Maja Pawinska Sims 03 May 2018 // 8:14PM GMT
HAMBURG — FischerAppelt has deepened its international crisis management offer by forming a cooperation agreement with global crisis advisor Alan Hilburg.
Under the agreement, Hilburg will act as a senior adviser to fischerAppelt clients in areas such as crisis leadership, litigation PR and trust management, crisis prevention and crisis decision making. The expanded crisis offering is aimed at companies operating in Germany with an international reach, especially in the US.
Hilburg is president and CEO of crisis firm Hilburg Associates, which has offices in the US, South Africa and Hong Kong. He has overseen more than 200 international crisis cases, advising clients such as Johnson & Johnson (Tylenol), Exxon (Exxon Valdez oil spill) and Enron (fraud) in strategic crisis communications.
Both firms anticipate that this will be a long-term arrangement, although there are no plans for a merger or acquisition. Hilburg Associates has similar agreements in place with other firms across Asia, Africa and the US.
The joint offering includes data-based crisis forecasting tools, crisis plan auditing, crisis simulation training and proprietary software tools to measure and analyse the relationship between loss of trust, decreasing employee motivation and loss of business.
Andreas Fischer-Appelt, board member and co-founder of fischerAppelt, said: “We have always looked after clients who were either going through a crisis or wanted to prevent one. With Alan Hilburg we were able to win a true global player as our partner. Together, we are expanding our international offering and will be able to provide companies and organisations with added value beyond pure crisis communications.”
Hilburg added that the primary focus of his counsel would be crisis leadership: “This means helping clients avoid and prevent crises by helping them to see around the corner. It also means, above all, working with them to ensure business continuity by developing culture-driven strategies rooted in strong corporate values and living that culture to prevent crises from happening in the first place.”