Local PR for multinational companies

Time: On the afternoon of April 9, 2003
Location: Beijing China International Trade Center
Moderator: Liu Lan, Editor-in-Chief of "CEConline"
Discussers:
Si Hongjun (Communication Manager of SK Group China Business Unit)
Wang Yuqi (Texas Instruments (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Beijing Office Public Relations Specialist)
Shen Yanping (Oracle China Senior Public Relations Manager)
Liu Yan (Public Relations Manager of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited)
Zhu Yinghao (Deputy General Manager of Ruibo Zongheng Public Relations Consulting Co., Ltd.)
Wang Qian (Public Relations Manager of Grand Hyatt Beijing)
Wu Jiahui (PR Manager of CA China)
Bai Shihua (General Manager of Yiwei Public Relations)
Zhang Dongsheng (Partner of Yiwei Public Relations)
Wang Honghua (Account Director of Ogilvy & Mather)
Yin Sheng (Senior Public Relations Consultant of Beijing Siman Public Relations Consulting Company)
Huang Yong (Chairman of West Bund Ogilvy & Mather (Beijing) Information Consulting Service Co., Ltd.)
He Li ("Economic Observer" Editor-in-Chief)

In 2002, China surpassed the United States for the first time to become the country attracting the most foreign investment in the world. According to statistics, more than 400 of the world's top 500 companies have invested in China. In China, a big market with great potential, whether it is a foreign company that has just entered, or an old face who has already experienced the battle, they all find that localized PR is not an easy task.

How to PR without a big project?

Some multinational companies are in China, or have just entered this market, and have no major investment projects, or their businesses are developing smoothly but steadily, and there is no earth-shattering hype. So there is a headache in public relations: there is no suitable public relations to enhance the corporate image and demonstrate its corresponding status as a multinational company. How to solve this public relations problem raised by Si Hongjun, the communications manager of SK Group China Business Unit?

Fully communicate your role in the industry. Bai Shihua, chairman of Yiwei Public Relations, analyzed that through face-to-face dialogue with the media, they can have a comprehensive understanding of your industry or the company itself. Even if there is no specific project, no specific business, but by telling the media about my role in this industry, the media can have a correct understanding.

Exercising the influence of opinion leaders He Li, editor-in-chief of the Economic Observer, analyzed that the opinions of opinion leaders can be used to exert influence on the media. For example, Amway, a direct-selling company, is a relatively successful company in this regard. Amway chairman Steve Winanluo, who was executive chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce for two years, took advantage of the role to express his views on China's entry into the World Trade Organization. In view of Amway's own strength and his personal prestige, Steve Wen Anluo is often regarded as the industry's opinion leader in the industry. He has the right to speak to the industry and even to the global economy. This opinion is expressed by the media. fancy. His personal opinions represent the company's position and increase his influence over the media. Now the media pays great attention to asking some representative multinational companies for their views on some major events, and foreign companies should make full use of such opportunities.

How to deal with crisis public relations? Open the current newspapers and magazines, and reports about big companies can be seen everywhere. The more media reports, the higher the probability of sudden public relations crisis events. What solutions should multinational companies take? Now there are some media who are good at analysis and behind-the-scenes exploration. They are good at doing some in-depth reports. How to deal with it? How do you communicate your message so that the final media report matches your message? Crisis PR has become a PR problem encountered by many multinational corporations. This problem encountered by Shen Yanping, senior public relations manager of Oracle Corporation in China, is also a hot issue that many peers are concerned about.

Establishing a Correct Concept and Attitude Bai Shihua analyzed that the current concept is to serve the media. First of all, it is necessary to know that the original misconception that "the media serves the company" will not work. Companies should see the media as a service object, not a utilization object. Knowing what the media needs, not what we're cramming into the media. When the basic information we provide is correct, whatever the media talks about is a good thing. For example, Yin Sheng, a senior consultant at Beijing Siman Public Relations Consultants, said that his client, Johnson & Johnson, has changed its service media perspective. The media needs objective information. As an expert in the industry, Johnson & Johnson provides them with some objective information and forms a good cooperation with the media. Bai Shihua said that the previous relationship-driven public relations should be replaced by knowledge-driven public relations.

Huang Yong, Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather West Bank, said that the attitude of crisis management is everything. After each crisis event comes out, don't always think about what the media will do to me. To consider that the media is also a business, they have to dig out different news, including negative news. A good reporter is not something that can be settled with advertising or money. Enterprises need to understand where their problems are, what you are most worried about, and find solutions.

Prevention and Quick Response Wang Honghua, Account Director of Ogilvy Public Relations Company, said that what the public relations company needs to do is to do well the brand of the company's customers, that is, multinational companies, so that the good brand image of multinational companies can be recognized by consumers. When he has a problem, the public will forgive him, will consider other reasons, not his own, so we have an advantage, so we do this first.

