Kitabı oku: «Darkness Public Relations»

Anton Vuima

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Acknowledgements:

Makarov Ivan

ISBN 978-5-0051-8282-1

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

Darkness PUBLIC RELATIONS

Author: Anton Vuima
PR Agency Supreme PR www.PR.HELP

Introduction

First of all let’s look what exactly black PR is. In foreign literature, this term is very rare and it can be said that the term «black PR» is Russian invention. If you ask any Western Public Relations practitioner, if he is engaged in black PR, he will deffinetely be offended. But, overseas black PR is even more developed, perhaps even more strongly than in Russia. Spreading a negative information in politics and economic is a tool of competition. But there is no one who uses the term black PR. But they call it:

Fighting for fair competition;

Telling the truth about the candidates;

Fighting for human rights;

Fighting for social justice;

Fighting for democracy;

Fighting for a cleaner environment;

Fighting for the rights of consumers;

Fighting for freedom and justice;

Protection of human rights;

Etc.

That is always a fight for something socially useful and good. And, of course, no one will ever tell you that this fight is for the market. From the outside it looks very noble. However, the way it should be – it’s a real PR.

I would say that all the major companies of the world are practicing black PR-technologies. In a modern capitalism unable to lead PR-world battle just to survive.

What do we mean by Black PR? Any information attacks which are destroying the business, image, corporate bonds, etc.

Many people think that black PR is the prerogative of the white PR for big business and politicians. However, even in small businesses black PR can take a place. And it does not need to have a lot of money to make it. It is spread everywhere and at all levels. But even in Russia still not all are able to use it. But an information war can be at any level.

Black PR is often contributes to the protection of consumer rights, protecting them from the low-quality goods. It promotes the efficiency of the authorities and often protects people from tyranny and lawlessness of various government agencies. Yes it is destructive, but more inclined to destroy the sick and rotten than the healthy and beautiful.

Note that the term «Black PR”is much more famous and popular in Russia than normal PR. For many, the concept of normal PR is still not clear and understandable. Some call this activity as «jeans’ or freebie, some public relations, one understands PR as a form of advertising. But the black PR more than understandable to all in Russia. When you say «PR», many react like this: «A PR… Black PR. Yes, that is clear. "So, we have a phenomenal popularity of the term.

But where did the term itself took from? The fact is that in the post-perestroika period, many people gave up doing PR. But the press was not in a hurry to take the news for free.That is when, the press has suddenly become totally corrupt and the PR practitioner did not need a creative approach to post news. Why? Because it is paid. And the press at that time did not care about take – dirty watering or neat advertising.

So very soon we formed two fields: the custom promotional articles (which do not dare to call the PR, and in fact it has more «advertisement» sense), and also custom abusive articles that could not be called advertisements, as the customer usually modest Fade. And all that was called PR. Since journalists tried" to «merge dirt» and please the customer, these activities couldn’t be called as an another way than black PR.

I must say that this kind of black PR has no relation to the real professional black PR. In professional PR you create newsworthy, but it is so much fun for the press willingly publish the information free of charge.

But in Russia, all the processes in this period developed in a bit extreme way. So, fair competition replaced by gang violence. And for the development of production you only needed to privatize formerly state-owned enterprises very quickly. And a few days later a poor, but clever entrepreneur could become the owner of several factories and ships.

Basically, in Western Countries PR was formed in the same way, but now it has come up to a stage, where the black PR campaign perceived as an exclusive benefit. In the West, Black PR was developing much longer, but it’s much more professional and much more dangerous. Incidentally, this is felt by those who tried to get their goods to their market. There black PR practitioner can quickly completely destroy someone’s business. That is why black PR is no less effective than an aggressive competition.

And, at the end, who does often benefit from this information warfare? Off course, consumers. For example, there is a place of false facts in the competitor’s advertisement. And if a company is prone to false information in advertising, therefore, it can not produce a quality product. Consumer begins to doubt and what is worse buys goods from fraudulent company. All this suggests that companies closely monitor product quality and integrity of their advertising.

