J.Crew experienced a crisis following layoffs at its headquarters that damaged its reputation. It failed to properly manage the crisis by not responding to negative press or engaging with stakeholders. This allowed the narrative to be controlled by media. J.Crew should have anticipated issues, had a crisis plan, responded immediately after the layoffs with accountability and plans for reform, and monitored the situation ongoing with transparent communication. Proper crisis management could have minimized reputational harm and strengthened J.Crew's brand.

1. Crisis Analysis
By Andy Slaughter

2. Brand and Industry Background
Over the past year, J.Crew Inc., a once leading brand on the verge of entering IPO
status, experienced a slew of reputational issues regarding its clothing and brand in
general, following substantial lay-offs in their New York City headquarters that continue
to tarnish the once competitive retailer.
However, J.Crew is not the only brand suffering from the brick-and-mortar dilemma.
Some of the country’s most popular retailers including Nordstrom, JCPenny, Gap and
Polo Ralph Lauren have reported below average quarters as shares continue to
plummet, leaving stores with surplus goods and disappointing sales results (NY Post,
2016). Industry experts anticipate the downward trend will be continuous, as shoppers
are more savvy and digitally inclined than ever.
“This is the new normal, except that it’s not really that new,” said Nomura analyst
Simeon Siegel. “At the end of the day, e-commerce has changed the rules of the game,
and it’s going to take a long time for the retailers to adapt” (NY Post, 2016).
And with eighty million millennials in America, representing a fourth of the entire
population, a new study of 1,300 millennials by Elite Daily and Forbes revealed the
following about their shopping habits:

3. • Only 1 percent are influenced by advertising
• Most would rather purchase a car than a house
• Purchase habits are based on online engagement, particularly blogs
• Authenticity is more valuable than content
• They want to engage with brands on social networks
• They want to co-create products with companies
• They are brand loyal
• They’re on multiple tech devices
• They expect brands to give back to society
(Forbes, 2015)
With this in mind, we can begin to analyze J.Crew’s crisis mismanagement as it
compares to the retail industry as a whole.
Issue
After months of declining sales and disappointing numbers, J.Crew Inc. announced that
it would be cutting 175 jobs from across its three brands (J.Crew Retail, Factory and
Madewell) early in June 2015 (New York Times, 2015). Sales from its flagship store
were down 10 percent at that time, with an estimated $1.5 billion in debt from a
leveraged buyout that occurred early in 2011 (New York Times, 2011). What’s more,
while retailers like H & M and Forever 21 continue to push inexpensive, fast-fashion
trends, J.Crew has increased its price-points and cut employee numbers, leaving a
huge gap for competition, and lower-priced brands, to flourish (New York Times, 2015).

4. With negative press circulating around the country after its mass firings, J.Crew avoided
communication with media and internal stakeholders for weeks, and eventually took a
defensive approach when addressing the issues at hand.
The ensuing press looked like this (2015):
• J.Crew executive taunts after mass firing (NY Post)
• J.Crew even more J.Screwed (Forbes)
• J.Crew might be in danger, according to analysts (Complex)
As of May-June 2016, the negative press continued:
• J.Crew says the Golden days are back, but customers aren’t buying it (BFeed)
• We went to J.Crew and saw why their brand is in trouble (Business Insider)
• Dear J.Crew, What Happened to Us? We Used to Be So Close (WSJ)
Opinion and Crisis Analysis
It is evident that J.Crew had a terrible crisis mismanagement as they alienated their key
audiences by using silence as a tool of response and later interacting with key
audiences in defensive and impersonal ways, forgetting that engagement with key
stakeholders and media is a finite source, not an infinite commodity, requiring reciprocity
(room for discussion) and a true human element (The Science of Engagement, Weber
Shandwick Report 2014).

