Public relations is all about reputation management–your credibility is the coin of the business realm. We’re pretty hard on companies and brands that take a cavalier attitude about their credibility–because once you lose that, it’s all over. Or is it?
Admittedly, we have strongly implied that you can’t buy your way out of a PR disaster, but the oily BP sure makes us think twice:
Before BP could stem the oil gusher at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, it unleashed $100 million in ad spending, largely on network TV, to stem the damage to its image. But it also started spending heavily where it had never spent much before: buying ads in Google’s search results.
How much did BP spend on search? In two months, BP went from spending very little on search advertising — about $57,000 a month — to becoming one of Google’s top advertisers, dropping nearly $3.6 million in the month of June alone, according to an internal Google document obtained by Advertising Age. That pushed BP into the upper echelon of search advertisers, in a league with Expedia, which spent at least $5.9 million in June, Amazon, which spent at least $5.8 million, and eBay, which spent at least $4.2 million.
This is a significant outlay, even for BP, which spent $94 million on advertising in 2009, and $78.7 million in the first six months of 2010 alone excluding search, according to Kantar Media. Search advertisers only pay when their ads convert or get a click, and in June the crisis was still at full-boil, driving clicks on BP&’s ads. But if BP kept spending at this rate, search would’ve become one of its bigger advertising line items by the end of the year, up there with network, cable or spot TV.
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BP’s increase underscores how important Google has become for reputation management, and in the battle for public opinion. In the wake of the spill, Google was a natural first stop for people seeking information, and BP bought up dozens of keywords associated with the disaster such as “oil spill,” “leak,” “top kill” and “live feed” as it vied for clicks with news stories, images of oiled wildlife and plaintiff attorneys trolling for clients.
BP’s ad strategy now follows the typical trajectory of crisis PR, he says. It didn’t start out that way. BP was slow to connect with consumers and gulf residents right after the spill. Tony Hayward’s numerous gaffes didn’t help the company’s image, which came across as inept and out of touch. There’s little question that his mismanagement of the company’s public image led to his ouster as CEO.
So how’s the advertising paying off in PR improvement? A recent AP poll says that “some 66 percent of those surveyed continue to disapprove of BP’s performance, down from a whopping 83 percent in June.” Though still dismal, it does look like the ad spending is helping. However, it’s also certainly due to the fact that time has passed and the oil spill isn’t leading the newscasts anymore. The public has turned to the latest Sarah Palin Facebook pronouncement, Paris Hilton’s cocaine possession arrest and even something important, like the president’s new rug.
Sure, we’ve seen the TV ads BP is using to rebuild its tattered, oil-stained image–that was as predictable as a blob of oil on the beach at Destin. But who would’ve thought they would have spent all that coin on Google search ads?
It’s the political season, and tempers run hotter than an August in (insert name of your hot town here). Besides politics, there is also the specter of the ongoing culture war over morality and religion.
That in mind, we recommend you heed advice you may have heard since you were a kid: never discuss religion or politics if you want to keep a conversation pleasant. The same should go for business advertising.
Certainly, we all have strong opinions, and the right to express them is what America is all about. But when one of our clients wants to advocate for a political, religious or cultural issue in their advertisements, I ask them to take a step back. Take a deep breath.
Unless you focus on one group with your ads, you’re advertising not just to people who think the way you do (who will likely believe you are a principled person for expressing your beliefs) but you are also reaching–and potentially alienating–an entire market segment. (TV ads, for example–are generally targeted to the audience at large, even if you focus on one particular channel.)
Here’s an example–an aluminum siding company in Oklahoma:
Yes, you heard him right. In the middle of his pitch to Oklahomans to buy aluminum siding and new windows, he says “Yes, I’m an Oklahoma conservative Christian businessman who stands for liberty and freedom. So, let’s end this secular socialism right now.”
Okay, we’re not here to say he’s right or wrong in his beliefs. We’re here to say that while this may appeal to a base of customers and bring lots of publicity, it may forever damage the company with potential customers who either disagree with him or are simply turned off by his mixing of politics and religion in his sales pitch.
Another way to express yourself publicly is to submit a letter to the editor of your local paper or start a blog. That route makes your political or social stance less tied to your business and its reputation. People will probably be far less likely to find that distasteful, as you aren’t expressing yourself in a way that appears like a craven attempt to makes sales by pushing political or social issue buttons.
