Is your brand stable enough for a crisis?
Turbulent times come and go, but strong brands endure. In this month’s Novus invite, Pia Rosin reminds us how important trust is when the crisis comes. It is important to be prepared so that, just like Pia, you can “eat crises for breakfast”, then add good self-confidence to the mix and we have a winning concept to roll out to handle the storm.
It surely comes as no surprise that curiosity took over once again. We asked the public what they think about the crisis communication of Swedish companies, organizations and authorities. It turned out that the best are authorities, nearly half (49%) think that authorities are fairly or very good at communicating in crises. The worst are companies where one in four (25%) think they communicate well and one in three poorly (29%).
QUESTION: How good or bad do you think Swedish companies, organizations and authorities are at communicating during crises?
We also asked for examples of who are good at crisis communication and what they do less well or could do differently. Here too, authorities are overwhelmingly represented, for example the Public Health Agency and MSB (The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency).
”Jag tänker främst på MSB och Folkhälsomyndigheten som jag upplever är tydliga i sin information”
(“I am mainly thinking of MSB and the Public Health Agency, which I feel are clear in their information”).
”Folkhälsomyndigheten gjorde ett jättejobb under covid. De vet inte vad som väntar men de står där och försöker ge så mycket info de kan. Fantastiska!”
(“The Public Health Agency did a great job during covid. They don’t know what to expect but they stand there and try to give as much info as they can. Fantastic!”).
And this is what we wanted to see more of:
”Mer öppenhet och ärlighet.”
(“More openness and honesty“).
”Tydligare och mer i media”
(“More clearly and more in the media”).
”Presentera fakta, tidigt och tydligt”
(“Present the facts, early and clearly”).
“Tracking” one’s brand not only contributes to key figures for trust, familiarity and attitude, it is a game plan in both good and bad times. It is important to have the answers to questions such as: Who needs our attention? Are we getting our message across? And do we have loyal followers?
So what happens to trust during a crisis? Our CEO Torbjörn Sjöström once said “a missed examination during a critical stage cannot be redone”. That’s right, but measuring your brand should also be done during stable times. The opportunity to see how stable one’s brand is then becomes extra clear. In addition, you know your brand’s strengths and weaknesses and can communicate accordingly. Here, self-confidence is key and we can help you build that by finding the answers to the questions that can really make a difference in your game plan.
Lovisa Brunnberg
Consultant Novus
lovisa.brunnberg@novus.se
Every month we offer knowledge, facts and reports in the area of branding and communication in the form of Novus Brand Letter.
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