Mardi Gras & the Four R's of Crisis Communications

By: Lilly McCormick
 
Mardi Gras was this past weekend, giving a huge advantage for marketing and public relations tactics. This includes, brand awareness and social media marketing. With thousands and thousands of people in the streets comes the opportunity for marketing. Many of the spectators turn waiting around for the parades as a business opportunity. They sell items like food and drinks to the crowds. These audiences are all in one spot which creates the perfect timing for marketing with all their attention at one time.
 
Mardi Gras has nationwide media coverage. This brings good public relations engagement rather than just marketing. With so many people to account for and endless binge drinking, crisis’ are not out of the ordinary during Mardi Gras and PR teams must be ready for this.
 
There are 4 R’s of crisis communication: Recognition, Rehearsal, Response, and Recovery. For recognition, the PR employers must recognize the issue that has arose and strategize how to solve it with their team. Then, they must execute how to fix the issue and find the best possible way to do it. Response is next. The team must respond as quickly as possible because more crisis’ will occur that need to be dealt with as well. Communication is always a great way to respond to a response as well especially on social media. Lastly, you must recover from the problem. Mardi Gras is such a great celebration and you must recover from the issue and not let it affect the event.
 
Source: History.com Staff. "Mardi Gras." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2017.

---