In 2003, our country and nation experienced many tests and crises, such as SARS and floods. As a social economy, enterprises are no exception. From the beginning of the year to the end of the year, the public relations crisis continued. In the face of public relations crisis, some enterprises actively respond, reflecting everyone's demeanor, while others are shattered glass. In fact, the crisis contains both "danger" and "opportunity". Augustine, an expert in enterprise crisis management and public relations, even pointed out: "Every crisis itself contains both the root of failure and the seeds of success. Finding and cultivating this potential success opportunity is the essence of crisis public relations. "
In view of the long-term follow-up study on the topic of "crisis public relations", the author thinks it is necessary to collect and summarize the representative crisis public relations cases that occurred in the business circles in 2003. We try to refine and analyze the factors such as enterprises and media, government, community, suppliers, distributors, investors and consumers, and give evaluation scores to form this "Top Ten Cases" topic.
Case 1: CECT mobile phone: "China keeps a dog" incident.
In February 2003, individual consumers in Nanjing found that the greeting "Hello Chow" appeared on the screen of the CECT928 mobile phone they bought, which translated to mean "Hello, China Breed Dog", and consumers immediately reported it to the news media. After the incident was exposed by the media, it immediately caused an uproar. Many people think that this is an injury to national dignity and an insult to China people. Many users of this mobile phone want to talk to the manufacturer.
On the day of the incident, the marketing director of CLP flew to Nanjing to get in touch with the users who first found the problem. CLP Communication Company immediately issued a public statement: 1. As one of the important mobile phone suppliers in China, CLP Communication has always taken the development of national enterprises as its own responsibility, based on the principle of "customer first", and has never harmed the national dignity of domestic users. 2.CECT 928 went on the market in August, 2002, and won the favor of consumers with its excellent performance and reasonable price. "Hello Chow" is a mobile phone greeting, which means "Hello, lovely pet dog", and it is the humanized startup interface of mobile phone. 3. Based on the principle of being responsible for domestic buyers, CECT can provide free software upgrades and announce the address and telephone number of the after-sales service center if the buyers don't like this interface.
Public relations score: 40 points
Reasons and opinions:
After the CECT mobile phone "HELLO CHOW" incident broke out, the marketing director of CLP Communications flew to Nanjing to make adjustments, and got in touch with the users who first found the problem, which shows that CLP Communications attached importance to this public relations crisis and responded quickly. Including the CLP's public statement, are of positive significance. However, a very simple statement is difficult to solve the problem and unconvincing, which shows that CLP's handling of this public relations crisis is not successful. The author believes that CLP's unsuccessful public relations in spreading the crisis has the following aspects: First, CLP seems to have underestimated the seriousness of the incident and underestimated the handling of the crisis. When consumers see a greeting "Hello Chow" appearing on the screen of the purchased mobile phone, that is, "Hello, dog from China", it is not surprising that they overreact or raise the problem to the level of national and personal personality. After all, people's thinking is diverse, and it is impossible to understand it as "hello, lovely pet dog" according to CECT. After all, it was not downloaded voluntarily or voluntarily by consumers, but imposed by suppliers. However, CLP just made a statement at the beginning of the article after contacting consumers. How useful can this self-centered statement be? Can you appease and calm consumers and public opinion? Second, diplomatic rhetoric does not have a good public attitude, and it is self-centered, suggesting that the cause of the crisis is the misunderstanding of consumers, and the responsibility lies with consumers, not manufacturers, leaving no room for themselves and consumers. Article 2 of CLP Communication's statement means that my mobile phone is very popular and there is no problem with the boot interface. You shouldn't understand it like this! Article 3 of the statement "in line with the principle of being responsible to domestic buyers" implies that consumers are unreasonable. Obviously, these statements do not have a good public attitude, suggesting that the cause of the crisis is the misunderstanding of consumers, and the responsibility lies with consumers, which obviously increases the negative side. Fourthly, CLP communication did not give full play to the principles of interactivity, understanding and sincerity in crisis public relations. CLP Communication did not interact with consumers and the media, and actively involved them in the handling of this crisis.
