What is Holding Statement?
A holding statement is a brief, pre-approved statement issued in the first minutes or hours of a crisis. Its job is to acknowledge the situation, signal that the company is responding, and buy time to gather facts and prepare a fuller response — without admitting fault, speculating, or making commitments that cannot be kept. Strong holding statements are drafted in advance for likely scenarios (breaches, outages, executive departures) so they can ship in minutes, not hours. Crackle PR pre-drafts holding statements for likely crisis scenarios (breach, outage, executive departure) as part of every client's onboarding — because the difference between shipping in 15 minutes and 2 hours is often the difference between a one-day story and a one-week one.
Related terms
Crisis Communications
Strategic communications during high-stakes events — breaches, layoffs, executive transitions, controversies.
Rapid Response
An always-on capability to act on breaking news within hours, not days.
Media Training
Coaching executives to handle interviews, on-camera appearances, and high-stakes communications.
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