Free Crisis Management Case Studies
It seems as though each week we watch as another organization faces – and attempts to manage – some form of issue or crisis. And with each new incident, there are always great lessons and takeaways that can be applied to strengthen your own organization’s crisis preparedness. This page is dedicated to helping you pull out those lessons in a practical and useful way.
Whether you’re doing research for a project or a presentation, or are simply looking to learn by example and strengthen your organization’s crisis preparedness program – you’ve come to the right place!
All of the crisis case studies within this page feed from Melissa Agnes's blog, which means that this page is kept current with the latest scandals and crisis management lessons. All of the case studies are organized by category, so simply choose the one that appeals to you and enjoy the reads!
Choose your category of case study
- Crock-Pot: Baffling Proof That Issues Can Strangely Emerge From Anywhere
- Was Dyn, Inc. Crisis-Ready?
- Was the Dallas Police Department Crisis Ready?
- Podcast: Fort McMurray Wildfire with Garth Rowan
- California Oil Spill: Plains All American Pipeline’s Lack of Crisis Response
- Crisis Communication Strategy: Take a Cue from BBC
- Lessons From BBC’s Ebola Education Initiative via WhatsApp
- WhatsApp As An Ebola Crisis Communication Strategy
- How To Use your Brand Values to Prevent a Crisis
- AppFirst: A Crisis Management Success Story
- Buffer Was Severely Hacked and Now They Have Even More Loyal Customers!
- JC Penney and their Hitler Teapot Debacle
- DKNY: The Perfect Example of How to Avoid a Social Media Crisis
- KitchenAid: An Excellent Example in Social Media Crisis Communications
- GoDaddy Crisis Reviewed: A Pass in Social Media Crisis Communications
- Boingo: The Makings of a Great Social Media Crisis Plan
- United Airlines, What Were You Thinking?
- Wells Fargo’s Crisis Management Fail
- How To Prevent Crises In Your PR and Marketing Campaigns
- Hotel Fines Newlyweds $500 For Negative Reviews – What Were They Thinking?
- Lost River Pizza’s Reply to the BBB – Hilariously Pathetic!
- Rona's laughable "Senior Director of Communications and Public Affairs"
- 9 Ways To Make Sure Your Brand Becomes the Laughing-Stock of the Internet
- Take a Cue from Browns: How NOT to Respond to a Social Media Crisis
- Was the Dallas Police Department Crisis Ready?
- Podcast: Fort McMurray Wildfire with Garth Rowan
- War of Ideas: How to Fight and Win on the Social Media Front (three-part series)
- Snowstorm Results in Total Meltdown in Atlanta Area
- Google Helps Locate Missing People in Wake of Super Typhoon Haiyan
- The City of Ottawa’s Response to the OC Transpo & Via Rail Crash
- Lac-Mégantic Crisis: A Look at Rail World Inc.’s Crisis Communications #Fail
- The Mayor of Toronto’s Crack Cocaine Crisis
- Calgary Floods: Analysis of Crisis Leadership and Use of Social Media
- Quebec’s Societal Crisis: Premier Pauline Marois’s Charter of Values
- The Australian Army: A Beautiful Example of Crisis Communications
- The Mayor of Huntingdon Likes to Run Over Cats
- Working With Your Community in a Crisis: How Officials of The Boston Marathon Bombing Did It Right
- Social Media and Online Reputation Crisis in the London Olympics: Lessons Learned
- Twitter Rotation Curation – Too Risky or Just Risky Enough?
- Politicians and Social Media: Francois Legault’s Sexist Twitter-Storm
- Jay Townsend’s Non-Apology Dissected
- How Can Schools Protect Themselves From Student Defamers?
- California School District Prevents Crises by Monitoring Students’ Social Media Posts
- An Excellent Example of Twitter Use in Atlanta School Shooting
- Social Media Monitoring and Restrictions: A Former Student-Athlete’s Perspective
- 5 Lessons from Penn State’s Social Media Crisis Communications Fail
- Now Illegal: Schools and Employers Can No Longer Request Access To Your Social Media Accounts
- Important Crisis Management Strategies for Managing the Zika Virus
- Lessons From BBC’s Ebola Education Initiative via WhatsApp
- WhatsApp As An Ebola Crisis Communication Strategy
- Analyzing the CDC’s Crisis Communication In U.S. Ebola Outbreak
- Emory’s Excellent Crisis Communication on Facebook
- Social Media for Healthcare: What’s The Potential?
- Newborn Abducted from Hospital and Social Media Saves the Day
- DiGiorno Pizza’s Foolish Twitter Gaffe
- Pizza Hut is the Most Recent in “Fast Food Disgusts”, But Is It a Crisis?
- Taco Bell’s Social Media Issues Communications Fail
- Should The Applebee's Waitress Have Been Fired?
- KFC, Stop Your Marketing Messages in a Crisis!
