CRISIS PREVENTION SPECIALISTS
We trouble-proof brand reputations.
SELF-INFLICTED
CRISIS
HALL OF FAME
HIMS & HERS CEO'S PROVOCATIVE TWEET SINKS STOCK 6%
BUMBLE USERS REVOLT AGAINST ILL-CONCEIVED BILLBOARDS
LIONSGATE CAUGHT PUTTING FAKE QUOTES FROM REAL CRITICS IN FILM AD
SUBSCRIBERS CANCEL AFTER FABFITFUN RUNS INSULTING PROMO
PALO ALTO NETWORKS TARGETED FOR SEXIST TRADE SHOW BOOTH
All of these crises could have been stopped.
Who will stop yours?
THE BEST WAY TO STOP A CRISIS IS
FOR IT TO NOT HAPPEN IN THE FIRST PLACE.
We have two kinds of clients: 1) clients who were damaged by careless past mistakes and don't want it to happen again, and 2) clients who smartly don't want to suffer their first crisis.
By smoothly integrating into our clients, we guide them around controversies with better, safer solutions.
25% of a company's value is its reputation. With more customer, political and cultural scrutiny than ever before, every company and investor needs the best guardrails.
Our clients are organizations and their stakeholders which prioritize their reputations and know the importance of avoiding self-inflicted or external casualities.
We also provide qualified start-ups with special communications services packages especially tailored for them.
Veteran communications expert
Drew Kerr, founder of The Four Corners Group.
Read Drew Kerr's article
"The 3 laws of shutting up that every leader needs for staying out of trouble"
Read Shari Berg's article about
the necessity of The Four Corners Group:
"Preventing 5-Alarm Fires
That Can Ruin Your Brand"
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"
-- Benjamin Franklin
PHOTOGRAPHER: Allison Michael Orenstein STYLING: On Camera Image Consulting
In today's fast-moving, unforgiving world,
everything you say and do is scrutinized.
You need a safeguard system,
not time and money putting out five-alarm fires.
Increasingly, established companies and start-ups are falling into PR calamities of their own making from weak internal guardrails.
Either their woes are self-inflicted or they step into the cross-hairs of angry social media campaigns, political and cultural groups, and even their own customers' wrath.
What do they call have in common? No impartial viewpoint looking out for their own best interests.
These calamities happen all the time. The updated database below underscores why you have every reason to be on alert.
The Four Corners Group provides a powerful safety net against the destruction to your credibility and finances that a crisis can bring.
PERPETUALLY UPDATED DATABASE OF
SELF-INFLICTED PR DISASTERS
THAT COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED
Bumble
Carta
Cloudflare
CNN
Coca-Cola
Condor Airlines
CrowdStrike
dbrand
DevTernity
Divino Seas
Doritos
DraftKings
ESPN (October 2023)
ESPN (July 2024)
FabFitFun
FedEx
Google
&pizza
Adidas (October 2022)
Adidas (September 2023)
Adidas (July 2024)
October 2022 - present
"We had a process failure internally that we will fix."
-- Zoom CEO Eric Yuan admits to the press the internal bungling of their new terms of service
"I came up with a very, very dumb idea to vent my frustration."
-- HBO Chief Casey Bloys explains why he had his staff create fake Twitter accounts to attack TV critics.
HOW YOU WIN.
HOW WE WORK.
The costs of a publicity crisis can run up into millions of dollars, impacting reputation, revenue, clients, staff, investors, and recovery, while leaving a permanent online legacy.
Our unique objective approach prevents an embarrassing scenario like that from happening.
We integrate into your approval pipeline, focusing on six sensitive areas: press releases, web content, social media, executive statements and memos, advertising, and promotions.
Any words, images, or actions that may potentially anger current and potential customers or outside special interest groups are flagged and assigned a risk factor. We suggest better alternatives and preventative actions so the end results land on point, mitigating backlash and trouble.
We offer three solutions:
1) Integrate as expert impartial crisis guardrails.
2) Build a highly effective internal checks and balances system.
3) Help interview, hire and train a Crisis Prevention Officer.
THE AREAS WE MONITOR
PRESS RELEASES
EXECUTIVE STATEMENTS & MEMOS
WEB CONTENT
ADVERTISING
SOCIAL MEDIA
PROMOTIONS
We are the most sensible company reputation safeguard for all stakeholders.
If you do not have an emergency crisis plan in place, we will create one for you.
The Four Corners Group allows you to sleep at night knowing your company -- your investment -- isn't going to blow up from a mistake that was not caught.
DREW KERR
Founder and President
"Drew is exactly what you want from a communications expert: he's hard-working, dependable, clever, well-connected, and persistent. I've used Drew on behalf of several of my companies, each time with excellent results."
-- Michael Kubin, EVP
INVIDI Technologies
"There are simply too many positives to provide about him. However, the net net is that he is a partner in the truest sense of the word."
-- Keith A. Grossman, President
MoonPay
PHOTOGRAPHER: Allison Michael Orenstein STYLING: On Camera Image Consulting
My clients see me as a trusted and plainspoken adviser, as well as many other roles over the years: strategic coach, teacher, organizer, speaker, and relationship creator. One calls me his "third base coach."
After several years at CBS and Radio City Music Hall Productions, I opened up my own communications consultancy in 1990 to help founders and executives shape their visions -- sometimes from scratch. One of my earliest projects was rolling out AOL's then-new advertising and marketing platform.
I am interviewed by journalists about brand crises and changes, and write commentaries about communications strategies and best practices for Fast Company, Ad Age, Dow Jones Marketwatch, and Mediapost.
In October 2018, I was lucky enough to tell a story in front of a live audience at The Moth.
I spent many years delivering workshops to and mentoring first-generation American students at LaGuardia Community College's President's Society in Long Island City, NY.
As a communications veteran, nothing makes me happier than collaborating with great clients and steering them past the unnecessary pitfalls so many companies succumb to.
"Who will guard the guardians?"
-- Juvenal
CRISIS PREVENTION ADVISORY
The best way to stop a crisis
is for it not to happen in the first place.
Copyright 2024 Four Corners Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.