Halloran
Crisis Response
Consumer Goods
A product recall broke on social media before the company had a statement ready.
How we rebuilt trust with regulators, press, and customers in under three weeks.
Client
National consumer goods manufacturer, ~1,100 employees
Engagement
Crisis response
Duration
3 weeks
The situation
A safety issue surfaced on social media at 6:40am, six hours before the client’s own quality team confirmed the scope internally.
By 8am, a photo of the affected product had been shared several thousand times, two regional reporters had called the switchboard, and the company’s largest retail partner was asking whether to pull stock. Internally, operations, legal and the executive team were each working from a different version of the facts, and nobody had authority to say anything publicly.
The company had a crisis manual, but it hadn’t been opened in two years, and the contact list in it included three people who had since left. The instinct in the room was to wait until the quality team finished its review. Our view was that waiting would hand the story to the people already posting about it.
Our response
Holding statement live within 45 minutes. Full stakeholder messaging (customers, retailers, regulators) drafted and approved by 11am. Executive spokesperson briefed and on two national outlets by end of day.
Priya Nair ran a single situation room with the client’s COO and general counsel, and agreed one approval route on the first call so statements didn’t queue. We separated what was confirmed from what wasn’t, and said so plainly: the holding statement acknowledged the issue, told customers exactly what to do, and committed to an update by noon. Retailers heard from the company before they heard from the press. The regulator received a factual briefing before any interview was given.
From day two, the focus shifted from containment to confidence. We published a plain-language explanation of what went wrong and what had changed on the production line, arranged for the CEO to walk a trade reporter through the fix, and gave customer service a script that answered the three questions callers were actually asking.
How it unfolded
Day 1, 06:40: the safety issue is first posted on social media
Day 1, 08:15: Halloran activated; situation room opened with the COO and general counsel
Day 1, 09:00: holding statement and customer guidance live on every channel
Day 1, 11:00: retailer, distributor and regulator briefings sent
Day 1, 18:00: CEO interviewed by two national outlets
Day 3: coverage leads with the response; sentiment turns neutral-to-positive
Week 3: recovery story published; client moves to a readiness retainer
What we delivered
Holding statement and customer guidance, published across web, social and customer service scripts
Retailer and distributor briefing, sent before the first national story
Regulator briefing note, reviewed by counsel
Spokesperson preparation for the CEO: key messages and the ten hardest questions
Twice-daily situation reports on coverage, social volume and sentiment
Recovery plan for weeks two and three: follow-up story, customer letter, retailer check-ins
Results
The initial coverage was critical, but the story changed within three days. By 72 hours, national coverage led with the company’s response rather than the fault, and social sentiment had moved from negative to neutral-to-positive. No retailer delisted the product line. Three weeks later, the client moved to a readiness retainer so the plan, statements and approval map would exist before the next incident.
What made the difference wasn’t speed alone. Every audience heard one consistent account, in the right order, from the company itself. The approval route agreed on that first call is now written into the client’s crisis plan, alongside pre-approved statements for four other scenarios.
The takeaway
If your crisis plan hasn’t been opened in a year, assume the contact list and approval route are wrong. The fix takes an afternoon: confirm who can approve a holding statement on their own, pre-draft one for your most likely product scenario, and have counsel sign it off now, while nothing is happening.
“They had a plan ready before we’d finished our internal call.”
— VP Communications, client (name withheld per NDA)
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