Let’s take a look on advertising in Russia. For example, in advertising tape they constantly overestimated their technical characteristics. Instead of 200 watts. Power Player can play only 150 watts. etc. But in the advertising write inflated figures, because they know that in Russia, this won’t bring any problems.

Even in foreign factories, which are located in Russia, the quality control is not less stringent than in a similar plants in their homeland. Why? Because if this product may fall into the hands of Western Public Relations specialist, any inaccurate information will lead to a magnificent black PR against a reputation of that company.

Russian variety of black PR leads to very interesting results. Even people stopped going to the elections, because of the government members reputattion as «thieves.» And what is the reason to chose one «thief’ from the pack of «thieves»?

Black PR is quite a positive activity, as it stimulates an increase in the quality of products and services.

Lets try to define the black PR. So Black PR – is a targeted dissemination of negative information concerning any animate or inanimate object.

The purpose of this activity is either the destruction of the business, or the undermining of business relationships, or something else.

And I do not see a serious moral difference squeezing competitors out of the market by price dumping by trial or by black PR. All this tough competition. Consequently, a weak leaves the market, and a strong win.

Black PR professional can not be related in any way to an unfair competition. Although at first glance it may seem that it can be so interpreted. Black PR can disclose evidence to support the poor quality of products and service of a competitor, as well as to point out the hidden mistake, and consumer fraud.

Naturally black PR – is a business tool. And depending on whose hands it falls, it can bring benefit or be a stronghold of evil. If it falls into the hands of an honest businessman, he can protect himself and his consumers from unfair competition and bureaucratic arbitrariness. Black PR in his hands destroys substandard products, weak business and achieves peak of something healthy and strong. In this case, the best wins and we will only win.

Black PR in the hands of the villain turns into evil. He begins to destroy useful goods, destroy an honest business, etc. It becomes harmful to society activities. Moreover, successful companies can not protect themselves by not having a staff of PR-powerful group. This book helps how to teach entrepreneurs to create a black PR campaign and to how to address it. Only by creating a perfect method of attack and defense, you can be successful in this kind of activity and to promote fair and honest business.

Often you may find that some company did not fulfill the conditions of the contract, but got the money. You can work on it in court or in other ways, but you can apply a black PR as well. And the truth is on your side.

Black PR – is not a science, as an evil, it is the method of how to use negative publicity to seek justice, integrity and excellence in the market.

Where can I use black PR? This book outlines how political and commercial organizations use black PR. But, I want to notice, that it is still more emphasis on commercial use. Here they are:

For competition. Black PR can be used to fight out competitors. You can reduce the sale of goods of a competitor. You can just destroy a business of a competitor or just weaken his position.

To influence the government. Russian officials are usually not good enough at their jobs. In this case, top management either did not know about it, or turn a blind eye on it. Drawing public attention to a data breach can change the situation dramatically. And this is one of the most effective methods. Top management wants the officials to work well, or at least wants to make the society tends to think that they want it. Therefore, when the information falls into the mainstream media, it may lead to action of the upper authorities. There is a global problem in different areas of business, which for some reason is not being revealed, but, nevertheless, in the case of publicity they could be resolved. The scheme is about the actions. Population demands a solution. Held shares. Information gets to the press. Top management proceed. Problem in one form or another is solved. Effectiveness of the solution, by the way, is also dependent on the PR. However, in the case of exposure to power it can not only be solved, but also contribute to the problem. It all depends on the correct way of your strategy.

You can have an impact on partners and suppliers. Partners and suppliers can fulfill the agreement, but can not perform properly or not to perform at all. This situation can be influenced by the court, but you may use PR technologies as well. Especially when litigation does nothing.

To neutralize the negative sentiment groups or organizations.

You can also use black PR for your own self advertising. You make a black pr campaign against yourself and your business, but you do it in a way, so that instead of destroying, the popularity of the company and the products increases.

