Monday's quick reads: Timberland, bank bonuses, and Dubai's new media team

1.) Bank bonuses, bigger than ever, are in the spotlight (The New York Times) -- Everyone on Wall Street is fixated on The Number. The bank bonus season looks as if it will be one of the largest and most controversial blowouts the industry has ever seen, The New York Times’s Louise Story and Eric Dash report.

2.) Insurers tee up reputation risk plan (Financial Times) -- Insurers are planning to introduce a product to limit companies' financial fall-out when their brands or high-profile spokesmen such as Tiger Woods suffer reputational damage. DeWitt Stern, a 110-year-old US insurance broker, has already received interest from London underwriters in backing a reputational risk product it aims to launch early in 2010.

3.) Dubai forms new media office to deal with tarnished image (The Wall Street Journal) -- Amid intense scrutiny of its economic problems Dubai has established a new media office to help promote the emirate in a better light and monitor the press. The department, known as the Media Office for Dubai Government, will seek to portray an "accurate picture" of the emirate, a statement from the ruler's office said.

4.) Getting Started in CSR Social Media: Examples from Intel and Timberland (Triple Pundit) -- If one of your resolutions for the new year is to better utilize social media to tell your company’s sustainability stories, take a look at how Intel and Timberland are tapping the potential of the Web 2.0.

Monday's quick reads: Wells Fargo on social media, Wall Street's reputation management

1.) CEO's urged to do more online (The Washington Times) -- A new study says top CEOs should do a better job managing their presence on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia.

2.) Selling health care? Watch what you say (The Washington Post) -- A psychologist reminds Washington that buzzwords send messages, but they may not always be the messages we intend.

3.) Wells Fargo on social media engagement during financial crisis (The Blog Council) -- Wells Fargo's VP for Social Media Engagement discusses the bank's decision to embrace new communications tools during the financial crisis.

4.) Wall Street responds to "populist outrage" (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street’s largest trade group has started a campaign to counter the “populist” backlash against bankers, enlisting two former aides to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to spearhead the effort.

Lessons from Wall Street

Sifting through the news on Wall Street this month, there are plenty of “if only” scenarios to explore. We’ll stick to what we know: communicating effectively. As The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) points out, corporate boards often have weak or nonexistent crisis communications plans. Here’s a clip from the article:

“This month's meltdown of several financial giants exposed a serious flaw in corporate governance: Many U.S. boards don't cope well with a crisis. But some directors are now ratcheting up efforts to anticipate, and avert, trouble. Too many boards are stocked with poorly prepared directors, who fail to ask enough tough questions or adequately scrutinize management, governance specialists say.”

Communicating effectively in a crisis usually means more than talking to reporters. Whether an organization is large or small, it often means communicating with management, board members, employees, customers, reporters, and if applicable, shareholders, regulators, and elected officials, to name a few. This is no easy task, but the more effectively we communicate with each stakeholder the more likely we are to eliminate confusion and weather the storm.

We are big believers in having a communications plan in place before a crisis. A good plan generally identifies an organization’s stakeholders, who will communicate with them, and what means they will use to communicate. It will also identify who is responsible for developing the message. Some companies even stage a "live fire" mock crisis that puts its plan and management team to the test. At the end of the exercise, management can identify what aspects of the plan worked, what didn’t, and how to improve it.

If you have additional questions about how to develop a crisis communications plan, give us a call or send us an e-mail.