Foxconn's Rx for Suicide Prevention: Try PR!

Foxconn, maker of iPhones, iPads and Dell Computers is notorious for its ghastly treatment of its workers in China, to the extent that at least 12 laborers have killed themselves this year. So, what do you do if you want to save lives and prevent suicides? If you answered "treat workers humanely every day" or "show you care" or "end sweatshop conditions" you'd be wrong. The answer, according to Foxconn: hire a PR firm! That's right, instead of fixing a problem, you can just pretend it's been fixed, all through public relations.

Under pressure from Dell, HP, Apple and world opinion, Foxconn, a Taiwan-headquartered company with 900,000 employees in China, decided to clean up its act. It has provided modest wage increases to staff to try to end the spate of suicides. The company has installed suicide-prevention nets around buildings to try stop the preferred method of death. And, they hired Burson Marsteller, a US PR company.

The big PR firms are of course notorious for not being so choosy about who they wind up in bed with. Burson Marsteller has (not sure if they still do) worked with tobacco giant Phillip Morris/Altria for years in Asia. One of my former employers was doing PR to try to clean up the image of deposed Thai Prime Minister (and fugitive from justice) Thaksin Shinawatra. PR companies are constantly working for the wrong side (like Brunswick PR and Ogilvy, who work for BP), so this should come as no surprise. We explored their lack of ethics overseas in an earlier post.

Instead of working long-term to change their company culture, treat workers decently and show the world how they've changed, Foxconn is now resorting to PR stunts. As a colleague used to say "it's just pink paint" (as in, don't fix a problem, just paint over it in a pretty color).

So we get word that the company is forcing its staff to trot out for "motivational rallies" reminiscent of something in Pyongyang.  The Huffington Post has the story and shockingly Mao-esque photos (here). Forget that it looks absurdly stage managed and the workers mostly look bored or miserable, but who is this for? Is this for the "Terry" on the signs they are forced to carry ("Terry" Guo, the president of Foxconn)? Is it a big show to impress "dear leader" with the "spontaneity" and joy of his people?

One activist said Foxconn's Wednesday rally was unlikely to boost morale and does not replace the need for more thoroughgoing reforms."I don't think today's event is going to achieve anything except provide a bit of theater," said Geoffrey Crothall, spokesman of the China Labor Bulletin, a labor rights group based in Hong Kong. "Basically what Foxconn needs to do is treat its workers like decent human beings and pay them a decent wage. It's not rocket science. They're still tackling this from a top-down approach, they are organizing the workers. They're not allowing the workers to organize themselves."

 This story has been burning up the internets, and a commenter on Gizmodo had a good point:

Invite a friend to comment

It's sad how many companies think that a "Team Building" party alone can raise morale. It's actually an insult if the rest of their actions stink. If you beat your wife all week but buy her a dozen roses on Friday afternoon expecting sudden happiness you're likely to get a smack on the face. Treat your employees well every day, provide them with a decent work environment, encouragement, purpose, inspiration, and room to grow and THEN once you've proven to them that you actually care, THEN throw a party. And for the love of Justin, don't call it a "Team Building Party".

This kind of managed media event for the domestic China market (surely that's who this is aimed at, with the younger, make-up spackled young women front and center in photos) plays very well. While, we in the West tend to mostly be VERY skeptical of what we see in the press, in Asia, and especially China where most media is still state controlled or constricted, what you see in the media is taken as gospel by most everyone. The average newspaper reader (or factory worker) in China would have no idea that these "rallies" are fake PR events and the workers neither participated enthusiastically nor do they worship the cult of "Terry" Guo.

So, for PR effect, Burson Marsteller may have given its client some good service in the local China market. But Foxconn and their PR counselors should be aware: here in the US (you know, where Apple and Dell are) we are not buying this load of bunk. You should be REALLY cleaning up your act, not just going through some phony motions. You can't spin me, baby!