5. That said, J.Crew failed to appeal to its target audience, answer questions about their
company changes, create a platform for engagement to aficionados and others alike,
and position their executives with opportunities that would highlight their strengths
instead of their weaknesses.
Capitalizing on an opportunities (and a threats)
1. Issues Management Monitoring (Anticipating Crisis)
Most, if not all of the issues mentioned by media since J.Crew’s crisis, had long been
known by customers and other relevant stakeholders. Conversations were spiking on
social for months, with no engagement from the CEO or other brand leaders. Moreover,
media relations tactics were underutilized and vastly unsuccessful as media were left to
control the narrative.
In this pre-crisis stage, Coombs (2006) and Barton (2001) believe that crisis are best
handled when:
• Crisis plans are updated annually
• A designated crisis management team exists
• Organizations conduct exercises to test plans
• Crisis messages are pre-drafted
I firmly believe that despite their lay-offs, a long-tail communication plan empowering
internal employees and external stakeholders including media and customers, could’ve
prevented negative press and given J.Crew the power to shape public opinion. On the

6. media front, the press should’ve been utilized as a strategic ally that functioned under a
well-kept existing relationship, rather than one-hit communication source (Khodarahmi,
535) (Berstein Crisis Management, 2013)(Coombs, 2007).
2. Identifying Internal Problems—Enacting and Revamping Existing Crisis Plans
It is clear that J.Crew did not have a defined crisis plan, which led to a standstill in
communication that later led to their defensive and irrelevant messages to their key
audiences.
If they had analyzed and identified their problems internally, the brand could’ve better
prepared to implement changes to their business model and amend issues, while
placing a stronger focus on building strategic campaigns that would effectively manage
the situation. J.Crew should’ve also tested its Crisis Management Plan (CMP)
repeatedly, to ensure its validity and overall value (Coombs, 2007).
I would also have ensured that their crisis plans had identified stakeholders, existing
media relationships, key experts/spokespeople, pre-approved holding statements, and
notification monitoring systems that would’ve made information-sharing more fluid
(Topper and Lagadec, 2013) (Berstein Crisis Management, 2013)(Coombs, 2007).
3. Immediate Crisis Response, Situation Analysis and Response
In the weeks following their issues, J.Crew opted for silence and continued posting jobs
on their social platforms as they ignored traditional media and pitched fluffy stories
instead of facing the issue head on. Additionally, we never saw their CEO or senior

7. executive face the media and protect the brand, but instead saw little to no impact from
internal spokespeople—a tactic that Lerbinger and Coombs (2007) find incredibly
important to successful crisis control (Berstein Crisis Management, 2013)(Coombs,
2007).
In my opinion, an accommodative approach would’ve best-suited J.Crew encompassing
the following steps:
Regret: Immediate response from CEO, apology and acknowledgment of miss to key
audiences, including valued shoppers, investors and internal communities.
Resolution: Detailed analysis and discussion of what went wrong, creating a platform
for communication that pushed transparency and authentic.
Reform: Statement of how the company would try to fix issues at hand to better serve
their customers, stand out from other retailers, and try to prevent this issue in the future.
Restitution: Finding a way to express how they’ll make it up to their key publics and
internal employees, including a micro-site with press materials and avenues for
customers and media alike (Berstein Crisis Management, 2013)(Coombs, 2007).
4. Ongoing Monitoring, Authentic Storytelling, Strategic Corporate Placements
and Capitalization on Key Relationships
While it’s important to give the story room to breathe, it is imperative that the brand have
strategic plans in place and stories ready to pitch, empowering their work culture,
sharing authentic stories and providing the media with updates (as they are fit) to

8. capitalize on transparency and key relationships (Coombs, 2007).
The organization should’ve focused their efforts in releasing updates on corrective
actions in the form of campaigns, website updates and personal conversations with
existing media to offset reputational damage. Moreover, having a notification system for
the press would’ve also served as a great way to reach interested stakeholders
instantaneously (Coombs, 2007)
Closing Remarks
While there are many other post-crisis evaluation measures I find imperative to gaging
the company’s progress in the public sphere, I find these primary points to be vital ways
to remedy J.Crew’s negative exposure. I believe that if done right, these steps would’ve
minimized reputational harm, increased brand awareness and capitalized on key
messages and company values that would’ve strengthened the overall perception of the
brand (Coombs, 2007). In my opinion, the future of J.Crew—and other brands like it—
relies on the level of importance placed on communication efforts, but more so, the
willingness for the company to address internal issues head on, and allow their
authentic story to flow from within.

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