| ## Page 1 |
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| GERMANWINGS 9525: THE FIRST 6 |
| HOURS |
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| DIGITAL CRISIS ANALYSIS |
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| 25-03-2015 |
| BRENDAN HODGSON + AHMED ALSHARIQI |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
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| STRATEGIES |
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| --- |
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| ## Page 2 |
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| GERMANWINGS 4U9525 ~ QUICK FACTS |
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| * Date of incident: 24th of March 2015 |
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| * Flight: Germanwings 4u9525 |
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| * Location of crash: Massif des Trois-Evéchés |
| * Time of crash: 10:45 CET (Estimate) |
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| * Fatalities: 150 |
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| * Aircraft: Airbus A320 |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
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| STRATEGIES |
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| --- |
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| ## Page 3 |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
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| GERMANWINGS 4U9525 ~ QUICK FACTS srearecies |
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| + First 6 hours following crash - 24-May-2015 |
| (approx. 11:00 - 17:00 CET) |
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|
| + Analysis Parameters: |
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| + Supplemented by 24 hour refresh - 11AM CET - 25-May- |
| 2015 |
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|
| + Timestamps included in this document are estimates |
| only. |
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| + NOTE: this analysis is not intended as a critique of the |
| response efforts of any involved party |
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| --- |
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| ## Page 4 |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
| KEY FINDINGS/CONCLUSIONS sTRATEgiEs |
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| + Asseen during previous incidents, including the Costa Concordia incident (2012), the Asiana Airlines crash |
| at SFO (2013), and more recent aviation disasters, the role of social platforms as back-ups to a company’s |
| corporate site has become increasingly important. The catastrophic failure of the Germanwings website in |
| the initial hours continues to reinforce the importance of having social platforms in place and an impetus to |
| consider and review existing infrastructure. |
|
|
| + However, unlike Asiana Airlines, where citizen-generated visuals largely drove the media agenda during the |
| first hours, the immediate lack of visuals transformed this quickly into a media-driven story. |
|
|
| + The actions taken by three of the key players - Germanwings, Lufthansa and Airbus - to quickly adapt the |
| visual appearance of their website and their social platforms highlights the importance of having clear |
| protocols in place for coordinated brand management in times of catastrophic crisis. |
|
|
| + The decision by parent company Lufthansa not to adapt/update its corporate website (or oversight in doing |
| so) in the early hours of the crisis highlights a dilemma facing brands associated with, yet separate from, the |
| affected brand. It suggests the question: Was it Lufthansa’s responsibility as the parent company to support |
| or reflect the public mood in the early hours of the crisis? |
|
|
| + The increasing integration of social “outputs” into real-time media stories e.g. tweets or Instagram images |
| etc. further highlights the importance of these channels as opportunities to insert corporate messages into |
| the unfolding narrative. |
|
|
| + Asalways, visuals remain a powerful accelerant for social amplification in times of crisis. |
|
|
| + Click the links for additional analysis of previous incidents: Costa Concordia, Asiana Airlines 214, US Airways |
| 1549 or visit http://www.slideshare.n |
|
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| --- |
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| ## Page 5 |
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| ANALYSIS |
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| BRENDAN HODGSON |
| AHMED ALSHARIQI |
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| --- |
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| ## Page 6 |
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| GERMANWINGS ACTIVITY |
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|
| + wn the first 60 minutes: |
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| Germanwings issues first tweet acknowledging incident & |
| issues update to Facebook |
|
|
| + Atthe same time, Germanwings website crashes - remains |
| inaccessible for approx. 2 hours |
|
|
| + Nochange to brand colours/logo on social platforms at this |
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|
| gormanwnge ” tuwomings 7 \ |
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| time |
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| (Germanwings.com site) |
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| i} |
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| (Twitter) |
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| Germaratngs — |
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| 7, a. |
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| a |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
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| STRATEGIES |
