The role of strategic communication in facing paracrisis: a multiple case approach in the lab-grown meat industry

Framing of the research: The article focuses on the growing cultured meat industry and the strategic communication used in crisis contexts with a high media impact. Purpose of the paper: This article explores the strategic role that communication can play in preventing crises and minimising their negative effects in the cultured meat industry. Methodology: Using an exploratory methodology, the article analyses the communication strategies adopted by four leading companies in the cultured meat industry over one year on the social media Facebook through a content analysis with NVivo 14 software. Findings: The results of the study show that the strategies most used by the four companies analysed, namely, ‘reform’, ‘supportive PR’, and ‘revision’ strategies, were able to create good engagement with the public and stimulate optimism in public comments. These strategies emphasised the companies’ commitment to leading the challenges of this sector, educating the public, conveying transparent information, and creating synergies to broaden the audience. Research limitations: The limitations of this research, which future studies can overcome, are the small sample size, the subjectivity typical of content analysis, and the possibility of exploring multiple social media platforms to understand differences among consumer generations. Practical implications: The study provides many implications for managers and professionals in monitoring online debate and discussion to contain the negative narratives spread by detractors and develop communication strategies to highlight the positive contributions made by the company’s activities. Originality of the paper: This study’s originality lies in its appreciation of strategic communication’s central and multifaceted role in the innovative cultivated meat industry. Its essential role in the pre-crisis phase to monitor the external environment and identify influential stakeholders, that is, the public, is emphasised.