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What is Dunlop Media?
Dunlop Media is a narrative communications advisory firm led by veteran US journalists. It trains leaders and teams to explain complex ideas in ways audiences remember and act on, working both in person and remotely. Its stated operating principle is that people are wired for stories rather than messaging, and it uses a proprietary narrative-based methodology rather than generic media coaching.
Its services fall into two broad tiers, as listed on its own site:
- Level One: strategic narrative design, communication readiness for print and online, media training for broadcast and video, and organizational alignment workshops.
- Level Two: media crisis training, business presentation training, executive communications leadership, and remote office hours at all levels.
A useful way to see the distinction:
| Focus | Typical need | Example service |
|---|---|---|
| Building the story | A leader or team lacks a clear, repeatable narrative | Strategic narrative design |
| Delivering the story | The story exists but delivery is weak under pressure | Media, crisis, or presentation training |
The firm says more than 40 Fortune 500 companies have engaged it, and it describes itself as the creator and exclusive teacher of the PATH and SPAR communications curricula. The team includes Steve Dunlop, Lisa M. Duchin, Bob Fasbender, Charles Feldman and Denisse Oller.
If you are evaluating it, start with the tier that matches your problem: Level One if your core message is unclear, Level Two if the message is sound but interviews, crises or presentations are where it breaks down.
How can media training help executives handle crisis interviews?
Media training helps executives handle crisis interviews by replacing improvised answers with a rehearsed narrative structure: what happened, what you're doing about it, and what audiences should expect next. The practical value is not "sounding polished" but staying accurate and composed when a reporter presses on gaps, blame or timelines.
What gets practiced
- Bridging from a hostile question back to your key messages without dodging the question outright.
- Answering the question you can answer ("here's what we know now") instead of speculating.
- Managing tone under pressure: pace, pauses, and avoiding defensive or legalistic phrasing.
- Handling "gotcha" follow-ups and repeated challenges without escalating.
- Recognizing when to stop talking — a common failure point in crisis settings.
Who benefits most
Executives who will be the public face of a specific incident: CEOs during recalls or outages, spokespeople during litigation-adjacent coverage, and operational leaders who must explain technical failures to non-technical audiences. Dunlop Media, for example, is a narrative communications advisory firm founded by veteran journalists, and its listed capabilities include Level Two Media Crisis Training alongside broadcast and video media training — so its model pairs message development with on-camera practice rather than media relations alone. See Dunlop Media.
A realistic scenario
A regional bank suffers a data breach on a Friday. The CEO has 48 hours before a live broadcast interview. Good training would cover: a two-sentence acknowledgment that doesn't over-promise, a specific commitment with a date, a prepared answer to "why should customers trust you now," and a rehearsal of the three hardest questions. Without rehearsal, executives tend to either over-apologize (creating liability) or deflect (creating hostility).
How to choose a provider
| Criterion | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Journalist-led trainers | They know how interviews are actually edited and framed |
| Crisis-specific module | General presentation coaching rarely covers hostile questioning |
| On-camera recording and playback | Executives need to see their own tells |
| Message development included | Delivery training can't fix an unclear position |
| Remote option | Useful when the crisis team is distributed |
Next step: before booking anything, write the three questions you'd least like to be asked about your current risk exposure. If you can't answer them cleanly on paper, training will expose that — which is the point. For general comparison, established journalism schools and professional associations also run crisis communications programs; the deciding factor is usually whether the trainer has sat in the interviewer's chair.
What is the difference between the PATH and SPAR communications curricula?
The supplied page names PATH™ and SPAR® as Dunlop Media’s own communications curricula but does not define either one, so a specific curriculum-by-curriculum comparison is not supported by the available information.
What can be said is that both sit inside a narrative-based communications practice: the firm says it helps leaders explain complex ideas so people remember and act on them, and its stated principle is that people are wired for stories rather than messaging. The service list shows the contexts where that teaching is applied — strategic narrative design, print and online readiness, broadcast and video media training, organizational alignment workshops, crisis training, business presentation training and executive communications.
If you need to choose between PATH and SPAR, treat the names as the start of a conversation, not a decision. Ask Dunlop Media which curriculum is intended for your situation: a leader preparing for interviews, a team that needs a shared organizational story, or an executive working on presentations and public speaking. Also ask about format and fit, since the firm says it works both in person and remotely, and offers remote Office Hours at all levels.
A practical next step is to send a short brief before a consultation: your audience, the setting (media interview, internal town hall, sales presentation or crisis), and the outcome you want. That will let the firm recommend the appropriate curriculum rather than you guessing from the acronyms. For context on the firm’s approach and team, see Dunlop Media.
Should I choose in-person or remote media training for my team?
Choose in-person training when the real problem is how your team behaves under pressure in a room: camera presence, body language, interrupting, thinking on their feet during a hostile interview. Choose remote when the problem is structure and message discipline — building a narrative, tightening talking points, or rehearsing across offices and time zones.
Dunlop Media describes its work as narrative communications advisory and says it delivers both in person and remotely, including "Office Hours" remote training at all levels (Dunlop Media). That mix matters: it means the format is a delivery choice, not a different product.