All of these methods are widely used in practice in Russia and the world, but when you are facing a black PR, it is not always clear to understand that you’re dealing with it. Professional black PR campaign is usually well disguised even before random spontaneous event. That is why, they mimic some external factors, suddenly took up arms against you. Sort of bad luck begins to haunt the company. And while you struggle with fate or destiny, your opponents successfully implement their evil plans.

For example, imagine that a group of women who are indecent kind comes to your office suddenly.And they come the next day as well. And when you leave the office and come back, you are finding out that the crowd indecent women is changed by group of grandmothers, who are picketing your office, confirming that you have a brothel here or something like that. You are obviously hindering live. TV arrives and makes a report about a brothel, which you have organized, a decent view of the enterprise and of grandmothers who are outraged by this. You are trying to sort out by telling that this is misunderstanding. But then half-naked woman suddenly claims that you did not pay for her indecent services. Off course, you will be taken to the police. Then you discover that your office is sealed and there is some test is running. As a result of a chain of such actions, you can completely lose the image and all clients. Then all will be like some kind of phantasmagoria. A kind of game of fate. And as if by accident. A misunderstanding? But it is not…

Chapter 1

The use of Black PR to attack a business of a competitor.

According to statistics, the use of black PR to attack business rivals – is the most common phenomenon in the world. This activity does not contain anything ethical and illegal. Any best reputated firm has the right to engage in black PR. Do not think that you will stain black PR. Of course if the black PR is not professionally, you can smear a strong opponent, but you’re also going to do it at the highest level, right?

A quality black PR – it’s a healthy competition, it is unnecessary to avoid and fear. It does not only help to improve the situation on the market, but also provides an indispensable service to consumers.

Let us consider some of the basic principles of this activity. No need to criticize a competitor in his forehead.Frontal abuse, where you did not use it, whether it is a personal quarrel, talk on the phone or geopolitical PR – almost always is rejected, a kind way of rejection. People do not tend to believe abuse. They often do not like when one person says bad about the other. You just give the facts and to spread them to the targetted audience, and audience, in turn, transforms these facts, think out and come to some conclusions. But these findings will contain information as abusive.

In the black PR is a basic principle. No need to curse, but only need to make sure. No need to «pour dirt» and use adjectives, and report only one fact, it makes the target audience to doubt. Moreover, can even be praised, not blamed.

From another side there is a need to attack the most important properties of a competitor. Only attacking the main properties of business of a competitor can bring the results. For example, imagine that you have to attack any building campaign and the targetted audience for attacks are potential buyers of apartments. What are the main features in this case? Quality of apartments, quality of homes, environmental cleanliness of construction site and the materials used, adequate price of flats, etc. Then black PR campaign must be based on this defects of these properties. The target audience is not interested in is the construction company produced its initial capital or where the director of the cosntruction company was on Sunday, etc, if all this does not affect the quality of construction.

The third principle is the validity of the information. You can not report false information, you can always find quite truthful information regarding a competitor, or create one. Using the correct information you’ll get way better results than spreading false information. It is always easy to fight against on the wrong part of your data and it is very difficult to fight back if the entire campaign is built on truth.

What sequence should be usually presented in the actions of the black PR campaign?

Determine what you are going to attack. You can attack the company and its customers, Or attack the company itself and its staff. Attack director, accountant and their relatives. Attack power structures that affect the business of a competitor. Attacking partners and suppliers. Attack is focused on various components of the business of a competitor. You need to analyze all of them and understand the specifics of the attacks. Understand what is the best way to attack the industry, where you can cost-effectively achieve the maximum results. Attack must be clearly focused on the object and specified so far as it is possible. If the object of attack is a product, then you need to understand what specific product you’re attacking. Not always possible to attack the whole product line of products, sometimes it is only one of the products is the subject to attack in the best way.

