The Crisis Beat Brady Wood

In this Episode, Mark and Brady try to make sense of the relative indifference shown by the Royal Family to the allegations and hubbub caused by Prince Harry and Megan Markle's Oprah interview, Netflix special, and Harry's book 'Spare.' What can we garner in terms of best practices in general from what almost appears to be the Royal Family giving the silent treatment and letting the complainants spin their wheels. The gents also discuss the impact of the recent South Park Episode which has some Harry-and-Megan-esque figures who engage in a 'worldwide privacy tour.' Similar to the effect of appearing in a Saturday Night Live sketch, these culture moments can act as mind bombs, cementing negative impressions of their subject that endure.
Also under discussion in this Episode:
- Crisis communications for Balenciaga's scandal of ads featuring children with stuffed animals in sadomasochistic bondage outfits
- The Oscars hiring and prepping a comms team for another Will-Smith-slap-like event
- The Ohio train derailment and ensuing political maelstrom, including Pete Buttigieg, transportation secretary for the country, telling reporter he's on 'personal time'
- Biden's remarkable stagecraft in visiting the active warzone in Ukraine, making his way by train to Kiev
Here are some supporting links for further reading:


Martin Amis New Yorker article on Queen Elizabeth (2002)



https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/05/20/queen-elizabeth-iis-fine-tuned-feelings





Polling date on Prince Harry and Megan Markle



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11785559/Prince-Harry-Meghan-Markles-popularity-slumps-South-Park-episode.html





South Park Episode Highlights



https://www.standard.co.uk/insider/meghan-harry-south-park-episode-funniest-moments-legal-ramifications-b1061951.html





Ohio Train Derailment



https://nypost.com/2023/02/22/buttigieg-snaps-on-personal-time-when-asked-about-ohio/






Biden in Kiev - extraordinarily crafted comms message



https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/joe-bidens-showy-defiance-of-vladimir-putin



Oscars Crisis Comms Team



https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/feb/23/oscars-ceremony-academy-awards-crisis-team

In this Episode, we examine the sudden resignation of Toronto Mayor John Tory after it was discovered he had an affair with a staffer some 30 years his junior. Interestingly, his approach marks a return to ethical and old-school crisis communications and accountability that is worth studying. We also review the handling of an emergency landing by Flare Airlines, and how their communications team was quick to soothe affected passengers and lessen media scrutiny.
We also try something new in this episode: running scenarios on imagined case studies to illustrate best practices. We are ultimately looking at providing some downloadable resources and other support for companies that inevitably encounter what could be a win-or-lose crisis moment.
A letter to Toronto Mayor John Tory by Journalist Steve Paikin:
https://www.tvo.org/article/a-letter-to-john-tory
CBC on Flare Airlines:
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2171391555969
Also, Tesla fire statistics (less frequent than gas-powered):
https://insideevs.com/news/584722/tesla-car-fires-statistic-2021/

In this Episode, Mark and Brady explore the Holiday Airline mayhem that gripped North America.
Discount Canadian Airlines Sunwing and Westjet stranded passengers and lost baggage. In the US, Southwest - an airline renowned for customer service, culture, and profitable performance - cancelled an enormous level of flights, and ultimately revealed major failings of underinvesting in communication technology.
In all cases these airlines failed on the front of following crisis communications best practices, with spotty and slow responses. The Southwest failure resonated so deeply that it featured in a lead sketch in a Saturday Night Live Sketch.
Tune in to hear what went wrong (and right) in terms of these corporate communications. Will these brands ever recover? How?
Also, check out these supporting articles if you want to dig a bit deeper:
SUNWING
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sunwing-cancun-mexico-flights-1.6697993#:~:text=228-,Hundreds%20of%20Canadians%20stranded%20in%20Cancun%2C%20Mexico%2C%20after%20their%20Sunwing,in%20sight%20to%20their%20ordeal.
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/inhumane-sunwing-passenger-recounts-scene-at-mexico-airport-after-being-stranded-on-christmas-eve-1.6209223
WEST JET
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/passenger-told-to-find-own-flight-after-westjet-cancellation-leaving-her-stuck-in-calgary-1.6206608
SOUTHWEST
https://www.yahoo.com/news/southwest-airlines-ceo-described-mondays-111751666.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADMZn8eQaR4R1SWRvNJj62r5EGYan6rbvMv01J_V7nj9O6_snYu_sm5Qz5reR0xmkwnjuOOrRxAj9j9t3CMFXpjr_DgfpJGQC5fAhGvJIFLeIjH8A1dkVTSp5Su-SCN4QYxyvVbHytone4WPN1BZ74YKqPE-BAgpV-GuK6VbMdGX
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/27/business/southwest-flights-canceled-travel.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/28/us/southwest-airlines-canceled-flights.html#:~:text=the%20main%20story-,Southwest's%20Woes%20No%20Longer%20'Weather%2DDriven%2C'%20Transportation%20Secretary,days%20before%20normal%20service%20resumed.&text=As%20a%20subscriber%2C%20you%20have,can%20read%20what%20you%20share.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/28/travel/southwest-airlines-flight-cancellations.html#:~:text=Because%20Southwest%20is%20the%20largest,dozens%20of%20cities%2C%20he%20said
https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsegal/2022/12/29/crisis-management-lessons-from-southwest-airlines-meltdown/?sh=1f036f861d5e
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/26/southwest-airlines-luv-earnings-q4-2022.html
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2023/01/29/snl-skewers-southwest-airlines-mass-cancellations-over-holidays/11144875002/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64362249

