Photo (l-r: Kirk Stewart, Erich Joachimsthaler, Randall Ringer, Jenny Dervin)

“Brand crises can now happen in unexpected places,” observed Randall Ringer, managing partner and co-founder of Verse Group. He moderated an AMA/American Marketing Association panel about preventing and reversing brand crises on Thursday in New York.

Panelists included Kirk Stewart, executive vice president at APCO Worldwide; Jenny Dervin, director of corporate communications at JetBlue Airways; and Erich Joachimsthaler, founder and managing partner at Vivaldi Partners.

They all agreed that these days it is not a matter of whether a brand crisis may happen, but when. The “unexpected” places can also include customer critiques on Twitter along with negative media reactions to brand logo changes.

Stewart outlined ten principles of brand crisis management and noted, “These may seem obvious, but companies often lose sight of simple rules when they are under attack.” He used BP as an example of what not to do.

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Slater wisely pleaded guilty yesterday to two counts of attempted criminal mischief, and wisely kept any harbored commentary about his former employer to himself.  His publicist Howard Bragman–whose firm is appropriately called Fifteen Minutes–gave Larry King the exclusive sitdown on October 26th, followed by taped interviews the next morning on the Early Show, GMA, and the Today Show, according to a scoop by the Hollywood Reporter.

Bragman will play the next card shortly, not revealing anything yet about Slater’s future–assuming there’s some deal to be made, “We got through the legal challenges and now we’re focusing on what comes next.  We’re open to an interesting discussion about projects and ideas,” he told THR.  Despite playing the crazy, drunk card (he is sentenced to mental health counseling and isubstance abuse treatment in lieu of jail time), Slater seems to be a good client, dropping funny and self depricating quips at just the right moments in the news cycle.

We’re looking forward to King’s classic interview style:  “So what’s it like to slide down one of those chutes?” (paraphrase)

UPDATE:  Upon writing this post, the media reported that Slater’s apartment was robbed by his partner’s brother while he was in court.

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This post was written by Nancy Lazarus, contributor to PRNewser.

The past two weeks have been eventful for JetBlue spokesman Steve Stampley. PRNewser talked to him this week about the incident regarding flight attendant Steven Slater. We focused on JetBlue’s employee communications initiatives, the media and public reactions as well as lessons learned in the aftermath.

Some of the general public’s reaction was initially favorable towards Steven Slater. To what extent has JetBlue monitored and analyzed the reactions from more targeted audiences, including your crewmembers/ employees?

We’ve reviewed their reactions, though not through official channels. We engage with a number of our crewmembers through social media via Twitter and Facebook. Though we have not done it with this story, there is an internal website where we keep an ongoing dialogue.

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If only everyone got this much attention for quitting their job. Veteran Hollywood publicist Howard Bragman is now representing Steven Slater, the Jet Blue flight attendant who famously walked off the job last week.

“I can officially confirm that I am now representing Steven Slater,” Bragman said in a statement. “While my work will include media relations, my team at Fifteen Minutes and I will be helping him sort out the scores of offers that have come through in the past week from media producers, brands and other interested parties.”

Bragman has been in the news a lot lately, as he is working on his own reality show about celebrities “coming out,” an area of PR counsel he has specialized in for some time.

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–Steven Slater in anime, updated with shirtless boyfriend (above)

–Newsday is firing hiring a bunch of reporters!

–Let the begging begin: Panel Picker Voting now open for South by Southwest. That’s #SXSW to you, buddy.

–Q&A with Hugh Hefner, pajama-wearing octogenarian Playboy founder.

–JetBlue acknowledges its entire crew, and “like, the entire Internet”

–Audit Bureau of Circulation releases Top 20 list of magazines. AARP is tops; Gameinformer squeeze in amongst the oldies.

–Robert Gibbs not equipped with inflatable exit from the White House.

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