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| were ees |
| Please monitor our website |
| for penodic updates |
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|
| lee |
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| As soon as defirte information 1s |
| avaiable we shall mform the media |
| immecatety |
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|
| meee |
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| INFO. We have recently become aware of |
| media reports speculating on an mesdent |
| though we still do not have any own |
| confirmed imformaton |
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|
| on |
| Wit verwensen in dieser Situaton auf unsere |
| sandy aatualwerte internetsete |
|
|
| (Facebook) |
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| --- |
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| ## Page 7 |
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| LUFTHANSA/AIRBUS ACTIVITY |
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|
| + Within the first 90 minutes: |
|
|
| + Within 90 minutes of the crash, Airbus and Germanwings |
| parent company Lufthansa publish first acknowledgements of |
| the incident via Twitter accounts |
|
|
| (Lufthansa Twitter) |
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|
| Lufthansa Gutwes » |
| "_,on 4U 9525. If our fears are confirmed, this is a dark day for Lufthansa |
| We hope to find survivors.“ Carsten Spohr 2/2 |
| |
| “ 3 |
| |
| Lufthansa (thence 4m |
| "We do not yet know what has happened to |
| flight 4U 9525. My deepest sympathy goes |
| to the families and friends of our passengers |
| and crew 1/2 |
| |
| @ Lutransa @lufthanss - Mar 23 |
| |
| #LiveBilbao 2: Opinions on the Guggenheim anyone? |
| #LHcityofthemonth |
| |
| HILL+KNOWLTON |
| |
| STRATEGIES |
| |
| (Airbus Twitter) |
| |
| 5436 893 281K 437. |
| |
| Tweets Tweets&repiies Photos & videos |
| Altteus @Abtun en |
| We will provide further information as soon as avaliable |
| We are aware of the media reports Al efforts are Now gowng towards |
| assessing the situation |
| |
| 1” 0 |
| |
| i |
| |
| ‘Thanks @FlyRwandAir for selecting the |
| versatile #A330 for your fleet growth and |
| modernisation goo.gl/iTM1k! |
| |
| --- |
| |
| ## Page 8 |
| |
| HILL+KNOWLTON |
| BRAND CRISIS MODIFICATION oTeATecies |
| |
| (Germanwings Facebook) |
| |
| + Within the first 120 minutes: : -- = |
| |
| + Germanwings recoloured its logo on both its Twitter and |
| Facebook accounts to black and white. — |
| |
| + Parent company Lufthansa follows within a similar time- |
| frame with its social platforms |
| |
| (Lufthansa Facebook) |
| |
| --- |
| |
| ## Page 9 |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
| GERMANWINGS ACTIVITY araareeies |
| |
| (Germanwings.com site) |
| |
| i an Orme O |
| |
| + Within the first 180 minutes: sila dasa sin gia eas |
| |
| + Germanwings site remains inaccessible |
| |
| + Within the first hour, Twitter and Facebook ; : \. é |
| Die Seite wurde leider nicht gefunden |
| |
| 408 id De Sete de See grees Haters eomtien rand came wee vores ebm |
| |
| become only available points of digital |
| contact with Germanwings |
| |
| Sf gq few Teren enrwgen |
| fe Wet - |
| |
| a = |
| |
| Pe anna |
| Please monitor our website |
| |
| for periodic updates (Germanwings Twitter) |
| |
| --- |
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| ## Page 10 |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
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| GERMANWINGS ACTIVITY stearecies |
| |
| (Germanwings.com site) |
| |
| + Within the first 180 minutes: TT ae |
| |
| + |
| |
| germanwings” Eurowings ” Bosker «Win viucit «ifoemeren «=U woordieten |
| Germanwings appears to be struggling to re- ; |
| activate its website. |
| |
| At one point, the original site with full |
| marketing content appears on the site - |
| contradicting its more sombre social |
| platforms |
| |
| so» = |
| gee |
| a eymcat) goes te De teres and Mendh of bw ppwengers and cea |
| |
| for periodic updates. (Germanwings Twitter) |
| |
| --- |
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| ## Page 11 |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
| LUFTHANSA/AIRBUS ACTIVITY |
| |
| STRATEGIES |
| |
| (Airbus.com site) |
| |
| + Within the first 180 minutes: amen |
| |
| + Airbus wipes brand/marketing images from its |
| corporate website |
| |
| + In contrast to its social activity, Germanwings |
| parent company Lufthansa makes no changes |
| to its corporate website during this period. |
| |
| Spring out of winter: |
| with extra tickets to Europe |
| |
| a |
| |
| a ee, (Lufthansa.com site) |
| |
| --- |
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| ## Page 12 |
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| GERMANWINGS ACTIVITY |
| |
| + Within the first 4 hours: |
| |
| + Germanwings.com begins to stabilize |
| + By the fifth hour following the incident, the current |
| crisis site is in place |
| |
| (Germanwings.com updates Hour 12+) |
| | Current idormation |
| ‘There ae Dew eennage: = Recent evtormation | Terma! change at Lorton Heathrow Airpert (LI) « |
| |
| nam eR |
| |
| OP re Np fotemeny He a eae on Ney Oem rope omar yt dangmere water ms ae rete The 4 tae rem rennet |
| te aes et ee a Naty ng Pe age Om Fe Sr oo roma a At NEA jartengry ant be Crem meters onbusel Vee urervtaret Paw |
| tener a Nam meme Managers Syntengeren if ermarenge See Rape hat te a ed |
| |
| 2D Ie me Corte oar Seep! ree Rat Cheever Fig) WEDS bor Bacau e Channa! has samt a a ateed eww Poe Fram Ape Nw |
| Roe ee Dey cate we oe Aertne, ALD eee aed man Carrying 144 pemetgery ad bm (ree meters Laftherna are Germann Nave rviatimtent & try Meir |
| She rember RE D4 BOE YM are + ES ED SN aw ee te Pe Neen of fachaegers evs hr are ad awsentate'e f veryorwe af Cerrmarmerg aed |
