On Wednesday 6 November Burson Buchanan took part in a live London Stock Exchange marketplace webinar ‘Crisis Averted; how to implement your crisis management plan’. Associate Partner Stephanie Whitmore represented the Burson Buchanan team, lending her expertise to a fantastic panel alongside Gavin Lewis, Linklaters; Nicola Lambourne, Law Debenture; and Tim Black, Black&Callow. Moderated by the LSE’s Head of Primary Markets in Israel, Michal Freeman-Shor, the conversation covered a host of interesting topics including how can companies best plan for a crisis, who should be involved in the crisis team, and how to quickly implement a crisis plan with maximum impact.
Burson Buchanan talked extensively about how they believe reputation to be a key value driver and, therefore, the importance of building and protecting that reputation to improve a company’s access to capital markets. The conversations were broad and varied, and it was particularly interesting to hear Stephanie’s own experiences crafting clear, factual messaging that resonated with all of a Company’s stakeholders, in a complex situation. She spoke about advising a client through the cladding crisis, a highly emotive and financially damaging event and indeed ongoing situation. She explained how Burson Buchanan helped mitigate some of that damage by becoming the source of truth in a fast-evolving event. She finished by highlighting that, all stakeholders, from investors, to the media, to employees are now demanding commitment and action to more responsible business practices, and this, coupled with unprecedented changes to the way we communicate, with generationally diverse expectations, means that the thought we give to Crisis Comms has never been more important.
Throughout the webinar, it was clear how vital your Financial Communications team are in acting as an interface with external stakeholders, such as the media, and how through using their insights from the wider market to inform a company’s response, you can not only limit the damage but also then begin rebuilding your corporate reputation post event.