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Firstly, I would establish a 'War Room' which includes stakeholders from all relevant functions to ensure as a team we are clear on the issue at hand, who the key stakeholders will be moving forwards, and then use that time to develop a strategic action plan to address the issue. Firstly, it's important to have all available information - media coverage, social listening etc. Next it's important to establish with the public that whatever the issue, it is being looked into as a matter of urgency. This requires a reactive statement. It makes it clear that the brand will be held accountable and will develop a tangible response. Then it's important to put a pause on any outbound activity that may have a further impact whilst looking to resolve this issue e.g. an ad campaign that may inflate the issue. Depending on the issue at hand the response will vary but it's important to clearly communicate with consumers. One thing that brands often get wrong is to go quiet completely and hope it blows over. In the case of Activision Blizzard, depending on the issue, the following functions would need to be engaged - brand managers, comms, social, legal, studio production, executive leadership teams, agency partners, brand partners etc.

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Our objectives when dealing with consumer backlash would be to appease the consumer and try to provide and answer or solution to the issue. As a company we need to make sure we acknowledge the issue and respond as promptly as possible. Prepare a suitable response across our teams, that can be used across multiple touch points, rather than reacting ad hoc to each individual message. If the issues are a result of something we have done as a company, we may need to take responsibility for the mistake and emphasise to the consumer that it is being investigated as a matter of urgency. This will allow us to get ahead of the conversation and try to stem any negativity. If the comments have been made in a public space, try to reach out to the individuals privately to contain the messaging. Any response should be as natural as possible rather than an auto generated response. Adding this human element will make the consumer feel valued in a time that they have a negative opinion of your brand. Being a member-based organisation, we have multiple points of contact for our consumer where questions and grievances could be raised. Our membership and customer support teams would be integral to achieving any success of dealing with backlash. Our ‘Presidential Officers’ who are often the voice of the union in the media would need to be involved to make sure any response we had was conveyed appropriately in the public space. Our communications/marketing team would be responsible for all social media responses as well as our inhouse media adviser who may need to liaise with media outlets regarding any media coverage.

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Arnott's do not market treat products to children directly. Hypothetically - Should an incident occur when advertising is inadvertently directed to children, a number of stakeholders could be involved in developing a response. This could include the company nutritionist, head of public relations, social marketing team, marketing management and legal.
Objectives would be to regain any lost trust from consumers, restore reputational issues and respond to regulatory authorities as required.
Actions could include an apology on owned media - facebook, instagram and website. News broadcast could also be utilised if the breach was serious enough.

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What are your objectives in managing consumer backlash?

Depending on the backlash, the objective would be to come from a place that is genuine either by being apologetic in nature or a conversation that explains the situation.

The objective would be to minimise the risks associated with legalities such as liquor licence, da’s, council approvals, that can stop the festival at any time, but also remove it from public scrutiny that may harm the public perception of the upstanding nature of the brand with our sponsors, artists, and general public.

What are the most important steps to take to manage consumer backlash?

Prosumers for GBF can come in the form as general punters, stallholders, sponsors and artists. These can all pose risks if there is backlash concerning elements that concern each of these customers.

The steps would be to understand the types of concerns that each of these prosumers are likely to complain about.

Ensure there are contracts, terms and conditions in place that outline expectations for consumers, artists, stallholders and sponsors so to be able to refer to these at any time.

Apologising, long and conversational language as this is known to be more authentic, in a personalise manner, that is then not looked upon as a standardised corporate answer is likely to be more favourable to the prosumer and onlookers.

Who would you need to work with in your organisation (i.e. which teams) to achieve your objective?

Usually, it is myself and my husband that run the business, but again it would depend on the where and who the complaints are aimed at and from.

Alcohol issues may need the police or security guards. Sponsors may need legal representation. Stall holders may need council assistance. Artists usually need a phone call but also agents and management could be involved.

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I would establish a crisis committee with the main stakeholders, internal and external, studio, commercial team, digital team, operations, legal and marketing.

I would measure the scope of the backlash with social listening, media coverage and customer service interactions. Then decide how to address it.

The PR team will prepare the info if there is a need for a public statement. Or if social media would use to address the issue and then decide which network and wording, would it be FB and IG and include LinkedIn. Work in parallel with the customer service team to determine the narrative and message that are appropriate for the public.

In the days after the crisis, I would review the social listening tools and media coverage to check how the reaction to the situation worked and if there’s a need for further actions.

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First, I would gather the key leaders from all teams into a room to make sure they are aware of the issue, and can circulate it appropriately to their respective teams. I would put a pause on all marketing activity whilst the issue is being investigated and discussed. Then I would gather all available information about the issue, including comments and discussion on social media, feedback from customer service, or other relevant channels from the customer.

Once the key stakeholders and team leaders agree on a response, we could then begin to communicate an apology to our consumers that is consistent across all channels and customer touch points.

An objective in managing backlash would be to do so in an authentic and non-combative way, acknowledging our mistake and speaking directly to consumers about the issue. Following the response, a plan moving forward would track and ensure that we do not make the same mistake again.

