Pierpont Communications, Inc.

"Recurring ACORN aches Acorn International" – Terry Hemeyer talks crisis management for brand identity

October 02, 2009

Terry Hemeyer, Senior Council at Pierpont Communications, was recently interviewed by the Houston Business Journal about Houston-based consulting firm Acorn International being mistakenly associated with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). ACORN, a national nonprofit, has dominated headlines recently after the release of hidden-camera videos showing ACORN employees offering questionable counsel on home loans and tax evasion.

Terry was quoted saying that the naming confusion situation was not as dire as it could be.

“The ACORN scandal could be worse for Acorn International,” according to Terry Hemeyer, an adjunct professor in the business schools of both Rice University and The University of Texas, and a part-time employee of Houston’s Pierpont Communications Inc.

“For a business-to-business company, which these guys are, I don’t think it’s as serious as a consumer business,” says Hemeyer. “But you still want to move fast, somehow disavow in a diplomatic way any affiliation with this group. Get it out to your customers, and your employees who are talking to your customers.”

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