The role of new media in the effectiveness of crisis management programs becomes more evident everyday through hundreds of examples. One of those, is the successful campaign that the tourism colossus TUI developed and applied in order to handle the crisis emerged due to the volcanic ash in the Europe’s airspace in the 15th of April 2010.
For the group, this was a period of low holiday activity, but the volcano ash phenomenon still had a financial impact on them, of approximately £5 million per day.
The group decided to face this crisis as an opportunity to emphasize the benefits of the package holiday. The objective set for the campaign was to:
* To communicate with customers and families back home.
* Generate positive awareness of the company’s brands such as Thompson, First Choice, Thomson Airways and Island Cruises.
* Show the benefits of the package holiday and that customers were in safe hands.
* Lobby the Government to take action both in managing the crisis and in awarding compensation to affecting travelers.
The actions taken in order to meet the set goals included:
* The organization of repatriation flights , the booking of hotel rooms for and the transfer of travelers back home by cruise ships and ferries.
* The interview of Communications Chief on BBC Word News in which he provided info in a calm and reliable way.
* The development of a travel alert page which was updated every couple of hours and has been visited by 311,798 persons through out the crisis period.
* The use of Twitter in order to communicate exclusively with flight- customers and respond to any arising issue.
* The visit of media into the communications office to see the Communications Team in action.
The situation was changing all the time and it was essential all involved parties to be informed about the developments as quickly as possible. During the crisis management period, the PR team generated more than 800 pieces of broadcast, print and online media coverage.
The campaign reached almost every person in Britain and was characterized by great success. Media received many e-mails and telephones from citizens with positive feedback about the way the TUI Group handled the situation. For sure, the crisis management program could never manage to be so effective if the PR team didn’t have available those technological tools that allowed the immediate spread of information and the direct contact with the stakeholders involved.
(Sources: PR Week UK Crisis/travel - TUI flies in face of ash cloud storm by Cathy Wallace, www.tui-group.com/en/ir/news/2010/April/2010_04_19, www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1006007/Crisis-travel---TUI-flies-face-ash-cloud... 12/7/2010)