| Lame = seg whe het arnt paket ty Tree Pets ne tenghte art SraeS aw wath tee Carrs arat eernds of tee pasar gery seat crew reerteers Oermarmergn = |
| |e ee ernemer |
| |
| ‘naot fo tap + |
| |
| ‘Terminal change at London Heathrow Aiport (LHR) |
| _ mare ya |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
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| STRATEGIES |
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| (Germanwings.com Hour 3) |
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| Die aktuellen Medienbenchte sind uns set kuZem bekannt Noch begen uns dazu kene |
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| We have recently become aware of media reports speculabng on an incident though we stil do not |
| have any own confirmed information As soon as definite informaton ts avadable we shail inform |
| the mode immediately Please monitor our websile www germanwings com for penodic updates |
|
|
| (Germanwings.com Hour 4.5) |
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| SS TET ey |
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| ings” — ings? fetee Ree bere er reeeer |
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| --- |
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| ## Page 13 |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
| LUFTHANSA ACTIVITY srantewizs |
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| (Lufthansa.com Hour 3) |
|
|
| + Within the first 4 hours: |
| + Lufthansa updates corporate home page with a |
| statement on the incident ~ no system failures |
| + Statements are updated throughout the day |
| + Within 24 hours the corporate site resumes activity with |
| a clear banner to information on the incident |
|
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| (Lufthansa.com Hour 24) |
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| --- |
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| ## Page 14 |
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| AIRBUS ACTIVITY |
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| + Within the first 4 hours: |
|
|
| + Airbus.com incorporates a pop-up notification |
| acknowledging the incident. |
|
|
| + The pop-up is adapted through the course of the day and |
| within 5 hours links to Airbus’ statement on the incident. |
|
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| (Airbus.com Hour 5+) |
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| MAMAS |
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| (Airbus.com Hour 3) |
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| G Airnsus |
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| (Airbus.com Hour 3) |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
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| STRATEGIES |
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| --- |
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| ## Page 15 |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
| AIRPORT ACTIVITY srantewizs |
|
|
| seldorf |
| Airport |
|
|
| + Itis unclear if Dusseldorf airport experienced a |
| failure, was intentionally disabled or immediately |
| moved to its dark site. However the site remains in a |
| minimal state 24 hours later. |
|
|
| + Barcelona’s El Prat airport made only minor |
| modifications intended to point visitors to specific |
| media and local authorities responsible for the crisis. |
|
|
| Aktuelle Informationen |
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| Der Internetauftritt des Disseldorfer Flughatens ist derzeit nicht verfiigbar. Flugunfall: Betro |
| Hotline 0800-7766350 wenden. Des Weiteren hat das Auswartige Amt eine Krisenhotiine elt |
|
|
| WELCOME TO BARCELONA AIRPORT |
| Aameces > = Apart Tartrinat Anmett Aiud © Aumont fis . |
| (harman iepaiiting thee cones by Cerrearaning PA covering Bac wterey Orta he® |
|
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| Gemaceres Late: mass |
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| --- |
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| ## Page 16 |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
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| CORPORATE ACTIVITY BY THE NUMBERS RDM |
|
|
| + During the first 24 hours: |
|
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| + Germanwings focuses the majority of its digital Germanwings 24 |
| activity on Twitter - posting in both English (10) and Lufthansa 42 |
| German (14) |
|
|
| + Germanwings and Lufthansa both see significant Airbus 5 |
| spikes in followers on Twitter due to the crash. |
|
|
| (Germanwings) (Airbus) (Lufthansa) |
| e-« we ; e-e |
| 7 |
| ae |
| a / |
| -ere"* |
|
|
| 4 -@-@-@-@-@-@-@ |
| =@-@-0-@-@-@-@ |
|
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| --- |
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| ## Page 17 |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
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| CORPORATE ACTIVITY BY THE NUMBERS srearecies |
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| Financial impacts: |
|
|
| Almost immediately following the first reports of the |
| incident, the share prices of both Lufthansa and Airbus fell |
| significantly - however, trading stabilised within ~2 hours |
| after the crash. |
|
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| --- |
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| ## Page 18 |
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| MEDIA / SOCIAL ACTIVITY BY THE NUMBERS |
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| + PICTERS |
|
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| One of the first tweets to be posted around the incident came from |
| Flightradar, a widely trusted and used website for tracking flights |
| globally. |
|
|
| + Within the first 90 minutes the tweet was retweeted more than |
| 2,000 times. |
|
|
| + Within the first 60 minutes, #Germanwings had become the top |
| trending topic on Twitter |
|
|
