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The chief public relations (PR) strategist for SG Media is using the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) as an example in her public relations training session. In 2011, the TTC has been in the news because of a combination of poorly managed fare hike announcements and the perception of lax service quality. Consumers have taken to publishing, on social media sites, images of TTC employees seemingly in violation of service standards. The strategist is thinking about an appropriate PR strategy that the TTC could rely on to rectify its image.

On June 30, 2011, Research in Motion (RIM) co-CEOs, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, unexpectedly found themselves facing serious public scrutiny, not from competitors, market analysts or consumers, but from one of their own senior executives. In an attempt to have their voice heard, an anonymous senior level RIM employee addressed an open letter to both Balsillie and Lazaridis, however the letter was sent to the online technology news provider Boy Genius Report (BGR). Upon BGR verifying the identity of the source RIM employee, the full contents of the letter were featured in an online BGR article, which quickly spread into mainstream media. The contents of the detailed open letter, provided various candid criticism of RIM leadership, product development and employee culture. In addition, the employee also offered personal insight and outlined specific actions necessary for RIM to improve and expressed their desire to see the company regain its once dominant position as an industry leader. In a year during which RIM already faced pressures from a dwindling market share, failed product attempts and a sinking stock price, Balsillie and Lazaridis needed to figure out how to respond to the claims of the letter publically, but more importantly how to communicate to RIM employees internally.

Mike Lazaridis, co-CEO of Research in Motion (RIM), faced a situation of truly disastrous proportion. Earlier that week, service outages started occurring on RIM's popular BlackBerry smartphone devices, affecting over 30 million BlackBerry users globally. For a total of three days, RIM engineers worked around the clock to fix the widespread technical problems. However, with the company providing only brief comments to the public, many consumers and industry officials became increasingly frustrated. With the worldwide release of the new Apple iPhone 4S just days away, Lazaridis was presented with the additional challenge of how and if RIM should respond publically to help restore consumer and market confidence.

Mike Lazaridis, co-CEO of Research in Motion (RIM), faced a situation of truly disastrous proportion. Earlier that week, service outages started occurring on RIM's popular BlackBerry smartphone devices, affecting over 30 million BlackBerry users globally. For a total of three days, RIM engineers worked around the clock to fix the widespread technical problems. However, with the company providing only brief comments to the public, many consumers and industry officials became increasingly frustrated. With the worldwide release of the new Apple iPhone 4S just days away, Lazaridis was presented with the additional challenge of how and if RIM should respond publically to help restore consumer and market confidence.

On June 30, 2011, Research in Motion (RIM) co-CEOs, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, unexpectedly found themselves facing serious public scrutiny, not from competitors, market analysts or consumers, but from one of their own senior executives. In an attempt to have their voice heard, an anonymous senior level RIM employee addressed an open letter to both Balsillie and Lazaridis, however the letter was sent to the online technology news provider Boy Genius Report (BGR). Upon BGR verifying the identity of the source RIM employee, the full contents of the letter were featured in an online BGR article, which quickly spread into mainstream media. The contents of the detailed open letter, provided various candid criticism of RIM leadership, product development and employee culture. In addition, the employee also offered personal insight and outlined specific actions necessary for RIM to improve and expressed their desire to see the company regain its once dominant position as an industry leader. In a year during which RIM already faced pressures from a dwindling market share, failed product attempts and a sinking stock price, Balsillie and Lazaridis needed to figure out how to respond to the claims of the letter publically, but more importantly how to communicate to RIM employees internally.

On the morning of September 19, 2011, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the online movie provider Netflix Incorporated (Netflix) became witness to growing public discontent and media criticism. The previous evening the CEO had announced on the company blog that Netflix would be splitting into two separate entities. With the proposed change, the Netflix DVD-by-mail service would be spun-out and renamed Qwikster. The move would leave the Netflix brand to focus on offering online streamed entertainment. This was not the first time Netflix had caused large scale consumer frustration, as a few months earlier in July 2011, the company had announced it would be increasing rates as much as 60 per cent. The result was a loss of over one million Netflix subscribers by September 2011, representing the first time the company had ever lost subscribers from one quarter to the next. Although the split into two separate entities could be seen as a good business strategy, Netflix did not follow through with a well-developed communication plan. Moving forward, both Netflix and Qwikster had become symbolic of a bad two-headed monster movie, with Netflix management in desperate need to develop better communications with disgruntled consumers, or risk losing additional subscribers and lucrative profits to a number of growing competitors.

