Running head: GOOGLE ANTI-TRUST CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLAN 1

Google Anti-trust Crisis Communication Plan

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Google Anti-trust Crisis Communication Plan

Introduction

Organizations all over the globe face crisis events. Researchers Kim, Choi & Atkinson

(2017) define crisis as an unexpected event threatening the specific goals set by organizations.

Skilled managers however can minimize the reputational threat that comes with a crisis by

choosing the most effective and appropriate response strategy. Notably, communication is at the

heart of any strategy that can be adopted. To enhance communication however, organizations are

advised to develop pre-communication crisis plans.

Mid this year, the European Union fined Google £3.8bn for what it termed as android

antitrust violations (Rankin, 2018). The union had found Google guilty of engaging in serious

illegal behavior with the aim of trying to secure dominance. Their behavior has prevented rivals

from competing and innovation. Such allegations are surely detrimental to Google’s reputation

and image. Due to what happened in European Union recently, Google wants to forebode the

crisis may happen in the U.S anytime. From this, the company has developed a pre-crisis plan to

ensure the crisis fade away smoothly and minimize the harm of Google’s brand image and

reputation.

From the UK experience, Google is now aware that crises possess the potential to ignite

widespread panic and media frenzy (Rankin, 2018). Moreover, the company knows that there is

no time to assemble a crisis management team, in course of a crisis. It is from this realization that

Google has developed this pre-crisis communication plan. This early mapping of how

communication will be done gives the company the chance to minimize the damage that a crisis

may trigger.
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Communication team

The crisis communication plan at Google provides for the creation of the crisis

communication team. This team made is made up of the following;

 Sundar Pichai, the CEO

 David Drummond, senior Vice President of corporate development and Chief Legal
Officer

 Corey, duBrowa, Vice President Global Communications and Public Affair

 Prabhakar Raghavan Senior Vice president of Ads & Commerce

The above team is tasked with the responsibility of executing this plan should a crisis

occur. It is important to note that in the event that there has been a change in the employees

mentioned above, the new holders of the mentioned positions would automatically replace the

others in the team. Nevertheless, as long as the named persons are in that position during a crisis,

this plan recognizes that they are the ones need to team up.

Individual roles in the company

Google CEO Sundar Pichai

Sundar Pichai has many tasks and responsibilities at the company. For instance, he can

commit the company into non-standard licensing and other similar arrangements. In addition, he

can commit Google into mergers and acquisitions and investments up to a particular dollar

threshold. Google under Pichai’s guidance can make capital expenditure and engage in

commercial arrangements like licensing. Finally, Pichai is presented with weekly and quarterly

reports that include the individual financial information for product areas such as advertising,
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You Tube, capital expenditure, headcount and operating results (D' Onfro, 2018). Such

responsibilities clearly show the reason why Sundar Pichai needs to be part of the crisis

communication team.

Sundar, being the CEO is Google’s public image and his participation in helping deal

with the crisis would be good to stakeholders. Normally, stakeholders gain more confidence if

the CEO showcases his ability to lead from the front and being hands-on regarding dealing with

a crisis. Pichai gives the needed leadership at Google, something that gives the company the

chance to maximize on any arising crisis to win public trust.

Vice President Global Communications and Public Affair, Corey duBrowa

Corey duBrowa is the other person in the crisis communication team. In his position,

Corey is responsible for innovating and developing corporate communications program. In

addition, it is his responsibility to establish both reactive and proactive media relations while also

serving as the daily strategists for internal clients.

Corey duBrowa is a strategic addition to this crisis communication team. He brings with

him years of experience with a notable thing about him being that he held for 7 years the position

of the head of development and global communications strategies execution at Starbucks.

Together with other executives at the company, Corey was able to see the company move from

40 to 65 operational countries. Corey will bring in a different dimension to the team from his

experience in the global market. Notably, Corey has served at Nike for 6 years where he

undertook different management and global communications roles (Corey duBrowa | USC

Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, 2018). Corey is to help the team

successfully navigate the element of media in this plan.

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Senior Vice President of corporate development and Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond

David Drummond’s inclusion into the team is important for several reasons. One of such

reasons is that he works for Alphabet Inc, which is Google’s parent holding company. Being the

Chief Legal Officer at Google, one of his responsibilities is providing legal counsel to the

directors and chairman. In the team, Corel will give legal advice to the CEO and other team

members on matters such as the legal implications of a crisis.