| + Within the first 60 minutes, according to Sysomos, more than |
| 60,000 Tweets were posted referencing #Germanwings |
|
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| 61,546 Overall Mentions |
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| Total Mentions |
| oO: |
| Blogs |
| © «2 |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
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| STRATEGIES |
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| 7 Fegraater 24 |
| Germanwings flight #4U9525 (registration D- |
| AIPX) was lost from Flightradar24 at 6800 |
| feet at 09.39 UTC time |
|
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| --- |
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| ## Page 19 |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
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| MEDIA / SOCIAL ACTIVITY BY THE NUMBERS aaa |
|
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| Within six hours of the incident, the number of Number of Tweets |
| tweets referencing #Germanwings had reached |
| nearly 500,000 globally. |
|
|
| Amid the many expressions of condolences and |
| sharing of news, tweets soon moved toward |
| capturing images of the region of the crash. |
|
|
| This @planefinder screencap from Sky |
| seems to show the conditions near the |
| 525 crash site |
|
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| --- |
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| ## Page 20 |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
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| TRENDS AND BEHAVIOURS eraarecies |
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| Fake Germanwings pictures circulate online |
|
|
| + Due to the initial remoteness of the = Story” © |
| inckient and lack of immediate This photo being shared as A320 crash site fe) |
| visuals, fake images and videos actually shows an incident in Turkey in é |
| began to appear online in 2007 #dailydebunk |
|
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| increasing numbers. |
|
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| . Questions had also arisen due to |
| various early Twitter reports around |
| whether a distress call had actually |
| been made by the pilots. |
|
|
| Aabus puane crashes n Southern France Reuters |
|
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| Uncertainty over distress call |
|
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| On the question of whether a distress call was made from the |
| aircraft, the spokesman says the airline has received contradictory |
|
|
| reports. |
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| we trad r f |
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| --- |
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| ## Page 21 |
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| TRENDS AND BEHAVIOURS |
|
|
| + Aswith other recent crises or major news events, the |
| evolution of the live news feed (using tools such as Storify) by |
| media has seen an increased reliance and use of 3 party |
| and eye-witness tweets to supplement reporting - allowing |
| them to provide a variety of comments and reactions by |
| decision-makers, executives, witnessses, experts etc. |
|
|
| + The implications which have emerged over time - but which |
| must be carefully balanced and applied - are the importance |
| of social channels to drive media coverage and presence |
| within breaking news stories. |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
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| STRATEGIES |
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| theguardian |
|
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| Vd ago Aviation journalist John Walton reports that the the last words from |
| the cockpit were: “Emergency, emergency.” |
|
|
| — = |
|
|
| 1047 call: DGAC source says pilots called «urgence, |
| urgence» (emergency, emergency’), as opposed to a |
| mayday call or 7700 squawk. #49525 |
|
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| ETAGETS 14 FAVORTE “our |
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| --- |
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| ## Page 22 |
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| TRENDS AND BEHAVIOURS |
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| + Within 90 minutes - and despite lack of immediate |
| information — political leaders were quick to react |
| and provide comment on the incident. |
|
|
| + Francois Hollande was the first of the world’s |
| political leaders to comment on the incident. |
|
|
| + While the French Civil Aviation Authorities have been |
| active through non-digital channels from the outset |
| (e.g. statement to the media), their social media |
| presence was limited in the first hours. A first tweet |
| came almost ~6 hours after the crash. (17:31 CET) |
|
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
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| STRATEGIES |
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| eon |
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| : wor Oe |
| - ery J'exprime ta solidarité de la France a la |
| dal a Sat Tunisie. Chaque fois qu'un crime terroriste |
|
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| --- |
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| ## Page 23 |
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| HILL+KNOWLTON |
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| TRENDS AND BEHAVIOURS eraarecies |
|
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| Not until the first helicopters had identified and reached the |
| crash site did the story become significantly more visual - |
| providing new momentum for social amplification. |
|
|
| ‘ Equally powerful, however, have been the emerging images |
| related to the loss of the German exchange students. |
