6 Best Crisis PR Agencies In 2023

Also known as Crisis PR, it’s a communication strategy where a professional public relations company designs a strategy to defend a company, an individual, or an organization facing a public challenge to its reputation.

In many cases, philanthropic organizations are usually in need of crisis communication because of different practices going on at the side. Imagine a bio-pharma conglomerate looking to hire a crisis PR agency due to a recent insider fiasco. In other words, the roles and services of Crisis PR agencies could be rendered for many reasons.

1. As opposed to your daily ‘run of the mill’ public relations strategies, crisis pr is quite different. The advice and the functions are counter-intuitive to ordinary practices of PR.
2. Speed of communication, timing, and robustness matter the most to the best crisis pr agencies. The companies have to act in the ‘now’ knowing that it might be too late to break the bad news or issue a clarification statement tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
3. Criss communication and PR are results of constant practice. The sub-tier levels of Crisis PR are risk management, risk communication, and issue management. The latter elements cannot be learned from web blogs or podcasts.
4. Crisis pr agencies rely on telling organizations what to say and what to do in times of Crisis. More often than not, companies face penalties for not what they did but what they said during the aftermath of an event.
5. Lastly, it is the crisis pr agencies’ job to ensure that there is someone in the room willing to speak the truth to power. If it is indeed a crisis situation, making sure that whatever is said is correct and at the right time creates a huge difference.

Here’s a quick rundown of the best crisis communication agencies out there, either on the internet or in real-life locations.

Top Agency is a reputable public relations and digital marketing platform based in San Francisco, London, Austin, and New York.

The company has well over 100 employees, all of them designated to different areas of PR services, influencer marketing, content marketing, and communication specialist position

Since crisis pr is the first line of defense, the risk is mitigated through a carefully crafted plan that ONLY ensues after a deep-level analysis of the clients’ situation. On top of that, Top Agency has a divisive communication strategy with the help of high-quality content creators and digital influencers who ensure that whatever the crisis communication addendum is for, it nails down the situation.

Expertise

• Digital Influencer Services
• Full-Service Crisis Communication Plans
• Dedicated Crisis Communications Training Programs
• Content Creation and Content Marketing
• Test, Optimize, and Perform Directive To Scale Businesses
• Active Risk Assessment
• Internal and External Communication Plans

Clients

• Coca Cola
• Non-GMO Project
• Kindest
• Microsoft
• 15Five

Don’t forget to visit their Crisis PR web page for more details on Top Agency’s crisis communication strategies and client info.

Based in New York and founded by Jonathan Rosen and Valerie Berlin, ‘BerlinRosen’ is one of the best crisis pr agencies going strong and widespread these days.

BerlinRosen has maintained cordial relations with various clients from all over the world. Some of those are A-list clients that we will mention later.

As a crisis pr agency, BerlinRosen’s operations have received a warm welcome and genuine support from GLAAD, Fight for $15, SisterSong, and other businesses. The company has reportedly experience a 25% solid revenue growth during the last two years. Meanwhile, the headcount expanded to well over 253 during the same period.

Expertise

• Risk Management
• Content Creation and Marketing
• Digital Marketing
• Personalized Communication Plans
• Crisis Management & Handling

Clients

• Macy’s
• Via
• Mozilla
• Bloomberg

The next one on our ‘Crisis PR Agencies’ list is 42West.

Primarily, it’s a public relations company for entertainment powerhouses, but 42West has done its fair share of communication management over the last few years. From 2021 to 2022, the company has more than doubled its clients. It also partnered with Turner and Riot Games to double its juice as a solid PR agency.

As far as Hollywood PR work is concerned, 42West has done robust campaigns for ‘No Time To Die’ and Team Coco, among other stuff. DC Comics and some of the upcoming game studios are part of the company’s regulars from time to time.

Expertise

• Reputation Management
• Digital Marketing
• Social Media Management & Marketing
• Gaming Companies PR

Clients

• Mattel
• Riot Games
• Turner
• NPX
• Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• Dolphin Entertainment

Alison Brod produces some of the most imaginative, effective, and influential work in the business.

Just when we thought the firm couldn’t top last year’s Popeye’s chicken-sandwich mania, Brod’s team gave the world Burger King’s Moldy Whopper campaign; weds Kraft Mac & Cheese with Van Leeuwen to create a viral ice-cream flavor; dreamed up Panera’s insane “bread-bowl” hand-warmers, and generated 3.2 billion impressions for Popeyes by purchasing a million chicken nuggets from competitors.

The Agency also promoted Justin Bieber’s Timbits collab with Tim Horton’s; announced RBI’s acquisition of Firehouse Subs; and killed it with Panera’s Iced and Toasty campaign.

Expertise

• Crisis Communication Planning
• Risk Planning and Mitigation
• Crisis PR Training
• Digital Marketing
• Influencer Marketing
• Reputation Management

Clients

• Justin Bieber
• Tim Hortons
• Burger King
• Kraft Foods

Was there a bigger assignment in 2021 than helping Pfizer raise public awareness around its Covid vaccine rollout?

That brief went to SKDK, whose partner, Anita Dunn, topped last year’s PR Power 50.

Handling one of the year’s most sensitive situations, the firm partnered with attorneys representing more than 1,000 victims of alleged abuse by the Boy Scouts; let’s just say the Scouts didn’t win the perception battle in that one.

The firm also rallied to bring the Less is More Act to Governor Hochul’s desk with New Yorkers United for Justice (NYUJ) to reduce incarceration and racial bias in the parole system. Beyond trade media relations, SKDK worked with the massive activist coalition Climate Power on more than 130 TV spots to push for President Biden’s climate agenda. SDK’s tome-like list of clients includes AT&T, the Robin Hood Foundation, Mount Sinai Health System, and Memorial Sloan Kettering.

Expertise

• PR Communications Planning
• Risk Management
• Risk Mitigation Training
• Crisis Communication Training
• Digital Marketing
• Reputation Management
• Social Media Marketing

Clients

• Pfizer Co.
• Mount Sinai Health System
• NYUJ
• AT&T
• Robin Hood Foundation

Founded in 2017 by a former Sard Verbinnen partner, Gasthalter’s grown into a major financial-PR player that punches way above its weight.

This year topped 2022 for boardroom drama here, with clients including Engine No. 1 in its successful proxy contest against Exxon Mobil; Anchorage Capital Group in its $8.5 billion sale of MGM to Amazon; a ton of SPAC transactions, with names including SoFi, Rover, Rocket Lab, and BARK; and a growing list of crypto and blockchain clients.

The firm also rules with hedge-clients, too.  Major hire this year:  ex-Kekst partner Mark Semer were a huge get.

Expertise

• Digital Marketing
• Crisis Management, Planning and Communication
• Risk Mitigation
• Risk Assessment
• Communication Training
• Content Marketing

Clients

• Engine 1
• Rocket Lab
• BARK

When it comes to crisis communication, talking your way out of a situation — and that too, as a business, doesn’t always work. This is why companies are always on the lookout for the best crisis pr agencies.

As a result, there’s always someone to count on for reputation management and crystal clear communication between the said business, the public and the concerned stake holders.

Often times, crisis communication isn’t about ‘covering the tracks’ or anything like that. In fact, many companies have to deal with misinformation at the hands of competitors. The role of the crisis pr agency is to clear the confusion surrounding such atrocities, and maintain positive reputation to help businesses scale at a steady pace.

Needless to say, crisis pr is not only the need of the hour, but it’s here to stay and prevail.