How to decide
| Your situation | Better fit |
|---|---|
| Spokespeople freeze, ramble, or look uncomfortable on camera | In person |
| You need a shared narrative and consistent talking points across a large team | Remote |
| Crisis simulation with a realistic, high-pressure interview | In person |
| Ongoing coaching, refreshers, individual reps between major sessions | Remote |
| Team spread across several cities or countries | Remote, with one in-person anchor session |
| Executives whose calendar is the main constraint | Remote, short frequent sessions |
A practical middle path
Run one in-person intensive for the people who will actually face cameras and hostile questions, then use remote sessions for everyone else and for follow-up practice. This is usually cheaper than flying a whole department in, and it keeps the highest-stakes performers in the format where feedback lands hardest.
What to weigh
In-person gives you full-room dynamics: you can see posture, hear hesitation, and run a mock press conference with an audience. It costs travel, room time, and scheduling friction. Remote removes those costs and makes repeat practice realistic, but it flattens the physical signals that often cause the problem in the first place, and it depends on participants having a decent camera and connection.
Two questions decide it quickly:
- Is the gap about what they say or how they hold up while saying it? Structure gaps tolerate remote; pressure gaps usually don't.
- Will this be a one-time event or an ongoing habit? One-time favors in person; ongoing favors remote with occasional in-person checkpoints.
If you are unsure, ask the provider to run a short remote diagnostic with two or three of your actual spokespeople, then decide the format for the full program based on what that session exposes.
How does narrative-based communication differ from traditional message development?
Narrative-based communication starts from the audience's understanding and builds a story they can retell. Traditional message development starts from the organization's key points and tries to make them memorable through repetition. The practical difference is what survives after the meeting: a message tends to fade, while a story tends to get passed on.
Dunlop Media describes itself as a narrative communications advisory firm and states its operating principle that "humans are biologically and culturally wired for stories, not messaging." Its methodology is designed to create what it calls true organizational storytellers rather than deliverers of messages, and it applies that approach across media interviews, presentations, print and online communication, and social platforms. That framing is the firm's stated position, not a universal rule.
What changes in practice
| Dimension | Traditional message development | Narrative-based communication |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | Approved key messages | Audience's situation and stakes |
| Unit of content | Talking point | Story with tension and resolution |
| Success measure | Recall of the message | Retelling and action |
| Spokesperson role | Deliverer | Storyteller |
| Weakness | Can sound scripted under pressure | Requires more preparation and judgment |
A concrete scenario
A hospital executive must explain a service consolidation to staff and local reporters. A message-development approach produces three talking points: quality, access, continuity. A narrative approach produces a story: the problem the community faced, the decision, who was affected, and what changes next. The second version is harder to build and easier to challenge, but it gives the spokesperson something to say when a question falls outside the prepared points.
How to choose
Use message development when the content is simple, the audience is already aligned, and consistency across many speakers matters most, such as a policy rollout or a compliance announcement. Use narrative development when the idea is complex, the audience is skeptical, or the spokesperson must perform under questioning, such as crisis response, investor presentations, or legislative testimony.
A useful next step is to test both on one real communication. Write the three key messages, then write the story a front-line employee would tell a colleague about the same change. If the story is more accurate and more persuasive, the narrative approach is doing work the message list cannot.
For teams that want structured training rather than a one-off document, Dunlop Media offers tiered programs including strategic narrative design, media and crisis training, and business presentation training, delivered in person or remotely.
What results have Fortune 500 companies achieved after working with Dunlop Media?
Dunlop Media does not publish client-specific outcomes, so no verified result figures exist for what Fortune 500 companies achieved after working with the firm. What the site itself claims is narrower: more than 40 Fortune 500 companies have engaged Dunlop Media, and the firm describes its reputation as resting on "insight, discretion, and results." That is a positioning statement, not a measured outcome.
What the site actually supports
- Reach: 40+ Fortune 500 engagements, per the firm's own overview.
- Method: a narrative-based methodology, with the PATH™ and SPAR® curricula taught exclusively by Dunlop Media.
- Stated goals for clients: turning employees into "true organizational storytellers," making internal and external presenters more persuasive, improving print and broadcast interview performance, and building influence across social platforms.
- Delivery: in person and remote, spanning strategic narrative design, media and crisis training, business presentation training, and executive communications leadership.
How to judge results yourself
Because the site offers no case studies with before-and-after data, treat the claim as a starting point for due diligence rather than evidence. Ask for named references in your sector, examples of a narrative built and the measurable change that followed (share of voice, message pull-through in coverage, win rate on pitches, internal survey movement), and whether the same team that pitched will deliver the training. The "discretion" positioning cuts both ways: it explains the thin public proof, but it also means you must request proof privately.
A practical comparison
| If your need is | Relevant Dunlop Media offering | What to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Executives facing hostile press | Media crisis training; media training (broadcast/video) | Recorded practice sessions and feedback format |
| Leaders presenting to boards or investors | Business presentation training; executive communications leadership | Whether coaching is one-to-one or group |
| A consistent story across the organization | Strategic narrative design; organizational alignment workshops | How the narrative is embedded after the engagement |
| Distributed teams needing ongoing help | Office Hours remote training (all levels) | Cadence, access limits and who staffs the sessions |
For general context on how media training firms present credentials, journalism schools and professional associations are useful reference points; the site's own team page lists five named specialists, several with newsroom backgrounds, which is the most concrete credential signal available.
Next step: request two or three references from companies of similar size and industry, and ask each what changed in a specific, countable way within six months. If references cannot name a change, the "results" claim is marketing rather than evidence.
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