Case Study #McDStories

McDonald’s is a fast food company, which was created in 1940 by Dic and Mac McDonald in San Esteban, California, USA. However, Ray Kroc was the person who created the first McDonald’s franchise in 1955. Today, McDonald’s is located  in 119 countries and has 33,000 restaurants worldwide. For many years, McDonald’s has developed different types of campaigns using different media such as print, television, street marketing, and digital. Before promoting its products, McDonald’s strategy has always been focused on promoting McDonald’s as a lifestyle that fits any human being experiences. Some of its slogans are McDonald’s is Your Kind of Place, What You Want is What You Get, We Love to See You Smile, and I’m lovin’ it. However, its reputation has been affected for the negative effects that its food has, which made the company to execute a public relations campaign to engage audience.

#McDStories Campaign

McDonald’s, like many brands, had sought to open a space in social networking sites to establish an open and direct channel of communication with its consumers.  However, the famous fast food chain gave a lesson regarding why companies should never lose control of conversations on platforms such as Twitter. On January 18, 2012, McDonald’s launched the #MeetTheFarmers digital public relations campaign with the purpose of creating awareness of how McDonald’s offers fresh vegetables and high quality meat on its menu.

McDonald’s public relations team saw that their campaign did not have the impact they expected. Then, the company modified the name of its hashtag, from #MeetTheFarmers to #McDStories implicitly encouraged current consumers to share their own stories with the burgers and fries franchise achieving its main goal, to increase consumer engagement. The company wanted to show the level of sympathy that stakeholders had for the brand through anecdotes about their experiences with the restaurant.  However, not only its current consumers decided to share their experiences, but also non-consumers expressed its negative feelings towards the company, and they made comments about the poor service and bad food of the chain.  Although the company paid to be number one in the trends list on Twitter, the results of this campaign had a negative impact on the image of the chain because in less than an hour, consumers published 72.788 tweets with negative comments about the company. The company did not respond to the tweets, but created a new hashtag, #littlethings.

Analysis

Although, McDonald’s purpose was to engage its public in the reputation management of the company, the McDonald’s public relations team made a variety of mistakes, since #McDStories campaign was launched negatively affecting the relationship between the organization and its internal and external publics. First, the team used the same digital tactic to increase awareness and engage its customers, without previously having a situation analysis to have insights of what people think and feel about the organization prior to planning, designing, and executing a public relations campaign.

Second, the organization did not monitor customers’ tweets, which allowed people spread negative perceptions of the organization. The company used Twitter, which is a communication channel on which the public relations team did not have complete control of the situation because it is open to all Twitter users, whether they like or dislike the brand. Although the team wanted to include their contingency plan implementing a new trend called #littlethings, customers continued linking the company with negative words. For example, one of the tweets was “#McDStories learn all about McDonalds using pigs from gestation crates #McCruelty”.

Third, the company refused to discuss its failure to respond to consumer’s tweets, which showed that the company was promoting its brand instead of creating a two-way communication with its audience, damaging the relationship between the company and that audience because of the public relations team incorrect application of issue management strategies. Mcdonald’s public relations team used Twitter to empower, involve, and engage its audience giving them the opportunity to tell their stories and be part of the campaign. However, the public relations team did not demonstrate the relationship-building efforts because they did not adequately use the online tools to communicate with the company’s audience, failing in reinforcing the company’s online commitment to maintain relationships with its audience.

The company could have switched this situation from obstacle to opportunity, if it had had a crisis communication plan providing a timely response to each of the complaints and highlighting the positive stories of some fans. McDonald’s should show its preoccupation for customers’ feelings. It is crucial to establish a strategy to manage social networking sites and to train company’s employees to respond adequately to customers’ comments managing correctly company’s reputation to avoid crises in the online environment.

Strengths and weakness of the campaign

  After analyzing the execution of #McDStories campaign, the public relations practitioner conclude that the campaign had many weaknesses in its planning.

1. Wrong assumptions: Leader in sales does not mean is leader in affections

McDonald’s is a multinational fast food chain, which is leader in sales around the world. When McDonald’s public relations team created this digital campaign using social networking sites, it was with the assumption that the company because leads the industry across the world, many people would be engaged with the campaign. However, they did not consider McDonald’s negative impact regarding obesity, poor nutrition, labor exploitation, and hygiene. A weakness of the campaign was assuming that people would respond to a hashtag like # McDStories without considering its negative image.

