---
id: "17.5"
title: "Crisis communications"
dept: pr-and-communications
status: needs-you
owner: Param
branded: false
last_verified: "2026-10-26"
sources:
  - "brand-directions/bee/comms.html, apology and how an apology is built; dog/comms.html, raccoon/comms.html, octopus/comms.html, cooker/comms.html, apology for a mistake"
  - "brand-directions/docs2/data/dirs.json: every direction turns the character off for errors on our side, money, privacy and apologies"
  - "brew origin/main: docs/production.md:112-115; tools/prod-env.sh:9; legal-pages.js:33"
  - "handbook content/customer-success-and-support/notices-to-customers.dog.md, support-process.md, known-issues.md; content/product-marketing/release-notes.md"
  - "memory brew-shopify-connector-qa, brew-jam-v2, brew-go-live-2026-10-17, never-disconnect-arata-meta, brew-live-stores"
---

# Crisis communications

## Answer

We have no crisis plan: no source says who speaks, how fast, or what counts as a crisis, so this page holds what exists today, the kinds of failure we have already caught inside, a proposed way to answer, and the calls only Param can make.

## Today

### What exists

| Fact | Source |
|---|---|
| No notice system tells a brand about an incident; only a few in product messages exist | [src: handbook customer-success-and-support/notices-to-customers] |
| Alerts reach only us: Cloud Monitoring and the app's daily alerts email param@ and hello@ | [src: brew/docs/production.md:112-115] |
| One inbox, hello@joinsquareup.com, with no response time or rota | [src: handbook customer-success-and-support/support-process] |
| A deletion request is promised within 7 days in the product; the privacy page gives no time | [src: handbook customer-success-and-support/known-issues] [src: brew/legal-pages.js:33] |
| Arata's connections are protected in code and never disconnected | [src: brew/tools/prod-env.sh:9] [src: memory never-disconnect-arata-meta] |
| Every direction turns the character fully off for errors on our side, money, privacy and apologies | [src: brand-directions/docs2/data/dirs.json] |

### How an apology is built, in the comms books

All five comms books agree; the bee book spells it out [src: brand-directions/bee/comms.html, how an apology is built]:
1. Sorry first, in two words. [src: brand-directions/bee/comms.html, how an apology is built]
2. What happened, in plain words, with no blame on the founder. [src: brand-directions/bee/comms.html, how an apology is built]
3. What we did, and what we changed so it does not repeat. [src: brand-directions/bee/comms.html, how an apology is built]
4. An offer only a person can make. [src: brand-directions/bee/comms.html, how an apology is built]

It comes from a founder, by email, the same day we find it, with no character, no pun and no sound [src: brand-directions/bee/comms.html, apology] [src: brand-directions/octopus/comms.html, apology for a mistake] [src: brand-directions/cooker/comms.html, apology].

### Failures we have already caught inside

None of these reached the public; they show the kinds of thing that could.

| Kind | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| A wrong number on a card | A COD "failed" fact was written up as "40% COD failure"; COD is now two facts, never failed | [src: memory brew-shopify-connector-qa] |
| An invented claim in a draft | A Studio piece invented "10ml" and a fake review; designed pieces are now read back | [src: memory brew-jam-v2] |
| An unbacked health claim | Arata's stories printed "Dermat-approved formulations"; claims are now checked before drawing | [src: handbook product-marketing/release-notes] |
| A rival's creative copied | An image model copied a rival picture it was given; it now never gets the rival's picture | [src: memory brew-go-live-2026-10-17] |

## Tomorrow

| Item | Version | Tag |
|---|---|---|
| Three levels: a product error, a mistake that touched one brand, a public mistake | v1 | New, Proposed |
| A holding line ready for each level | v1 | New, Proposed |
| A notice to every affected brand inside the product | v1 | New, see notices to customers |
| Posting, measuring and ad changes each add their own failure kinds: a wrong post, a wrong result, a wrong spend | v2 to v4 | New, Proposed |

## How we do it

Proposed, until Param accepts:
1. **Level 1, a product error that cost nothing.** The product's own error line; the character may appear as a small icon only [src: brand-directions/docs2/data/dirs.json].
2. **Level 2, a mistake that touched one brand's trust:** a wrong number, an invented claim, data shown to the wrong person. A founder emails that brand the same day, built the four step way above. Fix it for every brand, heal saved data, then write it in [Known issues](/customer-success-and-support/known-issues).
3. **Level 3, a public mistake:** a post, a press piece, a platform suspension, a data exposure. Param decides within one hour; one holding line goes out from Param only; partners hear before the public.
4. A holding line to start from: "We got something wrong. Here is what happened, here is what we changed, and here is who to email." Fill each part with facts only.
5. Never speculate, never blame a platform or a partner, never promise a date we do not control.
6. A data exposure also follows the security and legal department's rules before anything is said.

## Numbers

| Metric | Definition | Where measured |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first word | Minutes from finding a level 2 or 3 issue to the first email | This document's log, Proposed |
| Issues by level | Count per month | This document's log, Proposed |
| Repeats | Issues of a kind we had already fixed | Known issues, Proposed |

## Open

1. **Who speaks in a level 3 crisis?** Proposal: Param only; Sai and Arvind forward every question to him.
2. **How fast is the first word?** Proposal: within one hour for level 3, the same day for level 2, as the comms books say.
3. **Do we keep a public status page?** Proposal: no in the preview; email each affected brand instead.
4. **What do we say if Meta or Shopify suspends the app?** Proposal: tell partners the same day which connector stops, that their data is safe, and that the other connectors keep reading.
5. **Who is the legal contact for a data exposure?** No source names one. Proposal: Param names one this week.