On June 30, 2011, Research in Motion (RIM) co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis unexpectedly found themselves facing serious public scrutiny, not from competitors, market analysts, or consumers, but from one of their own senior executives. In an attempt to have their voice heard, an anonymous senior-level RIM employee addressed an open letter to both Balsillie and Lazaridis; however, the letter was sent to the online technology news provider Boy Genius Report (BGR). In a year during which RIM already faced pressures from a dwindling market share, failed product attempts, and a sinking stock price, Balsillie and Lazaridis needed to figure out how to respond to the claims of the letter publicly, but more importantly how to communicate to RIM employees internally.

This case is a supplement to Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A).

Mike Lazaridis, co-CEO of Research in Motion (RIM), faced a situation of truly disastrous proportions. Earlier that week, service outages had started occurring on RIM’s popular BlackBerry smartphone devices, affecting over 30 million BlackBerry users globally. For a total of three days, RIM engineers worked around the clock to fix the widespread technical problems. However, with the company providing only brief comments to the public, many consumers and industry officials became increasingly frustrated. With the worldwide release of the new Apple iPhone 4S just days away, Lazaridis was presented with the additional challenge of how and if RIM should respond publicly to help restore consumer and market confidence.

This case is a supplement to Research in Motion: Blackberry Blackout (A).

On the morning of September 19, 2011, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the online movie provider Netflix Incorporated became witness to growing public discontent and media criticism directed at the company. The previous evening, the CEO had announced on the company blog that Netflix would be splitting into two separate entities. With the proposed change, the Netflix DVD-by-mail service would be spun out and renamed Qwikster. The move would leave the Netflix brand to focus on offering online streamed entertainment. This was not the first time Netflix had caused large-scale consumer frustration, as a few months earlier in July 2011 the company had announced it would be increasing rates by as much as 60 per cent. The result was a loss of over one million Netflix subscribers by September 2011, representing the first time the company had ever lost subscribers from one quarter to the next. Although the split into two separate entities could be seen as a good business strategy, Netflix did not follow through with a well-developed communication plan. Moving forward, both Netflix and Qwikster had come to represent an unfortunate dichotomy, and Netflix’s management was in desperate need to develop better communications with disgruntled consumers or risk losing additional subscribers and lucrative profits to a number of growing competitors.

On July 6, 2011, the communication director for the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) in Toronto, Ontario, was faced with a challenging situation. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) had just released an online article that focused on the 2011 CCS budget and how the CCS allocated millions of dollars each year. The article provided details on how the proportion of donation money that the CCS spent on cancer research each year had decreased from 40 per cent in 2000 to under 22 per cent in 2011. With the CBC report circulating in both television and online media, public speculation into the CCS’s financial management of public donations was starting to grow. It was clear that the CCS communication team would need to respond. A communication strategy would need to be developed for the CCS to follow, along with a press release to be posted the next day on the CCS website.

On Wednesday, July 6th, 2011, the communication director, for the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS), in Toronto, Ontario, was faced with a challenging situation. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) had just released an online article that focused on the 2011 CCS budget, more specifically how the CCS allocated millions of dollars each year. Furthermore, the CBC article provided details on how the proportion of donation money the CCS spent on cancer research each year had decreased from 40 per cent in 2000 to under 22 per cent in 2011. With the CBC report circulating in both television and online media, public speculation into CCS's financial management of public donations was starting to grow. It was clear that the CCS communication team would need to respond. A communication strategy would need to be developed for the CCS to follow moving forward, along with a press release to be posted the next day on the CCS website.

The vice-president of communications for Domino's Pizza International (Domino's), faced a significant threat to his company's reputation involving negative social media exposure. A video had been posted online two days earlier via YouTube by a Domino's employee, and showed two Domino's employees at a North Carolina franchise tampering with customers' pizza and sandwich orders. The employee stuck cheese up his nose, and sneezed on the food prior to boxing it up and could be overheard in the video gleefully admitting the orders would soon be delivered to unsuspecting customers. The video went viral; it had been reposted to Twitter and Facebook, and received almost a million views and various comments on YouTube. The video was also receiving attention from both local and national media channels. The senior executive team of Domino's was meeting with the vice-president in a matter of hours, and Domino's social media team would need to devise a plan to respond to the viral video to protect Domino's strong brand image before it was too late.

