Crisis communications
A crisis can strike you
or your organization at any time
Whether it is the result of a decision you or another member of your team made or whether it is an unexpected event such as a data security breach, major hurricane or a global health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, business disruptions inevitably have a detrimental effect on both your bottom line and your relationships with customers, investors, employees, industry partners or subcontractors.
In the event of a legal investigation into alleged improprieties, questionable business practices, or other such actions, a business crisis can also significantly damage how your executive personal brand and your organization is perceived in the marketplace. This could seriously harm all aspects of your business, including the trust and faith that your consumers, clients, partners, or target audiences have placed in you. This is why a proactive and well-prepared crisis communications plan backed by a team with decades of experience in implementing it is mission critical.
Crisis communications,
in real time.
Crisis preparedness has begun to receive its due under the limelight more in recent times due to unprecedented events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, extreme weather events, geopolitical events, volatility in energy markets, and a looming financial downturn. In times like these, very few companies have been truly prepared to effectively handle a crisis and successfully minimize risks to their profitability, reputation and operations.
Whether you need assistance in developing an effective crisis management plan, simulating or running drills to test the effectiveness of your crisis strategy, or need crisis communications assistance in the wake of an adverse incident in your professional or personal life, Prestidge Group provides you with the strategic counsel and communications support you need to prevent and/or contain the damage that your brand has faced. From careful planning and timely response to ensuring consistency, empathy, adaptability and credibility across communications, we help to proactively address concerns and take control of the media narrative.
CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS TEAM
Briar Prestidge
New York, Dubai
Briar Prestidge is the founder and CEO of multiple organizations, a certified digital marketer, a highly trained speech and language pathologist, and a neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) business expert. Briar has written crisis communications plans for multiple government agencies and has planned several international and national press conferences. She has trained senior executives and governmental authorities on how to deal with the media, including key launches and crises situations. As the founder of Prestidge Group, Briar stays ahead of the media and takes proactive steps to ensure that industry benchmarks and best practices within the public relations and executive branding spheres are not only followed, but also constantly raised. An innovator in both the real and virtual worlds, Briar has become one of the leading specialists in crisis communications for businesses in their physical spaces as well as in the Metaverse.
Sandi Sonnenfeld
New York
With more than 20 years of crisis preparedness and response experience, Sandi Sonnenfeld has advised multinational companies, healthcare organizations, nonprofit organizations and individuals on numerous crises. As Media Relations Director in the Seattle office of Publicis Dialog, the PR arm of Publicis Groupe, Sonnenfeld underwent specialized training to teach clients how to prepare and respond to a crisis situation, including developing messaging and standby statements and how to handle media interviews when you or your company is under threat. Working in-house with three of the most prestigious U.S. law firms, including as a member of the Pillsbury Crisis Task Force, Sonnenfeld works closely with legal counsel and risk management officers to counsel clients on major crises such as workplace gun violence, data security breaches, protests against live animals research, environmental accidents, corruption allegations, discrimination or sexual harrassment allegations, trade secrets theft, product recalls and business disruptions due to Covid-19, extreme weather or terrorism.
Anup Oommen
Dubai
Anup has more than 15 years of journalism experience in broadcast, print, digital, and new media. He has worked with some of the most reputable and credible news organizations, including Reuters, CNN, and ITP Media Group, across New York, New Delhi, and Dubai. As such, he’s an expert at ensuring the right message is disseminated in the right way, with the right positioning, to the right media, taking their specific audiences into consideration. He has extensive experience reporting on various industries from business & finance, technology, real estate, oil & gas, and politics to sports, lifestyle, travel, and wildlife. He is proficient at differentiating trustworthy information from alternative “news”, and adept at helping clients respond accordingly when the press comes calling during a crisis.
WE OFFER THE FOLLOWING SERVICES:
CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS AND RESPONSE PLANNING
- We work in conjunction with you, your leadership team, and your risk management officer to create a scalable, effective communications plan to respond quickly and appropriately when an adverse situation occurs. The plan includes anticipating crises that might occur based on your industry, location, company status (private or public), size and regulatory reporting rules. The plan details key messages, when and how to respond, who serves as spokespersons and what remediation efforts must be undertaken and who is responsible for each step as a crisis unfolds. It also includes a communications tree of who gets contacted and in what order as well as crucial contact information to local police and fire stations, relevant government agencies, and humanitarian organizations like the IFRC, Doctors Without Borders and other relief groups who can help injured, stranded or homeless employees and customers and their families if the crisis results in death, seriously wounded or significant property or environmental damage.
POST-CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS
- Prestidge Group can work with you to develop a proactive PR and communications outreach strategy to connect and engage with affected audiences and convey remediation efforts and other steps you or your company are taking to reduce adverse outcomes now and in the future.
CRISIS SIMULATION
- We can work with you and local NGOs to simulate various crisis scenarios to give leadership and employees the opportunity to practice implementing the crisis plan and identify any areas that may have been missed or processes they require improvement.
CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS
- If a crisis hits and you either are unprepared or lack the internal resources necessary to develop key messages and handle media interview and information requests from journalists, shareholders, consumers, employees, the Prestidge Group can step in to help. Working alongside you, your risk management officer and legal team, we make sure all communications reach your targeted audiences and are delivered sensitively and in a timely manner.
SPOKESPERSON TRAINING
- The last thing you need is for your designated spokespersons or person to panic and say the wrong thing to a journalist in the middle of a crisis. By ensuring that all your spokesperson(s) have been properly trained, you significantly reduce the risk of sharing misleading, contradictory or inaccurate information. See our related Spokesperson Training page for more.
PRESTIDGE GROUP’S
PERSONAL BRANDING STRATEGY
We have been in the game for almost seven years now, branding hundreds of people across industry with our talented team of multidisciplinary team of personal branding experts, from New York, to Dubai, to Australia.
Whether you are already established, or just starting out with your personal brand, Prestidge Group can help. We have developed innovative personal branding framework over the years to help craft and build your personal brand, and use the following 6-step process to make global impact:
1 |
PERSONAL BRAND AUDIT
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PERSONAL BRANDING,
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2 |
3 |
Personal Brand DEVELOPMENTBefore we begin any outreach, we elevate your personal brand on LinkedIn and other social media channels, write and position your executive profile, establish a brand look and feel, design brand assets, and create your media kit. |
Content CreationIn your tone of voice, we will ghostwrite and create content for your sign-off, including articles for your LinkedIn, Medium and publications. We have a 360-degree team in house, including senior content writers , graphic designers and video editors. |
4 |
5 |
SOCIAL MEDIA
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BE FEATURED IN THE MEDIA, WIN AWARDS & SPEAK ON STAGESWe build credibility and manage your global outreach by proactively pitching you for media coverage, ghostwriting thought leadership for magazines, and negotiating and securing you opportunities to speak on global stages. |
6 |
Who do we build
personal brands for?
Recognized as a top personal branding agency, Prestidge Group has a successful track record of creating and elevating personal brands for many recognized thought leaders, CEOs, High-Net-Worth Individuals (HNWIs), and celebrities around the world.
Prestidge Group has a long-standing presence for personal branding in London, Dubai and New York, with a team of expert personal branding consultants, content writers, PR strategists and producers that specialize in a number of traditional and lifestyle sectors, including business aviation, automotive, banking, fintech, energy, healthcare, technology and digitalization.
