GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

• This project must be done in groups of two or three.
• This final case study must be submitted in softcopy only on the assigned due date to assignment.gbs@gmail.com
• Hardcopy submissions will not be accepted

PRESENTATION OF FINAL ASSIGNMENT

• You must include a title page that lists your name, Student ID and the unit number and title.
• Number all pages sequentially.
• Any published material you refer to must be properly referenced (Harvard Referencing) and included in a reference list at the end of your assignment.

FINAL CASE STUDY SUBMISSION DEADLINE

Due Date: 28 th April 2016

Weighing: 80% of total assessment

LATE ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION POLICY

Any student submitting their assignments 2 days after the designated deadline will be considered as a Late Assignment Submission which will incur a penalty of CHF 100/SAR 390. The penalty amount will be automatically added to your subsequent month's Course Fee.

NOTE: The first page of each final case study must include the following declaration:
I certify that this assignment is my own work, based on my personal study and/or research and that I have acknowledged all material and sources used in the preparation of this final case study whether they be books, articles, reports, lecture notes, any other kind of document, electronic or personal communication.

I also certify that the final case study has not previously been submitted for assessment in any other course or at any other time in this Course, unless by negotiation, and that I have not copied in part or whole or otherwise plagiarised the work of other students and/or persons. I have read the GBS policy on plagiarism and understand its implications. Final case study that do not include the above declaration will not be marked.

PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism is a form of cheating, by representing someone else's work as your own or using someone else's work (another student or author) without acknowledging it with a reference. This is a serious breach of the Academic Regulations and will be dealt with accordingly.

Plagiarism occurs whenever you do any of the following things without acknowledging the original source:

• Copy information from any source (including the study guide, books, newspapers, the internet)
• Use another person's concepts or ideas
• Summarize or paraphrase another person's work.

How do I avoid plagiarism?

To ensure you are not plagiarizing, you must acknowledge with a reference whenever you:

• use another person's ideas, opinions or theory
• include any statistics, graphs or images that have been compiled or created by another person or organization
• paraphrase another's written or spoken word

You are required to use the below mentioned referencing system:
The Harvard Referencing System; e.g. 'Smith (1985) listed five key factors'

FINAL CASE STUDY

Fight Viral with Viral: A Case Study of Domino’s Pizza’s Crisis Communication Strategies (see attached)

CASE OBJECTIVES

1. understanding the impact of social media on public relation practices
2. understanding the concept of crisis communications
3. understanding the challenges faced by PR practitioners, marketers or corporate communicators

CASE QUESTIONS:

(Please see the last page for the marks you can obtain for each question:

1. What impact does social media have on public relations practices, particularly crisis communications and reputation management? How significant is it for organizations today to monitor content on social media sites, including hash tags and other signs of internal and external dialogue?
2. How should crisis communications preparedness plans address the proliferation of social media outlets?
3. From the perspective of crisis communicators concerned with social media, what else could Domino’s have done or said to prove with action that its key messages are sincere? What other messages could Domino’s have delivered?
4. What other types of traditional media and social media could Domino’s have used to reach its stakeholders?
5. What other challenges do you think that PR practitioners, marketers, or corporate communicators could have in telling the truth in the digital age?
6. How important is speed of response rate in a digital world, particularly when an organization is facing a crisis situation?

Learning Activities

1. According to its website, Media Curves “is the leader in public perception of topical issues.” This communications research company uses its patent-pending technology to evaluate the “believability” of a particular video, such as the apology posted on YouTube by Domino Pizza’s President Patrick Doyle. To see how Media Curves’ technology captured people’s perceptions of Doyle’s apology video, watch Doyle’s apology video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFiXWboPD5A. Discuss the specific moments in the video
   that people found most believable and least believable and what public relations practitioners can learn from studies like this. Visit the Media Curves website to watch other assessments of video apologies.
2. Using the framework presented in this article, apply the Arthur W. Page Society’s principles (“Vision, Mission & Goals,” n.d.), Seeger’s (2006) best practices, and Veil, Buehner, and Palenchar’s (2011) suggestions for integrating social media to United Airlines and its handling of Dave Carroll’s “United Breaks Guitar Video” or to Providence Renaissance and its handling of “Joey Quits” video. What lessons can be learned about social media and crisis communication from analyzing these organizations’ strategies?
3. To see how Domino’s has dealt with this crisis, consider some background information about its Pizza Turnaround campaign. How does this compare with the best practices? How did tweets like #newpizza help?

