Identify a marketing risk and its mitigation.

• A. Brand risk from a social media crisis; mitigation: crisis communication plan.
• B. Budget overrun; mitigation: eliminate marketing.
• C. Supply delay; mitigation: ignore.
• D. Low ad recall; mitigation: stop advertising.

Answer: (A)

Managing brand risk from social media crises and having a crisis communications plan is a central idea in marketing risk management. A social media crisis can spread rapidly, harming reputation, trust, and sales; the best mitigation is a crisis communication plan that sets clear roles, pre-approved messages, and a timeline for rapid, consistent response. This plan also covers monitoring sentiment, choosing the right spokesperson, being transparent where appropriate, and outlining steps to restore credibility after the event. In contrast, treating risk with an extreme or impractical remedy doesn’t fit, such as eliminating marketing to handle a budget overrun. That ignores how to manage resources effectively, reallocate spend, or tighten targeting and measurement to stay on track. Ignoring a supply delay is likewise not a valid mitigation; proactive contingency planning, alternate suppliers, and inventory buffers reduce disruption. And stopping advertising to fix low ad recall isn’t effective; improving creative, message alignment, targeting, frequency, and testing usually helps recall better. So the strongest match is the brand risk from a social media crisis paired with a crisis communication plan, because it directly addresses reputational damage with a prepared, coordinated response.