Overby Center board member Leslie M. Westbrook will be speaking this week at PRSA’s New Orleans lunch-and-learn.
In 1982, when seven individuals in the Chicago area were fatally poisoned after ingesting Tylenol capsules laced with potassium cyanide, communications strategist Leslie Westbrook joined the “Tylenol War Room” team, working directly with McNeil Consumer Products Co./Tylenol President Joe Chiesa, Jim Burke, CEO of Tylenol parent company Johnson & Johnson, and the corporation’s PR agency Burson-Marstellar (now Burson Cohn & Wolfe.)
She served as the Key Consumer Link for all of the Tylenol research, R&D exploratory of new safety packaging and development of the capsule replacement design (caplet), and developed the critical PR language that paved the way for the corporation’s comeback following the tragic events.
What resulted from the incident’s strategic public relations and communications efforts has become the gold standard of crisis communications, the dominant case study in PR textbooks and teachings.
At this PRSA-NOLA lunch-and-learn, Leslie will focus on the big picture of crisis communications and how strategic public relations is a team effort, with each team member tasked with a specific role toward successful outcomes.
She’ll discuss the importance of developing and maintaining good working relationships with the media toward keeping consumers informed while minimizing the potential for crisis panic which can result from misinformation, speculation, or a perceived lack of critical information.
This event provides a tremendous opportunity for public relations and communications professionals and students and the media to hear first-hand insights from a member of the crisis communications team of the most famous public relations case in U.S. history, and the many lessons learned along the way.
Leslie M. Westbrook graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1968. Following graduation, she joined Procter & Gamble where she created a career as Consumer Research Specialist & Marketing Strategist.
In 1980, she founded her independent consulting firm, working with numerous Fortune 500 companies. She has served with the development teams for Pampers, Pringles, Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, and Dunkin’ Coffee, among other now leading global brands.
In 1982, she joined forces with the public relations and communications team handling the lethal poisoning crisis of seven individuals in the metropolitan Chicago area who had consumed Tylenol-branded capsules laced with potassium cyanide. The incidents soon dominated national news and led to copycat crimes.
As part of the “Tylenol War Room” team, Leslie worked directly with McNeil Consumer Products Co./Tylenol President Joe Chiesa, Jim Burke, CEO of Tylenol parent company Johnson & Johnson, and the corporation’s PR agency Burson-Marstellar (now Burson Cohn & Wolfe.)
She served as the Key Consumer Link for all of the Tylenol research, R&D exploratory of new safety packaging and development of the capsule replacement design (caplet), and developed the critical PR language that paved the way for the corporation’s comeback following the tragic events.
Though investigations determined that the poisoning was the result of criminal product tampering, and Tylenol/J&J ultimately were deemed not responsible for such, the company’s proactive response was unprecedented: a nationwide recall of 31 million bottles of Tylenol products and a loss of $!00 million.
The incidents also led to added security measures in the packaging of over-the-counter drugs and increased federal anti-tampering laws. What resulted from the strategic public relations and communications efforts has become the gold standard of crisis communications, the dominant case study in PR textbooks and teachings.
At the PRSA-NOLA luncheon, “Inside the War Room: Crisis Communications,” Leslie will focus on the big picture of crisis communications and how strategic public relations and communications is a team effort, with each team member tasked with a specific role toward successful outcomes.
She’ll discuss the importance of developing and maintaining good working relationships with the media toward keeping consumers informed while minimizing the potential for crisis panic which can result due to misinformation, speculation or a perceived lack of critical information.
This event provides a tremendous opportunity for public relations and communications professionals and students and the media to hear first-hand insights from a member of the crisis communications team of the most famous public relations case in U.S. history, and the many lessons learned along the way.
Leslie now serves as a co-teacher and guest-lecturer in Integrated Marketing Communications at Ole Miss, and she serves on the Board of the Overby Center for Southern Journalism & Politics. She is the founder of the LMW Endowment, which funds educational scholarships, food pantries, arts and cultural projects, medical/health/children support such as St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and Camp Kamassa for kids with disabilities.
Her Endowment also supports international humanitarian efforts including a mobile clinic in Ukraine and Doctors Without Borders, Plan International for children at risk. She and her husband Paolo Frigerio, originally from Milan, Italy, reside in Oxford, MS.
To sign up for this event, click here.