Top 3 Tips For Making A Crisis Management Video
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Nobody likes a corporate crisis. Okay, maybe the media enjoys them, but if you work at a company facing a very public corporate crisis you’re probably not a fan. I mean, it’s the type of thing that can sink a company, and your job along with it. Which is why in a crisis situation, your business might need a crisis management video.
Now, I’m not going to advocate producing a video for every crisis that comes down the pike. It’s not a cure-all. However, a well-done video can turn the situation around and do it quickly.
The reason it’s so effective is that video allows you to go beyond words. Sometimes in a crisis there’s no better way to dispel a charge than by showing people the truth.
Ronald McDonald is on the case
One of my favorite cases of this is the way McDonald’s Canada handled the big question about Chicken McNuggets. You know… what are they made of anyway? Instead of letting rumors about pink goop persist, McDonald’s Canada took people behind the scenes with a video showing the whole process of how McNuggets are made.
Over 4-million views later, do you think McDonald’s executives are happy they produced that video? I should think so. McDonald’s haters will surely find some fault in it, but the general public? I think the video is probably very reassuring.
In that case, the video allowed McDonald’s a chance to get out in front of a potential crisis. Video can do the same thing for a company in the midst of a crisis.
Well-played Domino’s
After Domino’s employees posted some disgusting pizza videos on YouTube, the president of the company responded with his own video apologizing for their behavior. This is impressive on a couple of levels.
First, he made his apology using the same medium the pranksters used. When someone watched the “bad” videos, his video popped-up right along side of them thanks to the way YouTube tags and searches work. Second, he puts emotion behind the corporate response. It’s one thing for the public to read an apology on a page or computer screen. It has so much more impact when it’s read aloud to them.
I would have preferred to hear him speak from the heart instead of reading the message that was presumably screened by Domino’s attorneys, but it was still a good effort.
3 Tips for your crisis management video
So… here are some tips for creating your own crisis management video.
- Be honest.
- Be sincere.
- Be honest.
I could go into detail about production tips… highly produced versus minimally produced… music bed versus no music bed… scripted versus non-scripted, but in the end it all comes down to honesty and sincerity.
People can see right through a lie. They can tell when someone is being insincere. So… just be honest. Because while a truthful and sincere crisis management video can help you win back hearts and minds, an insincere video can do the opposite. It can make a crisis even worse.
Be honest, show people how you really feel, and you’ll be on your way to crisis recovery.
–Tony Gnau
Tony Gnau is the Founder and Chief Storytelling Officer at T60 Productions.
He’s a three-time Emmy Award-winning journalist, has led T60 Productions to winning 18 Telly Awards for its corporate videos, and is the author of the Amazon #1 Bestseller “Lights, Camera, Impact: storytelling, branding, and production tips for engaging corporate videos.”