The vice president of communications of Domino’s Pizza International faced a significant threat to his company’s reputation due to negative social media exposure. A video had been posted on YouTube two days earlier by a Domino’s employee that showed two Domino’s employees at a North Carolina franchise tampering with customers’ pizza and sandwich orders. The employee stuck cheese up his nose, sneezed on the food prior to boxing it up, and could be overheard in the video admitting that the orders would soon be delivered to unsuspecting customers. The video went viral; it had been reposted to Twitter and Facebook, and received almost a million views and many comments on YouTube. It was also receiving attention from both local and national media channels. The senior executive team of Domino’s was meeting with the vice president in a matter of hours, and Domino’s social media team would need to devise a plan to respond to the video to protect Domino’s strong brand image before it was too late.<p>You might also like: Abercrombie & #Fitchthehomeless, Abercrombie and Fitch, Mountain Dew: The Most Racist Soft-drink Commercial in History?

In January 2010, global automotive manufacturer Toyota faced the task of notifying customers of a recall that involved a faulty accelerator pedal on 1.7 million vehicles. Toyota had already come under intense public scrutiny the previous year over a floor mat recall that affected 4.2 million vehicles. In an attempt to reach the masses for the current recall, Toyota created a letter to customers that was featured in major newspapers and on its website. The letter caused outrage as Toyota did not apologize to consumers. Instead, it talked about the company’s 50-year heritage and how Toyota was halting production to focus on fixing the vehicles that were on the road. The president of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Inc. needed to identify the problems with the letter before drafting a new one.

This case is a supplement to Toyota: Accelerator Pedal Recall (A).

"This is a supplement to Toyota: Accelerator Pedal Recall (A). In January 2010, global automotive manufacturer Toyota faced the task of notifying customers of a recall that involved a faulty accelerator pedal on 1.7 million vehicles, spread across eight different models. In some cases the faulty accelerator pedal was found to stick in depressed position and be slow to return to the idle position, causing unintended vehicle acceleration. With the throttle stuck in the open position a vehicle would continue to accelerate while the driver is trying to brake and slow the vehicle down. Toyota had already come under intense public scrutiny in the previous year over an existing floor mat recall that affected 4.2 million vehicles. Lessons in the automotive industry had been learned the hard way from tire manufacturer Bridgestone. A public backlash occurred in 2003, with class action law suits against Bridgestone for faulty tires that caused some vehicles to roll over. In an attempt to reach the masses, Toyota created a letter to customers that was featured in major newspapers and on its own website. The letter released caused anger and outrage as Toyota stayed clear away from apologizing to consumers. Instead it talks about the companies 50 year heritage and how they are halting production to focus on fixing the vehicles that are on the road. Just days later Toyota drafted and released a second letter to customers. This time they attempt to use better language, but missed the mark on taking full accountability for the problem."

Tracy Chan, managing director of the Student Learning and Writing Services (SLWS) at St. Charles University in Calgary, Alberta, was faced with a difficult situation. Her newest employee, Michael Hinske, had just e-mailed her a list of faculty members he had contacted to educate on the SLWS writing program offered to graduate students. Chan quickly noticed that the faculty names were of individuals who had already been contacted. There was no indication that Hinske had made any attempt to discuss the program with other faculties on campus. Since joining the team six months earlier, Hinske’s mandate for the academic year had been to create a series of writing workshops and liaise with different faculties on campus. Chan needed a plan of action before confronting Hinske about his inability to fulfill his job requirements, including his failure to create new contacts between the graduate writing program and faculties on campus.

Over the past four years the chief administrative officer (CAO) had worked hard to bring change to the city of Havenstock, Canada. Prior to his arrival at Havenstock in 2004, City Hall was awash in media scandal, secrecy, and suspicion. Moreover, the work environment at City Hall was plagued with closed-channel communication and a lack of trust between employees and management. Staff morale was low and the relationship with the press was tense. The CAO had had a clear vision of what he wanted to bring to the city. At the centre of his vision was an embracing of collective accountability. He had worked hard to instill a sense of purpose, priorities, and direction. Slowly, the CAO had begun to rebuild the corporate culture into a supportive workplace. <br><br><br><br>Despite his best intentions, the improvements made over the past few years were threatened, following a Council Oversight Committee meeting. During the meeting, city employee absenteeism numbers had been questioned. Unsatisfied with the explanation of what management was doing to address the problem, a city councillor leaked the absenteeism numbers to the media. After working so hard to improve both internal and external perceptions of City Hall, the CAO now found himself and his team on the headlines of the local newspapers. In order to save his reputation, the CAO needed to prepare a presentation to go before city council and address the employee absenteeism issue head on. He knew that what he said and how he said it would be a defining moment in his career.