Be ready when things go right

Ryan Murphy's "Love Story" brought JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette back into the cultural conversation for an entire generation that never knew them. But instead of seizing the moment, the brands and institutions with the most to gain chose silence, criticism, or both.

• Calvin Klein: $16.1 million in earned media (and a missed campaign). Searches for "Calvin Klein 90s" shot up 850% the week the show premiered. The brand earned $16.1 million in media impact value from "Love Story" mentions alone. Bloomberg literally ran the headline: "Calvin Klein Is Missing Its Carolyn Bessette Kennedy Moment." The cultural connection was rediscovered by millions, and the brand watched it happen from the sidelines.
• The Kennedy family: criticism instead of strategy. Jack Schlossberg called the series "grotesque" and a "capital F for fiction," urging Ryan Murphy to donate profits to the JFK Library. Meanwhile, the JFK Library itself didn't start a single visible campaign. No curated JFK Jr. exhibition tied to the cultural moment. No partnership, no content series, no merchandise push. Schlossberg asked Murphy to donate, while the institution he was championing did nothing to capitalize on the unprecedented attention.
• Who actually seized the moment? Content creators and magazines. They wrote about Kennedy films worth watching, about how to recreate their minimalist apartment, about the quiet luxury of 90s New York. They posted content that made people feel something — nostalgia, aspiration, connection.

Be ready when things go right. The same pattern plays out in companies across industries — from global corporates to owner-led businesses. An industry report goes viral. A political decision puts your sector in the headlines. Suddenly the public conversation is about your world. But many companies either don't have the infrastructure to move fast enough, or their organization isn't built for speed.

A crisis plan is essential for when things go wrong. Companies also need the strategic readiness for when things suddenly go right. Have a clear storyline in place, a process that allows fast execution, and awareness for the right timing. Catch the moment — or have it caught for you ;)