Communication strategies to rebuild a positive image after a crisis External communication

Abstract

Organization's success is often heavily dependent on its image when interacting with existing and potential customers. It signals to others if they can trust the organization in question, and if they should pursue to get involved with it or not. Therefore, when the image of an organization has been damaged, the affected organization often uses image rebuilding strategies to regain trust among stakeholders and the general public. This is done in an attempt to tone down the financial damage it might cause to the organization, and to position themselves again in the image they want to portray to their surroundings. This paper examines the Nordea bank when it went through a crisis after being exposed for having major flows of money being laundered. A bank has a huge financial responsibility and therefore it is highly interested to follow and look deeper into their response towards being engulfed in such a serious event. In an attempt to repair its damaged image Nordea used different strategies after the crisis to rebuild it, depending on what channel that was examined. The media were used to answer the public's questions, their annual reports were used to paint a mitigated picture of their mistakes, and their social media channels were not used at all in addressing the crisis.