Chinese ‘junk’ car industry in need of PR help June 4, 2008
Posted by paulprdixon in : Crisis Communications, Media Focus, PR in the PRC , add a commentIn April Beijing welcomed the world to its international Auto Show; a show where Chinese models - of the breathing kind - drew more admiration from western visitors than what local manufacturers had to offer with four wheels.
The Chinese auto industry’s often charismatic CEOs vociferously state international aspirations to sell cars from Gettysburg to Greenwich, but one has to wonder how they are going to achieve this when its high-end brands, such as Brilliance, spectacularly fail North American and European safety tests. Brilliance’s head-on collision with six feet of concrete was so bad that the video made its way onto YouTube (below) for car aficionados - and potential buyers - to mock. The fact Brilliance aptly names its range as the ‘BS’ series only added to the fodder, proving, if proof were needed, that Chinese companies going global have a lot to learn about branding.
Below: Briliance’s ‘BS’ series spectacularly fails crash test
As far as the perception of Chinese cars goes in the West, the theme du jour is one of safety. Consumers don’t care how cheap a Chinese car branded ‘Great Wall’ is when the name seems to originate from the wall that crumpled it in a crash test. And the western media lap it up, with headlines ranging from Chinese cars not too crash hot to Crash Course in Quality for Chinese Cars. (more…)
Beijing Olympics: Clooney sets Omega Alarm Bells Ringing March 12, 2008
Posted by paulprdixon in : Crisis Communications, Media Focus, PR in the PRC , 1 comment so farGeorge Clooney, the Hollywood superstar turned celebrity diplomat for the day, is making the headlines for pressuring Omega – a Beijing Olympics sponsor – to speak out about China’s willingness to exchange crates of weapons for barrels of Sudanese oil regardless of the Darfur genocide.
All cheers, but for how long?
Clooney, who is on Omega’s celebrity endorsement list, set the watchmaker’s alarm bells ringing by stating to the BBC: “I have talked with Omega (about China) for over a year and will continue to talk to Omega. I have and will go to the places I and China do business and ask for help.”
Omega, part of Switzerland’s Swatch Group, demonstrated its timekeeping and communications credentials with a fast and effective response; clearly Omega (whose logo appears on Beijing’s Olympic countdown clock in Tiananmen Square) is doing its homework on the PR time-bomb ticking away as the ‘Genocide Olympics’ draws closer.
Its response, from Swatch Group chief executive Nick Hayek, delivered all the elements necessary for a successful media hose-down. As this blog has said before, employing the CAP principle (Concern, Action, and Perspective) is what gets you out of trouble with the media – not a provocative hand in the camera accompanied by a ‘no comment’ that seems to work so well in Hollywood movies. (more…)
Embrace social media for effective crisis management March 3, 2008
Posted by paulprdixon in : Crisis Communications , add a comment* This post was originally written for ‘Off The Record’ - AC Capital Strategic Public Relations’ blog
For effective crisis management, companies and organizations susceptible to crises involving human injury and loss of life should have already set-up a ‘dark site’ - a previously hidden page displaying key contact information for relatives and friends of the victims and to provide key data and information to the media. A dark site should be set up so that it can be made instantly available when a crisis strikes.
Last month, I was saddened to learn that a Venezuelan passenger plane, operated by local carrier Santa Barbara Airlines, slammed into a steep mountainside in the Andes - killing all 46 people on board.
With my PR hat on, I visited the Santa Barbara Airlines’ website curious to see if the Venezuelan airline was running a sophisticated crisis communications response – at least in terms of using the Internet as a tool in crisis management.
As the page loaded, I didn’t see a holding statement or contact number; instead my eyes saw an image of a snow-capped mountain with the slogan, “Tenerife is even closer too”, wrapped around its peaks. Geography lesson: Venezuela is as mountainous as Holland is flat. And at Merida airport, where the plane took off from before crashing, pilots are specially trained how to navigate through the local
Andes terrain. (more…)
Darfur: China’s sophisticated, and not so sophisticated PR Strategy February 15, 2008
Posted by paulprdixon in : Crisis Communications, PR in the PRC , add a commentStephen Spielberg has been making the headlines this week over his decision to quit as an artistic advisor to the Beijing Olympics. The multi-award winning director announced his decision on Tuesday, after almost a year of unsuccessfully prodding China to do more in ending Sudan’s attacks in the Darfur region.
Prodding not having the desired effect on Hu Jintao, Spielberg delivered a hammer blow to Beijing through the public way he announced his decision – forcing the Chinese government to respond on an issue it doesn’t want to talk about.
I don’t recommend wearing the T-shirt in Tiananmen Square
By Wednesday, a spokesperson at the Chinese Embassy in Washington said, “As the Darfur issue is neither an internal issue of China nor is it caused by China, it is completely unreasonable, irresponsible and unfair to link the two as one.” But as the International Herald Tribune notes, Beijing had yet to respond to requests for comment on Spielberg’s decision.
On Thursday, after a long night in Zhong Nan Hai (China’s White House meets Camp David and planted in the center of Beijing) crafting its response, Beijing did make comment. And it was actually pretty good; if today’s front page of English language government mouthpiece - the China Daily – is anything to go by.