6 essentials for your crisis-response plan

As some point, every company is going to have to quickly switch gears from proactive to reactive, and how the company’s reputation survives often comes down to how it responds. Remember the classic episode of the television show “WKRP in Cincinnati” when the station held a turkey drop from a helicopter? It’s a prime example of a PR stunt gone bad.

WKRP’s Les Nessman, played by Richard Sanders, chronicled their last flight:

“It’s a helicopter, and it’s coming this way. It’s flying something behind it, I can’t quite make it out, it’s a large banner and it says, uh – Happy… Thaaaaanksss… giving! … From … W … K … R… P!! … No parachutes yet. Can’t be skydivers… I can’t tell just yet what they are, but – Oh my God, Johnny, they’re turkeys!! Johnny, can you get this? Oh, they’re plunging to the earth right in front of our eyes! One just went through the windshield of a parked car! Oh, the humanity! The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement! … Not since the Hindenburg tragedy has there been anything like this!”