Next step is, you need to identify the target audience of people for whom the information is intended. Usually it is the people who are in direct contact with the object of attack. If you attack a product of the company, the target audience may be as a group of customers, and the employees who work with the product (for example, you can, spread the word about the harmfulness of production),If this accounting, the target audience is likely to tax inspection, etc. It is important to focus on the attack. If the clients of the firm consists of 10 members, it is not necessary to influence them through television. These 10 people can get information from a group of hired actors who under the guise of bystanders will meet them on the street. You can also use the letters, faxes, etc. Aim for a minimum quantity of information to attack people. That is the minimum that can help to solve the issue.

Find the necessary negative information for PR campaign. And here there are a lot of problems. It must be truthfull and sensational. It should cover the main features of the attacked object. That is why, you can either find a negative information, or to force the opponent to create it, or reframe white information. Reframation is a very interesting process. It allows us to prove that the black – it is white and white is black. However, because the enemy of retaliation may also use creative reframing, so either you have to make a reframing that can not be fight off, or find a more efficient information. What is quite interesting, the finding a real black information concerning many companies in Russia is a very easy process. Russian enterprises are not spoiled with a professional black PR and therefore they are not prepared for such attacks. In many enterprises in Russia there are clearly visible defects and flaws in the system of a business.And no matter where the service is, or any products, the Russian companies can often find a lot of flaws. Moreover, they do not even try to fix these deffects. A typical example of this area is the conversation I had with one of the leaders of the Yandex advertising. I complained about disadvantages of their advertising service. The fact is that even though they promise that the advertising message will only be seen by someone who bought the word, in fact it is not often seen by people you need. I pointed out to them how this defect can be corrected, and received this reply: «Well, because our service is just advertising, and advertising is always hanging anywhere and anyhow who watch it. Did other forms of advertising guarantee you hit the target audience?». Indeed often advertising in Russia does not guarantee getting into the audience due to the fact that the creators of the advertisement does not seek to do so. You can order advertising in the elite magazine, but it turns out that in addition to the homeless nobody reads it, because they are the first ones who take all the editions. And always, In innocence, I thought that getting into the target audience is the main objective of advertising.

Overseas production quality is watched much more. Here are a few cases of subsidiaries of large international companies in Russia.

One of my student previously worked at Philip Morris. His function was to control machines operating with the foil used in the packaging of cigarettes. The machine with which he has worked, scratched foil for cigarette and struck her logos. Once the machine, for some reason, stopped working properly. This person has corrected the defects, uploaded foil and started the process. Then he went for lunch. After having lunch and a rest for a about two hours, he returned and found that the entire conveyor was stopped. The fact is that the quality control department found a deffect in a final product. Logo on the foil was stamped on the back, instead of being stamped on front. This is hardly noticeable and do not influence the quality of the cigarettes, but still the whole lot was destroyed. And for two hours the machine had produced more than 50,000 packages. Thus, the error of my student brought to the deffect for a total of $ 15,000. No one did not take the money from him, but he was fired.

I’ll tell you another case illustrating the level of quality control in the western industry. My student was working in the logistics department at the Ford factory in Vsevolozhsk (city in Russia). They were trying to produce the Ford Focus for two years. They have done about 50 cars per month, sending the whole lot to the press. Sometimes the machines have been such a fate only because of negligible quality defects. For example, in one car after driving 50,000 kilometers there is a cranky few screws on the instrument panel.

However, even this Western system allows you to find negative information about the company. For example, take some quality expensive car. The quality is difficult to find fault in. However, you can, for example, to find statistics on car crash about this car. Simply collect and publish data on tens of road accidents associated with it. For example, after the death of Princess Diana, the Mercedes sales fell for a while. Indeed, the firm was proud of airbags, and other means of protection of passengers, but none from it saved the princess.

Another way to find fault with the perfect car would be a simple car repair statistics. You can collect data: the owners, who most often come to repair their cars. Or just calculate from the statistics of the same year of production. Sometimes it gives the most unexpected results. Especially because most owners of Lada repair their cars in the garage by themself.

