Cadence’s PR Blog

An excellent example of a corporation implementing corporate social responsibility is the new bottle being produced by The Coca-Cola Company. The “PlantBottle” or PET plastic bottles are partially made by plants, therefore the company can start to become less dependent on the non-renewable source of petroleum in manufacturing their bottles. Scott Vitters, the Director of Sustainable Packaging at Coca-Cola, makes a point to mention that this is not just a one-time effort to increase CSR. This is an on-going and developing process of making their products as green and environmentally friendly as possible. The statement is important because it reflects the values of the company to continually strive to live up to what they’ve published in their mission statement. This movement to become more environmentally friendly makes sense to their consumers and keeps their publics on board by proving consistency and coherence.

Lastly, as I briefly mentioned in the last post, public relations practitioners have the ability to implement tactics that create interest publics who may not be directly related to the company. In this example, a good PR tactic would be to develop some type of “green” label or logo on the new bottles that communicates the company’s integration. Then, a consumer may notice the new bottle and be more inclined to buy it because they agree with the mission of helping the environment. This is just another way for PR professionals to implement ideas that reflect the company and interest their consumers. Coca-Cola, one of the largest corporations, has done a terrific job of executing corporate social responsibility and aligning it with their success.

In this survey report, I developed my first real understanding of what the role of a PR practitioner entails in Corporate Social Responsibility. Public Relations Practitioners should be engaging their company in relationships and opportunities that allow for their corporation to create and maintain a strong sense of social responsibility. When a practitioner is highly active in developing CSR, they become more professional and exemplify the values-driven approach on an even higher level for their corporation.

Another blog I found answers this same question and provides the example of Ben & Jerry’s to expand on the important role of a PR practitioner in CSR. They key factor here is two words: communication management. As the blog says, the PR practitioner’s role should be to effectively communicate what a company is implementing or supporting to its consumers and other publics. Also, the PR practitioner should make sure the messages being sent by their company are coherent with that company’s mission statement or values. This blogger uses Ben & Jerry’s in relation to children as an example, but other examples might be as simple as a architectural firm implement “green” design as a part of their values and contribution to the environment. A company’s message needs to always match up with its CSR tactics, a mission that falls into part of the PR practitioner’s responsibilities. A main focus for the PR practitioner overall is to make sure their efforts to gain CSR don’t go unnoticed and are reflective of the organization.

I found an interesting article concerning a disclosure from female pop vocalist Britney Spears after lip syncing at one of her concerts. The public audience was actually demanding a statement or explanation from Britney, but her spokesperson made the statement instead. He defended Britney’s case by claiming that it was “common knowledge” that she lip syncs at all her concerts. However, consumers of the tickets felt that they were mislead. This is where federal agencies tend to step in. If tickets or promoters of concerts do not disclose whether an artist will be live or lip syncing, they could be violating the Fair Trading Act. This goes back to our book on page 473 where the Federal Trade Commission act is discussed. Whether Britney’s PR people were poorly educated about the law or not, they have sacrificed more of Britney’s reputation among her fan base because they didn’t abide to the speech regulations in place.

Another interesting example that relates to PR and the law is the commercial ad campaign by Verizon Wireless that is currently running. The AT&T network gets bashed for not having a large network to accompany its flashy products, such as the iPhone. Supposedly AT&T is trying to claim libel in the case, but Verizon Wireless seems confident that they cannot fulfill the burden of proof because the information in their ads is factual. From what I have found so far, the ads have not been able to be stopped for that same truth. I think this is a smart attack made by Verizon because they don’t attack the products of AT&T; they only prove the inadequate service provided. This is smart planning because later on they may want to take on the iPhone in a contract, so relations with Apple are still important to keep positive.

My first example of Public Relations concerns the importance of maintaining harmonized values and positive relationships with employees. A common misconception people make who are ill-educated about PR is simply believing it’s only mission is to maintain consumer relationships. However, as students and professionals, we know there are a wide range of other publics that have to be considered and addressed just as crucially.

A new and innovative example of a company using PR to align values with their employees and work environment would be Facebook. The new facebook headquarters and interior design methods are actual PR tactics. The corporation invested in a space that would facilitate 700+ of their employees, so that all the seperate offices could finally come together in “one social network.” Are you catching the reflecting values yet? Well it doesn’t stop there. The entire design process was a collaboration of the actual design team and Facebook’s employees. Every design decision was made according to response from employee polls and an advisory board. Employees were designated as essential players in all of the design tactics by being inquired and updated on construction decisions. And the best part is, that their ideas were actually implemented. They weren’t sending their opinions out just to hear an echo, but to see their values reflected in their every day work space. Interior design plans were formed around the company’s social networking values; settings and offices were created to be community friendly. Also, gourmet food is available to employees at all times–another PR tactic to show the company’s consideration and appreciation for its diligent workers.

