Develop a crisis communications plan for your stakeholders, including a social media policy. The plan should include ideas you have offered in essays and assignments you have already submitted in this

Unit III Mini Project

Raymond Beck

Columbia Southern University

Professor David Alegre

October 23, 2018

Introduction

The Coca Cola Company is a giant multinational cooperation that faces a wide range of problems in the various regions that it operates in (Coombs, 2014). The Company faces the risk of experiencing negative health interventions that reduce the trust customers have with Coca Cola products. The mad cow disease crisis in Belgium in 2003, for instance, led to the withdrawal of Coca Cola products in Belgium and increased substitution of Coca Cola goods with rival products. The concerns on obesity also jeopardize the loyalty levels that Coca Cola customers had. Staff misconduct, such as the accusations that some of Coca Cola top officials bribed advertisers not to paint Coca Cola products as the possible cause of obesity and also prompt the need for a crisis management plan. The nature of the company makes it necessary to have regional plans and one overall one.

Purpose, goal and scope of the plan

The crisis communication plan will enable Coca Cola Company to retain its competitive advantage in the market, help the staff members in the company to prepare for effective communication in case of a crisis and in an organized way, ensure that the public remains loyal to the company, regulate the sharing of sensitive information with the public through the media and to ensure that the organization is consistent with the information it provides in times of crisis. The communication plan will assign various roles to staff members and clearly state the extent up to which each of the workers will perform their functions. All departments will have specific spokespersons that will regulate the release of information to the public. The plan will also eliminate panic by all stakeholders in case of a crisis.

Assumed situations

1. The health effects of Coca Cola products are among the key concerns of most customers. The chances of contracting lifestyle diseases and conditions such as obesity as well as food poisoning are some of the health issues in the company (Fearn, 2016).

2. Staff misconduct: some employees engage in unethical conduct which may negatively affect consumers in a particular region. The reputation of the company is also tainted by poor conduct of some staff members and this may lead to poor reception of Coca Cola products in the market (Ulmer, Sellnow, & Seeger, 2017). The engagement in fraud by some corporate officials is also a risk that can lead to a crisis and the company needs to adequately prepare for it.

Audiences

1. The public: the communication plan aims at retaining the customers by showing them the efforts employed by the company in ensuring that their welfare is well taken care of.

2. The employees: the plan aims at protecting the employees to ensure their reputations are not tainted so they can transfer to other organizations and secure employment without much difficulty.

3. The shareholders: the plan aims at ensuring that the owners of the company receive the targeted returns on investment and that the future of the company is assured.

Internally, the communication plan should address the management and the workers. The plan also ensures effective communication with audiences outside the organization such as consumers.

Communication strategy

1. Target audience: the addresses made in times of crisis will discuss specific segment or segments of stakeholders in the company. Spokespeople will be made aware of all the problems affecting a certain group and will address them fully in the shortest time possible.

2. Objectives: all communications made during the crisis will have target objectives that will progressively offset the crisis in the company.

3. Team: all the communications made on behalf of the company will be done by a specific team in charge of crisis communications. This will ensure consistency and easy monitoring of communications during the crisis. Top officials will be briefed by the crisis communications management team on how to respond to the problems at hand.

Implementing the communication plan

The starting of the crisis: the communication plan ensures that the problem is first communicated in the entire organization so that strategies can be laid out on how to handle the identified problems. The stakeholders will also reassure all the stakeholders that the company is doing its best to solve the problems. The communications at this stage will be mostly to make all the stakeholders aware of the crisis and to inform them of their role in ending the problems.

The climax: the communication plan will focus on ensuring that all the activities of the company are aimed at solving the crisis. Effective communication at this stage is expected to help the company to overcome the crisis without incurring losses.

The conclusion of the crisis and the period after- the communications here will involve ensuring that the problems experienced will be avoided in the future. The plans laid down to prevent future crisis will be communicated to all stakeholders. The strategies laid out on the further development of the company will also be communicated at this stage.

Reference

Coombs, W. T. (2014). Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding. Sage Publications.

Fearn-Banks, K. (2016). Crisis communications: A casebook approach. Routledge.

Ulmer, R. R., Sellnow, T. L., & Seeger, M. W. (2017). Effective crisis communication: Moving from crisis to opportunity. Sage Publications.

Appendices

Crisis communication team

Key audiences

CONTACT TREE