Case 2: Roche: Tamiflu Storm
On February 8, a frightening news spread rapidly in various forms in Guangdong-an epidemic disease appeared in Guangzhou, and several patients died in many hospitals, most of whom were doctors. "Death" makes people who don't know the truth panic and rumors abound. On the 9th, Roche Pharmaceutical Company held a press conference, claiming that the epidemic situation in Guangdong may be avian flu, and told its product "Tamiflu" that the treatment effect of this disease is obvious. Roche's medical representatives also urged major hospitals and distributors to buy goods because Tamiflu can treat the disease. The direct consequence of the media meeting is to add fuel to the fire of rumors. Guangdong, Fujian, Hainan and other neighboring provinces are out of stock of anti-toxic drugs such as vinegar and Banlangen, and their prices have risen several times or even ten times. Speculators made a fortune, and the sales of Tamiflu in Guangdong Province soared with the spread of rumors. Before the 8th, there were only 1000 cases in Guangdong Province, and it soared to 654.38+10,000 cases after the 9th. A customer once spent 5900 yuan to buy 100 boxes of Tamiflu!
On June 5438+05, Southern Metropolis Daily published "Questioning Tamiflu": What is the relationship between the "bird flu" panic and the sharp increase in sales? The signed article accused Roche of deliberately creating rumors to promote the sales of its drugs and reported it to the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Bureau. Roche's business integrity and social conscience were questioned by the public, and its image plummeted. As a direct result, the sales of Tamiflu plummeted. On the second day after the news of Southern Metropolis Daily, the sales volume of Tamiflu in a hospital in Guangzhou dropped to less than 10 (previously, more than 100 tablets were sold every day). More consumers have put forward returns and claims.
Public relations score: 5 points
Opinions and reasons:
SARS is a severe test for the country, society, organizations and individuals, and multinational companies are no exception. The China company of a multinational company is also a "corporate citizen" of China, and it should bear social responsibilities and obligations while making profits.
When the SARS crisis comes, enterprises play two roles. One is to take public relations as an opportunity to assume the social responsibility of the company in China and play an enterprise endowed with integrity, love and responsibility; The other is mercenary, unscrupulous, business first, and finally fall into a crisis of social integrity. Roche plays the latter. Duffy incident is a heavy blow to Roche (China) Company.
Imagine if Roche didn't hold a press conference, but delivered medicine to the general public? See the real chapter in times of crisis. If Roche claims that "the cause has not been identified, please don't panic. Tamiflu has a good anti-virus effect, and Roche will give drugs to the general public for free." The cost of 65438+ one million boxes of medicine is several hundred thousand yuan at most.
For a multinational company like Roche, honesty is the foundation of the enterprise and the foundation of its long-term development, which must be strictly observed. After the crisis, Roche should fully rely on the power of the government to formulate a series of improvement measures; We should strengthen public relations activities for social welfare, such as providing some free services for patients, carrying out some targeted medical research and sponsorship activities, providing free treatment programs for such epidemics to the society, getting recognition from experts, and actively improving our image. In short, let the public believe that Roche has proved that its purpose of serving public health has not changed with practical actions.
Case 3: Changhong: Overseas "Cheating" Storm
On March 5, Shenzhen Business Daily published the article "Chuanchanghong was defrauded by a huge amount in the United States, and the amount of fraud may be as high as hundreds of millions". According to the article, the news that Changhong suffered huge fraud in the United States has been widely spread in the industry, which seems to have become an indisputable fact. It is reported that Changhong's cheating behavior has alarmed the MOFTEC. Our reporter also verified this rumor in many ways, and felt that the situation was really serious. Although Changhong conducted a series of crisis public relations that night and "clarified" the "false report" of Shenzhen Business Daily, the crisis still came, which caught people off guard.
Just one hour after the stock market opened on the 6th, Sichuan Changhong suffered a sudden huge sell-off and its share price fell into a high platform. At the close, its share price fell by 4.22%, with a turnover of more than 26 million, which even affected the trend of the broader market. In the next few days, the domestic media began to follow up "Changhong was defrauded by a huge amount in the United States" from all angles, forming a one-sided voice.
Public relations score: 60 points
Opinions and reasons:
In this seemingly sudden public relations crisis, Changhong responded quickly. After finding the root of the crisis, a series of crisis public relations measures were launched that night. These measures embody the principles of timeliness and comprehensiveness that crisis public relations should have. Looking at the measures taken in this public relations crisis, Changhong basically focuses on the main line of preventing negative news dissemination-providing correct news-issuing authoritative statements-improving image-enhancing image, and the context is relatively clear. On the day of the crisis, Changhong provided a statement to the major media in time. Although simple and vague, it prevents the spread of negative information to some extent. Secondly, a series of government public relations, media public relations and public public relations were carried out immediately after the crisis to minimize the losses caused by the crisis. In particular, Changhong, relying on its good relationship with the government, launched government public relations and asked Mianyang Municipal Committee to speak out, which made Shenzhen Business Daily clarify in a prominent position that "Sichuan Changhong was defrauded by a huge amount in the United States" and played a positive role. Changhong publicly announced that it would take legal measures to solve the "bomb fraud" incident. At the same time, it invited lawyers to explain to investors through websites and other channels that they could claim losses from "misreporting" media through legal channels, which was a means to stabilize investors' confidence.
