the situation worse.

What Not to Do During a PR Crisis

  • Fall silent. Shutting down communication can lead to speculation by others — and what they say may be worse than the truth. Make it known that you are at least working on a response and why you cannot immediately provide more information.
  • Express anger. Lashing out in public or aggressively challenging the media creates a negative impression and will not solve any problem.
  • Blame others. If your company is innocent of whatever it is accused of, let the facts sort themselves over time. Immediately implicating another party as responsible will be perceived as dismissive — even if it’s a customer who misused a product, for example.

How you manage a PR crisis can determine the depth of the impact on your brand’s reputation and/or the length of time it takes to recover. A strategic, well-conceived response may even increase the trust level of your customers/clients. For more insight that’s easy to share with your team, see the accompanying guide.

Author bio: David H Lasker is founder and CEO of News Exposure, a digital content solutions company specializing in media research and monitoring. Lasker has over 25 years of experience in the industry and focuses on TV and radio broadcast monitoring, media intelligence, and PR analysis.

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