North P&I Club club urges shipowners to consider the value a crisis media management service can bring, when dealing with unexpected disasters, emergencies and other incidents, which may reflect unfavourably on their business operations or brand reputation. In view of this, the club announced a partnership agreement with Navigate Response, that offers members a 20% discount on their crisis media management service.
North’s director of marketing and communications, Rob McInally, explained: “At North we strongly believe that robust crisis media response plans can help shipowners and operators minimise threats to their reputation and stakeholder relationships. Sound crisis media response planning can help avoid more serious problems down the line, including significant cost implications.”
The emergence of social media has had a significant impact on crisis media response, shortening the timeline to respond and encouraging the spread of misleading, incomplete or even false information –so called ‘fake news’. During a crisis, companies are now expected to respond more quickly and across more channels than ever before.
Navigate Response’s COO, Dustin Eno, noted that delays or mistakes in media management are often interpreted as signs that a company is either incompetent or hiding something, often resulting in damaging vital relationships.
Mr Eno added: “If the average person can name a ship, it’s probably because it sank. Unfortunately, this selective knowledge of our industry makes people quick to believe anything negative about the maritime sector and sceptical of anything positive. One of the best ways to overcome this hurdle is to communicate with key audiences openly, early and often.”