You’ve got a crisis plan, but have you factored in your staff? Author of the book, Communicate in a Crisis Many if not most of the issues and crisis management plans we see overlook one very important factor: What about your staff? Have you thought about the impact on communications teams, or on frontline staff members when a crisis breaks? That’s particularly relevant when it comes to environmental protests, as these direct themselves at travel and aviation brands in two ways. You get online activism, where protestors post on your Facebook page, or organise hashtags on Twitter, which your social media team has to field. And then you increasingly get direct action, where protestors actually show up at an airport or at a head office. Here in London, that’s already happened. In October, London City Airport faced disruption when protestors turned up and (among other things) climbed on an aircraft. And Heathrow has faced several threats from activists planning to fly drones around the runways, something that would of course close the airport (so far they’ve been unsuccessful).
58.
Airline Marketing Monthly | December 2019
By Kate Hartley, Co-Founder, Polpeo
