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The Interview Sony Crisis PR

Sony cancels The Interview: Four lessons we can learn about crisis PR

By Alex Johnson |

December 18, 2014 | 4 min read

Following threats by The Guardians of Peace, whose hack almost a month ago has seen entertainment giant Sony lurch from crisis to crisis, the company has taken the decision to cancel the US cinema release of ‘The Interview’.

Sony, The Interview

Sony has shelved The Interview premiere

Whilst the decision will undoubtedly have far reaching consequences, what can it teach us from a crisis management perspective?

1. Learn from the past

This isn’t the first time that the Sony Corporation has been hacked. In 2011, personal details from approximately 77 million PlayStation accounts were stolen, resulting in Sony Computer Entertainment Europe being fined for the serious breach which UK authorities claimed could have been prevented. Did the entertainment giant learn anything from this previous hack? Stakeholders may forgive a first incident but in their eyes a second could seem careless.

A key part of successful crisis management is the post-crisis review. This is about understanding what went wrong and identifying what processes need to be changed to minimise the risk of it happening again. For large, multinational organisations it is also essential these learnings are shared across countries and sectors, so they can be truly embedded.

2. Beware the ‘multi-crisis’ crisis

Media attention is currently focussing on Sony’s position regarding ‘The Interview’. However the hack has exposed a number of other issues which have the potential to be equally damaging in the long term.

When crises strike it is important to understand all the reputational risks they present so you can manage them accordingly. While dealing with immediate concerns regarding The Interview, Sony should also be planning its ongoing response to the fallout from leaked staff files, evidence of pay inequalities, loss of intellectual property and damaging private email exchanges at a senior level.

3. Get ahead of the crisis

Preparation is essential. Understanding the risk landscape is the first step followed by scenario planning ie what can we do to reduce the likelihood of this happening and what can we do to reduce its impact when, or if, it does? The resulting actions should be documented and responsibility given to individuals and teams for carrying them out.

4. Think the worst

Many companies avoid planning for incidents capable of doing significant reputational damage because they don’t want to believe they can happen. Sony is living proof they do. In Sony’s case was the potential for this level of reputational damage identified at any stage? Did the team sit round a table and say: ‘What’s the worst that can happen here?’ Forget wishful thinking and make sure you are your harshest critic when it comes to crisis management.

If I was in a competitor’S shoes what would I be doing right now? I’d be taking the hack test and asking myself these questions:

  • If our systems are breached what’s the very worst these people could find?
  • Do we do anything that runs counter to our own and our stakeholders’ morals and values?

When you know how bad it could get you are already one step ahead.

Alex Johnson is a consultant at Insignia Communications. You can follow her on Twitter @Alex_Insignia.

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