Welcome to The Crisis Communications Playbook

Well hello there and welcome to the Crisis Communications Playbook. My name is Andy Barr and as a day job I co-founded and run 10 Yetis Digital.

At the time of writing the agency is 16 years old and whilst we are probably better known for our digital PR campaigns, it is a little known fact that we, and me personally, have worked on a number of high profile crisis communications campaigns.

From national banks, retailers and global transport companies through to private individuals and politicians, we have advised and worked on some huge campaigns.

Prior to setting up 10 Yetis I worked in communications and PR, in house, for some large brands with a strong focus on crisis communications. I worked for the fifth largest company in the world (at that time), managing and advising on crisis comms, along with one of the largest global FMCG food brands a government utility company and also the worlds largest surface passenger transport company.

This feels a bit Ron Burgendy but I’m trying to get across that I have worked in crisis communications for nearly 25 years now and have picked up a thing or two.

In recent years I have been fortunate enough to be asked to speak all around the world on communications and especially crisis communications related PR. In addition to this I have advised overseas government delegations on crisis communications and the two main UK political parties around online media campaigns.

Some of the global news organisations that have approached me for opinions on Crisis Communications include The BBC, Vice, The Drum, AdWeek, Raconteur, most of the UK national media and then broadcast media such as Sky News, BBC and regional radio stations and most bizarrely, a Turkish news TV show about the potential death of memes – no really.

This is where this site comes in. I wanted to try and document my take on certain stories and invite other people from the industry to give their thoughts as well.

A few points to note.

• If i have advised a company written about on this site, I will make that clear
• If i make a factual mistake, please shout and I will sort it. I don’t need any legal drama thanks
• If I use an affiliate link on a post (for example a book review), I will make that clear

If you want to write for this site I can be found on Twitter here (@10Yetis) and my DM’s are open.