Social media can be a cruel and demanding master when it comes to a crisis. And South African brands have had a fair number of crises where online mobs have trashed their reputations, leaving them shattered and vulnerable. Think H&M, BIC, Clicks…
48HOURS is a crisis agency launched in 2020 by communicators, Victor Dlamini and Mike Stopforth.
Now the pair have has launched a free crisis diagnostic app, called VICE. In just three minutes, the app helps brands classify the scale of risk from a crisis.
Validity, influence, credibility, economic impact = VICE. The app gives the user a four-stop questionnaire related to these metrics. Then it delivers a severity score between 0 and 100 that “informs the nature of the response”. This could range from monitoring to “all hands on deck”.
“The tool enables business leaders to quickly establish whether they have very little cause for concern or if they are facing the kind of crisis that has the potential to severely harm their business,” say Dlamini and Stopforth.
Here’s Dlamini with more on the business.
1. Give us a brief history of your venture? What gave you the idea? How did it begin, and how has your business journey unfolded?
Over several years both of us, Mike and Victor, used to meet up over coffee. Because we’re both actively engaged in social media, our conversations would include our observations on the big topics of the day. We realised that there was an opportunity to guide organisations facing a crisis on social media.
2. What has the uptake of the app been to date?
The app has been well received
3. How is it monetised if we can download for free?
Monetisation wasn’t our objective. We genuinely wanted to offer those facing a social media crisis a tool that would provide them a dashboard view when they need it most. Of course some of our clients have found us via the app.
4. Are social media crises ever ‘solvable’?
Once the story is out, it gathers steam and just rolls and rolls over logic and sense, it appears sometimes. ‘Never let the facts get in the way of a good story’… It is not easy to avert a crisis once it trends and holds the public imagination. We have the insights, the expertise and experience that help us guide our clients to resolving the crisis in the shortest possible time.
5. What challenges did you face in starting the business and how did you overcome them? (And the name of the app? Inspired by?)
The main challenge was to convince ourselves that this was something we wanted to do given that both of us have already accomplished so much. But once we set ourselves the challenge, there was no looking back.
6. How is the current load shedding nightmare affecting your business and what strategies have you employed to tackle the challenges?
Our operation is a nimble and mostly mobile one, so we’re able to navigate the impact of load shedding. Availability of the network is an issue because of load shedding.
7. Has there been a moment of success or insight that has really stood out for you and that is your favourite on your journey?
The most important insight that drives our company is that we really focus on listening to both our clients and their stakeholders. We don’t come with a ready-made pack of solutions.
8. What characteristics do you think make a successful media entrepreneur?
You have to love and consume a ton of media yourself. Build a network that is solid.
9. Your advice to young media entrepreneurs or those looking to start new media businesses?
Look beyond the gloss of technology, focus on the community and create a culture of content excellence.
10. What, in your view, needs to happen to encourage more media entrepreneurs, and not just that, help them stay the course?
Investors have to pick media assets and make it worthwhile for those creating media startups.
11. How do you ‘pay it forward’?
By sharing our views via podcasts, masterclasses and public speaking.
12. What quote or passage do you think encapsulates you and your approach to business and success?
There’s no specific quote or passage. But curiosity is what I think keeps you going and geared for sustainable success.
