q142/random_k2/source.md

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GERMANWINGS 9525: THE FIRST 6
HOURS

DIGITAL CRISIS ANALYSIS

25-03-2015
BRENDAN HODGSON + AHMED ALSHARIQI

HILL+KNOWLTON

STRATEGIES

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GERMANWINGS 4U9525 ~ QUICK FACTS

* Date of incident: 24th of March 2015

* Flight: Germanwings 4u9525

* Location of crash: Massif des Trois-Evéchés
* Time of crash: 10:45 CET (Estimate)

* Fatalities: 150

* Aircraft: Airbus A320

HILL+KNOWLTON

STRATEGIES

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HILL+KNOWLTON

GERMANWINGS 4U9525 ~ QUICK FACTS srearecies

+ First 6 hours following crash - 24-May-2015
(approx. 11:00 - 17:00 CET)

+ Analysis Parameters:

+ Supplemented by 24 hour refresh - 11AM CET - 25-May-
2015

+ Timestamps included in this document are estimates
only.

+ NOTE: this analysis is not intended as a critique of the
response efforts of any involved party

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HILL+KNOWLTON
KEY FINDINGS/CONCLUSIONS sTRATEgiEs

+  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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ANALYSIS

BRENDAN HODGSON
AHMED ALSHARIQI

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GERMANWINGS ACTIVITY

+ wn the first 60 minutes:

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

gormanwnge ” tuwomings 7 \

time

(Germanwings.com site)

i}

(Twitter)

Germaratngs —

7, a.

a

HILL+KNOWLTON

STRATEGIES

were ees
Please monitor our website
for penodic updates

lee

As soon as defirte information 1s
avaiable we shall mform the media
immecatety

meee

INFO. We have recently become aware of
media reports speculating on an mesdent
though we still do not have any own
confirmed imformaton

on
Wit verwensen in dieser Situaton auf unsere
sandy aatualwerte internetsete

(Facebook)

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LUFTHANSA/AIRBUS ACTIVITY

+ 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)

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!

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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)

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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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HILL+KNOWLTON

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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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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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

HILL+KNOWLTON

STRATEGIES

(Germanwings.com Hour 3)

Die aktuellen Medienbenchte sind uns set kuZem bekannt Noch begen uns dazu kene

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)

SS TET ey

ings” — ings? fetee Ree bere er reeeer

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HILL+KNOWLTON
LUFTHANSA ACTIVITY srantewizs

(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

(Lufthansa.com Hour 24)

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AIRBUS ACTIVITY

+ 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.

(Airbus.com Hour 5+)

MAMAS

(Airbus.com Hour 3)

G Airnsus

(Airbus.com Hour 3)

HILL+KNOWLTON

STRATEGIES

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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

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®

Gemaceres Late: mass

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HILL+KNOWLTON

CORPORATE ACTIVITY BY THE NUMBERS RDM

+ During the first 24 hours:

+  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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HILL+KNOWLTON

CORPORATE ACTIVITY BY THE NUMBERS srearecies

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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MEDIA / SOCIAL ACTIVITY BY THE NUMBERS

+ PICTERS

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

61,546 Overall Mentions

Total Mentions
oO:
Blogs
© «2

HILL+KNOWLTON

STRATEGIES

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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HILL+KNOWLTON

MEDIA / SOCIAL ACTIVITY BY THE NUMBERS aaa

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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HILL+KNOWLTON

TRENDS AND BEHAVIOURS eraarecies

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

increasing numbers.

. 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

Uncertainty over distress call

On the question of whether a distress call was made from the
aircraft, the spokesman says the airline has received contradictory

reports.

we trad r f

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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.

HILL+KNOWLTON

STRATEGIES

theguardian

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

ETAGETS 14 FAVORTE “our

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TRENDS AND BEHAVIOURS

+ 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)

HILL+KNOWLTON

STRATEGIES

eon

: 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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HILL+KNOWLTON

TRENDS AND BEHAVIOURS eraarecies

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.