Feed: Practicing Public Relations - AggScore: 23.1

Can the UK learn a thing or two from political PR in the US?

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Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign is said to be one of the most successful uses of social media for a political campaign. The campaign team was able to accurately target the right groups through this form of media and did one thing many political PRs might be afraid to do--let go of control. Obama's campaign team allowed their message of hope to be spread by others, in a way that gave him an unbelieveable following. The president's team branded him in such a way that the lack of trust in politicians that strongly exists in both countries today, seemingly disappeared.

So, how can UK politicians learn from Obama's success? Well, they can start by not trying to follow the Tories plan for copying Obama's slogan. Here are a few tips:

1. They need to create their own brand. Image and identity allows the public to understand what a politician stands for and what s/he represents. Often times, people don't have time to really read about and understand a political figure, but being able to identify the figure helps.
2. Controlling the message is not always necessary. Political PRs, this is your chance to kick back and let someone else do the work (with a very close eye to it, of course). There are few things more powerful than seeing your message spread without always having to voice it. Social media is ideal for this.
3. Make sure everyone on your team is on the same page. An off-message can be dangerous. Everyone must walk the same walk and talk the same talk.
4. Do your research. Political PRs know that they're hoping to reach floating voters, not people who always vote the same. What are those people looking for in a leader? What do they expect to see change once that leader steps into power? How will they be effected by the change? Know where your audience dwells online and what media they consume. Target effectively.

Oh CSR, CSR

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I presented a case study a couple of weeks ago that looked at the ways NGOs collaborate with other organizations to create a competitive force. For my case study, I focused on NGOs working together to create a dominating third sector voice. But, often times, an NGO might partner with a corporation in order to gain access to new and different resources while fighting for the same cause. The NGO needs to be quite selective as to which businesses they decide to partner with, as it can easily damage their reputation and credibility. Corporations, on the other hand, find the partnership to be somewhat of a reputation booster, feeding their desire to fulfill corporate social responsibility (CSR).

To many, I'm sure CSR sounds a bit like an oxymoron. Corporations... with all the injustices many of them have imposed on non-deserving global workers, how can anyone ever consider a kind act to be the determinant of a corporation's responsibility? I, myself, have heard of a particular business spending hundreds of thousands on a socially responsible act, then three times the amount advertising to the world what a good job they've done. But, with transparency becoming popular today, CSR is no child's play. If we can't fix everything that corporates are doing wrong, we may as well hold them to "giving back" in some way that the public can see as genuine. The public expects truly kind acts to be demonstrated by these big businesses, and with the growing power of consumers, they better listen. I found a great website that allows people to keep up-to-date on the news around CSR: http://www.csrwire.com/


Further Reading:
Yaziji, M. and Doh, J., (2009). NGOs and Corporations: Conflict and Collaboration. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Top 10 Qs to Ask Yourself When Hoping to Create Behaviour Change

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10 Strategic Questions to Help Formulate a Social Marketing Plan*

1. What is the social [or health] problem I want to address?
Know what cause your fighting for and all the details surrounding it: be sure to check how things may have progressed over the years, and where you'd like to see it by a certain point in time.








and if not, where can I find useful partners?
Look for groups or individuals who can strengthen your message and give you access to a wealth of knowledge and possibly financial resources. But, be weary of coalitions as you and your partner might not approach the problem in the same way, which can lead to unpleasant disagreements.
*Created by the Social Marketing National Excellence Collaborative 
(with notes from me)

Fighting for Global Justice... 6 Billion Strong

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Costa Rica Union representative Ligia Lamich speaks on the need to take a stand for workers' rights, alongside her translator.

Today, I had the amazing opportunity to hear first hand of the struggles that so many workers face in the global south because of the bullying of big business in the UK. The 6 Billion Ways conference featured Ligia Lamich, a representative from the Union of Agricultural and Cattle Workers of Heredia in Costa Rica, who spoke of her desire to raise awareness of the conditions of workers associated with the banana trade. This particular session explored the ways in which we can win workers' rights in the developing world, looking at how War on Want, People & Planet, and Banana Link have supported the initiative. The coalition of activists are hoping that workers can achieve proper respect, higher environmental standards, and fair pay. They stressed that they support the industries that employ these workers, but only if the standards are able to be drastically increased. This tied into another campaign led by War on Want called Love Fashion, Hate Sweatshops—a movement to keep from blaming the consumers, and put more pressure on clothing companies to end their exploitation of workers. The discussion stirring around the room all pointed towards one main direction—gather as a global community to create global change. Like Lamich said, if we call on the government, MPs, and the companies themselves, we can make greater strides towards justice. 

Does Spin Take the Trust out of Politics?

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Gunn and Maguire spoke about PR's obsession with headlines, many practioners who are eager to exploit politics to gain those headlines, and the unhealthy power many of them have over their bosses and journalists. Maguire also touched on the fact that "spin doctors" must take responsibility and become more transparent, weaving Alastair Campbell in and out of his speech.


