Crisis Communications

In the middle of a PR crisis, or want to be prepared for one?

Whether it’s an ill-timed burn from a brand ambassador, a misstep on social media, or the power cutting out at a championship, in the esports world news travels at the speed of light and public outcry can be swift and severe.

The question is not whether it will happen, but whether you’ll be prepared when it does.

At The Story Mob, we’ve run the gamut of public relations crises in esports and supported some of the world’s leading esports organizations through them to the other side. As the world’s first communications consultancy dedicated solely to esports, we have the focus and expertise to address issues from all parts of the ecosystem, from pro teams and players to league and tournament organizers to sponsors and investors.

Whether you’re in the middle of a PR crisis or want to prepare yourself for the unexpected, we have the skills and services to help you out -- rapidly, comprehensively, and effectively.


Who should use it?

  • Anyone facing an immediate crisis, or is in the midst of one, and doesn’t know how to strategize their internal and external communications.
  • Anyone who hasn’t faced any issues yet, but wants to have an efficient, effective custom procedure in place to deal with the crisis.

What does it include?

Our Reactive Crisis Management services include:

  • Situation Assessment and Monitoring: Sentiment and media pickup analysis to determine how widespread and severe the bad reaction is and whether there are voices/narratives/ theories that can be used to inform decision making and messaging.
  • War Room: Daily conference calls/onsite meetings and an experienced specialist on-call 24/7 for strategy and execution as well as proactive situation status updates.
  • Messaging Strategy and Management: Full public statement drafting, counsel and editing, strategy and messaging plan that incorporates brand values, PR training for spokespeople, coordination of social media and other corporate channels.
  • Partner Management: If the crisis involves input from other esports organizations (such as a league governing body), we can manage those communications. Also can create reports and situation updates for investors and sponsors to present a professional, unified front (and respond to inquiries).
  • Press Management: Manage inbound inquiries and use our proprietary esports and mainstream media list to provide key opportunities to triage upcoming media coverage and tell your side of the story.
  • Legal Support: Access to our network of legal experts.
  • Post-Mortem: Post-crisis report analyzing strengths and weaknesses and a custom crisis blueprint for coordinating internal resources and executing for the next time.
  • Continuing Support: Monitoring and consultation on the crisis up to 3 months after post-mortem.

Our Proactive Crisis Management services include:

  • Full Communications Review: Comprehensive analysis of historic issues, social media channels, press pickup, first-party branding materials, etc. to identify communications strengths and weaknesses as well as potential future issues.
  • Custom Branding and PR Workshop: Onsite half-day session led by The Story Mob with leadership/spokespeople to clarify brand values, positioning, and messaging tone/approach in the context of a potential crisis.
  • Media Training: Onsite educational session for spokespeople, including practice press interviews; sessions are recorded for future use.
  • Custom Crisis Comms Blueprint: A clear, step-by-step execution procedure tailored to your organization’s corporate structure so you can go into action immediately; templates or drafts of sample statements that can be run by lawyers ahead of time.
  • Continuing Support: Discount on retainer fees, follow-up consultations, media training sessions for 3 months.

Who is this for? 

  • Esports pro teams, players, talent and influencers.
  • Developer/publisher-run leagues or independent tournament organizers.
  • Esports sponsors.
  • Investment firms that own/manage esports assets.