How to use risk methodology in your crisis comms strategies
01/09/23 • 29 min
Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.
This week we’re talking to George Hutchinson founder of River Effra Communications about the expanding area of risk methodology in crisis communication.
It’s an interesting area which takes another perspective on PR’s increasingly complex intersection with data.
The central concept is to use risk methodology to model and understand the reputational consequences for an organisation if it behaves in a particular way.
George set up River Effra earlier this year, previously he had senior roles at Teneo and BCW.
Before we start the PRmoment Awards 2023 are open for entries - do check out the awards site PRmomentAwards.com
Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.
Here is a summary of what George and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed on the show:
2 mins George talks us through the use of risk methodologies in crisis communications.
“The time has come for increased use of risk methodologies in crisis communications...to help potentially avoid the crisis in the first place.”
4 mins What are risk methodologies and how do you use them in crisis communications?
“Reputational risks are always secondary, they don’t come from no-where”
7 mins So is this approach about putting a “threat” cost on reputations by modelling various crisis communication scenarios?
“The idea that your corporate affairs director can somehow relationship your way out of a crisis just doesn’t work”
10 mins George suggests that communication and reputation crises are actually pretty predictable - Black Swan crises are rare.
12.30 mins What are the riskiest areas of crisis currently?
16 mins How cyber security crisis can become business critical.
17 mins Are poor CEO behaviour the most common reputation crisis for most large organisations?
“There are businesses that I have advised where the CEO has had to go...you can’t treat your leadership team differently from the rest of the organisation”
19.30 mins What are the short, medium and long-term implications of a reputational crisis?
22 mins What are the impacts of a reputational crisis on the different stakeholders? From the leadership, to employees, to customers...
“In a crisis, initially you feel under attack, which can lead to persecution bias...and you can only deal with a crisis if you’ve accepted the problem.”
“Your employees can feel disillusioned by the corporate’s response”
24 mins How quickly do customers desert an organisation over a reputational crisis?
26 mins What does the CEO want from their communications leader in a crisis?
28 mins What is the most common mistake people make in a corporate crisis?
“You see a lot of leaders do flight to fight”
Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.
This week we’re talking to George Hutchinson founder of River Effra Communications about the expanding area of risk methodology in crisis communication.
It’s an interesting area which takes another perspective on PR’s increasingly complex intersection with data.
The central concept is to use risk methodology to model and understand the reputational consequences for an organisation if it behaves in a particular way.
George set up River Effra earlier this year, previously he had senior roles at Teneo and BCW.
Before we start the PRmoment Awards 2023 are open for entries - do check out the awards site PRmomentAwards.com
Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.
Here is a summary of what George and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed on the show:
2 mins George talks us through the use of risk methodologies in crisis communications.
“The time has come for increased use of risk methodologies in crisis communications...to help potentially avoid the crisis in the first place.”
4 mins What are risk methodologies and how do you use them in crisis communications?
“Reputational risks are always secondary, they don’t come from no-where”
7 mins So is this approach about putting a “threat” cost on reputations by modelling various crisis communication scenarios?
“The idea that your corporate affairs director can somehow relationship your way out of a crisis just doesn’t work”
10 mins George suggests that communication and reputation crises are actually pretty predictable - Black Swan crises are rare.
12.30 mins What are the riskiest areas of crisis currently?
16 mins How cyber security crisis can become business critical.
17 mins Are poor CEO behaviour the most common reputation crisis for most large organisations?
“There are businesses that I have advised where the CEO has had to go...you can’t treat your leadership team differently from the rest of the organisation”
19.30 mins What are the short, medium and long-term implications of a reputational crisis?
22 mins What are the impacts of a reputational crisis on the different stakeholders? From the leadership, to employees, to customers...
“In a crisis, initially you feel under attack, which can lead to persecution bias...and you can only deal with a crisis if you’ve accepted the problem.”
“Your employees can feel disillusioned by the corporate’s response”
24 mins How quickly do customers desert an organisation over a reputational crisis?
26 mins What does the CEO want from their communications leader in a crisis?
28 mins What is the most common mistake people make in a corporate crisis?
“You see a lot of leaders do flight to fight”
Previous Episode
How and why PR firms can become a BCorp
Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.