Public relations practitioners would have been able to execute a digital public relations campaign encouraging customers to submit a document telling their positive experiences with McDonald’s. After receiving all the stories, they could have published the most emotive ones on McDonald’s Website or on its Facebook page, transmitting the positives feelings that people had towards the company.

2. General Hashtag

The name of the hashtag # McDStories was ambiguous, which made twitter users to decide the direction that the trend would have. People have many opinions about the negative effect that the fast food industry has, which generated a wide response to this topic. The public relations team wanted to encourage people to make comments about the company; however, they did not realize that a general #hashtag could also inspire opposite reactions to what they were expecting.  A weakness of the campaign was using a general hashtag on a promoting trend like Twitter, allowing people, who were against the company and McDonald’s fans to make comments that affected the company’s reputation.In order to execute a digital campaign of this magnitude, the public relations team should require prior testing using McDonald’s Facebook page, to have insights about the positive or negative results of this campaign. Also, they could use a specific hashtag such as #McDimlovinit or #loveMcDonalds to incite people to make just positive comments.

3. The effects of new media

Although McDonald’s public relations team has executed interesting public relations campaigns through traditional media like McDonald’s chalkboard campaign, they cannot generalize the positive or negative effects that traditional and new media have. The main problem of implementing new media in a public relations campaign is that the message is not controlled by the company, and in many cases public relations practitioners need to be reactive. Although the public relations team had a contingency plan, they neither executed it on time nor managed positive and negative perceptions towards the organization in a meaningful way. A weakness of the campaign was lacking of experience in managing crises in the online environment.  .

The public relations team should conduct research regarding successful or unsuccessful campaigns through social networking sites to be successful in the digital campaign and to train the social media team to respond adequately.

4. Scope of the campaign 

During #McDStories campaign people, not only in the United States but across the world, who tasted or knew about Mcdonald’s products could make comments about the company, amplifying the campaign results wider and faster than using traditional communication channels. Before the campaign, the brand received between 25000 and 30.000 tweets; however, in this campaign the company reached 72.788 tweets. In addition, the factor of paying to be the number one on Twitter trends allowed the company’s campaign to grow in the online community. The scope of #McDStories was wide, which made this campaign global, which is a strength for #McDStories campaign.

 

Impact of Technology from a Professional Perspective

Impact of Technology from a Professional Perspective

Nowadays, technological advancements have become more and more introduced in people’s daily lives. The Internet, social networking, and connectivity have led to a progressively connected world, which has created a major shift in the way that people interact and communicate among themselves.  In order to know about the impact that social media has in people’s lives, Stephanie Adams, who worked as Senior Integrated Communications Manager for a multinational corporation (MNC) was interviewed. Mrs. Adams has combined media and communication tools to develop social media and integrated communication strategies for more than 10 years, which gave me a vision of how, since social media and digital communications have been developed, society and corporations have modified the way that they communicate with one another and disseminate information through online platforms and social media sites to suit their audiences. Many professionals manage social media to build their personal brand. However, there are differences between using social media on a personal level and on a professional one.

On the professional level, people who work for companies need to be aware that there is a value exchange between the brand and the community. If an issue exists regarding miscommunication or negative reputation, it will have to be solved in a meaningful and positive way. For Mrs. Adams, “technology impacts everything” and nowadays, companies are able to monitor the growth of communities, comments, followers, and retention rates through social media.  This monitoring allows them to nurture the relationships among stakeholders and enhance the two-way communication among them. Therefore, a communication plan is essential to succeed globally. From her experience, a typical week in a multinational corporation (MNC) involves meetings and cross-functionality with the brand, media, and creative teams, interactive marketing, PR, retail marketing, and their respective agencies in order to plan, design, execute, and control communication plans to optimize their results and fulfill clients’ needs. Otherwise, communicators will face challenges that hinder the development of communication plans.

Mrs. Adams suggested that effective communication among members and clear objectives are the keys to successfully develop a communication plan as strategy. She stated, “One of the challenges that I faced was dealing with multiple leaders with different points of view and delivering a plan that pleased everyone. I ran our agency in circles and ultimately, delivered a plan that lacked focus and strategy”. The way people communicate and receive information varies depending on their cultures, and companies need to know what the most effective way to communicate verbally and in writing is. For a global communicator “Writing is critical; it’s how you communicate as a person and as a brand”. And across cultures, some words and phrases have different meanings. Words need to be chosen carefully to ensure that messages are clear. Companies need to use the right tools and the right channels to internally and externally enhance their brand identity; otherwise, the relationships among them and their stakeholders will decrease.