At the same time, Changhong also has many failures in dealing with the public relations crisis. To sum up, there are several points worthy of reflection: First, crisis management is not in place. For an enterprise, it is very important to establish a public relations crisis early warning mechanism. The best and perfect crisis public relations is to "nip the public relations crisis in the cradle". However, due to the chaotic internal management of Changhong, the employees' sense of responsibility is not strong, and the public relations awareness of all employees is insufficient, and finally the crisis broke out. Secondly, the relationship between peers is not harmonious. Changhong's public relations crisis directly reflects the bad relationship between Changhong and its competitors. Ni, chairman of Changhong, told reporters during his participation in the China People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing that the crisis was stabbed in the back by a Hong Kong listed company headquartered in Guangzhou. It can be seen that the relationship between Changhong and its peers has reached a very dangerous level. Third, the media relations are not harmonious. Changhong, as a well-known large enterprise in China, has not matched and coordinated with the identity of large enterprises in media communication. After Changhong's "fraud" was reported, major domestic media began to follow suit on a large scale, which not only added a little excitement to the long-lost home appliance market, but also reflected the disharmony between Changhong and the media. Although some media have listened to Changhong's opinions on the "counterfeiting" incident and analyzed it, on the whole, most media reports on Changhong are unfavorable to Changhong itself.
Case 4: Fuji: Smuggling Scandal
In 2003, rumors about "Fuji smuggling" were circulated among the people, and then exposed by the media. The focus of the problem was more on Zhuhai Zhenke. Fuji has been silent to answer, the only statement has nothing to do with himself, indicating that it has a great intention to escape the supervision of China media and public opinion in an attempt to muddle through. In media public relations, Fuji is more "righteous and stern", trying to make the media yield.
The "Fuji Smuggling" scandal was criticized by peers. Kodak's global vice president declared that Kodak had long heard of Zhuhai Zhenke's "grey behavior" and that Zhuhai Zhenke's previous "irregular operation" had hurt Kodak. Le Kai also expressed his "extreme dissatisfaction" and collected "illegal information" about Zhenke a long time ago and reported it to the State Economic and Trade Commission. "In our opinion, Fuji and China-Hong Kong photography are originally a family." "China and Hong Kong take photos to participate in smuggling, and Fuji can't get away with it!" Fuji has become the target of public criticism.
Regarding Fuji's suspected smuggling incident, Yasushi Koizumi, deputy general manager of Fuji (China), said that neither Fuji headquarters nor Fuji (China) had invested a penny in Zhuhai Zhenke. In fact, Zhuhai Zhenke is only related to the agent of Fuji Corporation. The rumor about "smuggling" has nothing to do with Fuji.
According to the survey, there are more than a dozen "Fuji" companies under the banner of photography between China and Hong Kong. Fuji, should have adopted the crisis public relations strategy urgently, and tried to calm down the crisis, so as to keep the China market that it has worked hard for many years. Regrettably, however, under the premise that its suspected smuggling is an open secret, Fuji did not adopt any crisis public relations strategy, but simply pushed itself to the forefront after the Zhuhai Zhenke incident.
Public relations score: 5 points
Reasons and opinions:
The views of domestic media and the public on the entry of multinational companies into the China market are also changing. First, they are regarded as "angels". With the passage of time, the media and the public have gradually realized the "other side" of some multinational companies, and the media's reports on multinational companies have gradually changed from "propaganda" to "revealing secrets", and they have assumed the important responsibility of revealing the crisis of multinational companies to the public, which is also the need of domestic media marketization. However, some multinational companies hide their illegal and irrational behaviors in front of the media and the public and refuse to explain the ins and outs of the matter, which will inevitably lead to collisions. Many times, multinational companies' incomprehension or improper handling of China media often leads to the outbreak of crisis. Because of the asymmetric information relationship between the public and enterprises, the public is greatly influenced by media public opinion, so crisis public relations is to consider how to conduct public relations with the media to a great extent.
Fuji has always been unsatisfactory in media public relations. When the news about "Fuji smuggling" is constantly exposed by the media, Fuji mostly answers silently, and the statement that "it has nothing to do with itself" just shirks responsibility. In dealing with the media, he adopted a "righteous and stern" attitude, trying to make the media yield. Fuji sent a statement letter to a famous financial media in Beijing, saying that it would resort to law to solve the exposed problems. Contrary to expectations, just two weeks after Fuji issued a statement, Beijing newspapers still used a lot of space to follow up on the smuggling incidents of Fuji and "film", accompanied by editorial comments, determined to expose the "Fuji smuggling" incident to the end. As an international company, Fuji has not shown a style that matches the identity of multinational companies in media communication. Major media began a large-scale follow-up report, exposing the disharmony between Fuji and the media. Compared with Kodak, Fuji lacks interaction and two-way communication with the media. This two-way communication is not only a matter of material interests, but also a matter of spirit.
