This sited is devoted to analysis of the Public Relations industry in China. Topics include marketing, branding, utilizing web 2.0 in PR, SEO, RSS, trends in media, crisis management, cross-cultural communications, marketing communications, corporate communications, ROI measurement, Chinese PR case studies, Chinese PR best practices, and Chinese PR white papers.
Most well informed people are aware of the explosion of the Taiwan-based China Airlines Boeing 737-800 airplane on the runway of Naha airport, Okinawa, Japan, on August 20, 2007.
Many people are not well informed about the measures taken by China Airlines to help prevent their reputation from suffering. Some might call it a whitewash, others might call it damage control and others might say that it is a cover up. I will not comment on whom should take responsability for the explosion, I wish only to examine the case from a public relations standpoint. They painted over the China airlines logo on the tail and the writting on the side of the plane.
This is quite standard procedure in terms of airplane crashes, as it prevents the media from taking too many photos with the company's name on the wreckage. These measure were also used World Airways at Logan Airport in 1982, Air Canada C-FTLU at Cincinnati June 2, 1983, Aloha Airlines flight 243 April 28, 1988, and Air Algerie 7T-VJQ in Spain on March 18, 2006.
Ever since that heart breaking photograph of the cockpit of the Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 which exploded over Lockerbie Scotland due to a bomb, companies have been very careful to remove their logo from crash sites.
Part of the practice has to do with a major rule of public relations press training for crisis management. During any filmed interview in the midst of a crisis, there should be no logos visible on desks, uniforms, or in the background. Investigators at the scene of a crash or accident are often interviewed and this measure prevents spectators from associating the company with the disastrous outcome. These actions, painting over logos are taken in strict compliance with FAA regulations.
The painting general occurs soon after initial inspections of the crash site, sometimes before all the former passengers remains are recovered. Some might call it ghoulish or inhumane to be concerned about the company more than passengers, or a cover up, but this is standard industry practice not unique to China. In addition all of the passengers and crew were safely removed from the plane before its explosion.
To avoid any misconceptions, the airline is named China Airlines not Air China. China Airlines when compared to other airlines based in China, even other Taiwanese airlines such as EVA air, has a significantly different safety track record. While this is a tremendous loss of face for the Chinese community, particularly at an inopportune moment when the words 'safety' and 'China' are not closely associated, one must remember that this is not an uncommon occurance throughout the world. It is however of note that Brazilian Airline, TAM did not do so when on July 18, 2007, flight 3054 crashed into Sao Paolo. (tip of the hat to my Brazilian colleague who pointed this out)
this article is indebted to a related article on the Telstar Logistics blog which has pictures of the plane before and after it was whitewashed.
One of the first and most important considerations that one must make when looking for a Public Relations company is what type of company is most appropriate for your company's needs. Multinational versus Local Many people are under the misconception thar PR companies can be divided into two types: Multinational and Local. For them choosing between the two is an either or proposition. Distinguishing the many differences between the two is important, but one must weigh their media needs carefully before coming to a decision. Within the two categories there is a vast spectrum of companies that at first glance might not appear to belong to the same industry.
The basic and most glaringly obvious difference between multinational and local, is that one is generally headquartered in another country, whilst the other is based in the country in which it operates. Should one need to simultaneously coordinate publication in multiple countries then a Multinational would be more appropriate, should one wish to tailor a campaign to customers in a single country then a Local company is the preferred choice. The second difference is in services. Multinational companies often carry advertising, design, and event organization departments along with their marketing or public relations services. Local companies of a certain size also offer comparable services, though many tend to specialize in certain skills. This more specialized focus means that in some areas one can get better service from an experienced boutique agency than from a large Multinational. However, when picking a local company in China, one must be careful to find an appropriate company as the word "Public Relations" can mean anything from event lighting and catering to modeling and talent management agencies.
Price is another large difference between the two types. Most large international companies cost 30% to 40% more than local competitors. These costs arise from the excellent office space, the larger staff, and the wages of skilled linguists and translators necessary for international communications. The prestigious brandname of the multinational company is what the higher price tag buys, not necessarily a difference in the quality of service. Companies may boast of senior leaders possessing more than 100 years of cumulative experience, though that experience is of little help when 80 years of it is located in New York, London, and Paris--not China! One should consider which strategies work best in the target country and the qualifications of the employees. The best companies have a deep-rooted presence in major cities, with established ties to the most influential media, as well as deeply knowledgeable staff.
Local companies are more likely to have connections with regional media. But, Western companies often encounter language and cultural communications problems when cooperating with local companies, even though large cities such as Shanghai and Beijing are not lacking in English speaking employees. Some Chinese companies because of the language barrier are unable to communicate smoothly and can't communicate their advice to their Western clients. However, now you can still discover some local companies with native English speaking employees such a s Eastwei Public Relations and Glocal Strategy PR. Of course a profficiency in English should not be seen as paramount to media and communications talent when selecting a public relations team. This is a common problem as the majority of employees at international companies are recruited for their English-language skills, not a deep knowledge of PR strategy and theory.
Rankings are another common method of searching for a Public Relations firm is to look for the highest ranked companies in a country's financial publication's industry listings. And unlike Europe and the USA's rankings£¬in China many of the rankings in these listings can be purchused from unscrupulous editors. Industry awards may also have a sizeable program fee, thus rampant corruption has made them unreliable There is no extremely influential third party organization to monitor industry standards as in the USA or Europe. Inviting a Bid, pitching a program After finding a list of 8 or less Public Relations companies that appear suitable one has the option of inviting the companies to bid for the contract. The bid process is complicated and requires a fair amount of preparation on the part of both the PR firm and the potential client. If run properly a bid will spur companies to provide the best solutions and the most competitive prices for their services. If run improperly a pitch can damage the reputation of a company and waste resources.
Companies inviting a bid should prepare the following: A clear timeline and table describing each step of the process (this should allow firms enough time to prepare a quality response to the case)
Set Rules for the bidding process
Set Criteria for the selection of companies
Define the budget of the project different budgets call for different approaches, a project with a large budget could involve a large amount of television broadcasting, but the same project run on a tighter budget might be limited to print and online media Identify significant competitors in the market
Be prepared to provide details about previous
Public Relations and Marketing programs
Clearly state your needs and goals
Companies should refrain from:
False programs to receive free PR consulting Giving any bidder a potential advantage
Requiring PR firm searches at set periods in the contract This is a point of trust. Although it is reasonable to expect performance evaluations, few professionals in the industry will tolerate a clause of this ilk. All too often there is no contract up for grabs, it is simply a marketing or PR exec that wishes to receive a lot of free ideas and strategies. This practice hurts the industry and damages the reputation of Chinese PR. All the wasted work-hours put into preparing and researching the brief could have been spent working on the projects of a company's regular clients. It hurts the reputation of Chinese PR because it makes the industry look inefficient and unprofessional. A pitch fee is not important in terms of profits because most established PR agencies have steady contract and year-round clients to cover the lions' share of the costs of operation. A pitch fee is important as a sign of good faith. The potential client is saying that there is indeed a legitimate program with a budget (and not an outrageously high number used just to extort a brief from a company). If a client does this repeatedly to PR companies, who would want to work with them?
A pitch fee can also help cover the labor costs of preparing a brief for the prospective client. Preparing the best brief possible often requires a weeks worth of hours from a small project team as well as some overhead, and thus a company is not only out the hours that they invested in prepping the document, they have also wasted key strategic resources. After narrowing the field to between 2 and 4 companies, one should evaluate the companies based on the strength of their strategy, the suitability of the firm, the quality of the firms references from previous clients and industry professionals and choose the most appropriate firm.
