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Crisis Communication Plan
** This is a prototype of a Crisis Communication Plan my team and I wrote up as my role as Media Director. In the event of a crisis, this is a thorough action plan designed to be executed for a major cruise line.
Festival Cruise Line
Crisis Plan: Terrorist Contamination of Water Supply
Group 1
Macy Miller (PR Director)
Josh Lyons (Assistant Director)
Chantel Parker (Community Relations)
Andrea McPherson (Internal Relations)
Pamela Guzman (Media Relations)
Research:
Risk Assessment: Festival Cruise Line is well aware of possible crisis, tragedies, and other potentially negative occurrences that may arise within our company. We believe we have evaluated majority of the possible occurrences and are confident that we would be able to properly execute an action plan suited to the following situation. Our communication plan also accommodates many other crises as the action plan is tailored to fit others not listed in our risk assessment:
· Terrorist group contaminating water supply with a norovirus
Audiences:
· Victims & Family
· Internal
· Media
· Customers
· Community
Objectives:
· Victims & Families: To assure 100% of the victims that we are proactive in the situation and that they will be kept informed within the first hour of the crisis. To assure and inform 100% of the family members involved within the first two hours.
· Internal: To inform 70% of the employees of the situation within the first two hours of the crisis.
· Media: To inform 100% of accurate information to major news networks within the first hour.
· Customers: To increase awareness by 50% within the first hour.
· Community: To increase awareness by 60% through the media within the first two days.
Strategies:
· To continually give relevant updates regarding the situation as new information is acquired.
Tactics:
· Victims & Families:
Spokesperson(s): Captain of the ship, CEO or highest authority figure available; Red Cross as supplementary support
1. Immediately flew extra medical support to the Freedom of the Seas
2. The captain of the ship will personally address the victims, whether it is onboard or on land, to assure their safety and well being is our priority and provide proper instruction and information as it becomes available.
3. The Red Cross will be available to give the families information through personal visits or phone calls.
4. The highest authority figure available will continue to update the families as soon as new information is obtained.
5. Customers onboard will be issued refunds for their trip and will be given vouchers with no expiration dates for half off their next trip
6. After the crisis is over, the victims involved will receive e-mails touching base to follow up on any additional rehabilitation, if needed.
· Internal:
Spokesperson(s): Internal Affairs Department, Supervisors onboard, if needed
1. Notified captain and crew of other Festival ships at sea about the incident
2. Immediately turned Freedom of the Seas around to dock at nearest port
3. Immediately sent a CDC health officer to test vessel’s water supplies
4. Activated Festival’s 1-800 Hotline that contained FAQ’s and contact information
5. Sent out emails to all employees with hourly updated information and instructions about how to handle media
6. Ensured job security to all employees
· Media:
Spokesperson(s): Media Relations Director, CEO, Media Relations Department
1. The media relations director will be in direct contact with CNN.
2. Scheduled, prepared, and briefed CEO for interviews. The CEO will deliver the press release on broadcast media.
3. The media relations director will prepare a press release for print media and post on Festival’s official website.
4. After the incident has calmed down and our customers onboard have been taken care of, our media relations department will arrange a media tour onboard via a press pool.
5. The media relations department will continually make sure that only accurate information is given to the media and the public.
· Customers:
Spokesperson(s): Internal Relations Director and department
1. The Internal Relations Director will post a description of the crisis and contact information for more information on our website.
2. Direct emails will be sent to all of our patrons informing them of the crisis.
3. Have a follow up letter that will be sent to customers from the CEO.
4. Activate an 800 Hotline that customers can call to get information about the crisis.
· Community:
Spokesperson(s): Community Relations Director and department
1. The Media Relations Director will draft and coordinate a press release to local news media informing the local community of what time the meetings and/or press conferences will be held.
2. The Community Relations Director will hold a community/town meeting in the port where the cruise ship departed from if possible.
5. The community relations department will also schedule a meeting for key community leaders to discuss the crisis and prepare them for what they would have to do.
6. Send out a Public Service Announcement a month after the crisis addressing whatever the issue entailed.
Budget:
Cost of Salary
Cost of Tactics
Cost of Research
Cost of Evaluation
Evaluation:
· Victims: To assure 100% of the victims that we are proactive in the situation and that they will be kept informed within the first hour of the crisis.
Evaluation Tactic: Hold focus groups with the victims to get their feedback from how the crisis was handled and have a general follow up on their well being.
· Family: To assure and inform 100% of the family members involved within the first two hours.
Evaluation Tactic: Hold a focus group with some family members to get their feedback on how we handled the crisis and a general follow up on their well being.
· Internal: To inform 100% of the employees of the situation within the first hour of the crisis.
Evaluation Tactic: Send out email surveys asking the employees to evaluate how the crisis was handled.
· Media: To inform 100% of major news stations within the first hour.
Evaluation Tactic: Send out surveys to media to get their feedback on the accessibility and timeliness of our company.
· Customers: To increase awareness by 50% within the first hour.
Evaluation Tactic: Evaluate the number of tickets sold before and after the crisis to determine if sales were impacted. We would also post a survey on our website for customers to give their feedback on how the crisis was handled.
· Community: To increase awareness by 60% through the media within the first two days.
Evaluation Tactic: Send out surveys to the local community to get their feedback and opinion of how the crisis was handle