Another important reason for Fuji's low score is that it violated the bottom line of China's laws and regulations.
Case 5: Carrefour: the "entrance fee" storm
Since the summer, various suppliers in China have been rising, which has brought Carrefour, the first profitable international super retail giant, into an unprecedented crisis.
In mid-June, qiaqia, A Min, Lin Zheng and other well-known roasted seeds and nuts brands1/kloc-0 formed a "roasted seeds and nuts alliance" to challenge Shanghai Carrefour through the roasted seeds and nuts industry association. Then, the paper industry "killed halfway" and Carrefour was once again pushed to the forefront. Since then, the storm of roasted seeds and nuts has "crossed" out of Shanghai, and Nanjing Carrefour has also been "crusaded". Then the "accident" came out again-Carrefour knocked over Chunlan air conditioner at a low price, and the latter threatened to give Carrefour a heavy penalty of up to 50,000 yuan.
Public relations score: 10.
Opinions and reasons:
The problem of "entrance fee" between Carrefour and suppliers reflects the game between the market and the profits of manufacturers, but this series of events gathered on Carrefour in a short period of time and broke out instantly, making Carrefour unprecedented in crisis.
As a world-famous super retail giant, Carrefour seems to have always been a "layman" in the public relations of China government. According to Reuters's report on February 5438+0, 2006, officials of China Economic and Trade Commission said that all the stores opened by French retailer Carrefour in China were only approved by the local government, which violated the stipulation that the joint venture company must obtain the approval of the central government to open a chain store in China. The Financial Times further pointed out that the China municipal government has begun to take rectification measures against Carrefour. In this incident, it is not so much Carrefour's "neglect" of the laws related to the China market as the failure of its government public relations. The same is true of the "admission fee" incident. When Carrefour was "fired" by major manufacturers, why didn't the relevant government departments at all levels come out to adjust and deal with it? The only roasted seeds and nuts industry association is still competing with it. After the storm of "entrance fee", as the macro-controller and supervisor of the market, the government and the administrative department for industry and commerce have never intervened.
In fact, Carrefour can appeal to the Shanghai Federation of Industry and Commerce or the Commercial Committee, or even the China Chamber of Commerce and other state institutions to state and communicate the whole incident, and gain the support and understanding of government agencies, so as to adjust the tension of all parties. Carrefour can communicate with suppliers from two aspects: on the one hand, actively discuss with Shanghai roasted seeds and nuts industry association, find out the differences between the two sides, strive for mutual understanding and actively seek solutions to problems. On the other hand, Carrefour communicates with roasted seeds and nuts suppliers respectively, listens to their own ideas, obtains the maximum information as much as possible, explores the bottom line of the other party's requirements, and provides reference for future settlement. The purpose of communication and coordination with the roasted seeds and nuts association is to reduce the continuous friction, and negotiation with 12 manufacturers respectively is the best means to soften and disintegrate the roasted seeds and nuts alliance.
Case 6: McDonald's: "Disinfecting Water" Incident
On July 12, two consumers in Guangzhou went to McDonald's for dinner and found that the ordered black tea had a strong smell of disinfectant. The assistant manager at the scene explained that the reason may be that the clerk did not discharge the residual disinfection water after disinfecting and cleaning the cauldron of boiling water in the store the day before. After two consumers and related personnel had a theory and dispute about compensation for more than two hours, the manager and supervisor rushed to the scene. Even after the staff of the Industrial and Commercial Bureau rushed to the scene for nearly an hour to mediate, it finally broke down and consumers were angry and called the police.
A week later, McDonald's released a short "statement", describing the incident in main words and repeatedly stressing that the two consumers were media reporters. At the same time, McDonald's has strictly abided by all the regulations and requirements of relevant government departments on food safety to ensure that every product provided by McDonald's is of high quality, safety and health. The whole statement did not mention any mistakes, how to strengthen management or apologize to consumers, and there was no specific solution. According to many media reports, after half a month, McDonald's reached a settlement with consumers, but both sides kept the contents of the settlement confidential.