After gathering the information it is necessary to carry out its reframing. That is why, need to choose a perspective view of the facts, to make them be in the most effective position. As a rule, the same problem can be seen from dozens of different points. Some of them modify the problem in a private internal corporate event. Other way is to make the issue of smart news that concerns the whole of society, but do not suggest to take any action to wok out an issue. But it is only one point of view which will work, that is, considering the facts from the point of view, when the problem becomes very relevant, important, comprehensive and demanding action. Such actions that will lead, ultimately to your desired result, for example, the destruction of the image of a competitor, bankruptcy, etc. And it is absolutely true that at the wrong reframing it can become a lie. Very often people believe in the truth less than in a lie. What’s more important, if truth is not given in a proper way, it is is perceived as false.

Develop a chain of events which will be your PR campaign. Single action can be very effective, but as a rule, to achieve a significant effect you must implement a set of several stocks. Therefore, it must be immediately to develop a system of consecutive events. They may be consist of one main and several side. May be also consist of a series of similar sides, but in any case, this complex of events must be focused on one task.

For example, initially a competitor hurt your client and the client started a hunger strike in front of the city administration. Then a group of customers joining the same meeting, and then jumps into the water from the bridge to protest or burns competing products. One such event would attract little attention of the press, and all together they will cause strong repercussions. And all this during the main event may actually be a lawsuit against the group of consumers of your competitor. Of course, the claim must be based on real facts and real shortcomings of the product of the enemy. Typically, these events are not made on behalf of the customer, and on behalf of a public organization or person from people. In rare cases, the black PR can be conducted on behalf of the parent company.

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Example. Enemy powder

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In 1994, Procter & Gamble faced some problems due to the advent of washing powder Persil Power from the company Unilever. The effectiveness of this new powder was significantly higher than that of the same powder of P & G. Powder Power was much more economical. It allows a small portion of washed off as much clothes as much a big portion of the powder Ariel with the same value. P & G had to do something.

Ed Arttst head P & G has nicknamed the Prince of Darkness, has taken swift action against the new trends in the market and aggressive competitive actions of the company Unilever. Having studied in our laboratories new powder of a competitor P & G, he found a Manganese catalyst inside of it, which can harm the fabric too much. In March 31, 1994 P & G, Unilever issued an ultimatum and warned that they will have to take active steps if Unilever will not remove from the market a new powder.

After refusing the complain by Unilever, P & G began an active black PR campaign. In April 27, 1994 in the Danish press reports that the powder Power can destroy a fabric. This message came from the person from P & G company. In April 29 Unilever held a press conference denying all the complaints of P & G and reported that they were going to sue P & G.

In response, P & G hired a Rowland Company for massive PR campaign. The latter came into contact with all the European Association for the rights of consumers, manufacturers of washing machines, a variety of retailers and other public organizations.

Many of these organizations have been doing actively the briefings, press conferences and show the samples of fabric damaged by Power powder. As a result, photos of damaged fabric reached many major newspapers and magazines. Sales volumes of new powder began to fall with a great speed.

Environmentalists accused in Sweden Power, that he had put the national dress in a danger.

After all these PR campaigns, which was stretching for several years, P & G were able to achieve the destruction of the powder and the Power was withdrawn from the market.

It is not important whether the Power is actually harmful to the fabric or it is an invention of chemists from P & G, but he remained an important fact, that finding the real incriminating facts can literally give away a competitor, causing consumers to question the validity of the quality of the products of competitors.

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Very often PR companies are used by dependent or independent civil society. They can be used to share and create information and PR-with these same organizations tend to create newsworthy information. Sometimes public organization established specifically for specific PR-campaign.

We can say that most of the public institutions, even in its title implies fighting for something or someone’s rights protection, and thus a tool of black PR. Let us remember their names: Society for Consumer Protection, Environmental Protection Society, a society «Soldiers’ Mothers», Society for the Protection of women’s rights, etc. Yes they are just created for black PR. Many, very many such associations are fighting for something and, as a rule, information methods. It is just that the statute does not write: «The implementation of black PR».

There is a funny coincidence. The most common translation of words into Russian PR – Public Relations. But can it exist without communication with the public social organizations? And in white and black, they are essential.