Burson-Marsteller Brussels

Practices & Specialities

Crisis Communications

No organisation is immune to crisis – whether a business, a whole industry or a non-profit organisation. Effective communication and reputation management often makes the difference between succumbing to a crisis and surviving it – perhaps emerging even stronger than before.

When facing a crisis, a company must have total confidence in its communications partner. For more than half a century, Burson-Marsteller has been that trusted partner to countless clients, helping them through the toughest of times and the most sensitive of challenges.

All Burson-Marsteller crisis programmes are led by our Senior Crisis Counselors, a global network of seasoned professionals with frontline experience in virtually every type of crisis situation, including corporate governance and finance, pharmaceuticals and product recalls, labour disputes, and litigation.

Our crisis services include:

Risk management audits

• Sensitive issues audits
• Regulatory audits
• External and internal perceptions audit (including those related to the media, clients, and online reputation)

Issues anticipation

• Global monitoring (media, internet, regulatory)
• Crisis scenarios anticipation
• Crisis action plans and communication platform

Crisis preparedness

• Crisis procedures
• Crisis management training (workshops and crisis simulations)
• Media training

Crisis response

• Global crisis management advice (crisis board facilitation, telephone response, technical support and mobilisation of relevant partners)
• Crisis communications (communications strategy, stakeholder mapping and media relations)

Crisis debriefing and follow-up

• Crisis impact audit
• Corporate image reconstruction

Contact person

Johan van Laer

Director, Corporate Communications & Media

Office: Brussels, Belgium
Email:

Johan is responsible at Burson-Marsteller Brussels for Belgian market clients, servicing them on a variety of issues, ranging from incident management, market launches, corporate PR campaigns, media relations and product PR. Read extended profile

Johan is responsible at Burson-Marsteller Brussels for Belgian market clients, servicing them on a variety of issues, ranging from incident management, market launches, corporate PR campaigns, media relations and product PR.

He has worked as a marketing Communications Manager Europe for a PC Card maker. Johan was also responsible for corporate and product press relations, events and trade fairs. Prior to this, He was Head of Communications for ETAP Lighting, a Belgian industrial lighting firm. In addition, Johan was in charge of ensuring the right marketing communication mix. Earlier in his career, Johan worked at Mc Cann Erickson and Ogilvy PR on corporate communication and employer branding projects and was communication consultant to the European Commission in a TACIS project in Russia: the introduction of personal income tax.