Thanks for reading.
Jonathan Gardner

UPDATED: Wired has a great piece on this whole fiasco here (good comments too!)

Haagen-Dazs Lies to Consumers in Taiwan

We all know brands often try to "reposition" themselves when they move to a new market - Mary Kay and Buick marketed as "luxury" brands in Asia, etc. - but sometimes this re-imagining can take the form of BLATANT lying. Take the case of Haagen-Dazs Taiwan for example.

We wrote at length (HERE) about Western brands "fauxscaling" (you heard the word here first!) when they move to Asia, trying through PR, marketing, etc. to become something they so truly are not back home. In Taiwan, Haagen-Dazs (a former joint venture now wholly owned by parent company General Mills), has for years positioned itself as an upscale luxury brand. They've done fairly well at it. The couple dozen retail outlets are nicely appointed, with a "European cafe style" vibe, attracting date-nighters and families. They push elaborate sundaes and confections, the likes of which we would A. never order and B. never find in U.S. Haagen-Dazs scoop shops. On encountering the brand in a supermarket or convenience store, you can expect to pay US$10 or MORE a pint. I know, it's hard to believe that they are able to get away with positioning the brand like this, especially when the other week CVS (a FAR from upmarket retailer) had Haagen-Dazs on special, two pints for $3.

But that's not even the worst of it. When I visited Taiwan Haagen-Dazs outlets, I was often confused by the language on the menus, brochures and other POS items that featured convoluted origin myths, placing the companies birthplace somewhere on the European continent. "That's absurd," I would cry, "Everyone knows that the company was started by Polish (yes, I realize Poland is in Europe) Jewish immigrants who lived in the Bronx and opened their first retail outlet in Brooklyn." But most people just chose to ignore me, or couldn't understand my broken Chinese anyway.

We find our fauxscaling Haagen-Dazs friends are up to no good once again in Taiwan. On their website is an EVEN MORE outlandish bit of lying marketing garbage: "Haagen-Dazs is originally imported from France." That's right, I'm not making it up. In the screen grab below, the full paragraph of Chinese text begins with a line that says that.

The rest of the paragraph talks about how their strawberries come from Poland (um, is that supposed to impress me? I like my Driscoll's from Cali), their green tea from Kyoto and their milk from France. Yes, maybe their milk comes from France but NOT THEIR ICE CREAM. Nor did it ever come from there. It has always come from factories in the U.S. (the mix comes from there and is blended in ASIA, not Europe, not France or anywhere near there). They also have a factory in Taiwan. Even if you don't agree that this is terrible, terrible lying, at the least it is very disingenuous and misleading.

I will tell you one thing though, the lying FOR SURE doesn't end with their website. Based on my experience in the Taiwan market, I can nearly guarantee the local management has trained waitstaff to talk up the "European heritage" and that they "import" their products from Europe. You see, they have been doing this all along. The many, many people I know in Taiwan are all convinced that Haagen-Dazs is a European brand/company. Maybe someday they'll believe me when I shout otherwise.

As we discussed about fauxscaling, there are tremendous risks involved. There could be a local backlash against the brand, and this kind of brand mythologizing could negatively affect their global brand. It's a good bet the U.S. folks at General Mills didn't know their local Haagen-Dazs unit was up to these shenanigans and probably don't really care what they do as long as they deliver results. Of course, that's all good UNTIL they do something that would embarrass the home office. You know, something like lying to local consumers.

Thanks for reading.
Jonathan Gardner

LG Admits Defeat with New Branding Campaign

Hiya sports fans! We're back after a long hiatus. Sorry for being gone, I'm sure we were missed.

Today comes news that LG, Korean maker of just about everything (a chaebol that has department stores, mini-marts, chemical companies and of course a consumer electronics division) has finally acknowledged that it can't compete with the likes of Sony or Samsung. At the same time, they've given up on trying to market their products as being technologically sound, decent or even remotely non-crappy. That's right, LG has decided to don the velvet sweatpants ("You know the message you're sending out to the world with these sweatpants? You're telling the world 'I give up.'") and launch a $100 million "emotional" branding campaign.