PEARSON

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/this-is-a-joke-right-some-travellers-baggage-lost-for-days-as-pearson-struggles-with-broken-luggage-belt-1.6209134

In this episode, Brady and Mark delve deeper into Benoit's image restoration theory through a 2012 case study on US crisis communications about food safety following incidences of Mad Cow disease in the food supply. Mark and Brady also discuss Elon Musk, FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried, the birth of evidence-based medicine at McMaster University and Dr. Gordon Guyatt, Prion / Protein Diseases and 'This Week In Virology Podcast.' They also discuss the merits of Grammarly.
The article Mark and Brady discuss in detail gives an occasion to discuss evidence-based crisis communications as a concept, where there is a rich academic literature of case-based and theory-based studies to draw on.
The article in question:
'The failure of ‘scientific' evidence in Taiwan: a case study of international image repair for American beef.' by Chun Wena, Tzu-hsiang Yub and William L. Benoit. Asian Journal of Communication. Vol. 22, No. 2, April 2012, 121139
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01292986.2011.642393
OTHER LINKS and RESOURCES:
This Week In Virology, episode 950: https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-950/
Elon Musk / Tesla / Twitter articles:
https://boingboing.net/2022/12/12/tesla-is-on-the-way-to-becoming-the-mypillow-of-cars.html
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/teslas-approval-rating-sinks-into-negative-territory-survey-finds-11670602596
https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitters-advertising-truth-hurts-11670706720
Thanks for tuning in, and catch you next time when we explore the 2022 Winter Holiday airline failures of Southwest Airlines and Canadian discount carriers.

Sports celebrity endorsements are worth big bucks and these deals are usually built on good character as well as the required incredible athletic performance. What happens when these public leaders don't live up to their image?
Mark and Brady do a deep dive on the impact of Tiger Woods' 2009/2010 sex scandal as the ultimate case study, with discussion of economic impact as well as best practices, missed opportunities, and salacious details.
By way of background, listeners can review these supporting documents that were discussed in the Episode (regarding the Academic Articles, they may appear behind a paywall):



Timeline of Tiger Woods crises: https://www.biography.com/news/tiger-woods-sex-scandal-facts


Tiger Woods worth $ 1 billion https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattcraig/2022/06/10/tiger-woods-officially-a-billionaire-no-thanks-to-the-saudis/?sh=f6d3b07da03d


Academic Article 1 Tiger Woods crisis cost to sponsors https://www.jstor.org/stable/42919517


Academic Article 2 - https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ijsc/6/1/article-p87.xml


Academic Article 3 https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.2018.3243.2018.3243



The gents also discuss Kanye West and Kyrie Irving's recent antisemitic remarks and the fallout, as well as sponsorship revenue declines at Twitter after Elon Musk's purchase and abrasive actions and messaging. They also revisit the latest news on the Rogers Telecommunications service failure and the impacts of the failures of their corporate crisis communications.

Mark and Brady explore their curiosity related to influencers, the online segment of often grassroots-developed entertainers whose online brands are reaching epic proportions of success. In this first foray into the topic, the team examines the case of Song Jia - or Freezia - a female South Korean influencer and reality star whose career briefly derailed over accusations she was wearing some counterfeit luxury fashion. This podcast examines the actions Song Jia took in the wake of the scandal, as well as the broader business implications of the celebrity apology in this brave new world of profitable online attention-seeking.
This episode also briefly touches on: a Toronto restaurant with poisonous ingredients, Trumps purloined documents at Ma-a-Lago, and Tiger Woods' scandals and responses.