MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL June 2012 CRISIS MANAGEMENT Presentation to the Institute of Travel & Tourism

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION 1. “I’m pregnant and you’re the daddy.” 2. “The Finance Director has disappeared.” 3. “There’s a reporter from The Sun at reception.” 2 THREE STATEMENTS YOU NEVER WANT TO HEAR FROM YOUR PA

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION 3 BOATS AND BANANAS Crises come in all shapes and sizes As big as a boat... As small as a banana......but all equally devastating for the individuals involved

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION Jack Irvine Executive Chairman Media House International Currently engaged in projects in UK, USA, Africa, Cayman Islands and Gibraltar 4

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION CEO Editor Editor in Chief Night Editor Political columnist Reporter 5 MEDIA EXPERIENCE

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION Media House launched in 1991 to handle the hostile takeover of Celtic Football Club 6 HOW IT ALL STARTED...

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION 7 PAST PROJECTS

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION 8 CURRENT PROJECTS

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION 9 WHAT IS A CRISIS? ExtortionBribery Hostile takeoverInformation sabotage Product tamperingWorkplace bombing Vehicular fatalityTerrorist attack Copyright infringementPlant explosion Environmental spillSexual harassment Computer tamperingEscape of hazardous materials Security breachPersonnel assault Executive kidnappingAssault of customers Product/service boycottProduct recall Work-related homicideCounterfeiting Malicious rumourNatural disaster that destroys corporate HQ Natural disaster that disrupts a major productNatural disaster that eliminates key stakeholders Natural disaster that destroys organisational information base Source: Academy of Management Review, 23(1) (1998): 59–76. Christine M. Pearson and Judith A. Clair

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION 10 SEX AND MONEY

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION Be honest Be quick Don’t panic Have one spokesman 11 GENERAL PRINCIPLES FOR CRISIS MANAGEMENT Sir Michael Bishop British Midland M1 crash 1989 Sir Richard Branson Virgin Rail crash 2007

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION However, if your CEO is unlovable and a bit of a prat don’t let him near the cameras GENERAL PRINCIPLES FOR CRISIS MANAGEMENT

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION Where did Carnival go wrong? They hired Captain Schettino Captain Schettino jumped ship - at least the Titanic's captain went down with his ship They took too long to alert the coastguard There was no recognisable face of the company They didn’t apologise and express sympathy for the dead Carnival CEO Micky Arison was nowhere to be seen (Richard Branson would have been on the scene within 24 hours.) He decided to stay in Miami he restricted himself to written statements for 10 days after the tragedy Carnival offered 30% off the survivors’ next cruise Survivors were offered $14,458 compensation 13 COSTA CONCORDIA

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION What should they have done? Put up a spokesman instantly Get Micky Arison in front of the cameras Apologise profusely for the Captain’s actions Stress that everything possible was being done for the survivors Encourage trade bodies such as The Passenger Shipping Association to blitz the media with the good side of cruising - especially the safety record Announce an immediate review of their safety protocols Identify crew members that had behaved bravely and get them on TV with passengers they had helped save 14 COSTA CONCORDIA

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION Revise your disaster management plans. Have them evaluated by outside experts Look at every possible contingency – sinking, collision, terrorism, disease Run mock exercises Revise your disaster manual every three months Decide who is going to be the face of the company 15 LESSONS FOR THE CRUISE INDUSTRY

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION WHO? WHY? WHAT? WHERE? WHEN? 16 THE FIVE W’S IN JOURNALISM

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION 17 THE FIVE W’S IN JOURNALISM WHO Who is dead and who is to blame? Do you have the names and addresses of the victims? WHYWhy did it happen? Human error, nature? WHAT What actually happened? Did the ship hit a rock? Was there a bomb on board the plane? WHERE The exact geographic location of the incident. WHENThe exact time the incident happened

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION 18 HOW SOCIAL MEDIA HAS CHANGED THE GAME DateEventNo. Google Results 6 July 1988 Piper Alpha (167 dead) 822, December 1988 Lockerbie Bombings (270 dead) 1,200, February 1996 Sea Empress Oil Spill (73,000 tons of oil spilled) 178, March 1996 Dunblane Shooting (17 dead) 129, July /7 Bombings (56 dead) 1,440, January 2012 Costa Concordia (34 dead) 35,300, Rangers FC + Administration 13,900,000

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION Social media is now setting the pace on crisis management We used to work on a 24 hour news cycle We can now see a situation escalate globally in minutes The crisis management team needs to monitor social media 24/7 Instant rebuttal - all negative comments need to be countered – immediately Bloggers, no matter how obscure, need to be monitored and countered One sad little man’s blog is tomorrow’s Fleet Street sensation 19 HOW SOCIAL MEDIA HAS CHANGED THE GAME

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION Don’t  Panic  Act Defensively  Lie or bluff  Act impetuously 20 DOS AND DON’TS Do  Show that you care (personally and at a company level)  Show that people matter more than profits  Take control  Act positively Think  The big picture  Long term

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION  Always express sympathy first  Remember you are the expert  Take your time, don’t be rushed  When you make a promise, keep it  Be factual, don’t speculate  Don’t be flippant  Be yourself – don’t try and play the role of scientist, social researcher, regulator – unless of course you are one!  Don’t hide behind statistics. Relatives of the injured, pressure groups and politicians will use emotion. Facts and statistics will not counter this 21 THE GOLDEN RULES

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION 22 BACK TO BANANAS...

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION Sells company Makes hundreds of millions profit Senior employee not happy with £1m bonus Demands £10million or photos from the Banana Club go to the media and tycoon’s wife Enter Media House BANANA MAN!

MEDIA HOUSE INTERNATIONAL – INSTITUTE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PRESENTATION Jack Irvine Executive Chairman Media House International 24