Crisis Management Case Studies

Our list of Case Studies

Hospedia

PHA Media was recently hired to handle a take over that will affect millions of hospital patients across the UK. Newly formed company, Hospedia, have acquired troubled bedside entertainment giants Patientline as part of a deal that should see huge improvements across the NHS. Aware of the possibility of negative reporting, Hospedia brought in the e Aware of the possibility of negative reporting, Hospedia brought in the expertise of the PHA Media crisis management team to take charge.

Michael Savage

PHA revealed to the national press that Savage has now launched legal proceedings against Jacqui Smith and achieved widespread coverage in the Sunday and daily newspapers. PHA then secured the host’s first UK interview with BBC Radio Five Live after which he received overwhelming support from the British public in his campaign to get the ban lifted. Following PHA’s PR campaign, Media Guardian reported our story about him suing Home Secretary Jacqui Smith  for £100,000 was “the most viewed in Media”, beating even Britain’s Got Talent star Susan Boyle.

Fair Compensation for Crossrail

In August last year Compulsory Purchase Orders were served by TFL to over 90 companies in Soho (with more to follow across the capital) to make way for the CrossRail development. Not only did the companies impacted have to deal with the pressure of organising a move in just three months in the midst of a recession, they were also, in the vast majority of cases, made derisory compensation offers of between just 15% and 25% of their moving costs.

Bondcare

Bondcare, an expert provider of elderly care in the UK, recruited PHA Media during the recent crisis facing another firm, Southern Cross, the care home operator which found itself in financial meltdown with 31,000 elderly residents in its 750 homes.

The problems which hit Southern Cross has become one of the biggest, most important and longest running domestic stories to hit the press and TV stations in 2011.

“No comment is no answer”

PHA Media has acted for many companies in times of crisis and successfully minimised the impact of a negative media situation.

We reached each of the stakeholder groups for national mining company Imerys when faced with the economic reality of announcing job losses. Sympathetic reporting ensured the correct message got across and left the local community and larger business community with the sense that the company had handled a delicate situation with compassion and wisdom.

For one of our clients, waking up to press headlines related to one of your most successful treatments is your worst nightmare and can alter your commercial fortunes and reputation in a day. A hard hitting, immediate and proactive approach ensured that the inaccuracies in the story were corrected and that balanced reporting prevailed. Media appetite for the story quickly waned as the facts were presented and the media lawyers targeted

Through our work with leading Employment lawyers, Clarks Legal, we ensured that the press reporting of a highly emotive employment tribunal for one of the leading car retailers in the UK was sympathetic, fair and lacked all the sensationalism that left to the media’s own devices would have certainly featured.

The Individual

PHA Media has represented high net worth individuals from leading entrepreneurs to sporting legends to main stream television personalities. By understanding their rights through the privacy and public interest legal precedents, to the press code of conducts and by instinctively knowing the mind set and reactions of the editors to their reporter’s stories and the in house media lawyers to their editors evidence and story justifications, we are successful time and time again at keeping destructive stories from publication. At PHA Media we are expert at policing the internet and silencing rogue reports and misrepresentation of the facts.

Additionally, when personal tragedy and misfortune strike we are able to expertly divert media intrusion and sympathetically brief and handle the ,media interest.

The Investigation

As a company or individual you find out that a television company or newspaper is running an investigation into your business practises. What do you do? Adopting the ostrich approach will almost certainly mean negative coverage and a far harder crisis to manage. An aggressive, proactive response will regain the upper ground and could see the programme axed or the story diluted and fade to insignificance. When the football fraternity were faced with Panorama investigating an alleged bung scandal, an expert team of Phil Hall and a hard hitting media lawyer and private investigator ensured the facts were established, the lawyers were targeted and the story was scuppered via sympathetic media outlets. The impact of the programme instead of being catastrophic on the sport as a whole and the careers of some high profile individuals, went unnoticed by most of the media.

The Best Team

As leaders in the field of crisis management, not only does PHA Media have the experience and contacts in the media to best manage a media crisis, but they also have the very best contacts in the legal world to establish the best team of PR and legal professionals to target all aspects of a crisis strategy. We have worked with most of the highest regarded media lawyers including Olswang, MS Law, Steeles, Henri Brandman, on many high profile cases. Knowing your legal rights and activating these rights whilst communicating with the decision makers in the media can influence whether a story is published at all or in what form. Often opportunities are lost once the headlines hit the news stand. Immediately galvanising the best team significantly impacts the media outcome.