The Anatomy of a Crisis: Understanding Different Types of Crisis, Their Triggers, and What To Do Immediately

Crises are inevitable.

There was a time when a PR specialist would tell their client to ignore a crisis…”today’s headline is tomorrow’s bird cage liner” was a popular saying that essentially means, ignore the crisis and within a short period of time, it will all pass. But those days are over. A 24-hour news cycle that demands constant content coupled with an internet that rewards the most titillating content means that even small incidents can be seem big and big problems can derail and destabilize a reputation, brand, organization, even an entire nation.

From a reputational or financial crisis that effects an individual to am economic, legal or even natural disaster crisis that effects and entire company or country, how a crisis is handled in the first few hours and days can be the difference between weathering a storm and being completely destroyed. Understanding the anatomy of a crisis is crucial for effective preparation, response, and recovery.

Common Crises

Branding - A branding crisis is a tumultuous situation in which a company faces a significant and often damaging challenge to its brand reputation. This can occur for a variety of reasons including a product recall, a public relations disaster, ethical concerns, or a failure to meet customer expectations. The crisis may result in widespread negative publicity, eroding consumer trust, and impacting the company's financial bottom line.

Successful resolution of a branding crisis requires a strategic and well-coordinated, immediate response, including transparent communication, corrective actions, and efforts to rebuild trust with existing stakeholders and potential consumers.

Individuals can also suffer a branding crises. While we tend to think of celebrities, politicians, and executives as those most susceptible to a branding crisis, it can happen to anyone. Often a personal branding crisis involves the allegation of either illegal or socially unacceptable behavior. From #metoo allegations to “Karen” behavior, and revelations or accusations of all manner of abuses, a personal branding crisis requires a combination of accountability (if the allegations are accurate), a simple statement of position, and then a strategy for moving past the crisis.

Political - A political crisis occurs when an authority loses the confidence of their constituency. This can happen to an individual politician or personality, to a political party, to a company, to a government agency, or to an entire nation. The result is often intense instability and can result in protests, boycotts, unrest, disputed election results, corruption allegations/scandals, societal divisions, and severe economic downturns.

While we tend to think of political unrest as something that happens in third-world countries on a national scale, political crisis can happen within a business or to a local official. Political crises can lead to a loss of public trust, increased polarization, and even violence.

Effective resolution, no matter the scale requires, delicate diplomacy, transparency, and a commitment to addressing the underlying issues that triggered the crisis in the first place. It should be noted that political crisis can quickly return. Once a scandal has been revealed, simply stating that the issues will be addressed is not enough. People must be able to see that there are actual, substantive changes and progress being made or the crisis can quickfire.

Social - A social crisis on a national scale often hinges on either economic inequality, religious, racial, or ethnic tensions, or a public health emergency that pits a large segment of a population against either another or against the government.

However, a social crisis can also refer to anger on a smaller scale. Protests against police shootings, anger at a celebrity or executive accused of sexual harassment or assault, or a brand that appears to support a politically unpopular position can all become victim of a social crisis.

Social crises often manifest in protests, demonstrations, or collective expressions of dissatisfaction, highlighting underlying issues that demand attention and resolution.

Addressing a social crisis requires a rapid response that solidifies a position, engages the community, and creates a dialogue that can deflate a tense situation , providing the target with time to address the issues in a more thoughtful way. Often, long term solutions involve policy changes or policy clarification, particularly when those solutions are inclusive.

Technological: A technological crisis occurs when a company, organization, a community or even an entire nation, faces a severe disruption or failure in its technological systems, infrastructure, or processes, leading to significant negative consequences. Such crises can result from cyber-attacks, system failures, data breaches, or other technological malfunctions. The impact of technological crises extends beyond immediate operational challenges and often includes compromised security, data loss, financial repercussions, and erosion of public trust.

Addressing technological crises requires a rapid and coordinated response, that immediately addresses the impact on people effected while simultaneously acting as a transparent voice of authority. As our society becomes more dependent and integrated with technology, businesses large and small have to have a proactive strategy that both prepares for and allows for the rapid recovery from technological crises.

Health and Environmental Crises - As the world witnessed with the COVID-19 pandemic, health and environmental crises can have profound and far-reaching consequences. Pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria, can rapidly spread, causing illness and overwhelming healthcare systems. Pollution, toxic spills, black-outs, and national disasters/weather related crises can cut people off from essential services, food, water, and electricity. rarely are people prepared for these levels of crises.

A company, organization, or governmental agency responding to a crisis has to have an advanced plan or better yet, a set of plans based on possible occurrences. Successful responses give the public an appropriate, trustworthy person to deliver essential information, answer questions, and assure people that the crisis is under control. At the same time, the company has to be seen as correcting the issues and helping constituents affected by the crisis.

Individuals, companies, organizations, and governments need crisis management plans that provide information, authority, and action. If you need help creating a crisis management protocol, reach out to Merrell Strategy today.