Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Case

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3. As the brand is so intimately associated to here personality, Martha Stewart should have behaved in a way to restore stakehlorders’ trust. She should not have tried to differentiate her and the company because it left the public extremely puzzled. Martha Stewart should have used a transparent and open communication strategy, which would have minimized the magnitude of the crisis: By making her mea culpa, being honest with the general public, expressing remorse, she might have rallied people behind her cause and aroused compassion. A “no comment” approach would have left the media free to speculate that she was hiding something while facing public inquiries would have reassured Martha’s fans and then her shareholders. Moreover, Martha Stewart should have communicated with her internal stakeholders and guided them to speak up for the company, acting as Martha’s representatives. MSLO should have adopted a strategy of keeping Martha in the public everyday eyes. Using a more radical approach, she might have used her jail term as a communication tool for the company, publishing some articles on her website: How to enjoy bad prison food? (ie how to prepare a good meal with the most basic food) How to set up a 5sq meter room? (ie how to create a cocooning atmosphere in a tiny space)… Thus, this scandal may have been considered as a good opportunity for MSLO: Many media outlets were interested in the story making it easy for MSLO to spread their messages. Martha Stewart’s vulnerability during the time of her trial and imprisonment allowed for the reshaping of her image and to display a more humble persona for all to see.