PR Strategy – No “Spitting Wars”

It’s a fairly common strategy to call out your competitor’s flaws (perceived and/or actual) in a public forum (e.g. Progresso/Campbell’s Soup Wars, AT& T/Verizon’s map dispute, I’m a Mac/PC). Though this strategy often leads to highly publicized, drawn out and costly litigation, it has also yielded improved sales for some companies.

There’s an alternative to the “spitting war” strategy. Here‘s the case study.

Most consumers don’t realize that “fresh, natural” chicken can include products that have been injected or plumped with sodium phosphate, cane juice, corn syrup and other “enhancers.” Our client, Foster Farms, the leading poultry producer on the West Coast, had always differentiated itself as producing truly 100 percent, natural, fresh poultry without any added ingredients. The other guys were injecting their fresh and natural-labeled chicken with salt water, ostensibly for better flavor but in fact adding weight and thus the total cost – and sodium content -- to consumers. With labeling loopholes, though, most consumers didn’t know the difference.

Foster Farms had enough, but how do you out your competitors’ deceptive labeling practices and market that without painting yourself defensive and y whiny in the process? The answer – with humor, with award-winning TV advertising and, not least, with effective public relations working on all fronts.

Our job was to help consumers understand what they were getting – or not getting – when they bought fresh chicken. We informed them about an issue they should be concerned about without scare tactics or shock value. Our approach was credible, reasonable and caring rather than pointed or aggressive

The upshot – Consumers remained loyal to the premium Foster Farms brand even in a tough economy. And the campaign, as lauded in an L.A. Times editorial (and reprinted in the Sacramento Bee and other dailies), won praise for its integrity.

“Foster Farms, which developed an entire marketing campaign around the fact that it does not plump its chicken, is calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to withhold the “all natural” label from enhanced chicken.

“Although we hate to take sides in corporate competition, we think Foster Farms is right. If anything, its campaign is too tame. It's tempting to imagine a label that identifies heavily enhanced chicken as "chicken-like product, with X% real chicken." At the very least, enhanced meats should be conspicuously labeled as such, and the list of added ingredients should appear in larger type. Shoppers should know at a glance what they're really getting.”

Expanding on the Top 10 Blunders List

Fineman PR’s Top 10 Blunders List is a call to organizations to pay attention to their image as reflected in their organizational behavior and communications. Our list is not meant to degrade or defame but to educate and bring greater awareness to the value of professional communications counsel.

Everyone, including all organizations, make mistakes. Often a blunderer will make our List not because of the initial mistake but because of their response to that mistake, hence prolonging negative impressions. When confronted with a challenging situation, we counsel our clients to think of public welfare first, to avoid blame and speculation, to show care and concern for all affected audiences, and to assure those audiences that the issue is being resolved with good faith.

While we strongly believe that organizations must take responsibility when the fault is theirs, it is just as critical for organizations to understand that they have a responsibility to counter false charges and to set the record straight. No person or organization should allow others to tell their story for them. No person or organization can afford to allow misinformation to stand without a correction. The key to these kinds of assertive communications is in the tone. Defensiveness, obstinacy, arrogance, and name calling should not be options.

This year’s Top 10 PR Blunders List was marked especially by the role that online and social media played. This is a relatively new area of PR and many companies stumble when they miscalculate social media’s potential for influence. Examples here would include the United Airlines, Domino’s, KFC and Horizon Group Management Blunders.

We have received several inquiries about why some high profile situations were left off the list such as Tiger Woods and “Balloon Boy.” In our professional opinions, not all news making incidents are necessarily “public relations blunders.” Some that we ignore are too tragic, some are too personal, some are plain criminal acts, and some are just instances of moral turpitude.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Slammed in the Media? PR Tips for A Savvy Response

Ideally, every business would have a PR counselor ready for action at a moment’s notice. Picture a powerful team of superheroes stashed in your desk drawer like an earthquake or snake bite kit. But unlike larger businesses with internal communications teams and expert agency counselors, many smaller businesses either don’t have the time, money or means to fund communications resources like the big guys. Still, every business should have the basic tools to act in the event that their reputation is on the line.

Recently, the small Alzheimer’s facility where my relative receives care was negatively portrayed on the front page of a major daily newspaper. The article profiled one family’s struggle in shifting a relative from an assisted living residence to a specialized care facility. The reality is that few facilities have the technical licensing to care for patients with certain stages of Alzheimer’s; past a certain stage, options are not as extensive as one would hope. The article was just one more reminder that every business is vulnerable to public criticism online and in traditional media.

Even with the best of intentions and a great business product or service, it only takes one brutal shot by a vocal detractor or unhappy client to do damage to even highly regarded businesses.

Here’s a quick PR kit for small businesses to help prepare and hopefully avoid PR disaster, or, to deftly handle a media crisis once it hits. Slammed in the Media? PR for Small Businesses

Why newspaper reporters should love PR folks

Sometimes it seems like PR-bashing must be a parlor game for journalists. And while sometimes it’s well-deserved, the industry often suffers subtle digs and outright attacks from reporters who dismiss the value of PR.

But here’s why you should reserve your judgment, reporters (or at the very least, give us a chance!): PR professionals make up a large contingent of those who continue to believe in the importance and relevance of newspapers. We know that it takes more than an Internet connection to qualify as a journalist.

Many readers have cancelled their subscriptions and companies have pulled their ad budgets. The Pew Research Center found that only 33% of Americans would miss their local newspaper a lot if it folded.

The ad budgets that newspapers solicitously court? Companies have taken most of those dollars elsewhere. Someone may even be walking around with what was formerly a quarterly print ad budget tattooed on their forehead.

We know your words still matter. Though we’re at the forefront of leveraging the power of social media, we also recognize your power and influence.

We buy your newspapers and carefully clip your articles. Sometimes we even frame them. We read your articles for tone and nuance, share them with clients and friends. We subscribe to your RSS feeds and check out your blogs and tweets. You put a smile on our faces when you respond to our pitches. We wait for your calls and avoid calling you when you’re on deadline. We commiserate when layoffs or closures are announced.

We stand by you. And we’re cheering you on as you find a way to adapt to the changing landscape. And if you do get laid off, just remember that your writing skills are marketable and transferable.