Welcome to episode #037 of The Crisis Intelligence Podcast, with Melissa Agnes and Trushar Barot.
In 2014, Ebola spread quickly throughout West Africa. In the second half of last year, BBC World News decided that they wanted to position themselves as a voice of credibility and leadership in this global crisis. Yes, that’s right. A world news organization wanted to help fight the crisis of Ebola. And they did. Successfully.
The story of how they did this, how they proactively leveraged technology and the art of story telling to successfully achieve this mission is fascinating and inspiring. In this week’s episode of The Crisis Intelligence Podcast, I sit down with Trushar Barot, the Apps Editor for BBC World Service and Global News, to discuss the strategy behind BBC’s WhatsAp Ebola Service. We discuss what worked and why, how they strategized their content (from their frequency of posting, to chosen file formats and more), the benefits that came out of this proactive endeavour and the biggest takeaways for your organization’s crisis communications.
This episode of The Crisis Intelligence Podcast discusses:
- The strategy behind BBC’s WhatsApp Ebola Service.
- How BBC measured success.
- The benefits that came of their proactive crisis communications.
- BBC’s biggest lessons learned along the way.
- Crisis communication advice from Trushar.
It’s a truly great listen with tons of inspiration that can be applied to your crisis communications. Enjoy!
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Running time: 40:50
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Learn more about Melissa Agnes
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Follow Trushar on Twitter: @Trushar
Learn more about BBC’s Ebola initiatives by connecting with them on Facebook
Learn more about BBC’s innovative communications and how they can apply to your organization’s crisis communications:
- Crisis Communication Strategy: Take a Cue from BBC
- Lessons From BBC’s Ebola Education Initiative via WhatsApp
A big thank you to Trushar for taking the time to have this behind the scenes conversation with me!
Author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, Melissa Agnes is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. Agnes is a coveted keynote speaker, commentator, and advisor to some of today’s leading organizations faced with the greatest risks. Learn more about Melissa and her work here.
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