Johnson & Johnson’s textbook-perfect response to the Tylenol 1 tampering crisis in 1982 would have been far more complicated in today’s social media environment, CommCore CEO Andy Gilman told PR professionals attending last week’s at PRSA Health Academy Conference in Washington.
Speaking on on “Health Care Crisis Communications in a Digital Age,” Gilman and former Marriott Vice President of Communications Roger Conner showed the audience Marriott’s ”Strategic Media Wheel” and demonstrated how J&J would have had to update and use it for interactive web-based channels. Gilman and Conner also engaged the audience of healthcare PR professionals in a series of simulated crisis scenarios.
During the Tylenol I tampering crisis Gilman media trained the late J&J Jim Burke, Chairman of Johnson & Johnson.
“In today’s digital real-time world Jim would have had to be actively involved in monitoring and considering corporate – and even his – engagement on multiple media platforms at once,” Gilman said. “The old model of fixed sequential deadlines over a 24-hour news cycle is long gone.”
About PRSA
Chartered in 1947, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is the world’s largest and foremost organization of public relations professionals. PRSA provides professional development, sets standards of excellence and upholds principles o ethics for its members and, more broadly, the multi-billion dollar global public relations profession. We also advocate for greater understanding and adoption of public relations services, and act as one of the industry’s leading voices on the important business and professional issues of our time.
About CommCore Consulting Group
CommCore Consulting Group is a privately held specialty communications firm serving businesses, government agencies, and non-profit organizations around the world for the past 25 years. The company specializes in strategic and tactical communications development and implementation across all industry sectors, organizational crisis planning and response, executive media and presentation training,message development, C Suite leadership and staff internal communications skills development. CommCore is led by its president and CEO, Andrew D. Gilman – a lawyer, award-winning journalist, and co-author of the best-selling book Get To The Point. CommCore is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has offices in New York City, Los Angeles, & Dallas.