If a crisis occurs, multinational companies should quickly set up a crisis response special action team. This team should be attended by senior personnel of the company, because he has the right to make decisions, and the decision-making process can be adjusted in time according to the development of the situation. The sooner you act when a PR crisis hits, the better, and it's important to get things resolved as quickly as possible. Outside the company, they entrust a special public relations company as an agent. With their good cooperative relationship with the media, once a crisis occurs, they can quickly and timely organize and mobilize the media to carry out corporate publicity campaigns and reduce the possible spread of losses to minimum. The crisis response special action team needs to communicate very closely with the public relations company. Once a crisis event occurs, a response strategy can be formulated as quickly as possible. He Li, who actively communicated with creative media, pointed out that there are many response concepts in crisis public relations of multinational companies, but not many are actually implemented. When the media expresses concern about some events, multinational companies give some diplomatic words. Of course, reporters will not use them, but will use other channels to obtain the information they need. Therefore, it is recommended that multinational companies communicate with the media more creatively.

Bai Shihua agrees with He Li, pointing out that due to the development of the Internet, it is now very easy to find company information online. In particular, some negative reports about the company should be handled with caution when dealing with any small issue. He also found through a survey of more than 100 journalists that most of them were dissatisfied with the information provided by multinational companies' web pages, because most of the web pages did not have a contact person, and they could not find people who confirmed the information, which meant that they could not get the information from positive channels. Get exact information. And the contact address and contact information of the online public relations manager are also very few.

In terms of taking the initiative to communicate with the media, Huang Yong cited a typical case: One year, the US District Court announced that Microsoft would be split up. Before the news came out, he received an email from Microsoft's headquarters in the United States. Huang Yong sent an email to Microsoft headquarters, saying that a press conference would be held. The headquarters said that this is not a good thing, and it is not a good thing to hold a press conference. He said that now journalists will be looking for all kinds of news all over the world, and they will also look for it from competitors. The purpose of our press conference is to prevent him from looking for news from other channels, so as to ensure the accuracy of the information, and at the same time It also protects the company's image.

What is the role of the PR department? The head of public relations of a multinational company found that the media sometimes went directly to the relevant person in charge of the company instead of going through the public relations department. How to let the media understand the company's public relations workflow is the main problem encountered by the public relations manager.

Keep communication channels open Bai Shihua said that it is understandable for the media to bypass the public relations department for interviews. If he's going to find good information, he'll definitely do it, the PR department is out of control. Of course, if all the media is bypassing the PR department, it must be the PR department that is not serving well.

Wang Qiang, PR manager of Grand Hyatt Oriental Hotel agrees with Bai Shihua's analysis, saying that it is impossible for the media to fully understand the company's operations and PR methods. The reason for the existence of the PR department is to keep the communication channels between the media and the company open. Reporters have the right to interview, and companies have the right to refuse. The PR department has the right to maintain this channel. Another problem is that the reporters in the public relations department often cannot get information that has social effects, so he is not willing to do so. My solution is not to ask why you didn't come to me, but to say what I can do for you.

Establishing a corporate spokesperson system, Jiahui Wu, PR manager of CA China, proposed another approach. The reality is that the public relations department cannot control the behavior of the media, but a company spokesperson system can be established from within the company, that is, who has the right to speak to the outside world and who does not. This is very clear. All departments and employees within the company must reach this consensus and tacit understanding, that is, once the media finds it, they can go to the public relations department to learn about the situation. Now large enterprises generally have a spokesperson system.

Implementing Integrated Marketing Bai Shihua pointed out that if we want the media to understand a company correctly, we need to ensure that all behaviors of the entire company are integrated, and it is very important to implement integrated marketing. Integrated marketing can transmit the same information to consumers in different ways and through different channels through a combination of three-dimensional and cross-cutting means such as advertising, public relations, distribution, and services. Integrated marketing is based on the belief that the best advertising results come from the combination of multiple media. The most successful campaigns are those where consumers get the same message from multiple sources. Because only in this way can the information obtained by the media be guaranteed to be correct. If the correct information is allowed to be evaluated by the public, it is affected by the real public relations behavior.

Huang Yong, one of the pioneers of the local public relations industry, has served multinational companies for ten years. Looking back on his ten years of experience, he found that the public relations of multinational companies have shown some changes. First, multinational companies pay more and more attention to public relations; second, multinational companies pay more and more attention to local public relations talents. In the past, they sent people from Hong Kong, Taiwan and the United States, but there were examples of language expressions and ways of doing things that were not suitable for the situation in mainland China. . Now the local public relations of multinational companies are getting more and more in-depth, and the company's culture and ideas are more and more integrated with the local culture. I believe that the pace of this development will accelerate with the process of global integration.

This article is organized by Lily Zhang.