- Chick-Fil-A and Oreo Controversies: Where Do They Differ and What Can You Learn?
- Could Chick-Fil-A Be Headed For Yet Another Social Media Crisis?
- 5 Lessons To Learn From Chick-Fil-A’s Social Media Crisis
- Starbucks’s Lesson: A Social Media Attack Can Arise When Least Expected
- Can McDonald’s New Truth Campaign Launch Them Into a Social Media Attack?
- Fontaine Santé: The Makings of a Great Crisis Response
- Domino’s Pizza: A Look At the Timelessness of A Social Media Crisis Plan
- United Airlines, What Were You Thinking?
- Are Airlines Being Descriptive Enough in their Galaxy Note 7 Warning?
- A Message to Air Canada (and everyone else): Make Issues Management an Integral Part of your Corporate Culture
- WTF US Airways??!!!
- What You Don’t Know About Malaysia Airlines and How They’ve Handled the Crisis of Flight MH370
- A Look at Malaysia Airlines’s Crisis Communications During the Crisis of Flight MH370
- 3 Crisis Management Trends To Watch Out For In 2017
- Are You Ready For a Live-Streamed Crisis?
- How To Manage a Live-Streamed Crisis
- Hashtag Brandjack Campaigns – Lessons From #AskChevron
- What if a Promoted Tweet Were Used Against Your Brand? Are You Ready?
- As Social Media Evolves, So Must Your Issues Management Plan
- Biggest Lesson Leaders Need To Learn From The Criminal Charges Against Volkswagen Executives
- How to Balance Timeliness and Accuracy in Your Crisis Response
- Crisis Management Lessons: What Do Ryan Lochte and Paula Deen Have in Common?
- With 6 Toddlers Dead, What Should IKEA’s Next Steps in Crisis Management Be?
- Your Executives’ Reputations Impact Your Brand, Whether You Like It or Not
- Crisis Communication Strategy: Take a Cue from BBC
- Lessons From BBC’s Ebola Education Initiative via WhatsApp
- WhatsApp As An Ebola Crisis Communication Strategy
- Analyzing Uber’s Response to Rape Crisis in New Delhi + 2 Lessons for Every Company to Learn
- The Biggest Crisis Management Lesson from the Jian Ghomeshi Scandal
- NZ Herald and Their Big Photo “Faux Pas”
- When You Screw Up, Own It and Grow From It
- Bad Suppliers can Result in Viral Attention
- The Power of the Lingering Risk
- Don’t Fear Social Media Issues. Embrace Them!
- Calgary's Phenomenal Crisis Management during the 2013 Floods
- A Beautiful Example of Crisis Communications by the Australian Army
- Lessons to Learn from Paula Deen’s Three Crappy Apologies
- The Use of Hashtags in Your Crisis Communications
- Rona’s HUGE Customer Care Fail and Lessons for Smarter Brands
- It’s No April Fool’s Joke, The Case of the Disappearing Facebook Account
- What You Can Learn From Carnival Cruise’s Crisis Communications on Social Media
- Don’t Get Caught With Your Pants Down Like “Just Jeans”!
- Crisis Prevention Lesson from American Apparel
- Information Leakage: How To Deal With It
- Stop Attempting to Withhold and Control on Social Media!
- What Can You Learn From Linkedin’s Social Media Crisis?
- Melissa Agnes Discusses Ebola Crisis and Jian Ghomeshi Scandal on CJAD
- Analysis on the Applebee and HMV Social Media Issues (Video)
- The Chick-Fil-A Controversy: Interview with Larry Fedoruk
- Interview with Taylor Guitars: The Power of Real-Time Communication
- Melissa Agnes discusses crises with Tommy Schnurmacher on CJAD
- What Is Your Organization’s Threshold for Firing Someone For Personal Misconduct?
- When Is It OK to Implement an Offensive Crisis Management Strategy?
- The Biggest Crisis Management Lesson from the Jian Ghomeshi Scandal
- WhatsApp As An Ebola Crisis Communication Strategy
- Apple’s Huge Security Breach and Lack of Proper Crisis Communications
- Apple Fixes its Security Breach But Does Not Mention It
- Will Paula Deen’s Comeback be Successful, Or Did Last Year’s Crisis Bury Her Too Deep?
- iPhone Fire: Apple Lacks Issues and Crisis Management
- Is Twitter On Its Way To Experiencing Its Own Social Media Crisis?
- Sexism is Alive and Well – and a Major Risk Issue
- Irving Oil’s Facebook Statement in a Crisis – What Do You Think?
- When Does a Social Media Issue Campaign Go Too Far?
- Bic For Her: The Latest in Social Media Attacks
- How To Protect Yourself When Social Media Channels Become The Bully
- Passing The Blame is Not An Acceptable Crisis Response
- One Brand’s Social Media Crisis is Another Brand’s Social Media Salvation
This page was last updated on April 2018.