Sunday 19 February 2023 20:50
In January 2022, there were many people who were predicting a correction in the crypto market.
Bitcoin's price had just peaked in the final heady months of 2021, but few predicted the scale of decline that crypto markets experienced last year. Back then, the sector was feeling buoyant with a record number of new wallets registered, crypto ads emblazoned on the world's major sports teams and their stadiums, almost every Formula 1 car whizzing by with a crypto logo on its fuselage and a wall. of venture capital money. it was flowing into crypto startups.
So at the time it seemed like an odd time to launch REKT Partners, a specialist reputation management and crisis communications consultancy focused on the cryptocurrency sector. Crisis? What crisis?
But reputation and crisis communication expert George Godsal, founder of REKT Partners, thought differently. After a career advising some of the world's top companies and numerous foreign governments on reputation management, and a busy two years as global director of communications at BitMEX, the oft-beleaguered crypto exchange, Godsal launched REKT Partners in January. 2022, initially in Hong Kong. followed shortly by opening its doors in London.
โIt seemed to me that a lot of cryptocurrency companies were sleepwalking towards major reputational disasters,โ Godsal says.
โRegardless of the industry sector, it is common for companies to focus too much on promotion without adequately considering reputational risks, but I have never seen such an extreme imbalance as in the cryptocurrency sector.โ
Crypto has spurred the launch of many specialized marketing and communications companies over the last five years, as is typical for any fast-growing but fledgling industry.
Noting the early success and rapid growth of specialty agencies, large multinational generalist agencies had also begun promoting crypto โexpertiseโ in their efforts to secure assignments in the hottest new sector of town. And there was the opportunity for REKT Partners.
โI admire all the founders who jumped into launching crypto-focused consultancies a few years ago, and many have thrived,โ Godsal added.
โBut the reality is that there was a gap in the market for adult reputation advice that was as much focused on promoting brands as protecting them, staffed by people who really understand the industry because that's their only focus day in and day out. outside."
The idea to launch REKT Partners arose shortly after the three BitMEX founders became involved in legal trouble in the United States. Godsal was seeking reputation and crisis communication advisors to support him in the daunting task of managing communications for BitMEX.
โBack then, the choice was between large generalist agencies or much smaller specialized crypto PR firms,โ he explained.
โOn the one hand, the big generalists had a lot of crisis experience but knew next to nothing about the crypto sector. On the other hand, cryptocurrency PR firms knew the industry, but simply did not have the depth of experience in handling a crisis of the scale we were facing.
"From that moment I knew there was a great opportunity to launch a consultancy that combined adult reputation advice with a unique approach to the extraordinarily complex and ever-changing crypto industry."
Given the events of 2022, unsurprisingly, REKT Partners had a busy first year as the pendulum swung towards crypto leaders appreciating the value of reputation management much more acutely.
"I'm very proud of our track record of helping clients build reputations and increase sales, and I'm equally proud of the tough advice we've given clients that has meant they changed course and avoided reputational disasters," Added godsal.
"It's much easier to measure promotional success, but customers really appreciate tough advice."
Before entering the cryptocurrency industry full-time in 2020 when he joined BitMEX, George Godsal had a long and varied international career, living and working in the UK, Kenya and Hong Kong, traveling extensively advising clients across globally, particularly in EMEA and APAC.
His real-life experience could be mistaken for the plot of a far-fetched novel: helping repatriate 300,000 passengers stranded around the world after the collapse of a UK-based package tour company; rebuild confidence in tourism after a terrorist attack in North Africa; handling live communications during the siege of a West African hotel by militias; correct misconceptions about an Asian electronics giant versus highly competitive Western companies.
And it's not just advising clients that has forged Godsal's crisis expertise. His car was once stolen and kidnapped in Kenya while he was driving to his house on a Sunday night after picking up pizzas from a local restaurant, and he escaped unharmed a few hours later.
But is Godsal's undeniable expertise in crisis management really necessary to advise crypto clients?
โI have been extremely fortunate to have experienced some extraordinary customer issues during my career, and each issue has helped me become a better advisor,โ he says.
โYou cannot fake a crisis experience. Regardless of the type of customer issue you've experienced, from a relatively small event to a full-blown crisis, those organizations that purposefully built and managed their reputations before a crisis erupted are much more likely to survive and recover as well. of a crisis. crisis much faster.
"Therefore, I am on a mission with REKT Partners to help our clients prosper in the long term by placing double emphasis on promoting and protecting their reputation."
As the cryptocurrency sector accelerates in 2023, no one knows for sure which direction the market will take, or what inevitable twists and turns will be thrown our way. But it seems logical to take a much more circumspect approach to managing reputational risks and opportunities. Or "Don't receive REKT", as Godsal would say.