In addition, Mrs. Adams stated that communicators should be able to create an emotional relationship between a company and its audience using storytelling and transmitting messages in a concise and “human way”. This is the way that she encourages creative thinking within projects that she has worked on. She tries “to share as many stories as [she] can, whether it’s a business case, someone with a vision who began a start-up, or someone who accomplished a goal against the odds”. Her experience and the way that she developed communication strategies for a MNC led her to conduct effective projects. For example, she executed a “communication plan for a company’s largest cause effort”. The plan was called connections plan, and the information was transmitted using social media, in-store programs, and traditional and digital media, which allowed the company to exceed its expectations. Although, Mrs. Adams’ success is due to the combination of her academic knowledge related to marketing and communication and her professional experience, throughout time other factors have changed the way that she executes plans. The marketing field “has become exponentially more complex and fragmented, and consumers play a critical role in shaping brands and brands must be prepared to initiate and foster consumer dialogue”, which has made  Mrs. Adams wish to know the importance of building and maintaining strong relationships both internally and externally to continue navigating a complex business environment.

At the end of the interview, Mrs. Adams offered three tips for someone who is just starting out in the communication field. The first advice was that as a communicator, a person needs to be passionate about understanding people’s behaviors and uncovering unique insights. The second advice was regarding investing to build a network both internally and externally.  “Give what you can to others, and lean on your network when you need help” and she suggested the importance of attending events and being part of organizations such as iMedia, Digital Divas, and AIMA. The last advice was regarding the work team’s performance. She said that it is crucial to attend meetings, be an active participant, and have a  clear point of view.  I would like to thanks to Mrs. Adams for her time and for sharing her experience with me. I consider this interview relevant for my career plans. Mrs. Adams’s examples and professional experiences gave me an overview of how to use my academic knowledge in my professional experience. The use of technology and its channels can be applied to a variety of fields, and my knowledge about global communication will let me create effective strategies in order to improve both the internal and external communication channels of companies.. In conclusion, as a global communicator, I can work for many leading organizations and to provide them communication strategies using social media as a tool to build, maintain, and enhance relationships among people, contributing to the companies’ productivity.

Nation Branding

 The Impact of Nation Branding

Since the globalization era began, companies across the world have been focusing their efforts on enhancing, modifying, and adapting themselves to new markets; however, these efforts have brought companies new challenges regarding managing their international reputation. Nowadays, the image building has not only been perceived as important for companies, but for governments that want to rebuild their image using nation branding. The roles of public relations practitioners who work in the nation branding field are to combine effectively communication tools to rebuild the negative image of a nation getting during or after a crisis and position nation’s products, services, and places in a worldwide level. Practitioners have to show in a creative way the values that make a nation outstanding , enhancing the link  nation-product, strengthening cross-cultural relations, restoring nation’s credibility, and increasing foreign investment in order to promote the political, economic and social policies goals.

In 2013, Future Brand provided a country brand ranking report. The aspects analyzed to measure the countries’ impact are related to the knowledge that people have about the country, the level of esteem of nationals towards their land, and foreigners’ ideas regarding tourism, investment, or products’ acquisition. The top five nations that have developed the most efficient nation branding strategies are: Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Sweden, and New Zealand. However, Future Brand anticipates that in 2015, the top five will be composed by the United Arab Emirates, Chile, Malaysia, Qatar, and Estonia.

NATION BRANDING CONCEPTS

Gudjonsson (2005 as cited in Szondi, 2008) defined nation branding as a strategy used by governments which wanted to modify their nation’s image implementing different tools to change people’s behaviors and negative attitudes towards the country. Although, nation branding is the most common name for this strategy, Szondi (2008) identified it as international public relations because it helped nations to enhance and build relationships with their audiences abroad. Nation branding is used as a self-presentation of a country, which wants to demonstrate transparency to its publics showing its strengths and recognizing its weaknesses in all its sectors such as tourism, investment, export, and sports that influence on the economic, political, and social development of a nation. In addition, nation branding is the umbrella, which covers the national and international fields that can affect a country and its relationships with other nations. It is crucial for governments to demonstrate their concern about national and international issues, participating, cooperating, and contributing in social projects, which make nations to have commitment to their audiences.