Said an LG spokesman:

“Although we don’t spend as much as Samsung or have the brand heritage that Sony has, there is a good opportunity for the LG brand,” he said. “We are addressing the market with a different strategy with an emotional approach, instead of focusing on picture quality or this function or that function.”

So there you have it, global business as an exercise in low self-esteem. Based on my experience back in the day at LG's Seoul HQ, this isn't surprising. This type of thinking is inherent in the business culture of  a Korean chaebol. Remember also, this is a country where Samsung is spoken of in reverent tones usually reserved for the almighty and they can basically do no wrong. The mid-level suits at the other companies such as LG go through their lives with a serious "second-class citizen" mentality due to never having made it into the ranks of the Samsung elite.

In the new "campaign," LG will talk about "‘Life’s Good’, freedom and infinite possibilities, all those kind of emotional attributes, for a broad range of products.”

This "emotional" approach may work for an established company that already has a brand image and solid profile (in the rest of the world, not just Korea), like a Coke or a BMW. Will it work in the outside world (read: the intended real market for such a campaign) where we don't have much of an idea, image or brand consciousness of LG at all?

Perhaps the bulk of the $100 million will be spent at home in Korea where the company leadership will see the branding everywhere and assume the campaign is working and LG's image has changed (the Westmoreland-in-Saigon form of blinkered leadership). Anyway, that really is not much money for a company that sells its products in 90 countries. How much impact will the velvet sweatpants campaign really have anywhere?

Thanks for reading.
Jonathan Gardner

Angry Samsung Slings Poo in PR War

The New York Times has an interesting story (here) about an insider's book that "reveals" the massive corruption that has plagued Samsung for years. Those of us who have worked in Asia and with Korean companies (I consulted inside LG for years) find this "news" completely unsurprising. Huge Asian companies generally got that way by cheating (as did the US's own Goldman Sachs), and in the insular, feudal, confucian and patriarchial "family" business model, corruption and outright thievery is endemic.

As expected, Samsung's PR "strategy" has been to bully the media to pay no attention to Kim Yong-chul's book and is circlingthe wagons. The company is responsible for 20% of Korea's exports, so their tactics have been pretty effective at keeping things quiet. Also, Koreans have this bizarre, worshipful slavish regard for Samsung. This is something you need to go there and see to believe (it reminds me of the mindless Khmer Rouge minions and their devotion to the ruling organization "Angka" in the "Killing Fields")

Of course, we are in the connected age, so Twitter, blogs and the like have led to runaway success for this book. Leading to the Times writing about it.

The deafening silence coming from Samsung HQ has been broken by the one and only quote the reporter gets from the company. And boy, oh boy, it's a doozy!

I ask all my fellow crisis communications, PR and branding brethren what they think about this PR approach. If your company was going to issue one and only one official on the record statement to rebut the HUGE allegations made in a book that blows your company's kimono open, would this be what you would say?

“We are seething with anger, but we are not going to sue him and make him a star again,” said Kim Jun-shik, Samsung’s senior vice president for corporate communications. “When you see a pile of excrement, you avoid it not because you fear it but because it’s dirty.”  

Sometimes we have to hit back when we are attacked. But isn't this a bit over the top? I'm guessing from the title that this is perhaps the TOP PR person at Samsung. Doesn't this strike you as a really juvenile, unprofessional and defensive way to comment? This is the spokesperson for the most "respected" company in Korea. Is this the best person the TOP electronics company in  the world could hire?

Based on my experience, this kind of company has NO clue how to do PR/communications and they mostly hire idiots. Also, I don't get this "make him a star again" bit. This would make one assume that the author has been a "star" before. A star of what? Isn't saying that only serving to elevate the opponent?

Also, I agree poo is dirty and I do not fear it.

Anyway, I really have to spend some time thinking about this one. This is really extreme PR.