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Schools are open to different 'crisis' situations and the community response is often emotionally charged because children are involved. The first objective is always to assemble a team to plan, execute and evaluate the response.
The most important steps are to ensure messaging is timely (especially if responding to a media deadline) and all key stakeholder groups are addressed. Communication advice from crisis PR professionals is especially useful in crafting messaging and for media insight.
In terms of managing backlash internally, it is important that the privacy of students potentially involved (as minors) was always communicated and that parents are always directed to respond to the College (with corresponding contact details) if they have concerns rather than posting/commenting online in parent groups where things can really get out of hand. Consistent monitoring of social accounts is important.
In managing an issue in a school, the following personnel would be involved - Principal, Executive, Mar/comms, external crisis PR consultant and perhaps legal.
Often when children are involved (due to privacy), it's not possible to be openly state what the school's response to students involved in misbehaviour, but it is very important to reiterate that the behaviour does not reflect the school's values.

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Objectives

Depending on the nature of the backlash these might vary, however the key objectives would mostly likely include

Proactive response – Taking action quickly to try and avoid further reputational damage

Maintain brand trust – As a health provider it’s important to maintain our reputation of trust

Mitigate any legal risk – Ensure that any potential risks in this space

Ensure the best possible outcome for our clients – In the case the incident impacted a client it would be a priority to ensure their concerns were addressed and they were looked after

Clear internal communication – Making sure our CS team was resourced and briefed to respond to any enquiries

Steps to managing the backlash

1. Create a briefing document outlining the issue, background and possible implications

2. Organise a response team that included the operational heads of any regions affected as well as the European Marketing lead and our Global PR manager

3. Discuss the issue with the response team, agree on the aim of our response, actions to take to achieve this and the responsibilities of each person

4. Create brand communications, both external to address the issue, and internal to brief the customer facing teams of how to respond to enquiries (and keep the whole organisation up to date)

5. Implement communications and monitor any response taking further action if required

6. Following resolution (or at least a quieting down of the situation) meet with the response team and discuss what went well as well as any learnings to implement in the case of future backlashes

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Spending time upfront to analyse and anticipate the kind of risk that the brand or a particular marketing activity could face and then for each risk who would be needed to assist in Crisis Management and Response is beneficial for expediting any response as it saves times forming the team during the crisis.  I would establish the team of empowered delegates from the required areas of the business (for example, if the issue is product quality or safety - having technical experts is critical but these experts would not necessarily be required for a marketing initiative issue).

1. Bring the team together to understand what is known and what isn't known about and then agreed what next steps need to be taken to gather the required information to understand the issues that needs to be managed.
2. Agree meeting cadence with clear actions for management of crisis.
3. (Depending on severity of issues) all external communications required approval of public affairs and review by brand team to ensure consistency.
4. If consumer safety is the complaint - work quickly to remove any further risk to the public - such as withdrawing or recalling any product.
5. Being clear, genuine and honest in communications
6. Continue meeting, iterating responses until after issues are resolved
7. Post review on effectiveness of response and how to improve in future.

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What are your objectives in managing consumer backlash?
Develop a strategy to address the issues right away.
What are the most important steps to take to manage consumer backlash?
Be proactive
Depending where the issue was expressed either online, in person or a specific social media platform the approach would be unique. Regardless of the approach it would be beneficial for the brand to have a personal human approach in this instance and not a chat bot or an automated message. An apology and a strategy to fix this issue would be ideal.
Who would you need to work with in your organisation (i.e. which teams) to achieve your objective?
Consider how different teams in your organisation can work together to create consistency of brand.
Open communication and a consistent brand message across all social platforms and the approach would have to be alike so the apology or brands message is not mixed around and stays firm

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What are your objectives in managing consumer backlash?

The objectives would be minimise brand risk and loss of brand equity, and to reset the path for improving brand meaning and values.

What are the most important steps to take to manage consumer backlash?

A potential scenario with negative implications for a brand would be handled in the following way:

1. Act quickly: Review the issue and implications to the brand and the customer perspective, as well as measure the scope and impact across all channels. Request reports on social channels, news services, customer service teams etc. Brainstorm session with key stakeholders – CEO/MD, Operations, GM, CMO, Comms, PR,

2. Be Proactive:  Define a new narrative to combat the crisis “Backlash Response” – consider short-, medium- and long-term implications of the new strategy.

3. Be Upfront: Roll out new communications/marketing strategy asap. Create content and calendar including wider marketing team, comms, graphics, photography. Consider execution across all digital platforms, and implications of this on teams (workload, info channels etc)

Owned: Website – create a web page outlining the issue, include links to information about the wider issue, to customer service contact channels (email an phone) Monitor closely. Socials: Roll out Backlash Response so on all owned social media channels. Monitor closely.

Paid: PR: Roll out response & monitor. Internal review for a new Ad Campaign/s highlighting simple benefits of brand to be rolled out once “Backlash Response” has been successful to update brand narrative.

Earned: Engage & Monitor earned media for ‘Backlash Response’

1. Mean it: Monitor, Evaluate & iterate ‘Backlash Response” as required.

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Stakeholders involved include - CEO, GM Policy, Projects and Governance, Board Secretary, Director SE,Comms and Marketing, Comms specialist, Media consultant.
Objectives - identify the issues and risk. Create a strong response that is unified across all brand channels. Seek to restore brand good-will.

1. Understand the nuance of the backlash by consulting with CEO and GM for their ‘insider knowledge’.

2. Draft response to be disseminated across appropriate channels, potentially including media release, article for website, EDM to the relevant audience in the database and social media post.

3. Prepare briefing for customer-facing team members so they are ready to respond to in-person interactions about the issue.

4. Continue to monitor and respond as appropriate.