How do you create a reputation crisis response plan before a crisis happens?

Quick answer

A pre-crisis reputation plan identifies four to eight brand-specific scenarios, assigns named owners and tiered SLAs for each, holds counsel-approved draft statements and FAQ pages ready to activate, pre-loads monitoring queries in IMPACT and AIQ, and is exercised against a realistic scenario twice a year so the response muscle stays current.

A useful crisis plan is lean and exercised, not long and archived. It identifies the four to eight scenarios most likely to affect your brand based on industry, executive footprint, and recent history, and for each scenario it has everything ready to activate before the phone rings.

A crisis playbook maps 4–8 brand-specific scenarios. Each scenario has named owners, decision authorities, pre-approved statements, FAQ pages, pre-loaded monitoring queries, and tiered SLAs — all exercised twice yearly.

Step 1: Map your most likely scenarios

Identify four to eight scenarios specific to the brand, shaped by its industry, executive footprint, and recent history. Fewer than four and the plan is too generic; more than eight and it becomes a document no one reads.

Step 2: Assign named owners and decision authorities

For each scenario, name the person on point and specify who holds decision authority, who can speak for the company, approve a statement, or escalate to the board. Generic role titles are not enough; the plan names individuals.

Step 3: Prepare counsel-approved statements and FAQ pages

Draft holding statements and fuller statements for each scenario and have them pre-approved by legal counsel before a crisis occurs. Pair each scenario with the relevant FAQ pages on the brand’s owned properties, so those pages can be updated or activated immediately.

Step 4: Pre-load monitoring queries

For each scenario, define the monitoring queries ready to activate in IMPACT and AIQ. This means the team is watching the right signals from day one of a situation rather than building the query set under pressure.

Step 5: Define tiered SLAs

Set explicit response-speed targets by tier, how quickly the team acknowledges, how quickly a statement goes out, how quickly escalation triggers. SLAs convert the plan from intention into a measurable commitment.

Step 6: Exercise the plan twice a year

Review the plan with the senior team and counsel twice a year. At least one of those reviews should be a live exercise against a realistic scenario, running through the actual response sequence, so the muscle memory is current. Plans that live on a SharePoint folder do not work; plans that get exercised twice a year and updated every time something changes do.

Last reviewed: 19/05/2026