Senior Vice president of Ads & Commerce, Prabhakar Raghavan

Prabhakar Raghavan is the other person who will form the crisis communication team.

Any crisis that might emerge at the company would have the negative effect of tainting Google’s

image to the public. Being part of the team, Raghavan will be able to guide the team on how to

put to the public ethos appealing messages. This would help minimize the potential damage that

the crisis would have.

Media spokesperson

The communication mantra that the plan advocates is that of “telling it all and telling it

fast”. Google believes that it is better placed should negative information directly come from it in

the form of an honest apology. The UK experience has shown the company that another crisis

would definitely require it to make a media appearance. From the above team, the best suited

individual to act as the company’s media spokesperson is Corey duBrowa.

The team has made several considerations prior to settling on Corey. One reason we

settled on him is first his professional background. Corey duBrowa is a trained journalist having

graduated from the University of Oregon with a B.A in Journalism degree (Corey duBrowa |
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USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, 2018). In addition, Corey has in the

course of his professional services attained unparalleled experience in public affairs and global

communication. Most recently, he was Starbuck’s employee where he was the company’s chief

global communications. Under his tenure at the company, Starbucks was able to increase its

operational countries of operation. This experiences and expertise is the reason why the team

agreeing on Corey duBrowa to be the official spokesperson, as it is easy for him to win the

public trust.

Key media outlets

In the event of a crisis, Google will reach out to its customers and other stakeholders

through different media outlets. There are high stakes at Google and thus the team has decided to

contact the national, local, and tech media. The team feels that this diversity will be helpful in

trying to limit the danger of reputational brand damage attached to a particular crisis.

The team is convinced that Google would have an easy time using these media outlets in

trying to influence the opinions of its customers. There is no journalist in the different platforms

would be able to turn down the chance to report about Google. The journalists working in these

media outlets should be able to realize that such a crisis could trigger huge impacts in other

sectors and not just the business world. Local journalists who cover the story properly give

themselves the chance of jumping career ladders if they are to make a good impression on the

national and international media.

The team makes it clear in the plan that local media needs to be involved in covering the

crisis. This would give the company the chance to protect the local market and ensure that it does

not lose out to the competitors. In the event that there is a press conference involved, having the
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local media also cover paints the image of the Google being a global company that has not lost

touch to its local market. This is an indirect way of making an emotional appeal to the audiences

not to have negative perceptions of it after a crisis.

During a crisis at the company, this plan provides that Google should reach out to media

outlets such as;

 The online publication TechRadar

 The global multi-platform and global company called Mashable.

 Local outlets like SouthEast Missourian and Springfield News-Leader.

 National media outlets to contact include the Washington Post, BBC news, and the New
York Times
Pre-gathered information

The crisis communication team is ready for the task at hand should a crisis occur at

Google US. Some of the pre-gathered information that the crisis communication team has been

able to establish buoys the team about it becoming successful in limiting the impact of a crisis

that might emerge. Among the first bunch of information with the team is that blogging is an

effective tool to be used in a crisis. A reason for this is that they are immediate and thus it would

enable Google swiftly responds in countering the crisis. In addition, blogging gives the public the

chance to make comments while asking any question that they possess on the crisis.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Google believes that with an in place crisis communication plan gives it

the chance to ensure the crisis fade away smoothly and minimize the harm of its brand image and

reputation. The plan gives the name of the individuals, and their rankings, who are to constitute

the crisis communication team. Each of the named individuals has specific roles he or she is
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playing, a factor that increases the company’s chances of emerging minimum damage from a

particular crisis.
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References

Kim, S., Choi, S. M., & Atkinson, L. (2017). Congruence effects of corporate associations and

crisis issue on crisis communication strategies. Social Behavior and Personality: An

International Journal, (7), 1085. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.6090

Corey duBrowa | USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. (2018). Retrieved

from https://annenberg.usc.edu/research/center-public-relations/board-of-advisors/corey-

dubrowa

D' Onfro, J. (2018). Alphabet details how Larry Page and Sundar Pichai split duties. Retrieved

from https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/26/alphabet-ceo-larry-page-and-google-ceo-sundar-

pichai-duties-detailed.html

Rankin, J. (2018). Google fined £3.8bn by EU over Android antitrust violations. Retrieved from

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jul/18/google-faces-record-multibillion-fine-

from-eu-over-android For more help with your essays and class work contact:

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