Both Price and Ingham took the stand to admit that, although spin has some responsibility for the status of trust in politics, it isn't the only reason—the bad behaviour of MPs and other politicians, in combination with the negative way the media reports on politics, is to blame. Price also stressed that good communications can't turn a bad leader into a good one.

I am NGO, Hear Me Roar

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Corporates have been playing the "us" v. "them" game for quite some time now, seeing NGOs as a company threat, and an outsider to the world of "professional PR". With a documentary such as Super Size Me, it's easy to see why corporations might feel as though NGOs and activists are constantly in attack mode. Because of this position as an outsider, NGOs are often left out of public relations theory and referred to in textbooks as people to look out for. However, public relations in the NGO and charity sectors is very prominent and constantly growing. If people stopped to look at the campaign work of many NGOs, they would see how effective many of their communication strategies are. Oftentimes, people find that working for an NGO will allow them to practice ethical public relations. Through my internship at The Young Foundation, I have also found that communicating to the public for an admirable cause can't make you feel anything but satisfied. But, NGOs aren't the only ones that should work ethically, purely for the betterment of the world (forget CSR to boost public image).

Take a look at a case study for Toms Shoes, an organization that goes beyond CSR: http://www.behindthespin.com/features/ethical-global-pr-a-case-study

Managing Stakeholders in the Changing World of PR

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In class on Wednesday, we discussed that our knowledge of how the PR industry has changed since some stakeholder management theories were created, should force us to analyze those theories critically, and pay close attention to how we place our potential stakeholders into the models. We were split into groups to discuss Bernstein's wheel, Esman's linkages theory, Grunig's situational theory, and the power-interest matrix. My group focused on the power-interest matrix, which looks like this:


Whereas many stakeholder theories ignore power, this matrix places it at the forefront of importance for determining how to manage stakeholders. Social media plays a role in how the level of power among certain groups has changed over time. There are many people who, such as consumers, may not have been considered to hold much power in the past, now have the ability to create potentially damaging content for an organization's reputation. Boycotts have been a long-standing form of consumer activism, but with audiences as wide as the hundreds of millions on many social networking sites, the potential of mobilizing massive amounts of people online is taking boycotting to a whole new level. Instead of the minimal effort of monitoring, organizations need to look at how they might need to keep those people satisfied in an effort to prevent a future issue or crisis. Also, social media calls for more transparency from organizations. Today, social media and other forms of online communication allow the consumer to monitor what a business is doing, and if their actions coincide with they're saying to the public. PR teams have to be much more careful about how they handle issues, with the power of the consumer rising.

In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is King

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Joan Claybrook, President of consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, testifies before Senate subcommittee during one of the many cases against Ford and Firestone. (Credit: Google, AP 2000)

In Risk Issues and Crisis Management, Regester and Larkin put it best: "An issue ignored is a crisis ensured." The authors explore various case studies that exemplify  poor management of issues and crises. In the case study of Ford and Firestone, the car maker and tire manufacturer failed to initiate a product recall of SUV tires in the United States. Ford and Firestone were aware of evidence of an issue with tread separation on Ford Explorers in Saudi Arabia in 1997. However, a 6.5 million Firestone tire recall was not initiated in the US until August 2000. In 1999, Firestone tires were replaced on the Ford vehicles in countries with hot climates; and by May 2000, about 50,000 tires were replaced outside of the US. Because all of this took place before any recalls were announced, both companies were criticised by the public, media, and NGOs for failing to put customer safety over profits.

Ford and Firestone were at odds with each other, coming up with reasons to blame the other for the crisis. Firestone called on their Japanese parent company, Bridgestone to help handle the communications response, which turned off the American public and media. Ford CEO Jac Nasser successfully communicated the company's "concern and care towards its customers," but his actions did not coincide with his words, leading the public to doubt his sincerity. Ford and Firestone's failure to manage the crisis led to a fall in share price and profits, internal restructuring, the end of their commercial partnership, new recall legislation in the US, and 200 lawsuits (including a loss of $100 million in one case).

This case study shows how crucial issues management is to prevent the onslaught of a crisis. For more examples of crises and how they were handled, check out these stories:

Tylenol Crisis
BP's PR Blunder Mirrors Exxon's
Case Study: Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Crisis
Mad Cows and Englishmen (video from another source below)

Controlling the Message

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Private Jessica Lynch



Social Media and its Benefits for PR

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Social media provides PR professionals with a media platform that will connect them to millions of people. Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are some of the most popular sites among social networking. My video provides more detail:

Blogging My Way into PR

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Decades ago, the most effective public relations strategies included engaging the public through print media... making front page news of the local paper was most important.

Now, blogging, Facebooking, tweeting, following, are all means to a way forward. Today, just making it on the front page of the local paper is yesterday's news. With the tools to measure our target audience's engagement, having the top tweet and substantial activity on Facebook is of concern. Who would have ever imagined that human beings would consider communicating online as one of the most effective ways of relationship building? It amazes me how technology has revolutionized the way people connect with one another. I'm an old fashioned kind of girl when it comes to communicating, but I will definitely take advantage of the ease new media has brought to our lives. And because I love writing, blogging is the best way to do it.

For info about getting started with blogging, visit: