Nr. 3-4 /2017 - 8
The first months of 2016 brought Romania a series of cases of suspect illnesses which attacked the babies from Argeş County. When the situation got worse and deceases started to happen, the authorities found themselves in the position to appease the entire population. Medical investigations revealed the cause of the illness – an Escherichia coli bacteria infection.
Later investigations revealed the presence of this bacterium in a cow cheese lot, which was produced by a small milk processor from Argeş County. Pressed for public demands, the Minister for Agriculture, Achim Irimescu, released the press the name of the milk processor – Brădet. Since that moment, the manager of the factory started the communication with his publics – mainly on the organization’s official Facebook page. An immediate effect implied the messages going viral on the internet and the creation of a community of Romanians who have supported his cause from the beginning. This was the opportunity he created in order to save the company’s future.Using the triangulation as a method of research, the purpose of this article is to present the crisis communication strategy which was adopted by Lactate Brădet in the presented context, in order to estimate the campaign’s succes.
Keywords: Lactate Brădet, crisis, crisis communication, Facebook, opportunity.