ICM Debuts Crisis Management Service

In the UK, ICM Research has launched a 'Crisis Management' analysis service, to help clients predict the likely public response to crises such as bad publicity; and to measure and track the effect of the crisis while it is still ongoing.

The firm's crisis management team will help clients to negotiate emergencies whether externally-driven, such as bad publicity - or internally-driven, such as controversy over a particular management strategy or expenditure.

After using qual and quant techniques to 'play out' the potential crisis and understand its impact, the team will help clients to find the right response by testing potential messages and speeches.

Each programme will be individually tailored to the specific client's needs, with research conducted within very tight timeframes - either across the globe or in one or two key markets.

The team is headed by Research Director Emily Hunt who explains: 'Social media enables crises to 'go viral' very quickly, and it is important to have a system in place that will swing into action immediately, to not only obtain initial responses but to track those responses and make sure that the company reacts appropriately.'

Web site: www.icmresearch.co.uk .