Thanks for reading.

Jonathan Gardner

Apple Pwns a Category it Hasn't Yet Entered

Poor little old Microsoft. Do you remember them? They're a company that - wayyyy back - was considered "innovative," basically for stealing GUI ideas, etc. from Apple. They had a product called Windows 7 that they REALLY tried to make people care about. NOW, we know our Apple friends are probably going to announce a tablet/slate computing device (iSlate) or whatever. So, what do the ham-fisted over at Microsoft do? They announce today (at CES, a show that's beyond irrelevant at this point) a TABLET pc with partner HP (remember them? before they were known for only making generic printers and pcs?). It's basically a weak attempt to get their "me too's" and make some marketing noise before Apple steals everyone's thunder. On another point, isn't it interesting how a company like Microsoft is being seen as a "me too-er" for announcing a product BEFORE Apple (even allegedly) is going to market their own? This is a whole area worth delving into. The fact that Apple has now positioned itself to be the leader in categories it hasn't even yet entered. Or, at least pwns the "mind-space" (Apple pwns our mind grapes?) That's some brand!

There's a story on this at the Huffington Post (it's pretty amusing). The best part:

Tablet-style computers that run Windows have been available for a decade [ED: and NO ONE has cared. You had 10 years to do something!], but HP's new machine is bound to draw extra attention thanks to expectations that Apple Inc. will launch a similar device later this month.

Apple, notoriously secretive about upcoming products, has not commented on the matter. But given the iPhone's success, which propelled competitors to come out with copycat touch-screen phones and centralized "app" stores to sell add-on software, all eyes are on Apple to define what a slate or tablet-style computer should look like and how it will be used.

Anyway, go give it a read. Spend 5 minutes contemplating the great, bloated companies involved in this. Pretty soon they will be completely forgotten.

Thanks for reading.
-Jonathan

The Nexus of Nexus One Wrap-Ups

The folks over at PR Newser have a really good summation of the major PR push that was the Google Nexus One Android phone launch.

The recap has one curious bit, it says: "Google's PR peeps didn't go through the trouble of web-streaming their own news conference, while arranging for on-site attendees to record wirelessly, to ensure optimal site lines and audio."

This is a bit odd. I watched some of the streaming news conference on Ustream which has become a powerful tool in communications. The Ustream feed was streamed by someone else. So the question is, why didn't Google stream it themselves?

Perhaps, the thinking was that there is nothing to HIDE so why not let someone else take charge of getting the message out and "owning" it on Ustream? I'm a big fan of companies taking ownership of their message and controlling their own media. Ustream is a great way to do this. But with all the platforms that Google already owns (such as Youtube), it IS interesting that they let someone else do this.

Anyway, the PR Newser piece is a great layman's case study of one event in our consciousness and the communications strategy behind it. Looks like the battle with Apple and the iPhone mafia is ON.

Thanks for reading.
-Jonathan

The 2010 Marketing REsolutions are Here!

Our friends at Mashable have a good piece on the "five tips...to guide your SMB’s social media and online strategies for 2010." It is great to see anyone promoting the use of social media for business (not as if there is a dearth of that online these days) and Mashable is always a go to source. But, this article made me come back to the original sin of "new media" (for lack of a better term) marketing: we STILL have not yet created the compelling, 15-seconds or less, easy sell, comprehensive marketing/communications social media solutions package for business. Making some headway on THAT should be our 2010 Marketing RESOLUTION.

Of course, that's a bit of a funny: there is never going to be a silver bullet catch-all solution for anything ever again. BUT, I am serious about how poorly 1. the power of tools (twitter, Facebook, et al) is sold as part of marketing solutions; 2. how badly marketers/consultants package and sell-in their social media toolkit; 3. the weakness of most business leaders' grasp of social media, and so on.

The old days for marketing were (basically) simple: Build some buzz with PR. Take out some TV, print and outdoor ads. Maybe some DM or DR TV depending on your product. Do promotions and product trials. Rinse and repeat.

