You are a member of the Corporate Communications Department for QuantaCare, a major pharmaceutical company. One of your company’s most profitable products is a rescue inhaler called BreatheEZ. Your product is used by asthmatics to treat their condition in the event of a life-threatening asthma attack. This product is well-established and has great brand recognition—the public can easily identify your product’s logo and consider it to be a trusted brand for their family.

Problem

It’s 6:00 am on a Friday morning. Your CEO just called your boss and said, “We have a crisis. Check the news and have your team meet me in the War Room ASAP.” The Associated Press and Reuters are running the headline, “Defective BreatheEZ asthma rescue inhaler linked to the hospitalization of a 21-year-old male.”

Facts you’ve confirmed by 8:00 am:

• A 21-year-old asthmatic male attempted to use his BreatheEZ inhaler during an asthma attack. The product failed to work. 911 was called and emergency personal were able to stabilize the patient who is now in stable condition at a local hospital.
• The Chief Resident at the local hospital called your customer complaint department late last night to report that the patient’s BreatheEZ inhaler did not appear to have contained the active ingredient.
• The local news is picking up the story and will air it shortly; news is already breaking on social media.

Facts you’ve confirmed by 9:00 am:

• The CEO tells your manager, the Vice President of Corporate Communications, to develop crisis communications for all necessary stakeholders. This needs to get out ASAP. You have been assigned to write a communication to one of the stakeholders.

In a corporation, a stakeholder is a member of "groups without whose support the organization would cease to exist," as defined in the first usage of the word in a 1963 internal memorandum at the Stanford Research Institute. QuantaCare has many stakeholders, and without their support or involvement with our company and our products, we would not be a profitable company. As the manufacturer and distributor of BreatheEZ, we need to reach out to key stakeholders before rumors start to build.

Required

Who is your audience?

What are their characteristics?

What makes them unique?

How will they react to my message?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Audience of the product BreatheEZ People of adult age who suffer from asthma or associated respiratory problems They can be divided into different gro... View the full answer