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WASHINGTON, D.C., March 6—Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide has launched a new service called Counter Threat, a suite of crisis and emergency services designed to manage a full range of emergency scenarios, including the widespread disruption that could result from a terrorist attack.
The new service addresses employee and public communications, as well as issues linked to infrastructure and operations. Ogilvy consultants help companies focus on the business consequences of various threats, and then develop the redundant infrastructure and flexible procedures needed to keep the lines of communication open with employees, shareholders, customers and the public.
The approach, tailored to each client’s needs, includes threat and consequence assessment interviews, crisis management seminars, training sessions or scenario-based exercises.
“The types of threats companies must address have changed dramatically in the past six months,” says Ogilvy chief executive Bob Seltzer. “And they are now as likely to be external as they are company-specific. How does a business respond if telephone service is cut for weeks, if employees don’t know about the safety of their co-workers or if the media are too occupied with crises to cover timely business news? Counter Threat helps companies develop strategies for occurrences such as these.”
Counter Threat evolved out of Ogilvy PR’s experience in crisis preparedness issues, from national fire safety, civil defense and chemical and utility industry work in the mid-1980s to the agency’s weapons of mass destruction and consequence management consulting today. The new group will be led by Karner Davis, a senior vice president in the firm’s Washington office.
Says Davis, “We have created crisis programs for government agencies and Fortune 500 companies; designed emergency public information campaigns; supported full-scale exercises involving infrastructure destruction; played out the consequences of bioterrorism; and built a vast library of print, video and online training materials. We know the terrain.”
The new service addresses employee and public communications, as well as issues linked to infrastructure and operations. Ogilvy consultants help companies focus on the business consequences of various threats, and then develop the redundant infrastructure and flexible procedures needed to keep the lines of communication open with employees, shareholders, customers and the public.
The approach, tailored to each client’s needs, includes threat and consequence assessment interviews, crisis management seminars, training sessions or scenario-based exercises.
“The types of threats companies must address have changed dramatically in the past six months,” says Ogilvy chief executive Bob Seltzer. “And they are now as likely to be external as they are company-specific. How does a business respond if telephone service is cut for weeks, if employees don’t know about the safety of their co-workers or if the media are too occupied with crises to cover timely business news? Counter Threat helps companies develop strategies for occurrences such as these.”
Counter Threat evolved out of Ogilvy PR’s experience in crisis preparedness issues, from national fire safety, civil defense and chemical and utility industry work in the mid-1980s to the agency’s weapons of mass destruction and consequence management consulting today. The new group will be led by Karner Davis, a senior vice president in the firm’s Washington office.
Says Davis, “We have created crisis programs for government agencies and Fortune 500 companies; designed emergency public information campaigns; supported full-scale exercises involving infrastructure destruction; played out the consequences of bioterrorism; and built a vast library of print, video and online training materials. We know the terrain.”
Article tags
Crisis Management
