A retail chain with a presence throughout Chile and its own store credit card discovered that an outside technology vendor had mistakenly exposed a database containing information on thousands of customers, including addresses and part of their purchase histories. The news first leaked on specialized forums and then spread to Twitter/X, where within hours it began going viral with screenshots and accusations of negligence.
The company was fighting on two fronts at once: possible public intervention by SERNAC and the risk of a mass customer exodus to competitors right before the biggest shopping season of the year. Its communications department had no experience managing a social media crisis of this scale.
We activated a response protocol in less than 24 hours: we coordinated with the client's legal and technology teams to notify affected customers transparently and promptly, before the information spread out of control; we designed a clear public communication strategy that took responsibility and detailed the corrective measures; and we deployed active social media monitoring to respond personally to every negative mention, preventing the conversation from turning into an organized boycott campaign.
Within four weeks, the volume of negative mentions fell by more than 85%, the company avoided formal sanctions from SERNAC thanks to its documented proactive response, and brand trust metrics in follow-up surveys returned to pre-crisis levels in less than two months.
