During a time of crisis, communication teams can crack under pressure and internal reporting often falls out of sync. By the time your team is aligned and a response is written and approved, media and other stakeholders may already have decided the narrative, while your reputation hangs in the balance.
After careers spanning multiple expert roles in corporate communication – Peter Otten on the media and agency side, and Laurent Winnock on the client side – both have seen this happen time and time again:
A crisis happens, a response is delayed, a reputation is tarnished.
To support communication teams during this crisis, when time is of the essence, they set out to develop a platform that lets you take control of the very first alert and helps reduce reputational risk to a minimum.
The platform offers a secure way to draft communications, align all departments involved and streamline messaging across stakeholders and channels, enabling you to provide fast responses to keep you in control of your messaging.
Why? Because crisis communication moves in minutes. Your response should too.
Co-founder
Peter Otten is a highly skilled crisis and communications expert who helps organisations safeguard their reputation when it matters most. He started his career as an in-house journalist at Belgium’s largest newspaper, Het Laatste Nieuws. He directed the Belgian PR and Corporate Communication teams at Hill & Knowlton Brussels, after which he led offices for Ketchum in Brussels and Amsterdam for more than 10 years.
Prior to co-founding FirstHour.ai ™, he revitalised the PR division at TBWA Belgium, marking over 3 decades as a corporate communications professional.
With his extensive operational and strategic expertise guiding companies and their C-suite through media and stakeholder crises, Peter offers deep strategic insights and a calm, hands-on energy to every challenge.
Co-founder
Laurent Winnock is a seasoned strategic communications professional who has been helping organisations and their leaders communicate with clarity, credibility and impact for more than 2 decades. Trust and transformation are key pillars within his strategic repertoire and have led him to senior roles in political and government communication, and corporate leadership.
He has led major communications and reputation transformations at ING, bnode group and AXA to name a few. For these projects, he pioneered with integrated newsroom models to strengthen the organisations’ reputation and to accelerate decision-making in crisis situations.
We’re an AI-powered crisis response platform designed to help organisations prepare for and manage 360° reputation crises. Rooted in communications expertise, we offer every tool needed to communicate with speed, security and consistent messaging across multiple channels.
A crisis response demands speed without sacrificing judgement; therefore, we offer aligned messaging, swift content generation and structured approvals throughout the platform. Our secure system stores all data in a vault-like environment, based in Europe.
The platform is built for communication, PR, legal and leadership teams across companies, institutions and governments. In brief: any team that requires reliable crisis workflows, verifiable accountability and audit-ready control.
We’re an AI-powered crisis response platform designed to help organisations prepare for and manage 360° reputation crises. Rooted in communications expertise, we offer every tool needed to communicate with speed, security and consistent messaging across multiple channels.
A crisis response demands speed without sacrificing judgement; therefore, we offer aligned messaging, swift content generation and structured approvals throughout the platform. Our secure system stores all data in a vault-like environment, based in Europe.
The platform is built for communication, PR, legal and leadership teams across companies, institutions and governments. In brief: any team that requires reliable crisis workflows, verifiable accountability and audit-ready control.
No fluff, expert-led and secured communication that moves fast. Tailored to your audience and your media reality.
Crisis communication moves in minutes. Your response should too.
Firsthour ™ 2026
Crisis communication moves in minutes. Your response should too.
Firsthour ™ 2026