Ultimately, we recommend you give potential clients a “business” reason to hire you, whether it be your service record, unique product offerings or longevity in your field. Good marketing and public relations strategy is about knocking down objections–not building walls (or adding siding to existing “walls”).
BP Plc plans to name Robert Dudley to succeed Tony Hayward as chief executive officer as the board looks to recover the company’s position in the U.S., two people with knowledge of the matter said.
Dudley, the director of BP’s oil spill response unit, is ready to be announced as the company’s first American chief and to take the helm Oct. 1, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because a final decision hasn’t yet been made. The decision was reached in discussions with board members about how best to take BP forward and rebuild its U.S. position, the person said. The BP board meets today to “rubber stamp” the plan, the second person said.
“The fact he is American should help to keep things a little more straightforward in his dealings with the U.S. administration,” said Ted Harper, who helps manage $6.8 billion at Frost Investment Advisors in Houston. He doesn’t hold BP stock. “Dudley’s most important task will continue to be making sure that the well is capped.”
After a woman’s husband died in Afghanistan, a marine felled by an IED, she moved back to her home town to be closer to her family and grieve. In the smaller town, she couldn’t get any reception from Verizon, so she called them up to cancel. Despite being a widow and Verizon not living up to its contractual obligations to provide actual cellphone coverage, they slapped her with a $350 early termination fee.
If you don’t have any coverage, you’re supposed to be able to break your contract without penalty, but customer service reportedly told the widow “Nothing could be done” about the fee.
Reached by CBS13, Verizon’s PR department promised to look into it.
Use VOCUS or other PR email platforms? Be careful how you use them. Read on…
Got another “pitch” sent via an email marketing platform. I won’t go off on the tangent explaining why I so loathe this approach with every fiber of my being multiplied by infinity with the intensity of a thousand suns — on a stick. But I will share with you a DISCLAIMER that was at the top of this particular piece of spam:
This press release was sent through the Vocus PR platform. Should you no longer wish to receive these communications, please unsubscribe through the link in the footer. If you do not want to be listed on the database, please contact Vocus directly to request for your details to be removed: PHONE NUMBER
If you’re not taking the time to validate your lists whatsoever and think the above disclaimer helps your case? You’re content to spend life polishing turds. Fine, I’m in a mood. But to hide behind Vocus which BPB knows, loves and uses from time to time is lazy.
What should BP CEO (and foot-in-mouth disease victim) Tony Hayward do to ease the PR disaster of the oil spill?
Assigning one spokesperson who can stay on message is a start.
Two spokespersons (Hayward and COO Doug Suttles seems to be in a pissing match over who gets to shoot their mouth off in front of the cameras) in a crisis communications situation is almost never a good idea, especially when there is apparently no message coordination. Hayward needs to be silent. Some argue he needs to put on a hard hat and clean up the mess with crews on the beach. That’s ridiculous. People will perceive that BP is once again trying–and failing–to manipulate the story in their favor in a blatant way. As CEO, he needs to issue carefully vetted, printed statements only– and only statements that support what their designated spokesperson is saying to the media. If they picked Suttles, he at least has a presence that doesn’t suggest complete ineptitude and emotional vacancy.
Or…
Hayward should take one for the team and resign. He’s a dead man walking already; BP will certainly give him the boot once this whole mess is over. But I think it would speak volumes if he were to exit stage left now. It might just give BP a moment of breathing room with the public so they can get their PR act together. I can’t say I’m optimistic about this happening though.
And P.S.: BP’s apparent heavy handed attitude towards the media (i.e blocking access)is PR suicide.
In San Francisco, ABC7’s Dan Noyes had an interesting (and for PR pros, instructive) run-in with Laguna Honda Hospital PR chief Marc Slavin.
Noyes was probing allegations that Laguna Honda administrators inappropriately used money from the Patient Gift Fund.
On the YouTube page for this video (below) it says
According to Noyes, “Hospital Director Mivic Hirose ignored our phone calls for an interview. So, we showed up at her town hall meeting at the hospital.” That’s when the chief of community relations Marc Slavin stepped in and repeatedly patted Noyes with a hand. Each time, Noyes warned, “Do not touch me,” and one point Noyes threatened to call the cops. But like a brother bugging his little sister, Slavin continued his touchy-feely ways with Noyes and the camerawoman.
