Exam 18: Public Relations Influencer Marketing and Corporate Advertising

Scenario 18-2 A young man decides to become a mass producer of T-shirts.His small factory located in Oregon begins promoting itself by hiring excellent seamstresses, offering a pleasant working environment, decent salaries, and giving the public an opportunity to buy clothes that are truly "made in America." The company eventually adds other clothing items, opens three brick-and-mortar retail stores in several large cities, and expands to online shopping.Over the years, the firm grows and prospers due to its reputation as an American manufacturer, a fair employer, and an opponent of the traditional view of "sweatshops." However, along the way, it deals with a few public relations issues too. -(Scenario 18-2) He feels he did a good job in his press release by describing the positive aspects of his company. However, he is aware that his press release:

The major difference between public relations and advertising is that public relations cannot be used as a part of IBP campaigns.

Scenario 18-4 In the summer of 2010, basketball star LeBron James found himself in the middle of a PR nightmare when he decided to turn his decision regarding his future team into an hour­long spot on ESPN, which was entitled, "The Decision." Almost immediately, fans and critics alike began to express their distaste for the way the multi­ millionaire handled the situation.Many fans' opinions of the star were greatly altered and James' positive public image appeared to be shattered.Perhaps, even worse than the damage to his image, the Lebron James "brand" began to take a hit when his jerseys were pulled from many stores and websites, and thousands of fans vowed they would never buy James' line of shoes ever again.Several months later, James began repairing his public image.James, who endorses Nike products, came out with a controversial commercial that was believed to evoke sympathy.However, many others felt the commercial mocked the negative reaction expressed over "The Decision," and was intended to re­brand the star as a rebel.Either way, LeBron James has a long way to go before he can re-again his title as one of the most beloved players in the NBA. -(Scenario 18-4) LeBron James was widely criticized for his decision because he refused to attend a traditional press conference.Press conferences are often a good way to announce important decisions, scientific breakthroughs, and new product details because they:

Which of the following is an important element of a reactive public relations strategy?

Television is a popular choice for corporate campaigns because:

Cause-related marketing is becoming increasingly common because:

Scenario 18-5 An old adage states that all publicity is good publicity.However, Professors Jonah Berger of the Wharton School, and Alan Sorensen and Scott Rasmussen of Stanford found that there is such a thing as bad publicity.The colleagues studied the relationship between bad publicity and its impact on music albums, books, and movies.In 2010, they published their findings in a journal called Marketing Science.After studying cases involving the late Michael Jackson, Russell Crowe, and various authors; the colleagues concluded that negative publicity can increase product sales.Michael Jackson sold more albums after receiving negative media attention, and films starring Russell Crowe received higher rankings following an incident in which he allegedly threw a cell phone at a hotel employee.These high-profile stars actually thrived after receiving substantial amounts of negative publicity.However, in many low profile cases, negative publicity hurt sales and product reception.The three colleagues conducted an analysis of The New York Times' reviews and book sales, and found that negative reviews hurt sales of books by well-established authors, but helped sales of books by relatively unknown authors.After conducting the study, the authors found that conventional wisdom is wrong: not all publicity is good publicity.But they did show that negative publicity can sometimes be positive; it all depends on existing-product awareness. (Ned Smith, "Can Bad Buzz Be Good?" Business News Daily, November 1, 2010) -(Scenario 18-5) When publicity is positive it tends to:

Public relations can be used to activate social media, as well as engage mainstream media.

