One thing that a brand would never wish upon itself is a campaign gone wrong or a miscommunication that may turn its existing and potential customers and advocates against it. Such a situation, when it arises, is called a brand crisis. It's a common phenomenon as no brand is perfect to be immune to it and in the age of social media, news travels faster than ever. 

Controversial headlines catch the most amount of eyeballs and one wrong step by a famous brand is the talk of the town. 

Past examples of brands for breaking headlines for the same are- Nestle Maggi for having high contents of MSG and lead making it unsafe for consumption; Samsung Galaxy Note 7 exploding due to overheating every time it was put to charge; and not just faulty products but also damaging comments like that of the Snapchat Founder when he said “India is too poor for Snapchat” and the list goes on. 

However, while companies have experienced negative sentiments from the market while being in a brand crisis, some have managed to turn it around and handle it like no other. Right from Coca Cola running campaigns and introducing a smaller bottle of coke for rural areas (to deal with the aftermath of being called out for selling soft-drinks with deadly pesticide residues) to Cadbury investing a great deal of money and time in developing its packaging, media campaigns & retailer outreach programs (to overcome the mishap of finding worms in some of their chocolate packs). They even signed Amitabh Bachchan as the brand ambassador to give the brand a reliable and trusted face. There are many more such examples where companies completely revamped their identity or messaging and came up with new strategies to reach out to the market. 

So what is the ideal way to go about managing a brand crisis? Let’s have a look. 

Knowing your brand inside out is the first step and the most important one as well. Prevention is better than cure, it is rightly said since if you know your brand well enough you can easily assess what reputation it holds in the market and what could potentially damage it and the steps that would follow to not let it happen. Also, have a conscious view of what is defined as a ‘crisis’ for your brand. Different brands operate differently and hence their definition of crisis is different. 

But now that your brand is in this ordeal situation, you must first assess the situation and explore the worst-case scenario. Map different situations for the crisis to play out and design various responses to it. 

Find out who should be at the front-line and backend to face this crisis. You would want a reliable and known face to be taking the charge on the front end as people would be familiar with this face, but it may vary from company to company. 

The creation of a crisis management plan is of utmost importance that measures all possibilities of such a situation, for instance, who gets contacted, who takes the decision etc. 

Reacting quickly but wisely is imperative to manage such a crisis. In such circumstances, the crisis may escalate if not responded to quickly but that does not mean an impulsive decision needs to be made. The reaction to such a situation should not be too delayed that your competitors might take advantage of it but should also not be foolish that you lose your customers. 

Online reputation management plays a big role in the moment of a crisis. As social media is where the world meets and where the news spreads like wildfire, it is essential to deploy a team that dedicatedly monitors what is being said about the brand over the internet. This not only gives you an insight into what your customers are currently thinking and perceiving the situation but also gives you an opportunity to connect with them on a personal level and vouch for the brand. 

Effective communication is definitely the key to a successful brand crisis management that makes your point heard, followed by campaigns and visible alterations in the brand and its offering that restores the customer’s trust in you.