At Nestlé Germany I was responsible for issues and crisis management, at FTI Consulting I guided clients through critical situations. Before that, twelve years as a journalist at Dow Jones, the FAZ group and the dpa group. I know where a newsroom will press, because I spent twelve years doing the pressing.
Urgent case? +49 163 480 6345
Situation: An international food group came under pressure over one of its product divisions. Investigations by two foreign media outlets raised the question of whether the treatment methods used were compatible with how the products were labelled. The allegation therefore went to the basis of the business. An NGO filed a criminal complaint, a parliamentary inquiry opened, and coverage continued for months. In Germany, newsrooms wanted to know what the case meant for the products sold here.
My role: Handling media relations for the German market over the course of a year.
Strategy: An NGO campaign running alongside legal proceedings follows a dramaturgy. We worked through the possible next steps, from further complaints to test purchases to new publications, and prepared responses before they had to be written under time pressure.
Media relations: The case played out abroad and did not concern the same products sold in Germany. That distinction was repeatedly lost in the coverage. I contacted the newsrooms concerned, supplied the missing facts and placed the company's position. Including at Germany's highest-circulation newspaper.
Result: German coverage became more precise over the course of the year and set out the facts correctly. The company's position was represented in the key titles.
With material that is ready to use on the day, not with a thick manual. Preparation delivers a situation assessment with scenarios, a one-page core narrative, questions and answers on the hard points, a statement for the day of publication, a text for your website and a prioritised media list. We also define who decides, who speaks and who does the legal review.
Call me directly: +49 163 480 6345. I take over crisis communications operationally: assessing the situation, drafting statements and answers to press enquiries, and staying in contact with the newsrooms. Management is relieved and can focus on running the company.
That depends on the size of the crisis, the potential damage, the scope and the duration. Smaller engagements can stay well below a five-figure sum; comprehensive mandates with preparation and activation are in the five-figure range. Preparation and activation are billed separately at a fixed fee per phase; activation is only charged if you trigger it. There is no monthly retainer and no open-ended hourly account.
