CRISIS PR + REPUTATION MANAGEMENT
THAT'S NOT
WHAT I SAID.™
Context matters. A lot.
When the clip is everywhere, the context is nowhere, and millions of strangers have apparently completed their investigation, we help you regain control of the story.
EXHIBIT A / SOURCE MATERIAL
What you said.
What they heard.
Same answer. Completely different question. Tiny editorial adjustment. Enormous professional problem.
What should you do when your dog keeps begging at the dinner table?
Ignore it. If you give in once, they’ll just keep asking.
What should you do when a orphan kid begs you for food?
Ignore it. If you give in once, they’ll just keep asking.
Before anybody drafts a response, we go back to the source: the full recording, the original question, the complete answer, and the timeline around it. Turns out, the sentence before the sentence matters.
MEDIA MONITORING / 12:02–12:18
And now everybody has an opinion.
Some even read half the headline.
COMPANY UNDER FIRE AFTER VIRAL EXECUTIVE CLIP
Context currently unavailable because nobody clicked anything.
“Is this real???”4,821 people immediately decided yes.
“My cousin worked there in 2019 and—”Thread continues for 87 posts.
“I raised you better than this.”— Your mother
RESPONSE PROTOCOL / INTERNAL USE
Everybody stop improvising.
Crisis communications is considerably easier when everyone stops creating fresh material for the crisis.
-
00:00
FREEZE
Stop posting. Stop replying. Stop “just clearing something up.”
-
00:15
VERIFY
Establish what happened, what did not happen, and what somebody on Reddit just invented.
-
00:30
ALIGN
Leadership. Legal. Communications. One room. One version of reality.
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00:45
DRAFT
Build a factual response nobody freestyle-ed in the Notes app.
-
01:00
APPROVE
Legal approves it. Communications approves it. Kevin does not get a vote.
-
AFTER
RESPOND + MONITOR
Press. Employees. Customers. Stakeholders. And apparently Todd's new podcast.
INTAKE CLASSIFICATION
How bad is it?
Choose the folder that most accurately represents your current professional nightmare.
Someone complained.
People are sharing it.
A journalist called.
Three journalists called.
Your name is trending.
An executive is responding personally from his iPhone.
CASE FILE INDEX / SERVICES
Tell us what's broken.
We'll use the professional terminology later.
The clip is everywhere.
Rapid-response crisis communications, narrative assessment, message strategy, and stakeholder response.
Search results are ugly.
Reputation strategy, digital monitoring, response planning, and long-term recovery.
The press wants answers.
Media strategy, statement development, interview preparation, and spokesperson coaching.
Lawyers are involved.
Litigation communications, investigation support, and coordinated legal-PR messaging.
Employees heard it from TikTok first.
Internal communications, leadership messaging, and employee information strategy.
Nothing has happened yet.
Crisis planning, simulations, risk assessment, response protocols, and media training.
PUBLIC STATEMENT / REVISION 12
Maybe don't say that.
“We categorically deny that anything remotely inappropriate occurred.”
“This situation has been completely blown out of proportion.”
“Anyone criticizing us clearly doesn't understand the facts.”
“We are aware of the concerns, gathering the facts, and will provide additional information as it becomes available.”
See? Nobody got called an idiot. Progress.
RECOVERY DOSSIER
Less chaos.
More control.
- Media requests
- 14 unanswered
- Public statements
- Three conflicting
- Message discipline
- None
- CEO posting
- Unfortunately yes
- Kevin
- Missing
- Facts
- Established
- Statement
- Approved
- Spokesperson
- Briefed
- Media
- Responded to
- Kevin
- Located
PRE-CRISIS SERVICES
You can also call us before everything is terrible.
Apparently this is an option.
Crisis plans
Roles, escalation paths, approval chains, contact trees, and the answer to “Who exactly is in charge here?”
Scenario simulations
Practice the horrible situation while it is still imaginary.
Media training
Learn how to answer the question that was actually asked.
Message protocols
So “I thought Kevin was handling it” never becomes part of the investigation.
BRIEFING NOTES / FAQ
Questions you're asking while pretending not to panic.
01 How quickly should we respond?
Quickly enough to avoid an information vacuum, but not so quickly that your first statement becomes tomorrow's second crisis.
02 Should we delete the post?
Sometimes. Sometimes not. Deleting something without a broader response plan can produce screenshots, speculation, and 4,000 people asking why you deleted it.
03 Should the CEO respond personally?
Not until leadership, legal, and communications have aligned on the facts, the message, and whether the CEO should currently possess a functioning smartphone.
04 What if the story is inaccurate?
Then accuracy matters even more. Establish the facts, preserve the original context, and respond with evidence rather than rage-posting seventeen screenshots.
05 Can you guarantee the story disappears?
No responsible reputation firm can guarantee that. The work is about accuracy, response quality, stakeholder confidence, media strategy, and long-term reputation recovery.
06 Can you help before a crisis happens?
Yes. Planning, simulations, executive training, monitoring, and response protocols are considerably more relaxing when nobody is currently trending.
CONFIDENTIAL / RAPID RESPONSE
Okay.
What happened?
Tell us what matters first. The 46-message executive group chat can wait until the second call.