The Costa Concordia crisis that is currently ongoing in Italy is becoming a crisis where many of the best practices are not being implemented by the organization or parties involved. Many within the situation are blaming the captain, Francesco Schettino, for steering the ship too close to land and hitting the rocks which initiated the crisis to trigger. The brand is not only having to deal with reputation issues, but they are also seeing the impact of the mishandling of this crisis financially as well, but some have investors have mentioned the fact that they have been in these similar waters before with this company.
View of the Costa Concordia Crisis from Space
Several professionals have commented about the actions that the parent company of the cruise line, Carnival, need to implement to handle this crisis immediately. Being visibly, present at the scene, and show empathy are just a few suggestions being raised in an article posted on Forbes. Being transparent, having one spokesperson, and choosing what tone you want to present your messages in are other suggestions by PR and crisis communication professionals during this crisis. What the company is also not doing proactively is handling the various messages and comments arising and appearing in the global traditional and social media outlets. Reports are emerging from those who were on the ship that the personnel on board did not respond quickly to the fact that there was a severe issue with the boat. The issue of not having anyone in charge or knowing how to respond to the crisis was also another angle that was being presented through the media as well by these reports. The fact that others are discussing the behavior and actions of the captain during the crisis and how he left the ship were also called into question. Others have been expecting the Italian government to intervene and make a stand towards the tour cruise line company and the situation, but so far their actions in this matter have been low key.
In regards to how social media is being used, Radian6 had a great blog post discussing how people were turning to Facebook and Twitter to get updates during the crisis involving the cruise line as well as going on Twitter and using the hashtag #cruise to follow these conversations. Here is a slideshare presentation by Brendon Hodgson regarding the crisis and his analysis of the event during the first 48 hours – this gives you a great view of how others and even Costa Concordia were using social media to communicate, share, and disseminate their messages during this crisis situation in Italy.
There are many stakeholders and victims from this crisis that need to be considered. We need to first take into consideration the victims of those who lost loved ones during this terrible crisis and those family members who are still hoping for those who are still missing. This crisis is not only damaging towards the cruise line company, but this situation will impact the tourism industry (particular for cruise lines) in a very negative way. There are many key crisis communication issues that are making this crisis escalate for Costa Cruises. The inconsistency of messaging and reporting coming about with what happened during the time that the ship hit the rocks to the behavior of the captain and crew on board – these are just a few of the issues fueling this crisis even more. We will have to review this case as more information develops to determine what will be some of the lessons learned from this terrible event. My thoughts and prayers go out to those individuals and families who have been impacted by this traumatic event.
Hope you all are having a great day.
Best Wishes,
Karen
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