Crisp blog

Social media is undergoing rapid change and it has put brand reputations at risk. This uncertainty didn’t develop overnight — although it’s been exacerbated by recent Trust & Safety team layoffs and chaos in the industry. The tension has been building for years and consumers are taking notice. Our latest “Brands at Risk” consumer study explores why brand communities are the new battleground for reputation.

The fashion industry is rarely immune to public criticism or controversy. However, our new report “Reputation Malfunction: How digital chatter puts fashion brands at risk” reveals a rise in digital chatter from activists is increasingly going undetected by fashion and luxury companies.

Pharmaceutical companies know the bottom-line effects of a wide range of corporate risks. The last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and the race to develop vaccines upended all normalcy in risk management for pharma communicators. Health topics dominated online and offline conversations on a global basis and medical misinformation was rampant and uncontrolled. This digital chatter ushered in a new, disruptive normal as our Communications Leaders Risk Survey: Pharma Edition reveals. These pharma communications professionals are stepping up to the challenge, however, and seeking risk intelligence solutions to protect their global enterprises and proactively mine digital chatter to identify an issue before it escalates into a full-blown crisis.

The metaverse was top of mind at South by Southwest last week. Billions of dollars are pouring into this new virtual digital world, but that investment isn’t necessarily ensuring user safety. Thus, online safety in the metaverse is an enormous concern.

February 2022 marks the 19th annual Safer Internet Day, but this year feels different. 

While the term “hijacking” is a somewhat provocative way to describe what’s happening to corporate ESG initiatives, the reaction from attendees at the RIMS ESG/ERM conference confirmed the growing urgency of this issue. Fueled by actors and groups online, social media has turned companies’ ESG agendas into a matter of public discourse that can alter the speed and direction of these initiatives.

When a brand crisis hits, time is not on your side. As our Corporate Leaders Risk Survey reveals, CEOs know all too well the high price of identifying and responding to a risk too late. They also recognize the role that digital chatter plays in accelerating risks. When the race is on to prevent a brand crisis, it’s better to be the hare than the tortoise.

CEOs are wrestling with a new form of risk outside their organization’s regular register. Agenda-driven actors and groups, intent on doing harm to brands via social media, are now commanding CEOs’ attention for the first time. How did these groups become top of mind with CEOs and what’s really at stake?

This week, WeProtect Global Alliance issued a stark warning: the current scale of online child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) is continuing to increase beyond the capacity to respond. The Alliance’s 2021 Global Threat Assessment sounds the alarm on the distressing rise in the reach and complexity of CSEA around the world.

What is stakeholder capitalism? Stakeholder capitalism isn't a new idea. It's a principle that business leaders adopt to define their mission as creating long-term value not only for shareholders, but also for customers, suppliers, employees and communities. What is new, however, is stakeholders coordinating online and using social media to spread their views at scale is. And it’s a growing concern among corporate leaders.

For fashion houses, finding audacious ways to grab the attention of fans and consumers means trying to stand out in a crowded social media milieu. One of the most powerful tactics they can use is working with influencers. This is true for many brands, and it brings with it a specific risk: hatred directed at your valued personalities.

With environmental, social and governance (ESG) agendas increasingly in the spotlight, companies have been put on notice by an expanded horizon of stakeholder audiences.