Category Archives: Crisis Communication

Too Much Excitement – First an Emergency Alert Test @ 4:48 AM in Florida – then SpaceX Starship Blew Up

Florida Emergency Alert on all the cellphones in Florida

I’ve been up today since, you guessed it… 4:48 AM. Thank you Florida state government Emergency Response Team.

The governor is pissed. So am I and a lot of others throughout Florida because the alarm went out to every cellphone in the state.

But, I’ll bet the coffee companies are happy because of the millions of Floridians that couldn’t go back to sleep and just got up and got coffee. We’ll need some more between 2 and 3 PM this afternoon to stay awake beyond dinner.

Officials apologize after ‘Emergency Alert’ test sent in ‘error.’

Typically, only a few agencies have the ability to request and send out emergency notifications to cell phones, and they’re usually for imminent situations, such as severe weather warnings, an AMBER Alert for a missing child, public safety alerts, or a national emergency.

Hours later, the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) apologized for the incident in a tweet, and said the Emergency Alert System (EAS) notification was part of a monthly test, but that it was supposed to air on TV, not cell phones.

Florida Governor DeSantis’ press secretary @BryanDGRiffin says “party responsible” for 4:45 a.m. emergency alert will be fired, “This morning’s 4:45AM SERT test alert was not appropriate and not done at our direction. The party responsible will be held accountable and appropriately.”

Twitter is Lit Up

“ICYMI: Florida‘s got its feathers ruffled today because at 4:45am the EAS decided to send a TEST to our phones. All of our phones. All of them. We are grumpy.”

“To whoever decided to do a test of Florida’s Emergency Alert System at 4:45 a.m.: I hope you step on a Lego. Jerk.”

“On the night my sister’s six-month-old was actually sleeping through the night for the first time. She’s out for blood.”

“The only thing the state of Florida achieved with this 4:43am emergency alert test was helping people find out how to turn alerts off, probably at the expense of all other alerts including AMBER alerts.”

And Then… the Cool Huge Rocket Blew Up

*SpaceX Starship blows up at about a minute into the launch just as it tried to separate stages.*

The giant rocket started to spin weirdly and wiggle, then… BOOM!

Geek wording for an explosion of SpaceX Starship today: “Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation,” SpaceX said in a statement on Twitter.

I just want to go back to sleep at this point.

The Rise and Fall of the Cruise Industry

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Cruise ships are scrapped and dismantled in an industry that's in a declining free fall.

By Robert Leslie , Noah Lewis , and Claire Price

Until COVID-19 hit, the global cruise industry was on course for a record-breaking year. But major coronavirus outbreaks on board ships cost lives, jobs, and damaged the reputation of the fastest-growing sector of the travel industry.

See More [Business Insider]

Biscayne Bay fish kill is a warning sign, researcher says

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Researchers set out Wednesday to survey Biscayne Bay between the 79th Street and Julia Tuttle Causeways, where dead fish were seen bobbing along the surface.

FIU’s autonomous surface vessel surveys Biscayne Bay near Morningside Park.

“It is an emergency. The bay is not in a good place right now,” said Piero Gardinali, a chemistry professor who is director of the institute’s Freshwater Resources Division. “It’s a warning sign more than anything else. People have been predicting that things like this could happen. I think it’s time for us to sit at the table and say ‘OK, let’s do something about it.’”

Researchers believe fish were killed when the bay’s saltwater became so hot, it could no longer retain oxygen in the amounts necessary for marine life to thrive.

They are using an autonomous surface vehicle equipped with sensors to measure temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and chlorophyll, which can be an indicator for algae. What they find could provide more details on the health of the bay. The vessel allows researchers to collect more data over a larger area.

https://news.fiu.edu/2020/biscayne-bay-fish-kill-is-a-warning-sign-researcher-says?utm_source=tag&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=newsroom-referrals&utm_term=CREST%20Center%20for%20Aquatic%20Chemistry%20and%20the%20Environment

‘It’s been a wake-up call’ – Walgreens CMO on flexing its digital muscle post-Covid-19 | The Drum

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The pandemic has not only tested Walgreens’ operating model and stock levels – it’s also forced the brand to rethink its e-commerce and marketing strategy. Its chief marketing officer reveals why Covid-19 has been a “wake-up” call for the business.
— Read on www.thedrum.com/news/2020/07/01/it-s-been-wake-up-call-walgreens-cmo-flexing-its-digital-muscle-post-covid-19

Researcher Provides Helpful Guide to Coping with Stressful Times

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news.ucmerced.edu/news/2020/researcher-provides-helpful-guide-coping-stressful-times-part-i

Adapt Your Marketing Strategy for COVID-19

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From Gartner:

In a crisis situation subject to rapid change, CMOs need a proactive plan to adjust and adapt how they lead their teams, speak to their customers, and manage their brands.

Customers may never know how a company’s finance or HR department responds to a major unpredicted event, but marketing sits center stage, its moves reflected in every ad campaign, message and channel. You set the tone for how customers perceive the brand during a difficult time.

Taking the right actions and finding the right message can be challenging, especially in a fast-changing situation. All companies should operate with integrity and trust even as they come under pressure from a swiftly evolving situation. Those with a product or service well-suited for difficult times must, meanwhile, tread lightly, lest customers think they’re exploiting tragedy.
“Long before the coronavirus emerged, consumer trust in both government and large brands had eroded.”
“Among marketing’s greatest challenges is foreseeing how customer wants, needs, expectations and purchasing decisions will evolve,” says Augie Ray, VP Analyst, Gartner. “Customers themselves won’t know until COVID-19 infections, fears and restrictions occur in their workplaces, locales and lives.”

Marketers shouldn’t wait for problems to develop or the market to point in a clear direction before making plans and taking action. Instead, follow a four-step action plan to define scenarios, monitor customers and plan for marketing changes.
— Read on www.gartner.com/en/marketing/insights/articles/adapt-the-marketing-strategy-for-covid-19

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Check out this article from USA TODAY:

Apple Watch, Fitbit as first line of defense? Tests expand on whether wearables could predict coronavirus

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/05/27/coronavirus-tracking-apple-watch-fitbit-studies-aim-detect-covid-19/5270949002/

Smartphone data shows America’s cautious comeback

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Data from millions of mobile phones shows varying behavior across the United States in May as people responded to the loosening of stay-at-home orders, a Reuters analysis shows.

Americans returned to parks, restaurants and gas stations first. In most of the country, though, people continued to stay away from bars, fitness centers and religious institutions, which remain closed in many areas, according to the analysis of anonymized smartphone data from SafeGraph.
— Read on www.oann.com/smartphone-data-shows-americas-cautious-comeback/