Table of Content
Please indicate the page number

Introduction

1. What impact does social media have on public relations practices, particularly crisis communications and reputation management? How significant is it for organizations today to monitor content on social media sites, including hash tags and other signs of internal and external dialogue?
2. How should crisis communications preparedness plans address the proliferation of social media outlets?
3. From the perspective of crisis communicators concerned with social media, what else could Domino’s have done or said to prove with action that its key messages are sincere? What other messages could Domino’s have delivered?
4. What other types of traditional media and social media could Domino’s have used to reach its stakeholders?
5. What other challenges do you think that PR practitioners, marketers, or corporate communicators could have in telling the truth in the digital age?
6. How important is speed of response rate in a digital world, particularly when an organization is facing a crisis situation?

Learning Activities

1. According to its website, Media Curves “is the leader in public perception of topical issues.” This communications research company uses its patent-pending technology to evaluate the “believability” of a particular video, such as the apology posted on YouTube by Domino Pizza’s President Patrick Doyle. To see how Media Curves’ technology captured people’s perceptions of Doyle’s apology video, watch Doyle’s apology video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFiXWboPD5A. Discuss the specific moments in the video that people found most believable and least believable and what public relations practitioners can learn from studies like this. Visit the Media Curves website to watch other assessments of video apologies.

2. Using the framework presented in this article, apply the Arthur W. Page Society’s principles (“Vision, Mission & Goals,” n.d.), Seeger’s (2006) best practices, and Veil, Buehner, and Palenchar’s (2011) suggestions for integrating social media to United Airlines and its handling of Dave Carroll’s “United Breaks Guitar Video” or to Providence Renaissance and its handling of “Joey Quits” video. What lessons can be learned about social media and crisis communication from analyzing these organizations’ strategies?

3. To see how Domino’s has dealt with this crisis, consider some background information about its Pizza Turnaround campaign. How does this compare with the best practices? How did tweets like #newpizza help?

Citation:
Last page of your assignment must include the complete list of the references used during the completion of your assignment with all the details.

Format for referencing from print media like books:
FAMILY/SURNAME, Initials. (Publication year in brackets) Book title – italicised or underlined. Series title and volume if applicable. Edition – if not the first. Place of publication:
publisher.
Example:
NEVILLE, C. (2010) The Complete Guide to Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism. 2 nd Ed.
Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Format for referencing from electronic sources:
Author of website FAMILY/SURNAME, Initials or WEBSITE name if no author is available. (Year – in brackets) Title of website in italics or underlined. Any numbers if necessary or available if website is part of a series. [Online in square brackets] Available from: URL. [Accessed: followed by date in square brackets].
Example:
BBC NEWS. (2008) Factory gloom worst since 1980. [Online] Available from:
http://news .bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7681569.st m. [Accessed: 19 th June 2012].

Report Format (5 marks)

Questions

Introduction to the Case Study
The introduction should generally include three key types of information: Background, Aims/Objectives and Scope

Q-1: What impact does social media have on public relations practices, particularly crisis communications and reputation management? How significant is it for organizations today to monitor content on social media sites, including hash tags and other signs of internal and external dialogue?

Q: 2 How should crisis communications preparedness plans address the proliferation of social media outlets?

Q: 3 From the perspective of crisis communicators concerned with social media, what else could Domino’s have done or said to prove with action that its key messages are sincere? What other messages could Domino’s have delivered?

Q: 4 What other types of traditional media and social media could Domino’s have used to reach its stakeholders?

Q: 5 What other challenges do you think that PR practitioners, marketers, or corporate communicators could have in telling the truth in the digital age?

Q: 6 How important is speed of response rate in a digital world, particularly when an organization is facing a crisis situation?

Learning Activity 1

Learning Activity 2

Learning Activity 3

Conclusion
Conclusions must include three main parts: Aim, Brief Summary and Final Comments considering future.

References
Harvard referencing format is followed for writing, citations and bibliography. Intext – referencing and Citations must be included.

Formatting
Margins, Font, Line Spacing, Alignment, Pagination and Headings