Case Study Assignment #2 Cruise Lines
Purpose: This assignment gives students an opportunity to apply the concepts learned to a real-life scenario. This analytical exercise will improve the students’ understanding and ability to think critically about the public relations process and to utilize their own problem-solving skills. As a result of this assignment, students will be able to understand how various publics could communicate with one another in a public relations situation as well as give them an understanding of both poor and good public relations strategies in a crisis.
Case: 1/13/12, Carnival Cruise Costa Concordia disaster
Research: Identify three valid sources (no wikis or blogs, no ask.com, howitworks.com etc). May be website, newspapers, news sources such as CNN. Complete a reference page in APA style.
Assignment:
1. Summary: Write a brief summary of the situation (2-3 paragraphs) Document this with in-text citations in MLA style.
2. Answer the following questions in 2-3 pages:
a. Who are the Carnival Cruise lines publics and stakeholders? Who were the stakeholders in this crisis situation?
b. What tactics did Carnival Cruise used to handle this crisis situation? c. What was Carnival Cruise’s objective in handling this crisis situation? d. What key messages did Carnival Cruise convey? What key messages to the media convey?
e. What was the result of this crisis? Did the settlement offer and discount offer help Carnival’s image?
f. In retrospect, what public relations changes, would you advise
Carnival in the event of a similar crisis situation?
g. How should Carnival evaluate this public relations effort? What measurements and methods should be used?
Paper Guidelines: Papers must be written in complete paragraphs with one central idea per paragraph. All paragraphs must have clear connections to the next paragraph. The paper should be typed in 12- point type, single space, no title page or header, and be a maximum of 3 pages long. It should include APA in-text citations. A reference page of at least three sources as noted above must be used.
To get started, review some of the sources attached. These sources may not be part of your works cited.
http://www.prdaily.com/crisiscommunications/Articles/Carnivals_PR_team_reacts_to_another_cruise_ship_di_14062.aspx
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/14/opinion/bartlett-carnival-pr-mess/