Outcast

Last week, our fellow Outcasters Nora D. Wolinsky, Maggie Miller, and Julie Inouye were on the ground at Entrata’s 2024 Summit. From handling real-time PR and communications to providing comprehensive social media coverage, they captured the energy and innovation that took center stage. It was a privilege to support Entrata and connect with industry leaders, bringing their stories to life through quotes, coverage, and engagement.

A data leak, a contentious CEO transition, a failed product rollout, an employee lawsuit—if you’re a comms pro in charge of managing crises like these, this thread is for you. We recently gathered two dozen of IVP’s portfolio comms leaders for a hands-on workshop to discuss and practice responding to the inevitable issues that arise in modern business. While Chatham House Rules means I can’t share the video, my colleague Amelia and I distilled the key takeaways to help you navigate your next crisis: ??? Calibrate Quickly and Act Swiftly: When a crisis hits, gather your team to assess the situation and identify the root cause. Balance transparency with accuracy in those crucial first hours. You’ll never have all the information, but don’t leave people in the dark—especially if they’re already voicing concerns on social media. Clear communication about the situation and what to expect next is vital to rebuilding trust. ?? Address the Core Business Issue that Led to Bad PR: The public fallout may be visible, but it’s often a sign of deeper issues within your operations, team or product. In addition to managing the public response, address the core challenge internally with your senior team and stakeholders. ????? Be Genuine and Plan the Recovery: If an apology is needed, make it sincere. But don’t stop there—outline concrete steps to regain trust and prevent the issue from happening again. Then, follow through. Your stakeholders are watching. ?? Prepare for the Storm Before it Hits: Don’t wait for a crisis to think about how you’d manage one. Identify your vulnerabilities, design your crisis plan, crystalize your messaging and assemble a cross-functional team who knows their role if a crisis hits. Proactive planning can save time, reduce stress, and even help you address issues before they escalate. And, when the storm passes, be deliberate about communicating the important stories about your business, customers and team. Don’t let a crisis define your brand—take control of the narrative and rebuild it with authenticity. Huge thanks to Amanda and Jaclyn from Outcast for leading the conversation and our IVP portfolio comms/marketing leaders for sharing their wisdom. What other crisis communications advice would you add?

Are you prepared to navigate a corporate crisis with confidence? Join us on September 12 for a crisis management webinar featuring Dechert's?Nicolle Jacoby,?Clare Pozos and?Tanya Warnke, alongside?Outcast Senior Vice President of Corporate Reputation,?Amanda Duckworth. This webinar will provide essential strategies for handling, and proactively preparing for, a corporate crisis from a legal perspective while collaborating with a strong communications team. Register here: https://lnkd.in/g92Tcrsi

??Pasta night, but make it Italian nonna style!?? We got together IRL and remotely to learn the art of pasta-making from Italian nonnas, who taught us how to roll, knead, and cook pasta from scratch. Whether in SF, NYC, or our home kitchens, we kneaded a good meal.

Employees increasingly have expectations that company leadership should engage on political and societal issues. With the 2024 Election less than 90 days out, we review how communications professionals can prepare for what might lie ahead after November 5th. There’s no one-size fits all plan and each organization will approach communications differently but CCOs should be ready with a framework to guide what their companies will and won’t do.

What a great opportunity to give our next generation of leaders a behind the scenes look at the Today Show the day after the hosts returned from the Paris Olympics. Thanks to the NBC crew for hosting us! There’s nothing like in person meet ups with producers to build up professional development and relationships.

Hello, world! Archetype, Nectar Communications, and Outcast have come together to create a joint venture and new agency model: Marker Collective. We have developed a model architected to be a force multiplier for our people and clients using client counsel and tech expertise to deliver unprecedented long-term results. Marker is a product developer. Our combined expertise and investment in AI means we can introduce disruptive tech faster. We’re building products to supercharge the way people work, changing our industry while elevating the human experience. Marker is a business incubator. As a cohort of leading firms, it’s our duty to push forward the industry we helped build. We have designed a structure that allows us to build and launch new businesses together that would not have been possible to do alone. Marker is a creative accelerator. Inside our respective agencies and clients are the best talent and clients in the business. Marker allows us to craft better ideas, build things faster, and win bigger. We want to go further creatively for our people and portfolio than ever. We’ve given ourselves a big goal: To create paths for talent and tech to flow across agency teams, resulting in faster routes to success, more perfect work, and a better agency experience for everyone. In other words, we want to be a catalyst for progress, focused on creating and scaling the agency experience of the future. Not just to benefit the three agencies in our group but to lift an entire industry up. We’re seeing technology-based disruption that is rewiring how agencies can operate. Agency knowledge can be instantly actionable and the borders between client and agency are melting away. We believe that when pathways between technology and talent are unobstructed, anything is possible. If you feel the same way, say hello at www.markercollective.com.

??Big shoutout on National Intern Day?? Today at Outcast, we’re all about the vision with our Associate Program. This isn’t just your regular internship; it’s a journey into the heart of integrated marketing, communications, and creativity. And guess what? It could even kickstart your full-time career with us! Our associates, Cat Bahamondes, Averi Shackleford, and Violet Garvis, dive deep into everything from crafting killer digital strategies to nailing the communications game. They’re the real MVPs bringing fresh ideas and major energy to our projects. So here’s to Cat, Averi, and Violet! Keep killing it and inspiring the next wave of Outcast associates.

Meet Julianne Parry, our new U.K. Managing Director! With experience supporting global technology brands as part of boutique agency, Marlin, then Archetype – Jules brings a track record to Outcast of delivering on high impact, integrated campaigns and helping brands scale internationally. Jules has worked with a range of organisations including Slack, Shopify, Indeed, Asana, Yahoo and many others to help define and shape industries. We are so excited to have you on board to help us chart this next chapter for Outcast and to grow our opportunities in the UK and beyond. Welcome to the team, Jules!

As AAPI Heritage Month comes to a close, we want to continue celebrating these important conversations year-round. We are inspired by our president's reflections on embracing and sharing her heritage. Her courage in sharing personal leadership stories highlights the importance of visibility and representation. Let's recognize the progress we've made and the work still ahead in celebrating the rich diversity of AAPI communities. Join us in sharing your stories and moments of pride in the comments below to continue this conversation.