Anyone older than 15 (which includes most business owners) now feels lost in the wilderness. Our forever fluxing media landscape means the reassurance of the old model is gone. I don't mean to sound all in defense of the "crotchety" but WE ALL need to appreciate how confusing this would be for a "traditional" marketer.

So for the last 10 years or so, they've been hearing "it's all over, it's all changed" and they've seen the Web become huge, email take off, instant messaging, cell phones, iPods, social networks, blogs, twitter, and so on.

To them, it will seem every 5 minutes there some new "game changing" media they are supposed to now pay attention to.

For the OLDSTERS, this is very distressing. So, let's all take a moment from our busy lives to acknowledge their plight.

SO, now, you with-it, skinny jeans wearing hipster marketer, OUR JOB is to help them. HELP everybody figure out how to use social/new media as part of the complete marketing picture.

WE ARE NOT doing a very good job of it.

1st STOP distracting everyone by saying "this is the new ---KILLER, the NEW game changer" every 5 minutes. Hold on and let your followers catch up.

We need to be patient. As a wise marketer once said "stop the insanity!"

It is clear that SOME iteration of what now exists with communications, messaging and social networks is here to stay. It is also obvious that we can use the current forms of these tools to great effect in marketing. SPEND some time really 1. working out the BEST use of these tools that is actually sensible for your clients/colleagues and 2. figure out the BEST way to actually sell it to them and include it in your work.

IF YOU DON'T DO THIS, we will continue to hear from the oldsters: "I think I need one of those facey-pages to announce this sale on sansabelt pants." IF WE understand technology, it's best applications and how to talk about it, it is OUR JOB to communicate and evangelize among those less fortunate. What kind of marketers are we if we can't sell our expertise properly to others?

It is really important that we act quickly, brainstorm together and really come up with some strategic packages of products and services to sell for marketing. In the biz, we have been selling our expertise with social media as part of our services for a while. AS WE ALL KNOW, much of these "services" has been telling clients we will create and maintain their presence on critical social networks (or some blather like that). What we know this means is "I'll do something with Facebook, Flickr, Twitter." Of course, it's only a matter of time before the clients figure out that it's not really all that hard to send out a few tweets. I mean, look at the current DEMOS on FB, Twitter audiences. These ain't mostly Billyburg hipsters on there, they are your mom and dad.

We are all gonna look pretty dumb if all we're selling is that we happen to know about how to use some existing tools. Marketers, consultants, etc. are made of what they sell as their VALUE ADD. We need to really start thinking about ADDING SOME VALUE.

Thanks for reading.
-Jonathan

Polishing Turds: Your Personal Shame for 2009

The year end is a good time to reflect on what we've "accomplished." Also ideal to prepare for what lies ahead. I'm sure during 2009 you spent some time promoting, publicizing, marketing, selling a product/service/person that was "less than special." We're talking about turds, about dogs, about whatever moniker you want to use. These work projects are the ones that make you hate yourself when you look in the mirror in the morning (that's if you can even drag yourself out of bed), cause you to loathe your job and cause you unending personal shame.

What were your "2009 Turds?" Do you have outstanding "Turds of the Decade?"

Throughout my marketing life, I've been asked to belly up to the table and massage a great number of steaming, stinking turds. Back in the way early days, I regularly enjoyed massive turd helpings when I was an intern/entry level AE at a communications firm.

The turds (clients) I was handed were some of the following:

A snack treat for dogs
A kitchen cleaner
A paper manufacturer

Why do I call these "turds" and not "wonderful, fulfilling, exciting client experiences?" Because they weren't, but also, MAINLY because in the marketing arts, a "turd" that needs to be polished is a "crappy, uninteresting client/product service with no USP to speak of."

