Can a poorly written news release take down a bank?

None of my marketing and communications peers would EVER rely on a single news release to convey such important topics, however the summary and the article itself are great reminders of the importance of having your communications staff at the table for ALL important matters.

Summary: Can a poorly written press release take down a bank?

Looks like we've got the proof that it can.

Next time you need to explain to your colleagues or boss why comms is not a "nice-to-have" afterthought but a business critical function and comms professionals need to be consulted from the start, just show them the case of the Silicon Valley Bank.

A brilliant article in Fast Company gives more details, but here is the gist:

🚩 The press release issued by Silicon Valley Bank was so poorly written no one could understand it. The timing of this release was bad as well.

🚩A key point about the bank suffering losses was buried somewhere at the end, which only fuelled stakeholders' suspicions that things were going bad.

🚩Instead of presenting a solid narrative explaining the bank's actions to reassure investors and depositors, the press release led to a bank run.

🚩In the absence of the reaction from the bank's leadership (it took a CEO almost 24 hours to comment and his statements did the opposite of reassuring), panic quickly spread on social media.

We all know the end of the story : the Silicon Valley Bank collapsed after depositors rushed to withdraw money making it the second-largest bank collapse in the U.S. history.

What do you think? Could a more thoughtful approach to communications softened the blow a bit?

Full story here: https://www.fastcompany.com/90867203/how-a-press-release-doomed-silicon-valley-bank

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