Brand Crisis Management – An Extreme Example

Did you see this news earlier this year from the UK? KFC, the giant fast-food chicken retailer ran out of…chicken!

Delivery problems meant hundreds of their restaurants had to close temporarily. It was a huge national news story in the UK, and it demanded an equally newsworthy response from the brand. It was a big story, could you imagine McDonald’s running out of beef? If you watch this video you’ll see one customer even had to go to Burger King! #firstworldproblems

But the lesson is this – you may well face a crisis in your own business that has the potential to damage your brand. But remember it is not the crisis that defines your brand’s future, but how you handle it. At a small business level it’s more likely to be how you handle a poor review from a dissatisfied customer, but the principle remains the same.

Just remember a brand at its simplest level is your reputation – do what you can to preserve your reputation because where would your business be without it?  We can help you work on your brand strategy – to build consistency to help you try and avoid crisis management situations like this…but if you are a chicken restaurant and you run out of chicken, well…that’s on you!

Check out this excellent work by London agency Mother.