Advice for Sony’s PR execs—from an ‘80s hair band

As the company restores its PlayStation Network following a devastating security breach, the company needs to ‘wash away the tears … [and] live again.’

Executives at Sony may want to take a page from the book of Nelson.

The platinum blonde duo, which rocked its way through the 1980s hair band scene, scored a No. 1 hit with the song, “After the Rain.” Among its profound lyrics: “After the rain washes away the tears/And all the pain/Oh, after the rain/You live again.”

Sony should take heed. For after the tears and all the pain that were caused when a hacker gained access to the information (including credit card numbers) of more than 100 million users of its PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment, it’s time for the company to pick up the pieces and live again.

The PSN was up and running again this weekend for many of its users (though not this author), and now, as The Wall Street Journal points out, Sony must work on restoring its once-stellar reputation.

Silicon Valley-based branding consultant Marc Rudov went as far as to say that Sony needs to “over-secure the network and over-communicate what they’ve done.”

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