When the beloved character Elmo was hacked on X, it was a moment of digital chaos and a masterclass in how fragile brand trust has become in today’s internet. One disturbing post, one minute of vulnerability, and even a children’s icon can become part of the chaos economy.
We help brands navigate this volatility daily. The Elmo hack reinforced a critical truth I’ve long emphasized to clients: containment is only the beginning. I recently shared my take on the Elmo situation with PR News.
Timing Is Everything, but Trust Is Built in Advance
In a crisis, the first step is clear: lock it down. Secure the breach, remove the content, assess the scope, but speed alone won’t save your brand. What audiences demand next is clarity, accountability, and values-driven leadership.
What Sesame Workshop got right was their speed and their transparency. They didn’t hide. They deleted the offensive as soon as possible and responded clearly and quickly on X, with their values intact.
They earned the benefit of the doubt because they’ve spent decades building a brand that stands for education, kindness, and equity. That paid off in their response. This is a lesson every brand should internalize: the best defense in moments of crisis is trust that was built long before the breach.
When the Breach Becomes the Brand Moment
The truth is, not every brand has decades of goodwill like Sesame Workshop. For newer players, a crisis often becomes the public’s first interaction with the brand.
That’s exactly what happened with Tea Dating Advice, a startup positioned as a safer space for women to share red flags about potential dates. When Tea was hit with a major data breach in July 2025, it could have been the end. Instead, it became their brand’s defining moment, albeit a chaotic one. While the breach sparked backlash and legal scrutiny, it also catapulted the little-known app into the top 3 on Apple’s App Store within days.
Why? Because in 2025, notoriety travels fast, and crisis becomes content, but this moment came with a sharp edge: Tea hadn’t built the trust equity that Sesame Workshop had. They were still proving themselves when the breach hit. That’s why their trajectory remains uncertain, even as their visibility exploded.
If you haven’t built trust before the breach, don’t expect your audience to hand it to you after.
Brand Voice as Digital Armor
One reason the Elmo hack stood out so quickly? The posts didn’t sound like Elmo. That mismatch triggered alarms for followers.
This is a subtle but critical insight: a strong brand voice is a line of defense. When your voice is consistent and deeply embedded, your audience can detect when something is off. That early signal buys you time and credibility.
Building Your “Crisis Core”
We coach our clients to treat digital crises like fire drills. Who has access? Who approves statements? Who talks to the platform? Who owns cross-channel messaging? If you don’t know the answers in advance, you’re already behind.
Even more important is building what I call your “Crisis Core” – a foundation of trust, transparency, and values that’s visible in your everyday comms. It’s the groundwork that determines whether people believe you after the hack.
The Avenue Z Philosophy
We believe that influence is an infrastructure. Our job is to help brands build reputational resilience across every touchpoint, from social platforms to investor decks to TikTok. It’s why we marry strategic communications with performance media and AI-powered insights, and it’s why our work is rooted in one word: trust.
Influence fades without trust, but with it, you don’t just survive a crisis – you strengthen your position through it.
Final Thought
With social media, you don’t get to opt out of the chaos, but you can prepare for it. When it hits, your response won’t be measured by speed alone, but by whether your audience still believes you.
If you’re not building that belief every day, you’re already in crisis. You just haven’t seen the breach yet.
Is your brand prepared? Talk with our team.
Reputation Wins Business
Strategic communications that position your brand to lead—through trust, clarity, and influence.
