Communication project
This is an overview of what is expected on Part A and Part B of Assessment 2
Assessment 2 Project – Campaign and crisis communication plan (70% weighting, 3150 words total)
For this assessment you will devise A) a campaign plan and B) a crisis communication plan for the same organisation you prepared the communication proposal for. Please see specific details below of each task.
Assessment aim
This assessment aims to advance students’ skill and expertise in communication management by planning and developing a strategic campaign and crisis communication plan that support organisational goals.
PART A – Assessment details for campaign plan (weighted at 45% of total course grade, approx. 2025 words in length)
Due: Monday 24 October at 10pm (Week 12)
Assessment description
Your communication proposal (Assessment 1) has been accepted by the CEO or director of communications at your workplace (or other organisation) and you have been tasked with developing a full campaign plan. Below are the elements you should include in the plan:
A. You have already undertaken preliminary research about the organisational communication problem/opportunity, identified some key publics and established a campaign purpose. You now need to extend and expand this situational research, updating it with the most recent information and include an analysis of the target publics and/or stakeholders who will be most affected by the campaign (see note* below)
B. You need to identify and outline the goals and SMART objectives of the communication campaign in reference to the strategic goals of the organisation to show how you intend to address the situation you identified in section A (think about how you can visually present this information to show clear alignment across these domains)
C. Include an overview of the campaign strategies you will use to communicate the key messages – think about what networks, events and announcements you can leverage or piggy-bank on. Remember that the key messages of the campaign should align with the campaign goals and objectives identified in section B.
D. Propose appropriate tactics that will support these strategies – remember the tactics need to deliver the campaign objectives and communicate the key messages so you must align all of these elements Include an overview of the campaign strategies you will employ to communicate the key messages – consider what networks, events, and announcements you can leverage or piggyback on. Remember that the campaign’s key messages should be consistent with the campaign goals and objectives outlined in section B.
D. Propose appropriate tactics to support these strategies; keep in mind that the tactics must deliver the campaign objectives and communicate the key messages, so all of these elements must be aligned.
E. Devise an action plan, clearly laying out a timeline of events and activities, including who will do what and when, how frequently and for how long. You should also include an indicative budget for campaign costs alongside each of your proposed actions
F. Develop an Assessment plan to demonstrate how the outputs (tactics) will be measured against the outcomes (actual impact) of the campaign measured against the SMART objectives. Include details of the analysis tool/s to be used to assess the impact e.g. Facebook Insights; Hootsuite
G. Include a reference list of professional and scholarly resources used in the development of your campaign (excluded from the word count)
H. Include appendices that contain any research and material not included in the main body but constitutes important elements of the campaign plan (excluded from the word count). At a minimum your appendices should include the following:
– At least ONE example of a tactic you proposed in section D. Tactics might be design prototypes for advertising materials, a mock up of a social media post, a media release, a stakeholder newsletter article, whatever is most relevant to your campaign.
– At least ONE example of a research tool you proposed in Section F. Examples of measurement tools include social media surveys, focus group questions, methods for monitoring media or public opinion/sentiment
Marking criteria
The following criteria will be used to grade the campaign plan:
Content: Campaign planning and research (Sections A-C): Cohesiveness and justification of the communication problem, objectives, strategies and key messages supported by appropriate research (30%)
Content: Campaign Implementation (Section D-F): Quality and appropriateness of the tactics, action plan and Assessment methods (30%)
Presentation (includes Section H): Format, structure and cohesion of the campaign plan and relevance and integration of appendices (20%)
Written expression: Fluency and exposition; accurate use of language (including spelling and grammar) (10%)
Research and referencing: Appropriate use of academic and industry sources that reinforce the purpose and intention of a campaign plan; Appropriate use of academic conventions (10%)
PART B – Assessment details for crisis communication plan (weighted 25% of total course grade, approx. 1125 words in length)
Due: Sunday 30 October (week 12)
Assessment description
*As part of the research you conducted for the Situation Analysis above you should have identified and recorded possible communication issues that may escalate into a crisis for your organisation. Based on these issues you should prepare a crisis communication plan (CCP) that outlines how the situation will be handled. Ideally, the crisis plan will be based on the same organisation you develop the campaign plan for.