This week we’re chatting with Zoe Ward Waring from Sunny Side Up and John Higginson from Higginson Strategy about how and why their respective organisations have become a BCorp.
On the show, we talk about what being a BCorp is all about and what the process to becoming BCorp looks like.
To put the discussion into some context in the UK there are 1375 BCorp organisations, in the US there are 2226 and globally there are 5711. So it’s predominantly a UK and US scheme.
21 UK PR agencies are a BCorp including Freud's, Third City, Don't Cry Wolf, Sunny Side Up, Higginson Strategy, Milk & Honey and Kindred.
Being a BCorp is about transparency and if you are interested you can view any organisation’s BCorp results on the BCorp website.
There is also a useful How to become a BCorp handbook that you can buy.
The PRmoment Awards 2023 are now open for entries - do check out the awards site PRmomentAwards.com - there are lots of new categories this year and an updated entry form with added criteria.
Thanks to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.
Here’s a summary of what Zoe, John and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discuss:
2 mins For anyone out there who is not aware of the BCorp scheme - Zoe and John explain what it is all about.
4 mins Why are organisations becoming BCorps?
7 mins How difficult is it to become a BCorp?
“Anyone can go on (the BCorp website) and begin to self-assess”
“Once you go through the process you get an assessment report”
“There are 5 sections: Governance, workers, community, environment and customers”
“It’s really important to get the whole business behind it.
16 mins John talks to us about the process to become a BCorp.
18 mins How long does it take?
“I’d say (the application process) took about 100 hours”
20 mins Is the PRCA’s Consultancy Management Standard a useful starting point for a BCorp application?
20.30 mins How much does it cost to become a BCorp?
Next Episode
PR Pitches and M&A update: January 2023
Welcome to the PRmoment Podcast.
Welcome to our January review of PR Pitches and mergers & acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch.
Andrew is a co-founder and non-executive director at Frank PR and is now Head of PR at the new business consultancy firm AAR. He is also a partner at PCB Partners where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.
Before we start the final entry deadline for the PRmoment Awards is on 27th January - check out PRmomentAwards.com for all the info you need, including downloading this year’s updated entry form.
Finally thanks to our PRmoment Podcast sponsors, The PRCA.
Here’s a summary of what Andrew and PRmoment podcast host Ben Smith discussed on the show:
2 mins Andrew gives us his rundown of this month's biggest pitch wins in UK PR, including:
- Premier PR and the Booker Prize
- Organic and The Apprentice (with a shout-out to Taylor Herring’s long-term work with the Apprentice.)
- Splendid and Flock win the Ginster's brief
- MHP and The Royal Mint (again with a shout-out to Hope&Glory’s work on the account over the last 10 years)
- H&K Strategies and Hills Pet Nutrition
- Capture PR win Gala and Foxy Bingo
- Praytell and Sonus
“The average decision-making period for a decent size pitch is about 6 months.”
“A real lesson for me was that...the period between the pitch and the decision is so critical - show your hunger and determination.”
“It was a 30 agency pitch...that is a huge amount of agencies. You have to be respectful of the agencies' time... it's all about the size of the prize at the end.”
“Making sure the (pitch) process is fit for purpose, respectful and informed”
12 mins A discussion about whether the of trend clients consolidating the number of agencies they use will continue.
13 mins Pitch wise “this is the busiest January I can ever remember.” Andrew talks us through why there is so much new business activity in the PR market at the moment.
15 mins A discussion about the Tulchan Teneo deal - which saw Teneo acquire UK financial PR specialist Tulchan in a reported £65m deal.
“Teneo gives Tulchan an international footprint.”
16 mins Andrew talks us through how the Tulchan deal is likely to be structured and how the ratio of profit to revenue is important in a valuation of a business.
“Tulchan is obviously a very, very well-run company.”
“We’re seeing consolidation, the importance of scale and building a global footprint”
“The right time to sell is not when you’ve reached your peak, it’s when you feel you’ve got great growth.”
21 mins We chat about Penta’s acquisition of Dublin-based corporate PR firm Hume Brophy.
“For Penta, this deal gives them global reach”
24 mins Andrew predicts that 2023 could have a lot of trade deals in the M&A space.
“There are a lot of big trade organisations and holding groups which are sitting on piles of cash and they need to spend it...to keep their share prices high (acquisitions will bring them growth.)”
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