Scenario 18-2 A young man decides to become a mass producer of T-shirts.His small factory located in Oregon begins promoting itself by hiring excellent seamstresses, offering a pleasant working environment, decent salaries, and giving the public an opportunity to buy clothes that are truly "made in America." The company eventually adds other clothing items, opens three brick-and-mortar retail stores in several large cities, and expands to online shopping.Over the years, the firm grows and prospers due to its reputation as an American manufacturer, a fair employer, and an opponent of the traditional view of "sweatshops." However, along the way, it deals with a few public relations issues too. -(Scenario 18­2) The conflict passes, things settle down, and he goes on to build his business-knowing that a rash of bad publicity could have done him wrong even before he got started.Now, he knows that he is part of an industry with many questionable players.He is also aware that the chance of being associated with sweatshops, illegal hiring, or other unsavory aspects of business is high.Therefore, he prepares a better position to issue public statements based on current and accurate data.

Scenario 18-2 A young man decides to become a mass producer of T-shirts.His small factory located in Oregon begins promoting itself by hiring excellent seamstresses, offering a pleasant working environment, decent salaries, and giving the public an opportunity to buy clothes that are truly "made in America." The company eventually adds other clothing items, opens three brick-and-mortar retail stores in several large cities, and expands to online shopping.Over the years, the firm grows and prospers due to its reputation as an American manufacturer, a fair employer, and an opponent of the traditional view of "sweatshops." However, along the way, it deals with a few public relations issues too. -(Scenario 18-2) Shortly after this young man launched his business, a local newspaper runs a series of investigative reports on crowded, dimly lit, and unventilated sweatshops along the West Coast that hire illegal immigrants.His business is mentioned, though only in a list of firms that employ seamstresses, not in the list of those accused of wrongdoing.Still, he feels the need to write a letter to the editor as well as put out press releases to clarify his position and describe his business ethics.In terms of public relations, which of the following is he doing?

Scenario 18-4 In the summer of 2010, basketball star LeBron James found himself in the middle of a PR nightmare when he decided to turn his decision regarding his future team into an hour­long spot on ESPN, which was entitled, "The Decision." Almost immediately, fans and critics alike began to express their distaste for the way the multi­ millionaire handled the situation.Many fans' opinions of the star were greatly altered and James' positive public image appeared to be shattered.Perhaps, even worse than the damage to his image, the Lebron James "brand" began to take a hit when his jerseys were pulled from many stores and websites, and thousands of fans vowed they would never buy James' line of shoes ever again.Several months later, James began repairing his public image.James, who endorses Nike products, came out with a controversial commercial that was believed to evoke sympathy.However, many others felt the commercial mocked the negative reaction expressed over "The Decision," and was intended to re­brand the star as a rebel.Either way, LeBron James has a long way to go before he can re-again his title as one of the most beloved players in the NBA. -(Scenario 18-4) There are six primary objectives of public relations.Which of the following objectives were ineffectively portrayed by LeBron James' management team?

As opposed to a news release, a feature story:

In the context of corporate advertising, the green movement looks sustainable for some time because:

Buzz marketing involves creating an event or experience that leads to conversations about the brand.

The classic role of public relations is to:

A print ad shows an empty bottle of Coca Cola with the caption "No added preservatives.No artificial flavors.'The Real thing' since 1886." This is an example of .

Public relations is the only tool that can provide damage control in the face of negative publicity.

Public relations is the one tool that can accomplish a tough and often unpleasant task of damage control for a company.Explain and give at least two real-life examples of this process.

Peer-to-peer influencer programs have a different tone than those involving professionals in that they focus more on:

Scenario 18-1 The brewing companies in the U.S.love to use public relations to keep their company names in the minds of Americans and to promote their many brands of beer and ale.Both traditional and innovative public relations activities-using both traditional and innovative media-help to promote a positive public image, create brand awareness, highlight the product line, and act as cost-effective ways to enhance the overall IBP campaign.And these brewers use a variety of objectives and tools that support the field of public relations. -(Scenario 18-1) A large brewing company has its public relations staff create an interactive website aimed at men and women in their 20s and early 30s.It offers interesting facts about the history of beer, the making of beer, the definition of various brewing terms, the difference between hops and malt, etc.It includes games like crossword puzzles, word jumbles, and trivia contests related to beer.The objective of such PR initiatives is to: