Last week, I was talking to my friend, and client, Lorri Wyndham about negative comments online. It was a timely conversation because, when I speak, at least one person asks me what happens when someone says something negative about them or the company online.

I like to use the story from when I first began speaking. Someone in the audience really pushed back on me and said, “So you are telling me that if I give someone a bad review, he’s going to go put it on Facebook?” Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you. Except it’s not going to start happening, just because I’ve opened your eyes to it…it’s been happening. And it’s really not any different than before social media. Before, that person would badmouth his boss to his friends and family via the phone. Now, though, his circle of influence is thousands, instead of a handful, of people. But, unlike before social media, you now know that employee is badmouthing you on Facebook because you are monitoring online conversations and can see what he’s saying. Continue Reading »

With all of today’s news, it was hard to decide on just one topic for today… address the latest on how Domino’s reacted to those gross videos posted online? Overdone by now. Comment on Pizza Hut’s latest announcement looking for a summer intern to run their Twitter? Yawn. Ponder how Freddie Mac will react publicly to their CEO’s suicide?  Too distressing.

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It may not be national news but for some allergy sufferers, it’s huge news.  Last November, the Chicago Tribune did another investigative report similar to one from several years ago during the height of the stories about lead paint on children’s toys. This time, the testing and subsequent report was on various food products labeled “gluten-free” that are on the shelves of several Chicagoland grocery stores. 

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Could I possibly have heard that correctly?  Did that radio announcer really just say what I think she said?

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What a shame that Lehman Brothers employees found out the bankruptcy protection filing through the media.  The New York Times earlier this week reported that, while Dick Fuld tried to the very last minute to save the company, he ended up issuing a news release at 12:30 on Monday morning announcing the filing.

Where is his PR team?  Do they not have a seat at the table?  Is the internal communication run by their HR department?  Where is their senior HR person?  Not at the table?

The Times reported, “Some Lehman employees wondered whether Fuld, who many inside the bank now view with deep anger, would address workers and explain what they could expect.”

In today’s age, how is it that employees still receive devastating news via the media?  I thought the days of going to work and finding the doors padlocked or receiving a voicemail at work saying the company was bankrupt were over.  Am I being naive to think they know better?  I don’t get how a 158-year-old company doesn’t talk to 25,000 employees AT ALL.

Two friends and I went to go see The Darjeeling Limited last weekend. And while, to us three Wes Anderson devotees, Owen Wilson’s recent suicide attempt lent little, if any, unintentional pathos to his physical appearance in the film (Wilson’s character is bandaged heavily from a recent accident) I wondered later about how Wilson’s public persona – affable, charming, stoner lothario – would be affected by this latest, and darkest – of turns.

Maybe Wes Anderson was wondering about that, too – and was, perhaps, uniquely suited to help Owen respond. Troy Patterson’s article in Slate tipped me off to an interview with Anderson and Wilson now up on MySpace TV, a short clip that Patterson can only marvel at:

Would the star’s talk with his friend and collaborator—his first interview since that calamity—represent some new development in PR crisis management? Well, kinda, maybe. But while wishing Wilson good health and happiness, let’s mull over another question: What the hell was that?

If you get a chance to view the interview, you’ll understand what he means. At times it feels like a send-up of “serious” filmmaker interviews deconstructing their craft, and at others, like two lifelong buddies trying to tell you about some of the wacky stuff they saw on their most recent trip together (which is what they are and what they did – Wilson and Anderson grew up with each other, and filmed the Darjeeling Limited in India.) What it doesn’t do is mention Owen’s recent troubles. The closest Anderson comes to even glancing at the subject is when he mentions that this film (and its themes of loss) is “our most personal.” They answer each other’s questions in tones that seem like they just finished talking about something much more important than filming a video meant to shill for their new movie, while at the same time telling you that something is none of your damn business.

When I call this clip stunningly banal, I’m trying to offer a compliment. There’s something as comforting as oatmeal in its refusal to serve as a showbiz confessional, to gratify the thirst for tears and sap. You might click it into existence feeling like a vulture—a scavenger preparing to snack on celebrity misery—but you come away aware of yourself as a mildly bored human.

Crisis strategies abound, and few of us have internationally acclaimed movie directors to help us fashion responses to such crises, such as this one is (or isn’t.) Whatever it is, it manages to keep you interested in Wes Anderson, his new film, and his star, co-writer and friend Owen Wilson, and all the good work that they do, in the midst of real-life trouble and strife. — Theodore Hahn