Exam 13: Public Relations, Influencer Marketing, Social Media, and Corporate Advertising

Public relations is a marketing and management function focusing on communications that foster goodwill between a firm and its constituents.

A proactive public relations strategy is a tool designed to take an aggressive stand at the first sign of negative publicity.

The British beef industry was rocked by reports of mad cow disease in its herds. To deal with the concerns raised, the industry had to adopt a reactive public relations strategy.

Influencer marketing refers to

The goal of corporate advertising is to

The intent of corporate advertising is to make sure that all of a company's products are seen in a common, positive manner.

Think of influencer marketing as a set of conversations involving an influencer, a consumer, and a brand.

Scenario 13-3 The lobbying program administered by the Wisconsin Ethics Board is the only program in the country that provides citizens information about the businesses and organizations trying to influence the legislature, what they are lobbying about, and the time and money each is devoting to these matters. Organizations employing lobbyists recently reported to the Ethics Board their lobbying expenditures for 2003.The organization that reported spending the most on lobbying activities during the first year of the 2003-2004 legislative session was Wisconsin Education Association Council who spent $1,083,487, which had been recently criticized in the public press. ("Wisconsin Ethics Boards 2003 Lobbying Report," http://ethics.state.wi.us, 2003-2204) -(Scenario 13-3) Advertising by Wisconsin Education Association Council to establish the company's position on this political situation, stating the company's side of the story is considered:

The people enrolled by manufacturers such as P&G for an influencer program in which they are given brand news and expected to share it with their social network are called facilitators.

Scenario 13-1 Miller Brewing makes several brands of beer, in particular Miller Genuine Draft and Miller Light. They consider public relations - ongoing activities to ensure the organization has a strong public image and includes helping the public to understand the organization and its product - to be a cost effective component of their overall brand promotion Similar to effective advertising and promotions, effective public relations depends on designing and implementing a well-designed public relations plan. The plan includes description of what you want to convey to whom, how you plan to convey it, who is responsible for various activities and by when, and how much money is budgeted to fund these activities. Public relations frequently include use of traditional media, that is, newspapers, television, magazines, etc. as part of the plan. Miller has a Marketing Communications manager whose responsibility it is to ensure that all the public relations initiatives are consistent with and supportive of Miller's brand advertising efforts. -(Scenario 13-1) If Miller's website was devoted primarily to enlisting brand loyalists' support for the Miller "Drink responsibly for your children" initiative to raise awareness of fetal alcohol syndrome then its purpose would be different from brand promotion. Its purpose would be to

Scenario 13-4 Munters Moisture Control Services is an organization that responds to businesses and institutional customers that have had their facilities damaged by moisture from floods or water leaks. In most cases, the moisture problem is completely unexpected by the customer and thus they need to contact Munters and hire them on very short notice. In addition, the cost of clean up and repair of water damage is typically much higher than customers ever expect, unless they have had previous experience with such calamities. As a result, some customers and even communities view Munters with some disdain. Often, they feel as if this firm is preying on the misfortune of others. Nevertheless, the largest bank in town was very satisfied with the job Munters did for them after a recent flood from the nearby river. Clearly, Munters must be very careful to see that public relations and corporate advertising are handled appropriately. -(Scenario 13-4) Because some people in the community describe the firm as "vultures" that prey on the misfortunes of others, the primary objective of Munters' public relations efforts is likely to be:

Scenario 13-5 General Dynamics produces jet fighters, submarines, and other high tech defense equipment for the United States government, as well as for a handful of foreign governments that are approved to purchase such weapons. General Dynamics has several communications challenges. The firm must make its presence known to decision makers in the military and in government. It must also engender support from the public in a way that causes voters to contact their legislators to support funding for programs that require products manufactured by General Dynamics. -(Scenario 13-5) Since all of the revenue generated through the sale of submarines comes from Federal tax dollars, General Dynamics must actively communicate with government officials regarding pending legislation and budget allocations. If they employ a recently retired general to bear witness to the excellent equipment and service support of General Dynamics at consumer town meetings in congressional districts whose representatives can influence this legislation what are they doing?

For the most part, it's very difficult to strategically control publicity efforts. In this respect, such efforts are very similar to

Which of the following is an objective for corporate advertising?

A leading sporting goods company calls a press conference to announce that the winner of the National Football League's Most Valuable Player Award has signed a contract to endorse the company's products. The advantage of using a press conference, as opposed to other public relations tools, is that a press conference

A public relations plan identifies the objectives and activities related to the public relations communications issued by a firm.

One possible target of a public relations effort is politicians.

Waste Management ran an advertisement that told the story of how it managed some of the waste it collected. The headline was "We've been known to send some people's garbage right back to their house." The copy explained that Waste Management collects clean burning methane gas from one of its landfills. The gas is used to fuel the turbines that run power generators that provide electricity for homes. This is an example of

A company allows its workers to take one afternoon off each month to volunteer at the nonprofit organization of their choice. The company sends out a press release that explains this program to the media. This is considered a proactive public relations strategy.

Scenario 13-2 You are the owner of a huge paper goods company. You head into company headquarters one morning and no one greets you as you walk down the halls. In fact, people seem to be actively avoiding you. Immediately you sense something is wrong, because on a normal morning, there's a steady stream of people brownnosing and kowtowing to you. You get to your office and your suspicions are confirmed. A nationally circulated newspaper with an article circled in red sits on your desk. The article announces that radical environmentalists have chained themselves to trees in a forest in northern Wisconsin. It seems they are trying to protect an endangered animal, which virtually no one has ever heard of, from a logging operation. Some of the animals have already been killed by the heavy equipment the loggers use. You scan the article and see the problem. It's a forest that your company owns, and the environmentalists are in a standoff with the managers of your logging division. The logging operation is critical to the success of your company, and if the environmentalists win the support of the general public, including many in your workforce, your company's profits will nose-dive. It is bad enough that this morning you look like killers of defenseless little creatures. You immediately phone your public relations agency and call a meeting. -(Scenario 13-2) A series of press releases about the positive projects that your company is currently involved in is considered. However, ultimately you decide against it because