How Nova Post reacted to the shelling of the Kharkiv terminal. Anti-crisis Communication Case

Nova Post: 1) Olena Plakhova, Chief Reputation and Marketing Officer   2) Olena Umerenko, Head of the Social Responsibility Department 3) Prystupa Svitlana, Head of External Communications  4) Olha Baburina, Global Communications Manager   5) Kateryna Grebenyk, Press Secretary  6) Anastasiia Yalova, Head of Employer Brand Development  7) Katerina Slavynska, Employer Brand Manager  8) Irina Ivlieva, Corporate Psychologist  9) Daria Storozh, Head of SMM  10) Anastasiia Zihunova, SMM manager  11) Anastasiia Yarkina, SMM manager  12) Yuliia Protsenko, SMM manager  13) Anhelina Kryzhska, SMM manager  14) Kateryna Yanyshyna, Business Social Responsibility Manager 15) Dariia Kapushchenko, Employer Brand Manager

On October 21, 2023, russia hit Nova Post sorting terminal in Kharkiv with an S-300 missile. The terminal was destroyed, 6 employees died on the spot, two more died in the hospital, and 14 were hospitalized.  This tragedy swept across the country and reached abroad, as russia once again committed a horrific terrorist act, hitting a civilian facility. Whatmore, the enemy accompanied its crime by spreading fake news that the Nova Post sorting terminal was used to store weapons. It was vitally important for us to tell the truth, refute russian propaganda and unite people around this tragedy.  To reach our goals we stuck to open, uninterrupted communication internally and externally and divided our communications to meet the needs of different stakeholders: employees, customers, society and media, international community.  We also addressed well-known designer Artem Gusev and asked him to create a visual symbol of the tragedy so that Ukrainians can express their condolences using it.  The tragedy received the largest audience and media response in terms of both the number of mentions and engagement during the full-scale invasion from February 2022 to the present day. During the first day we received 4.8 million messages of support and condolences on social media.