DEFINE YOUR OPPONENT

Knowing your opponent is one thing—defining them in the minds of your publics is another. Most PR exercises are about defining the organization in the minds of its publics, but this is only half the story, especially when one is confronted with a persistent opponent who cannot be placated.

The problem is made worse by the fact that people often identify with the underdog, which means that direct attacks on opponents are very likely to backfire. Subtlety is needed! The way forward for many organizations is to use wording that conveys a solidly positive image, forcing opponents to take up the negative stance.

By categorizing yourself in a positive way it is easy to imply that your opponents are categorized in a negative way. The topic of abortion is an extremely emotive one, for example: those in favor of it categorize themselves as “pro-choice,” which means that any opponents immediately categorize themselves as “anti-choice.” Those same opponents categorize themselves as “pro-life,” which tends to make opponents categorize themselves as “anti-life” in the public consciousness.

For firms in less emotive industries, there is the possibility of categorizing the firm as “pro-jobs” or “on the side of economic growth in the region.” This immediately wrong-foots opponents, who then need to justify their own positions.

Forcing opponents into a negative position provides you with an immediate advantage in establishing your own credibility in the minds of your publics. Unless your opponents are very slick, you will have gained the high ground.

Practice

• Find the positives.

• Choose the positive that forces your opponents into a negative position.

• Do not muddy the waters—keep plugging the positive term you have decided on.

• Be prepared for retaliation. Your opponents will probably respond in kind.

SET AN AMBUSH

Ambush PR is about riding on the back of someone else’s expenditure, and it happens frequently when companies sponsor events. Although being an official sponsor of a major event such as the football World Cup or the Wimbledon tennis tournament carries a great deal of publicity value, it does cost a lot of money as well, and often the sponsors are lost among a welter of other organizations so that the payoff becomes hard to identify.

During the 1998 soccer World Cup, held in France, Nike and adidas were clear rivals. The major advantage of soccer from a PR viewpoint is its ability to attract world TV audiences, so for global brands such as Nike and adidas the attraction is obvious.

The organizers of the World Cup, FIFA, only allow one main sponsor in each business category, so Nike and adidas could not both sponsor the event. adidas “won the toss” and became the official sponsor, even though some of the competing teams were sponsored by Nike: the sponsorship fee was reputed to be £20 million, but Nike was able to ambush the event for a great deal less.

Nike set up a “football village” among the startling buildings at La Defense, on the northern edge of Paris. Entry was free, and the company laid on a number of “fun” events aimed at young soccer fans. Nike was not allowed to use the World Cup logo, or even refer to the event directly, but most people visiting the Nike village were blissfully unaware of this. The company even set up a “road show” to tour France, giving school children the chance to play against a Nigerian under-17 international team. Nike’s expenditure on the village was only £4.2 million, much less than adidas’s investment, for very similar results.

Ambushing adidas’s efforts not only gave Nike an unearned advantage: it also detracted from the impact of adidas’s PR exercise. adidas were not quick enough off the mark in countering Nike, but it is hard to see what they might have done to prevent Nike’s actions.

Practice

• Find an event that links to your product in a fairly direct way.

• Carry out your own activities in as close a proximity to the main event as you are able.

• Do not make any direct statements linking your firm to the event—let your actions speak for themselves.

• Expect retaliation.

KEEP THEM WAITING

Most PR people like to blow the fanfare when they have something new to promote. After all, it is a great opportunity to show what can be done with an effective PR campaign, and enables them to give the media something really meaty for a change.

Yet it is a truism in PR that the greatest successes come from doing something different from what everyone else is doing. So why not have a non-launch, and keep people waiting for the product?

The Harry Potter books have been a huge success, making their author, J. K. Rowling, a multimillionaire. New Harry Potter books were big news, and the publishers were good at teasing the readers: when Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published in 2000, bookstores were prevented from selling the book (although they were allowed to display copies in locked cages). News reports came in that 20 copies had accidentally been sold by a nameless supermarket: TV footage of the books being delivered to bookstores in security vans was shown, and (mysteriously) a copy of the book found its way onto the news desk of the Scottish Daily Record, upon which the journalists (equally mysteriously) returned it to the publishers unopened.

Eventually the official launch took place on July 8th, 2000. Needless to say, there were queues around the block to buy the book.

Practice

• Ensure that you have something that people will find exciting anyway: this idea works best for new products in a series, such as new models of car, book and movie sequels, and new menu items in restaurants.

• Set a date for the release of the product and publicize it.

• Limit the number of outlets or the supply of products—this is more likely to create an initial frenzy.

DO A RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS

Many businesses have strong associations with other businesses that are important to them. For example, estate agents and lawyers have a symbiotic relationship: lawyers rely on estate agents for conveyancing business, and estate agents rely on lawyers for referring people who are (for example) dealing with a deceased relative’s house sale, or looking to value a property.

Likewise, lawyers and accountants often feed work to each other, and doctors and chemists work closely together. All businesses rely on someone else—that’s the nature of business—so why not recognize the importance of these other firms by committing an act of kindness?

An artist named Valentina from California decided to expand interest in her work beyond galleries. She wanted the opportunity to explain her thinking, and show people the process of making the artworks, so she had herself filmed actually painting a new work, and giving a running commentary.

The idea took off, and she now posts a new “episode” every Sunday. Eager YouTube viewers “tune in” each week to watch her paint, and she now has a worldwide following.

Not all of these people will buy a painting, of course, but galleries have certainly picked up on what she is doing: her profile has been raised considerably. And that, as they say, is PR in action.

Practice

• YouTube will edit you out if you are overtly commercial rather than just interesting.

• Have the actual filming done as professionally as possible, but without the “Hollywood” touch. YouTube is about people, not about slick production.

• Keep it personal. Talk about yourself, not the company (although you can, of course, mention the company too).

PULL A STUNT

The history of public relations is littered with publicity stunts. The aim of a stunt is to generate word of mouth—a good stunt can keep people talking for days. The best stunts are ones that relate to the product and that are eye-catching and creative—good street theater, in other words.

Stunts also need to appeal to the target audience, of course. Some stunts might be regarded as offensive or unacceptable—and some even border on the illegal, as happened with one drinks company that engaged graffiti artists to spray the company logo onto buildings in London. Finding a suitable stunt is a matter of balancing good taste with powerful impact. One company found a startling way to do this.

One classic stunt was the fight staged between a well-known bandleader and a bystander, allegedly over the recipe for Pimm’s. The PR man who organized the stunt paid both men to stage a street brawl, with the press on hand: naturally, the stunt made the headlines, and generated a great deal of word of mouth at relatively little cost.

Staging a fight between a celebrity and a bystander works fine if the celebrity agrees that such behavior accords with his or her public image. For the target audience, this event was both shocking and fascinating, and also enhanced the image of the product by making it seem worth fighting for.

Practice

• Ensure that your stunt is legal.

• Remember that the stunt must fi t in with the images of the people involved.

• Be wary of upsetting the journalists—they do not like being fooled, any more than do the rest of us, but they are usually happy to go along with a spoof.