CrowdStrike’s president accepting the ‘most epic fail’ award in person was a PR masterclass, experts say
CrowdStrike’s president himself just collected an award for the “most epic fail” following the company’s mass IT outage.
The cybersecurity firm’s president Michael Sentonas said he wanted to receive the award in person, because the company wants to own its mistake.
“I want every CrowdStriker who comes to work to see it. Because you know our goal is to protect people and we got this wrong and I want to make sure that everybody understands these things can’t happen,” Sentonas said while collecting the trophy.
The award was presented on Saturday night at the Pwnies, an annual award ceremony for cybersecurity professionals.
The ignominious accolade follows an outage last month where CrowdStrike disrupted business globally after a defect in a software update from the cybersecurity firm caused many thousands of Microsoft computer systems to shut down.
Sentonas’ short speech elicited applause and laughter from the audience, and experts told B-17 that accepting the award graciously was the right move.
One crisis communications expert said that showing up in person helped the company signal that it is still committed to transparency and accountability.
“Sentonas’ decision to accept the award in person is perceptually a PR win and a masterclass in crisis management,” said Jeremy Foo, CEO of public relations firm Elliot & Co.
“What could have potentially been remembered as a PR nightmare is now trending for the right narrative,” he said.
The award shows “that even tech giants are not immune to missteps, and treating them with humility and integrity, and just the right touch of humor can earn brand love.”
Admitting a mistake is usually the first step in addressing a crisis. This acknowledgment should authentically convey contrition to those affected by your actions, said Nathan Miller, a Los Angeles-based communications strategist.
The humor of the moment also served as an opportunity to illustrate how seriously CrowdStrike is taking the mistake they made, Miller said.
While the award ceremony may temporarily repair the company’s image, customers will remember what CrowdStrike does for the long term.
“Customers and partners who form CrowdStrike’s core stakeholders will want to see that the outage is taken seriously,” Foo said. “The key here is consistency.”
