Plan the response before the incident happens

A scenario map with severity tiers, a holding-statement library covering each tier, a one-page escalation chain with named people and deputies, response templates for web, email, social, phone and internal use, a dark site built in your CMS, and a record of the rehearsal. Everything is delivered as editable files in your own systems, in the formats your team already uses.

You do, from the first day. The documents are written in your systems under your accounts, the dark site lives in your CMS, and any monitoring tools are set up in your organisation's name with your billing. If we stop working together you keep everything without asking for a handover, because the handover already happened. Nothing is held back to make renewing easier for us.

Against agreed operational measures, not sentiment scores. Time from first alert to first published statement. Proportion of enquiries answered within the window you set. Whether the escalation chain was followed and where it broke. Whether staff and members heard from you before external channels. Whether the dark site held traffic without failing. We set these measures at scoping, record them during the incident, and report them in the post-incident review.

Every engagement is quoted after a scoping call, because the work depends on how many scenarios you need covered, how many audiences you speak to, whether you need French, and whether we are also on call during incidents. We put the scope, the deliverables and the response commitments in writing before anything starts, so you are approving a defined piece of work rather than an open retainer.

Both, and they are scoped separately. Preparation is a defined project with an end date. Live response is a standing arrangement with agreed contact points, an agreed response window and named people on our side. Some clients take preparation only and run incidents themselves, which is a reasonable outcome if the rehearsal went well. Others keep us on call. You can start with preparation and add live cover later.

No. Your spokespeople speak, and we prepare them to do it. We write the statements, run the practice sessions, sit in the room during the response and handle the drafting, but the voice on the record is yours. Media relations, including proactive pitching and ongoing journalist contact, is a separate discipline we also offer, and it is scoped on its own.

Sometimes, and we will tell you within one business day whether we can. Starting mid-incident means we work with what exists: your facts, your approvals and your channels. We can draft, monitor and triage immediately, but scenario mapping and rehearsal come afterwards. Send what you have and who is authorised to approve wording. If we are not the right fit at that moment we will say so rather than take the work.