Overall, yes this is PR. Facebook sets a great example of how strong employee relation tactics can maintain and increase loyalty, leading to long-term corporate success.

I think the blog post content from Dave Fleet brings up some interesting points about the public’s view of PR disclosure. I agree with him in the sense that the average consumer could probably care less about who is disclosing as long as the disclosure lines up with the value of product or actions being made by the corporation. However, this is where the line blurs. If disclosure is made that is inaccurate, misleading, or dishonest, people start searching for who’s responsible. So in that sense, people don’t care who’s disclosing information until something goes wrong. Should corporations risk handing that responsibility off to people who aren’t PR professionals? As long as the those disclosing are abiding by ethical codes, it should never become of real interest to consumers. Quality service and product are the main interests of the consumer and if disclosure methods accurately coincide with these deliveries, there should be no issues.

A disclosure example would be the music artist Chris Brown’s public apology to his fans and Rihanna after being charged with physical assault on this female vocalist. Fans were offended by his actions, but because he personally took responsibility and apologized, his reputation was not completely demolished. In this video apology, he was the discloser. However, it is obvious for us to see that there was probably a PR professional advising and scripting his every word. This was an attempt to save his reputation and keep some positive publicity as he approached his trial. I would consider this a great example of a Litigation PR tactic.

An interesting concept from this chapter is the importance of risk assessment. I immediately thought about the salmonella outbreak that has been reoccurring in peanut butter over the past couple of years. I remembered hearing about the recalls on the news, but I didn’t remember much about how this specific crisis had been handled by the processing plants, farmers, etc. This article from the Huffington Post satisfied my curiosity by providing evidence of PR at work. The Peanut Corp. CEO, or crisis manager, is quoted apologizing to his products’ customers and utilizing the values-driven approach by voicing his mutual health concerns and reactive tactics. The CEO also mentions that the plant is being closed immediately for investigation, just as the book recommends. I thought it was interesting to see how the stakeholder communication strategy was so effectively utilized with the media in this crisis. The CEO communicated relative concern with the public and reassured that the cause of the contamination was being investigated and further updates would be available. He said enough without saying too much, which is an important merit when minimal evidence or information has been gathered. The organization was proof that the plant had already made risk assessments for possible crises such as this.

If we dive deeper into the importance of stakeholder communication strategies in a crisis, we recognize how social media and technology are making these strategies quicker, easier, and even more efficient. An example I thought of was how Clemson University, along with many campuses, uses text messaging alerts called “CUAlerts” to keep faculty and students readily aware when a crisis breaks out. This is a communicative strategy of the 21st century. We live in a day in age where a variety of social outlets are available for us to spread the word quick and also control questioning and rumors. If an organization or company has a Twitter or Blog setup, they can post updates before rumors start or negate rumors before they spread too far. This type of technology will become even more depended on in crisis communication in the future.

In Chapter 11, the author discusses how the digital revolution continually changes the PR field. New forms of social media can be great for networking, however Web 2.0 can be disastrous when a crisis hits. While I was reading the book’s example of Senator Allen’s racist slur bring broadcast on YouTube, I immediately thought about the Dixie Chicks incident that happened in 2003. Thanks to video and audio that was taken half-way across the globe, the group’s negative remarks about the President were exposed and led into a crisis. Fans reacted in rage immediately, trash-talking the group online through blogs, Youtube, and other forums. The crisis became out of control, thanks to social and news media, before the group had developed a plan to avoid it. If this had been before the digital revolution, the incident would have taken much longer to reach the mass quantities of people it did.

Another interesting point made in the book was social networks’ ability to to reach targeted publics without having to go through a news media source. Gatekeepers in news media have no control over social media sources. Interestingly enough though, social media is now creating stories for news media in our day and age. YouTube sensations now get featured on new programs, and remarks made by celebrities or officials on their blogs or Twitter do not get passed over by news media gatekeepers either. A great example would be the “JK Wedding Dancers.” Although this is not an example of PR, the point is that why using their individual voice through the power of Web 2.0, they became famous for their idea through social media. The Today Show noticed the buzz that was happening in the social media source, and they brought their attention to it. Many PR professionals work with this same vision.

Another example I drew from the vocabulary introduced in this chapter, was the Atlanta Braves website as a form of hypermedia. The site supports audio, visual, and text information for its viewers and fans. By integrating multiple forms of media, they can appeal to a broader public. Some people prefer one media over the other, so why not supply a selection? This is a PR thought process at work.