Proactive Strategies for Communicating About Activist Investors

Last Wednesday, Disney prevailed over activist investor Nelson Peltz’s Trian hedge fund in his widely publicized fight for two seats on the company’s board of directors. The contentious proxy battle played out in op-eds and celebrity endorsements for both Peltz and Disney CEO Bob Iger, and via paid media pieces programmatically fed to Disney shareholders and fans alike, ensuring that even those without a financial stake were aware of Peltz’s crusade.

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Each of these proxy battles contains lessons for communicators. We caught up with Ted Birkhahn, managing director at financial PR agency Vested, to learn how communicators who find themselves in a similar situation can strategize from a proactive place.

Before the proxy battle

As with any crisis communications strategy, being prepared starts with scenario planning—in this instance, planning around the specific risks that investors can pose.

“One of the things I see with a lot of companies is a lack of preparedness,” Birkhahn said. “It’s almost as if ‘it won’t happen to us’, then if and when it does happen to them, they’re immediately behind the 8-ball, playing catch up.”

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