In this Privacyespresso, Brittany Bevacqua Managing Director at Gregory FCA New York, new Crisis Communication member of PrivacyRules, discuss with us the key role that PR and Communication agency plays in the privacy sector.
According to Brittany, PR and Communication experts can help companies navigate and exit privacy-related issues by minimising organisational and reputational damages. One message does not fit all and from the regulatory perspective, the possibilities and ways to disclose events like data breaches are very strict and extremely sensitive. Additionally, PR companies do not only support in managing and solving the issue at the moment it raises but also to regain trust in the aftermath, educate the market and bring back relationships with the press.
Whit regards to the US specifically, consumers are very easily getting their data away as there is less awareness on the usage of data by big techs. For this reason, there is a very important need in circulating more information on the meaning and hidden costs/risks of allowing access to data. So a PR company’s role is to raise such awareness to push people to be more attentive to it and to select companies with this kind of sensitivity. At the same time, PR companies have a crucial role in cooperating with companies to figure out their position on privacy, how they can comply and, once they have a clear idea of this, how to address the argument and reassure the market on the fact that they are attentive to the topic.
To conclude, Brittany foresees three main roles for communication experts.
First, they can help identify the steps to take in a privacy crisis and support connecting and managing the multiple players involved (e.g. the board, the legal experts and the cyber team). This is particularly relevant when national control agencies are involved in the case, and you must carefully select what to and not to say.
Second, a Communication company with expertise in crisis would be able to rapidly jump into the case to quickly create content to be delivered to the right people like the press, social media, customers, as well as the internal team.
Third, an additional role regards the company’s reputation restoration after something goes wrong. In such cases, the clock moves back to zero, and companies have to recreate a narrative from scratch to gain back trust, starting in a difficult situation due to the negative impact on their public image.
To learn more about this, watch this privacyespresso.