Crisis communication planning is a dynamic, complex and organic process. The nature of the CCP will vary for each student dependent on the issue and organisation identified and so the exact requirements are more difficult to prescribe. However, components may include (but are not to limited to) the following (compiled from Coombs (2019) and Hubspot):
• Introduction and purpose of the crisis communication plan
• Acronyms and jargon
• Simulation dates
• Crisis escalation framework
• Assembly point or crisis command centre
• Crisis response team (CRT) contact list – includes roles and responsibilities; media spokespeople
• Stakeholder contact list and spokespeople
• Crisis response strategy e.g. Outlining the lifecycle of a crisis e.g. Alert, Assess, Activate, Administer, Adjourn (see HubSpot CCP template); non-existent, distance, association, suffering, acceptance, accommodative strategies (see Cornelissen 2017)
• Feedback form on how the incident was handled
• Assessment report that compiles all stakeholder feedback for continuous improvement of crisis planning and future management
Pre-prepared media and stakeholder engagement response strategies are usually found in the crisis appendix of a CCP. A crisis appendix is a ‘crisis knowledge database that can contain precollected information, templates, press kits, and past crisis knowledge’ (Coombs 2019, p. 92). Examples include:
• A media strategy that includes an up to date media contact list, identifies what media channels will be used to communicate the crisis response, and how frequently communication will be issued.
• A bank of pre-prepared communication responses and holding responses (when more information is required before issuing a fuller response) appropriate for each media channel e.g. written statements that will be read in person to broadcast journalists, issued to newspapers, posted on corporate websites or shared on social media. Responses should include reference to the stakeholders most affected by the crisis (see HubSpot Communication bank template)
• Writing product recall notices, anticipated FAQs to address public concerns or factsheets
• Preparing backgrounders for journalists about the organisation’s business, its management structure, details of how previous crises were handled. Press kits that are comprehensive and informative can increase the likelihood of receiving more accurate and favourable coverage.
Assessment task
Due to the sensitivities of basing a crisis scenario on your workplace or another organisation, and the need for professional confidentiality, it is not possible to provide the same level of detail usually expected from a CCP. Instead, students will focus on developing a crisis appendix template that includes adequate context about the crisis being prepared for and contains pre-filled data that will support an organisation in the event of a crisis. The appendix should include:
• Details of the crisis scenario that is being planned for and the implications for the organisation e.g. reputation, workplace culture, financial loss
• Brief outline of which stakeholder/publics would be most affected by the crisis (including employees if the issue is of an internal nature)
• A description of the crisis response strategies to be deployed and brief explanation of why they are most suited to support the organisation’s communication needs
• Provide a brief explanation of how these responses will be communicated e.g. via social media channels, mass media, interpersonal events
• Produce ONE of the pre-prepared materials from the crisis appendix listed above to show how the crisis will be managed e.g. a Q&A for an organisational website or in response to media enquiries, a media release, a background briefing or holding responses for stakeholders or government agencies (be specific about the intended audience), media strategy including list of spokespeople (job titles and pseudonyms are sufficient) and why they are best suited for the job
• Indication of how the crisis response will be evaluated
• Concluding statement about how a crisis communication plan is of benefit to the organisation
• Academic references to support your work
Marking criteria
The following criteria will be used to grade the crisis plan:
Context: Provides appropriate context about the organisation and crisis scenario; accurately describes the publics most likely to be affected; highlights the benefit of crisis planning for the organisation (25%)
Content: Identifies and justifies the most appropriate response strategies to use in the crisis scenario and how these will be deployed; quality and effectiveness of the pre-prepared tactic; evidence of how the crisis response could be evaluated (40%)
Presentation: Clarity and accessibility of information, including appropriate use of tables, figures and lists (15%)
Written expression: Fluency and exposition; accurate use of language (including spelling and grammar) (10%)
Research and referencing: Appropriate use of academic and industry sources that reinforce the purpose and intention of a crisis plan; accurate use of academic referencing conventions (10%)