Check it out:
I worked for a few years as a public relations staffer in two major metro hospitals. I had to deal with the best and worst of the journalistic profession on events as catastrophic as the Murrah Terrorist Attack to stories about overweight kids to (sadly) routine updates on shooting victims. Almost always, reporters were professional and respectful of the operations of the hospital, understanding that it was my job to protect the privacy of our patients as well as provide an environment where our staff could do their work without distraction.
Most reporters would call ahead to schedule an interview or ask for a statement when a story was brewing. We would do our very best to accommodate them while meeting our legal, patient privacy and ethical obligations.
I do recall, however, being infuriated by certain tactics used by a tiny minority of journalists. This included the “gotcha” where they showed up unannounced with what I believed to be a clear agenda to cause trouble for the cameras.
Besides all other reasonable motives (professionalism, maturity, civility, etc.) that is one reason why I would never, ever, touch a journalist in any way–no matter how infuriating their tactics. Nor would I raise my voice or do anything provocative. My job in those situations was to get the journalist out of the building and reschedule the interview–not to make the journalist angry or put on a show for the cameras. My job was to minimize damage, not escalate it.
True, Slavin rattled Noyes, effectively taking the focus off the investigative reporting and putting it on the reporter himself, but at what price?
It’s a fairly textbook case of winning the battle but losing the war. Slavin made an ass of himself. He made the hospital–already on the hook for some pretty nasty allegations–look like it’s staffed by idiots. As I write this, the YouTube page for this video has nearly 17,000 hits, and that doesn’t begin to cover the blogs, news sites and other places where this story is being discussed.
So instead of cooling the situation down and seeking a way to get the reporter an interview (nevermind planning ahead and responding to allegations in a timely way to ensure his boss was not vulnerable to an unannounced impromptu visit), Slavin has guaranteed that the allegations have been repeated thousands of times, across the globe.
Ideally, the relationship between PR and the news media should be a balance based on mutual respect (even if it’s a grudging respect), professionalism and ethical behavior. If one side of this balance fails to meet those standards, it’s still incumbent upon the other to remain professional and keep cool. In this case, the PR “pro” reacted in an unprofessional way to a reporter’s provocative tactic.
He should have known better. Guys like Marc Slavin make the entire profession look bad. In future I hope he keeps his hands to himself.
Sometimes doing the right thing earns a company good P.R.:
Talk about customer service.
Employees at a Deffenbaugh Industries Inc. trash facility in St. Joseph sifted through a truckload of garbage Thursday to help a Savannah couple find $4,500 in lost cash.
The St. Joseph News-Press reported that Amy Ezzell frantically called Deffenbaugh after her husband, Chris, told her he had accidentally thrown away an envelope full of cash along with trash from a fast food restaurant.
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Chris had taken the money to Leavenworth, Kan., to look at a camper for a family vacation. He decided not to buy the camper and the envelope got mixed up with other trash. A Deffenbaugh worker knew which truck the money was in and rerouted it to the St. Joseph facility. A team of 10 workers sifted through the trash for about two hours before finding a mass of gooey bills.
“It was really gross, it came out of the envelope and it was soaked with everything,” said Dean Dymond of Deffenbaugh. “In fact, they found it near some cat litter in the trash, so it was pretty bad.”
All of the money was there and the couple said they couldn’t be happier. “I really appreciate everything they did for us,” Chris Ezzell said.
He said he tried to give the employees money as a reward for their efforts, but they declined it.
Besides the fact that Deffenbaugh workers did a good thing–the right thing–without expectation or acceptance of a reward–they also earned some great coverage from at least two local TV stations and local newspapers.
If you empower your employees to take initiative (by informing them of policies and of course setting parameters) it will almost always pay off with good customer service and even some great PR.
Public relations is all about reputation management–your credibility is the coin of the business realm. We’re pretty hard on companies and brands that take a cavalier attitude about their credibility–because once you lose that, it’s all over. Or is it?
This is where having empowered customer service reps –employees who can take common-sense initiative– can save your company a ton of bad publicity, and potentially a ton of dough:
Use VOCUS or other PR email platforms? Be careful how you use them. Read on…
Hayward needs to be silent. Some argue he needs to put on a hard hat and clean up the mess with crews on the beach. That’s ridiculous. People will perceive that BP is once again trying–and failing–to manipulate the story in their favor in a blatant way. As CEO, he needs to issue carefully vetted, printed statements only– and only statements that support what their designated spokesperson is saying to the media. If they picked Suttles, he at least has a presence that doesn’t suggest complete ineptitude and emotional vacancy.
