Do you ever notice how a lot of good brands will use an individual, the founder, a leading executive or even a well-known celebrity, as their brand persona? That’s all well and good when things are going swimmingly, but what happens when that individual gets into a bunch of hot water? We’ve seen celebrity chefs like Mario Batali recently put their entire restaurant empire in jeopardy from bad behavior.
Companies need to take this into account when they’re putting together their brand strategy. It’s great to personify your brand through an individual, but have a crisis PR plan in place in case something occurs that makes that individual persona non grata. If happens, it will occur fast and could take the organization down with them. Not preparing for it could make the situation unrecoverable or at least one that’s going to cost a ton of money and a ton of investor and customer confidence in the process.
