Does Your Agency Have An Olivia Pope? 

June 6, 2017



ScandalEver watch the TV show Scandal? The show describes itself as, “Olivia Pope, a former media consultant to the president, is ready to move on with her life and opens her own crisis-management firm.”

Does Your Brand Have A Crisis Management Strategy In Place?

You can probably derive from the title of the show that each week there is some type of scandal that takes place.  To compare it to the real world, each week there is some type of crisis occurs.  Over the last few months we have seen these brands suffer a major crisis such as:

  • United Airlines – violent attack of a passenger, video going viral
  • Uber – sexual allegations, CEO berating one of their drivers, also caught in video
  • Samsung – exploding devices which lead to a global recall, global refunds, product discontinued

All of those brands stumbled and did so in the public eye, hurting their stock value, ending employment for some of their staff and losing respect from consumers – which ultimately means a loss of customers. The damage to each brand could have been mitigated if only they had a “fixer” in place. Carrie Washington plays the role of Olivia Pope who’s crisis management firm is hired to help solve the current client problem of the day. Olivia and her team called “The Gladiators” move heaven and earth to ensure their client’s problems are taken care of and any damage is left in the past.

Every Company Needs A Fixer

Imagine if Samsung or Uber had a fixer to come to their rescue, perhaps the headlines would not be dominated by the stories of their downfall or how their competitors were gaining market share. In the world where a single tweet can be retweeted over a million times in 24 hours every brand AND agency needs to ensure it is protecting itself from negative publicity. While you or someone you know may not be on Facebook or Twitter, the messages sent out on their social channels are quickly becoming news sources for media outlets around the globe.  Are you monitoring your brand?  Are you engaging with people when your brand is mentioned or do you simple ignore them?

Every company will have positive and negative moments, moments where they grow, and moments where they struggle.  The difference between great brands and mediocre brands is how they handle the bumps in the road along the way.

Your brand can no longer afford not to be prepared.


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Dave Forde


Dave “The Connector” Forde has been involved in the marketing, public relations and technology industry across Canada for over 15 years in various sales and marketing roles, he launched The Connected One network of business sites which connects buyers to the right sellers. Profectio and PR In Canada covers news about the marketing and public relations industry each day helping professionals advance their career and businesses.
He also serves as an advisor to a number of businesses across the country. Find Dave on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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