Responding to Crisis: Assessing Situational Crisis Communication of the Costa Concordia Crisis A case study of the Costa Concordia Crisis January 2012

Tine  Grarup    

July  28th  2012    

Corporate  Communica8on  in  Crisis  and  Change  MARSTER  of  ARTS  in  CORPRATE  COMMUNICATION  

Agenda The  Findings  

Crisis,  Predictability  &  Control  

Crisis  Prepara8on  

Ques8ons  and  Comments  

Framing  

Corporate  Spokesperson  

Crisis:  Ready  or  not?  

The Findings •  Situa8onal  Crisis  Communica8on  Theory  ▫  Matching  crisis  response  to  the  crisis  situa8on  

 

•  Recommenda8ons  and  norma8ve  guidelines  were  not  followed    ▫  A  mismatch  of  contradic8ng  response  choices    

 

•  Yet...  Corporate  reputa8on  survives  

•  Ques8oning  the  effect  of  standardized  theore8cal  norms  ▫  What  could  the  effect  of  crisis  prepara8on  have  had  on  the  Costa  Concordia  crisis  

Crises, predictability & control

Unbelievable  …but…  

Predictable  

Plan  for  what  you  can  expect,  and  do  your  best  to  prepare  for  what  you  can’t  

Careful  prepara8on  in  advance  can  help  ensure  corporate  survival  when  crisis  strikes,  especially  in  the  new  media  age  where  news  oQen  skip  the  tradi8onal  informa8on  route.  

Crisis preparation

First,  when  possible  •  Have  structures  and  procedures  in  place  to  facilitate  a  fast  response  

•  Acknowledge  that  in  today’s  media  world  you  cannot  get  in  front  of  the  story  

 

Most  credible,  always  •  Have  a  robust  presence  in  both  tradi8onal  and  social  media  •  Be  constant  in  your  communica8ons,  also  during  a  crisis    

Forces  planning,  prepara8on  and  prac8ce  to  enable  success  

Surprise   Panic  

Prepara8on  can  improve  crisis  outcome  and  brand  advocates  

Step  1:  Diagnose  vulnerabili8es  

Step  2:  Crisis  management  team  

Step  4:    Spokesperson  

Step  6:  Communica8on  protocol  

Step  7:  Crisis  management  plan  

Step  3:  Internal  corporate  policy  

Step  5:  Monitoring  social  media  

Crisis  Management  Plan  

•  All  crisis  communica8ons  are  done  in  a  nega8ve  environment  

•  Story-­‐building  construct  frames  for  sense-­‐making  

•  Tell  the  story  you  want  people  to  know  

•  The  frames  are  created  and  altered  through  interac8on  

•  Reframing  might  be  necessary  

Framing

You  decide  yourself  what  you  want  people  to  make  sense  of…  

Corporate Spokesperson

Myth  1:    

Only  the  CEO  can  speak  for  the  company  •  OQen  chosen  for  skills  that  do  not  include  

communica8on,  influencing  or  persuasive  conversa8on  

 Business  execu8ves  

Gallup  poll  of  honesty  and  ethics  of  professions  (2011)  

Corporate Spokesperson

The  corporate  spokesperson  should  be…    

•  Somebody  who  handles  themselves  well  under  pressure  

•  Somebody  who  is  available  to  the  press  

•  Somebody  who  has  media  training  or  is  able  to  conduct  themselves  in  

front  of  the  media  and  on  camera  

•  Somebody  who  comes  across  as  being  very  sincere,  honest  and  real  

•  Somebody  who  knows  the  situa8on  

Myth  2:  There  must  be  only  one  spokesperson  •  Valuable  to  have  different  spokespersons  as  long  as  their  roles  are  well  defined  and  clearly  understood  by  the  media  

   •  Speak  with  one  voice  does  not  necessary  mean  one  person  but  rather  consistency  

 Crisis  prepara8on  will  ensure  consistency  and  most  likely  also  limit  mistakes  made  

Corporate Spokesperson

“We  will  use  all  of  his  statements  against  him”  

Mike  Eidson,  personal-­‐injury  lawyer  

No  maier  if  you  like  it  or  not,  crises  will  happen,  and  being  prepared,  learning  from  your  mistakes  

will  help  ensure  the  crisis  outcome    

Learning  from  Lean  and  Kaizen  principles  Con8nuous  improvement  

Refences •  Anthonissen,  Peter  F.  Crisis  Communica8on  –  prac8cal  PR  strategies  for  reputa8on  

management  and  company  survival.  Kogan  Page:  London,  2008.  •  Bernstein,  Jonathan.  Manager’s  Guide  to  Crisis  Management.  McGraw-­‐Hill.  2011  •  Coombs,  W.  Timothy.  Ongoing  crisis  communica8on:  Planning,  managing,  and  

responding.  Sage:  Thousand  Oaks,  CA,  2007.  •  Grarup,  Tine.  Responding  to  Crisis:  Assessing  Situa8onal  Crisis  Communica8on  of  

the  Costa  Concordia  Crisis.  Corp.  Comm.  In  Crisis  &  Change.  2012  •  Hanks,  Douglas.  “Costa  Concordia  wreck  leaves  hos8le  PR  wake  for  Carnival  Cruise  

Lines”.  The  Miami  Herald.  Jan  24,  2012.    •  Lewis,  Laurie  K.  Organiza8onal  Change:  Crea8ng  Change  Through  Strategic  

Communica8on.  Wiley-­‐Blackwell:  West  Sussex,  2011  •  Ruff,  Peter  &  Khalid,  Azid.  Managing  Communica8ons  in  Crisis.  Gower.  2003  

•  Pictures  are  from  Google