Crisis & Reputation Response Designer

What it does

Takes an acute negative event (product failure, data breach, employee scandal, boycott, bad ad, rumor) and produces an executable response package derived not from "communication gut feel" but from five established crisis-communication frameworks.

It first uses SCCT (Situational Crisis Communication Theory — Coombs) to place the crisis into one of three clusters by attribution of responsibility: victim (weak attribution — disaster, sabotage, rumor), accidental (low attribution — technical failure), preventable (strong attribution — negligence, misconduct). Intensifiers like crisis/reputation history bump the attribution up one level. On top of this it computes a Reputation Threat Score (0–100): responsibility attribution (30%), harm severity (25%), spread & outrage (20%), provability (15%), intensifier (10%). The score routes the decision into 4 verdict branches (Monitor / Controlled response / Full activation / Top-level crisis → CEO+legal+regulator).

The cluster sets the allowed response posture (deny → diminish → rebuild). Image Repair Theory (Benoit) supplies which sentence tactic to use (denial, evasion, reducing offensiveness, corrective action, mortification). Each channel message is a named blend of these. The CERC (CDC) 6 principles (Be First/Right/Credible, Express Empathy, Promote Action, Show Respect) gate every draft. Golden Hour + crisis lifecycle set publication order and delay budget per channel (holding < 60 min, social 15–30 min, full statement < 24 h). Stakeholder Salience (Mitchell–Agle–Wood) prioritizes stakeholders by power × legitimacy × urgency.

Output: a multi-channel response matrix, an approved holding statement (empathy → what we know → what we don't → next update), a use/avoid tone guide, 6–10 tough FAQs via the bridging technique, escalation thresholds (incl. the 72-hour data-breach notification), and a KPI measurement plan.

When to use it

When a concrete, acute negative event hits a brand/organization and you need a proportionate answer to "how do we respond, on which channel, in what tone, when" within 60 minutes. Not for general brand positioning — this skill is for acute crisis.

Method / frameworks

SCCT (Coombs) · Image Repair Theory (Benoit) · CERC (CDC) · Crisis Lifecycle + Golden Hour · Stakeholder Salience (Mitchell–Agle–Wood) · KVKK/GDPR Art. 33 breach notification threshold (72h). Unverified facts are never asserted; the unknown is stated as "we'll share once confirmed".