In May this year, a McDonald's Beijing branch provided consumers with sterilized water as a drink. At that time, the victim's reply was "I didn't expect their attitude to be particularly poor, and they were unwilling to pay even the minimum medical expenses." What did the manager tell me? Now is a special period, and their pressure is particularly great. I hope to understand her. "If the problem is not solved, consumers will complain to the media.
Public relations score: 30 points
Reasons and opinions:
Improper handling of consumer complaints has always been a headache for the top 500 enterprises in China. Events such as "smashing a big rush" are all due to improper handling of consumer complaints, leading to the outbreak of the crisis. Marianne rasmussen, deputy general manager of American shipping company, put forward a famous formula: handling consumer complaints well = improving consumer satisfaction = increasing consumers' tendency to buy brands = higher profits. If the enterprise handles consumer complaints caused by its improper behavior, consumers will not stay away from the enterprise, on the contrary, they will think that it is a trustworthy enterprise and may stimulate consumers to "buy again". After all, anyone can make mistakes, and the key is to make a wrong attitude.
In the event of consumer complaints, the first 24 hours are very important. If complaints are not handled in time, consumers will find other ways to vent their dissatisfaction. In the "Disinfection Water" incident, McDonald's has the following problems in dealing with the relationship with consumers: First, the manager and regional director arrived at the scene two hours after the incident, which shows that McDonald's is indifferent to consumers and lacks crisis management mechanism. Even a so-called "statement" centered on me took a week to come out. Second, McDonald's employees and two consumers had many disputes in more than two hours. No matter whether customers are right or wrong, as a strong group, enterprises should not have disputes with consumers. Arguing with your own users in front of other customers, the only result is to damage the image of the enterprise and brand. Third, it can't meet the reasonable demands of consumers, and it is suspected of "making big things small and making small things small". It should be said that from the reported situation, the consumer's demand is reasonable, and McDonald's treatment lacks China people's favorite "face", which is totally intentional. If McDonald's meets consumers' reasonable demands, gives them "face" and is supplemented by "emotional" factors, the "disinfection water" incident can naturally be solved satisfactorily. In the whole public relations crisis, McDonald's should handle it like this: sincere consumer public relations-understanding, sincere public relations-winning credibility, open media public relations-winning word of mouth.
Case 7: Sony color TV: "recall" storm
At the end of July, Sony (China) Company issued a notice to Sony color TV users that it would recall 340,000 CRT TVs in Japan because Sony had 10 TV sets with defective parts. This is another event that Sony announced earlier this month that it would recall 1.8 million Vaio laptops worldwide and provide free maintenance for products with quality problems in large quantities. In China market, Sony didn't sell the above-mentioned 10 color TV, but during the period from 1998 1 to1999 in June, Sony produced a small number of 2 1 inch color TVs in China, and six models also used this capacitor device. If users in China find similar situations in the above Sony color TV sets, Sony's customer service agency in China will be responsible for providing "appropriate inspection and maintenance services". We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused.
Public relations score: 80 points
Opinions and reasons:
Compared with the "Toshiba Notebook Computer" incident, Sony China Company was in a panic when dealing with this public relations crisis. It took the initiative to weaken the crisis that may expand as much as possible and correctly guided the media's public opinion orientation, thus avoiding the damage of Sony's brand in China. The following public relations experience is worth learning: First, actively communicate with consumers and strive for initiative. Almost in sync with Japan, Sony China Company published a notice to Sony color TV users on its website on July 29th, without the knowledge of many media, describing the cause and effect of defective products and proposing solutions. Sony's move is in sharp contrast to Mitsubishi's attitude of trying to ignore the interests and losses of consumers in Mitsubishi's "Pajero" incident, and it gained the initiative with a positive attitude at the beginning of the whole crisis public relations. Imagine what would happen if Sony was exposed by the media instead of actively disclosing product problems? Second, appoint a spokesperson to ensure the unity and smoothness of information. Sony has carried out this idea well, and the only one who speaks to the outside world is the senior public relations manager of Sony China Company, which ensures the unified and smooth communication with media information. When answering the media's question about the "defects" of Sony color TV, the manager showed the news public relations skills that public relations people should have, provided reliable information sources for the media, and enabled the media to obtain comprehensive information as much as possible, avoiding all kinds of unfounded guesses and saving the image. Third, face consumers with a sincere attitude. In the circular letter to consumers, Sony implicitly but completely expressed the "4R" public relations principles for consumers: regret, reform, recovery and recovery, that is, an organization should express regret, ensure that solutions are in place, prevent similar incidents from happening again in the future, and provide reasonable and appropriate compensation until it can safely get out of this crisis. Sony expressed regret and apology for product problems, expressed innovation for future products, and provided free maintenance for products with problems, which reflected the management style and social responsibility of a multinational company.