This week in PR (26 July newsletter)

Two topics have dominated discussions this week.

‘The ESG hype cycle is over’

A Financial Times film released on YouTube a week ago has been a talking point this week. It charts the rise of ESG from the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate to the high point of COP21 in Glasgow and its subsequent fall from favour. This leads to the question: ‘who killed the ESG party?’ Suspects include Vladimir Putin and Tucker Carlson. Marketing hype and greenwashing is another suspect.

It’s a well-made film and the financial and investment perspective is a necessary counter to those who see ESG only from a public relations or marketing perspective. It’s a must-watch? introduction to the subject.

Nor is it entirely bleak for those still flying the ESG flag. The film includes an interview with Nicolai Tangen of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth fund suggesting that ESG is ultimately not about creating good businesses, but about long-term sensible investment, a comment picked out by Steve Earl in his ESG review for PR moment.

Last week Havas lost its B Corp status following a campaign by Clean Creatives against its work for Shell. So this week there’s been talk about the ethical decision-making process over which clients to represent. John Harrington, PR Week’s news editor, argued that ‘the heat is on’ for those working with fossil fuel companies. He doubted that any would be able to apply to become B Corps in future.

Now we’ve all heard about CrowdStrike

The other talking point of the week was the failure of many Microsoft computer systems with knock-on effects around the world. As Neville Hobson comments:?

None of this was the outcome of a cyberattack or an act of terrorism. While it was faulty code that created the meltdown, it appears that this was down to human error at CrowdStrike, a terrifying reminder of the fragility of the centralised systems that knit together our connected world and the people who maintain those systems.

Many have viewed this as a case study in crisis communication. Yet crisis communication expert Rod Cartwright cautions against a rush to judgement, especially since the aggregate financial losses from the IT failure are estimated at up to $15 billion, so there are potentially huge financial consequences to a hasty apology.?

Meanwhile Gareth Owens of CARMA turns this into a different case study: just as the crisis can be shown by the firm’s falling share price, so the crisis can be mapped by volume of media coverage.

July 17: It’s a normal day, and the media are highlighting CrowdStrike's impressive journey from a startup to a formidable player in the cybersecurity landscape.

July 18: Media reports begin covering a significant IT outage affecting Microsoft services, initially concentrating on the scale of the disruption…. Media coverage quickly switches focus from Microsoft to CrowdStrike

July 19: Articles cover CrowdStrike's role in the incident, detailing the specific technical flaw, its repercussions, and the broader impact of the CrowdStrike update on Microsoft services, examining how the error propagated and affected various systems.

This leads to his ten tips for monitoring in a crisis. These include lessons in how to manage data overload and how to learn from crises.

As many have pointed out, it was a cruel irony that a company so proud of its role in cybersecurity should have inadvertently caused such problems.

The CrowdStrike home page tells us:

In 2011, our company reinvented cybersecurity. Our “Community Immunity” business model is unlike any other, relying not just on cutting-edge technology, but a crowdsourced approach to cybersecurity. Our market-leading solution is as resilient as it is versatile, processing more than 2 trillion events a week and stopping 35,000 breaches a year.

In fairness, there is a ‘Remediation and Guidance Hub’ available via a link on the home page but isn’t it best practice to make this the home page while the company is facing such scrutiny?

Note: We're taking a break in August. When we return in September, this roundup and associated newsletter will be monthly rather than weekly.