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The VW crisis falls into the general PR crisis category of scandals and shenanigans that entail often-shocking revelations about a company. They often implicate specific corporate executives or managers. They can involve any type of aberrant behavior including accounting mischief, safety practices, and sexual activities.

Other types of crisis include: Accidents and disasters. These cover terrorist activities, plant fires and explosions, vehicle crashes, disease outbreaks, and other man-made catastrophes or natural disasters. Corporate crises in this category can be “no fault” for the company or the organization may bear full responsibility. The BP oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico is an example. Product, service or staff snafus.  These are negative customer experiences caused by employees, usually reported on social media or captured by citizen journalists. The category also involves product defects. Antagonistic attacks. These involve online or offline actions initiated by customers, competitors, activists or regulators who have a bone to pick with your business.

While the standard PR crisis playbook can apply to most crises, the Volkswagen emissions scandal is far from typical. It involves intentional government rule breaking, rather than straightforward mistakes involved in other recalls. The wrongdoing almost certainly involves many VW engineers and decision-makers, not just a few people as in many other PR crises.

The emissions test fraud was one of the most egregious examples of corporate misconduct in recent times, perhaps exceeded only by Enron’s financial fraud in the previous decade. Unlike most other examples of corporate maleficence, the emissions test rigging impacts most everyone in the world by causing more pollution. 

The PR Crisis Management Playbook The standard PR crisis playbook calls for corporations to: Follow a previously prepared crisis management plan that defines the decision-making process, spokespersons, outlets to contact, communications channels, and which stakeholders to update. Act quickly. Quickly disseminating information and responding to media inquiries is essential in crisis communication. The first 48 hours are critical. Silence enables speculation and reflects badly on the brand, as media outlets will publish stories and the public will reach conclusions whether the company comments or not. Be open and transparent. Release all the information you have in an open dialogue with the press and the public, using both traditional and social media channels, including the organization’s website and other owned media. Apologize. Delivering an appropriate, timely and sincere apology is a vital part of responding to a crisis. PR and business executives can learn from previous corporate apologies. Quickly cut ties with company employees, employees of affiliated firms or celebrity spokespeople accused of wrongdoing. Make amends. Provide help for any victims and their families. Demonstrate that the company is taking steps to protect the public. Actions speak louder than words in these situations. Monitor the situation. Employ a media monitoring service to obtain up-to-the-minute reports, identify media mentions that call for responses and gauge the effectiveness of  corporate communications.

The proliferation of digital interfaces when we interact with brands offers a perfect metaphor for how the industry should be thinking about brands. Agencies of all stripes need to think about how they can integrate big-thinking experience designers into their creative and strategy offerings. Inspirations include startups such as Uber, whose brilliantly designed mobile app and fleet of friendly drivers, is taking the pain out of ordering and paying for car service in urban environments.

Experience Design practice uses nontraditional, interdisciplinary teams whose shape depend on the brand in question. "This hyper-bundled approach helps us disseminate experience design and other thinking throughout all kinds of projects."

A recent Association of National Advertisers study delivered a grim finding on how agencies get paid: "New methods of compensation like value-based remuneration that rewards performance have not taken hold globally. Only 4% [of respondents] reported utilizing them." That's a depressing stat. Now here's a ridiculous one from a 4A's study: Agencies bill mobile developers at a rate less than half what account-services directors receive. The compensation crisis has been on the industry's radar screen for years. The decline of the cushy, reliable 15% commission, coupled with the rise of procurement, has led to downward pressure on agency margins and widespread complaints about agencies losing their status as partners to become lowly vendors. Assuming we're not going to ditch the very flawed charging-for-time model, the fix is clear: a shift to performance-based compensation agreements that reward effectiveness and not time sheet completion. Underwear purveyor Jockey International and its ag

ency, TPN, offer an excellent model based on, as Jockey CMO-exec VP Dustin Cohn described it, "earned profits and payment on work output." Agency and client work together to determine the scope of work and metrics that determine the entire profit markup. Said Mr. Cohn: "Putting all of their profits on the line validates that the agency really believes in the client-brand and what they can do to move it forward." Steve Blamer, former big agency CEO and compensation consultant, said it's up to agencies to become honest about profit margins and income levels. "I'm astonished at how reluctant agencies are to provide transparency around their costs." At the same time, client marketers need to be willing to pony up for deserving work. And some are not.

Lexus and SI aren’t the only ones trying to make the printed page more interactive. This month SI sister publication Entertainment Weekly included a small cellphone inside its Oct. 5 edition to display live tweets the CW, an advertiser.