News and Insights
FINN Partners Advances Its Risk Intelligence, Crisis Mitigation and Campaign Readiness Offering, Hires Media Forensics Founder David Krejci to Lead the Charge
July 26, 2024
NEW YORK – FINN Partners, a leading global integrated marketing and communications agency, today announced that David Krejci, CEO and founder of Media Forensics and a 27-year public relations veteran, will be joining the firm as Partner.
David is a pioneer in managing social media disruption, introducing the industry’s first crisis simulation software in 2010. Krejci later helped introduce digital forensics into the media landscape as a strategy to address the insurgence of misinformation that had become part of the fabric of the Internet. In 2020, David launched his own consultancy, Media Forensics, to push this strategy further. His work has grown alongside the growth in disruption, and now addresses an ever-evolving set of challenges, including:
- Mis/disinformation
- Polarizing ideologies
- Inauthentic accounts
- Disruptive technologies
- Conspiracy theories
- Changes in journalism
- Artificial Intelligence
- Hostile and mobilized agitators
According to a recent study from Resolver, corporate leaders are aware of these types of risks, but are less aware of their potential for reputational damage, and perhaps even less aware of how to address the problem. The survey of Fortune 500 corporate C-suite leaders found that 80% of survey respondents forecast greater digital risk for their organizations in 2024; 86% fear their brands will face multiple reputational risks; and 66% believe these risks will stem from misinformation.
To address these realities, media forensics starts by gathering data from more than 50,000 sources online. Next, AI renders the data consumable for human analysis. Media forensics experts—skilled in Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) and fluent in the deeper web—scour that data to identify the methods and motives behind the individuals and groups that are relevant to a client’s business. Coupling this forensic analysis with an expert understanding of the immediate cultural landscape completes the investigation. Results and recommendations are delivered, arming clients with the information and tools needed to develop an informed strategy and playbook for crisis mitigation or creative campaigning.
Media forensic work at FINN will fall into three offerings:
- Campaign Readiness: identifying potential blowback before a creative launch, thereby allowing the campaign to focus on resonant audiences rather than exhausting resources on dissonant individuals or groups; deliverables can include crisis simulation training and playbooks, channel strategy recommendations or alterations to the creative if needed
- Crisis Mitigation: forensic analysis of key players in a crisis, including the method and motive behind their actions, to better anticipate and mitigate crises; deliverables can include risk intelligence reports, forensic monitoring and crisis messaging guidance
- Forensic Monitoring: augmenting traditional social listening dashboards by forensically investigating method, motive and role of groups and individuals relevant to the brand; deliverables can include daily, weekly and monthly reports, crisis reporting and strategy, and risk intelligence counsel
“The traditional methods of managing the current disruptions in our media ecosystem were largely built to handle a far different time,” said Krejci, “a time before intractable conspiracies and divisions; before algorithms, bots, gen-AI, and deepfakes; before TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Discord, Telegram, MeWe, 4chan, 8kun. Misinformation and disruptive technologies have existed for centuries, but the dissemination of misinformation today is so complex, broad and voluminous that traditional methods to manage it are grossly out-muscled. A media forensics strategy is what we believe our clients need and deserve to combat this ever-changing and volatile environment.”
Krejci will help provide media forensics services, consulting and preparedness to FINN Partners clients to help address mis/disinformation, crisis mitigation and campaign readiness in 2024.