Reputation Management Case Studies: 3 Cases, 2018 to 2024

Reputation management case studies work best when each case is dated and sourced. This page compares three: Boeing's 737 MAX crisis from 2018 to 2024, the Silicon Valley Bank run of March 2023, and the July 2018 leadership exit at Papa John's. Each shows how speed, candor and leadership decisions shaped the outcome, and each links to a fuller analysis on this site.

Updated on Oct 22, 2026.

Ronn Torossian is the founder and chairman of 5W.

This library belongs to my reputation management guide, and it connects to the wider crisis communications hub.

Why use dated, sourced cases instead of a directory?

Dated, sourced cases let a reader check every claim, while a directory of case studies usually repeats unverified results. I keep this page short on purpose: three cases, each with a date, an outcome and a source a reader can open.

Many case-study pages in PR list client wins without a date, a number or an outside source. A reader cannot tell what happened, when it happened or whether anyone independent confirmed it. A smaller library with named sources is more useful, and it is safer to quote.

I only include a case here when I can point to at least two independent sources and when the case already has a full page on this site. The cases are well known crises, so the evidence is public.

Which three cases are in this library?

The library holds three public cases: Boeing from 2018 to 2024, Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023 and Papa John's in July 2018. The table gives the year, what happened, the outcome and where to read the sources.

What did Boeing's 2018 to 2024 record show?

Boeing's record shows that a company's public statements are judged against later evidence, and that leadership changes follow when the gap grows. The sequence is long, so the dates matter.

Lion Air Flight 610 crashed on Oct. 29, 2018, killing all 189 people aboard, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed on March 10, 2019, killing 157, according to the Manufacturing.net timeline. The same timeline says regulators grounded all 737 MAX jets within days of the second crash.

NPR reported on Dec. 23, 2019 that Boeing's chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg, was out, and that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) administrator had warned him to stop pushing for a faster recertification. In 2024, the timeline records that the FAA grounded 737 MAX 9 jets in January and that David Calhoun said on March 25 he would step down as chief executive by year end.

My reading is that the communications lesson is about promises. A company that gives a return-to-service date before regulators agree to it hands critics a deadline to measure. The full analysis is in my Boeing crisis communications case.

What did Silicon Valley Bank show about speed?

Silicon Valley Bank showed that in a financial crisis, customers can move their money faster than a company can finish a message. The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation reported that, in a single day, the bank received withdrawal requests of about $42 billion.

The DFPI release of May 8, 2023 says those requests, made on March 9, 2023, represented nearly 25 percent of the bank's roughly $166 billion in deposits. It adds that the department took possession of the bank on March 10, 2023, and that social media and digital banking accelerated the run.

The Federal Reserve published its own review of its supervision of the bank, dated April 28, 2023. That report examines the factors that led to the failure, including the Fed's own role as supervisor.

For communicators, the practical point is that a message must be ready before the event. Depositors, investors and reporters all read the same news within hours, so there is no time to draft from scratch. I cover this in my analysis of the Silicon Valley Bank run, and banks and other lenders can find sector detail in my financial services PR guide.

What did Papa John's show about spokesperson risk?

Papa John's showed that a founder who is also the public face of a brand can become the biggest reputational risk to it. On July 11, 2018, the company announced that founder John Schnatter had resigned as chairman, hours after he apologized for using a racial slur on a conference call in May.

The Associated Press account says the call was a media training exercise, that the University of Louisville also announced his resignation from its board of trustees, and that company shares fell nearly 5 percent that day. A CNN report gives the closing drop as 4.8 percent and notes that the company said it would name a new chairman in the coming weeks.

I draw a narrow lesson from this case. The apology came quickly, but the leadership exit came the same day, which suggests the facts were not in dispute. When the facts are not in dispute, an immediate and unqualified apology is usually better than a slow one. The related franchise angle is in my guide to franchise PR.

What do the three cases have in common?

The three cases share three patterns: leadership statements were tested against later facts, speed outran the planned message, and a personnel change became part of the story. These patterns are observations from the sources above, not a formula.

• Boeing: public confidence statements were measured against regulator actions and later findings.
• Silicon Valley Bank: customers acted within hours, before the company could finish its own communications.
• Papa John's: the person at the center of the story was also the brand's public voice.

When I advise a company, I ask three questions based on these cases. What claims have we made that a regulator or a document could contradict? What is our slowest approval step, and can we shorten it before a crisis? Who speaks for us, and what happens if that person becomes the story?

The first-24-hours process in my guide to managing negative press turns those questions into a working checklist. A company that wants outside help building that readiness can speak with a reputation management agency. The planning questions above are useful with or without one.

Frequently asked questions

What is a reputation management case study?

A reputation management case study is a dated account of a reputational event, what the organization did and what followed. A useful one cites outside sources for each fact.

Why does this library have only three cases?

This library has three cases because each one has at least two independent public sources and a full page on this site. A short, checked list is more reliable than a long, unverified one.

Do these cases prove that a specific tactic works?

These cases do not prove that a specific tactic works. They show what happened and when, and my commentary is clearly marked as interpretation.

How should a company use a case study in planning?

A company should use a case study to test its own plan, by asking whether its claims, approval speed and spokesperson choices would survive the same events. The questions at the end of this page are a starting point.

How are cases chosen and updated?

A case is added when it has two independent public sources and a dated sequence of events. The page is reviewed when new filings, reports or leadership changes alter the public record.

Where can I find more crisis examples?

More crisis examples are collected in my PR crisis examples page, which is part of the crisis communications hub.