The main issues perceived in this strategy are: Competitiveness which can be solved promoting activities that can complement the nation brand, reputation that is affected by the stakeholders’ experiences with the nation and the two-way communication between them, and  ethical standards that stakeholders expect  nations to achieve with the purpose of building a beneficial relationship among them; otherwise, the nation will fail in its credibility not only by foreigners but by nationals. Therefore, governments have perceived a need to develop national and international corporate social responsibility tactics, creating a mutual understanding on behalf of their nations, which increases their recognition worldwide. Public relations (PR) practitioners’ mission is to develop strategies having the relationship management theory as a fundamental theory to approach both national and international interest. This theory helps public relations practitioners to create, sustain and promote long-term relationships with nations’ publics and to interact with their global audiences.

The PR practitioner concludes that nation branding is an effort of giving an authentic identity to a nation which can help to rebuild its reputation as well as maintain its relationship with stakeholders. However, to accomplish the nation’s goal it is crucial to create a relationship based on trust especially with nationals who are going to spread and support the positive image of their nation. In addition, PR practitioner suggests that the social responsibility does not only have to be developed in a host country but it has to be successfully executed in the home country increasing  the value of the seven areas such as awareness, familiarity, preferences, decisions, association, consideration, and advocacy,  which determine the effectiveness of national branding (FutureBrand, 2013). Nation branding is a strategy which uses different tactics to effectively promote the positive aspects of a nation. PR practitioners have the ability to unify those tactics to create values for nations that want to brand and change their national and abroad image. PR practitioners’ knowledge about cross-cultural communication helps them to modify the perception towards the nation and at the same time to increase the exchange of product or services with other nations having as a result an economic, political and social improvement.

Nation branding case study

Colombia nation branding is a competitiveness strategy, created by the national government and supported by private companies, that aims to position a positive image of the country abroad. This situation will generate new trade and investment opportunities for the country in different economic and cultural activities. Colombia has been facing a negative image because of drug trafficking and armed conflict that has lasted for more than thirty years.  However, the nation branding has allowed the country to be recognized worldwide for its famous people, the quality of its export products, its natural richness and  geographical beauty. Although, the main focus of Colombia’s nation branding is to enhance its image abroad, parallel there have been developed communication strategies to generate sense of belonging and emotional relationship among Colombians, the country, and its brand. During 2005, “Colombia is passion” campaign was developed to show the world that Colombians are passionate and hardworking people and at the same time to engage nationals with the future of the country.

National celebrities, sports people, artists, natural resources, and national brands such as Juan Valdez, the image of Colombian coffee, were chosen to launch the nation branding campaign. The tactics executed in this campaign   were the creation of sport teams, musical videos with national singers, informative videos, nation branding stores, and the tourism campaign named “Colombia, the only risk is wanting to stay”. The purpose of this campaign was to promote the tourism in Colombia and modify the negative perception that the world had of the country as tourism destination, incorporating emotional content as a key message.

Between 2002 and 2006, the number of tourists increased by 65% (Brodzkinky, 2006), and according to the data from World Tourism Organization the tourism has increased by 10.4% from 2005 to 2012 (Proexport Colombia, 2013). Testimonies of tourists and foreign journalists and films shot in the country were the main tactics of the campaign. Nowadays, Colombia has improved its image, enhancing the relationships with other countries. Through its nation branding campaign the government has implemented       new educational programs for its citizens. Although, Colombia is ranked worldwide 85^th,  and 9^th in Latin America in nation branding effectiveness, its website had 77000 monthly visits and its logo won an American Graphic Design Award in 2006 for attracting people’s attention. Since 2005, Colombia has enhanced its image and  has emerged  into a revived economy (FutureBrand, 2013). Nowadays the country ranks in Latin America as second in job opportunities , third in work force, and fifth in technology advances. Moreover, FutureBrand predicted that in 2015 Colombia will be in the 15^th of the worldwide ranking  in nation branding effectiveness.

Are PR practitioners responsible for building a nation’s image or is it the responsibility of the government and its people to build the nation and change its negative perceptions?