From pandemics to power outages: issue AND INCIDENT response as part of brand management
I prize creative work as the most rewarding. Incident and issue response is further down the list, past the good stuff of writing, design, research, and strategy.
Issue and incident response is challenging, fast-paced, and not something most people look forward to. But it's critical.
This work is not only about ensuring effective proactive planning, the subsequent operational reaction by an organization, and, most importantly, safeguarding health and safety. How we handle times of difficulty and crisis directly impacts long-term perceptions of the brand.
In my view, competently managing the issues that arise in any complex organization is part and parcel of effective brand management.
In fact, I see marketing — the influencing of so-called "voluntary exchanges" with the brand — and all elements of organizational communications rolling up into the concept of brand management. "Marketing" is not a body of work for some office down the hall, any more than Person X "does issue management" and Person Y "is the PR guy." These are all complementary, linked (indeed, fused!) areas directly supporting — ethically and honorably — an organization's mission.
I frequently refer to my work as planning, promoting, and protecting the brand. That's an oversimplification, but a digestible sound bite for the layperson. "Protect" is what issue management, crisis communications, emergency response, and reputation management all aim to achieve. My profession likes to use all sorts of heavy phrases for these activities that run in parallel.
Protecting is not necessarily the same as "defending." Rather, this work is about sharing the institution's perspectives, providing salient facts, and, in emergencies, giving people the information they need to make good decisions with speed and credibility.
If there's a real or perceived misstep by an organization, "protect" means setting things right.
Times of challenge are when brands can truly show what they're made of.
It's important to note that protecting the brand is also about establishing standards and guiding how the organization expresses itself through its marks, writing and design, and behaviors. An undisciplined brand in this regard can be perhaps as cumulatively damaging as inartfully managing a crisis.