Can your team work at the speed of social across intercontinental boundaries?
A business partner’s response to a local emergency suddenly starts to exhibit the ingredients of an issue that could escalate into a reputational crisis for your organization.
Social media starts swirling. That business partner’s misstep threatens your brand—publicly and globally.
What happens next separates the crisis-prepared from the crisis-prone.
Can your communications team organize itself quickly to review and evaluate social media activity?
Can they issue holding statements through appropriate channels?
Can they develop a stakeholder engagement plan built to flex and pivot?
These were among the challenges faced and overcome by communications and issues advisors and managers from Egypt, Hungary, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States in one of our Advanced Crisis Tabletop programs delivered virtually in late March 2025.
And these were no junior reps. They were senior comms leaders and issues advisors responsible for protecting the global reputation of a major multinational. And the question on the table was clear:
Can your team move at the speed of social—across intercontinental boundaries?
Because that’s the moment where most crisis plans break down.
It’s not the playbook that fails—it’s the people.
Someone hesitates to escalate.
Legal sits on a statement for 12 hours.
The EMEA lead doesn’t know who’s covering which region.
This is where reputations erode. Not in the headlines—but in the internal dithering, confusion, and delay.
That’s why we built this simulation: to stress-test people, not just plans. Because in the real world, coordination is the crisis.
Here’s how we fixed that...
In under 4 hours, we coached each team to:
Monitor and respond to escalating social chatter in real time.
Coordinate fast, clear internal comms across multiple time zones.
Draft and approve holding statements under pressure.
Rebuild trust with global stakeholders, regulators, and media.
Develop a living, adaptable engagement. plan
All of this was done inside STORM, our proprietary, closed-loop social media simulator that replicates digital volatility in a secure training environment.
Our customized program -- developed in collaboration with this industry-leading global organization -- helps their communications leaders keep their readiness skills sharp.
To reduce the cost per person to the client, we provided two four-hour virtual programs in a single day. This allowed us to accommodate 20 of their communications professionals scattered across different time zones, all in a single day. The program was led by Tom Muller, an expert in crisis communications, Mathew Yeomans, an author and journalist, and featured our interactive and secure social media simulator, STORM, operated by Geoff Paddock, a digital communications expert. These coaches were supported by two technical producers able to display crisis scenario details and record and replay social media interactions in a confidential setting.
In their own words…
Participants found value in the strategies, content, and feedback provided by our coaches. When asked what they found most impactful, they shared:
“I really liked that this training went beyond the writing in crisis skills, stakeholder mapping and engagement plan was a good add.”
“Collaborating with colleagues to make the most of my strengths and learn new skills.”
“Sense of pressure and speed. Inclusion of social media as key channel - realistic.”
“Realistic scenarios and getting out of comfort zones - very good for everyday work, practical and applicable in everyday operations.”
“The variety of exercises, the focused work in the breakout room and a quite tricky scenario to work on.”
If You're Leading Global Comms, Ask Yourself:
Could your team respond globally within the first hour of escalation?
Do they know who signs off—and how—when the heat is on?
Have they actually practiced in a lifelike digital crisis environment?
If not, we should talk.
CLICK HERE to start the conversation.