As marketers, we always PRAY that the clients/colleagues of the world will recognize not only our genius, but the tremendous power of marketing and bring us in at the VERY BEGINNING of the product development process. This personal sacred wish of marketers has us envision being brought into the boardroom to consult and weigh in on the creation of the product/service and help to inform and guide the development of a HIGHLY MARKETABLE product. Of course, this is mere fantasy and it is only rumored to happen at very evolved corporations. We know that progressive companies do often have the marketing people involved FAIRLY early. Apple, for example, does this very well.

BUT, for most of us most of the time with most assignments, we are brought in to share our EXALTED wisdom way after everything has been said and done. The product has launched, the designs are finished, the building has been completed, the deed is done.

The unfortunate PR people are sometimes not even brought in until the original marketing plans have failed or there is some other problem.

What does this all mean and how does it create TURDS?

Well, honestly some TURDS that need to be polished will simply always be turds, no matter when marketing people are involved and/or if they have any input whatsoever. The dog snacks and kitchen cleaner were NEVER going to be interesting, fun accounts. And, honestly, the % of people who make purchase decisions for these products based on ANYTHING besides traditional above the line is woefully small.


A TURD has no redeeming marketing value and therefore no organic raison d'etre. Nothing special to say. It is not the "biggest," "first," "cheapest," "trendiest" or launched by a special company like Apple, or designed by Frank Gehry.

So there is nothing inherent to the product that lends itself to a story, to buzz, to press coverage, to ANYTHING.

So you try to attach said product to trends: "this is an example of what companies in X sector or doing to try to succeed in a recession," "this is the pioneer in a new neighborhood," "this is part of trend X." Most of these TREND/feature lines of talk are completely invented, just look at the criticism the NY Times gets when its reporters invent trend stories.

ALL that invented trending only lasts so long. But you STILL have this TURD laying there in front of you, it needs to be polished, it's still your project. So, next up are the gimmicks: "the grand opening had people on pogo sticks," "we will give free apartments for a week at Christmas to people named Jesus," etc.

The problem is that these gimmicks are disconnected from the ACTUAL product. They do nothing to promote the true brand elements and tell the public nothing about a USP (because there really is none to speak of). ALL THESE DO is get a bit of buzz in the 'nets and the media and keep the product's name out there for a bit longer until the TURD gets flushed with all the others flowing along in a sewer-pipe of global unconsciousness. It's all there in the background, all these undifferentiated products and services.

There is no magic polish for TURDS. As mentioned, bringing marketing people in early, especially in the case of completely generic products, will maybe help the process of MAKING products more marketable. The WHOLE POINT of creating something for sale is so you can sell it, how about allowing some experts in to help you create a product that WILL SELL MORE? For product development people who work with marketers, I propose the following New Year's Resolution: Make something interesting together in 2010, not just more turds.

So, as we look forward to 2010 I hope you will help lead the fight to have marketing play a greater role in all levels and forms of product development and promotion, no matter how discouraged you may already be.

Thanks for reading.
Jonathan

Marketer, review thyself!

A blog by some PR company had an interesting idea: consumer product companies should host reviews of their products on their own websites. It is a fun concept and clearly the PR people think this will give a client good PR for being all "transparent" and "honest" in building relationships with stakeholders, bla bla bla.

If this happens it is still under the radar. AND, if it ever REALLY happens to some significant degree, there should be a lot of controversy. I cannot imagine that even the most "transparent" company out there will allow totally unfiltered criticism (oh, i mean "review") of its products on its own website. Just think of how incredibly risky this would be.

It is a really interesting idea and we'll see where this goes. I have only seen Apple having reviews of products on their online store. But, as we all know Apple is a "special case" and is a brand like no other. They have such a fan base and well of support out there that it seems to be no problem for them. BUT, does it benefit apple?

Thanks for reading.
Jonathan

Men are fat, but don't tell them

One of our favorite blogs, Stokefire, has a post on Weight Watchers for Men and suggests it is off the mark. The traditionally femme-focused company is trying to get men to purge the pounds with its programs. The Stoke-folks feel themes and tags such as “Real Men Don’t Diet” and “Eat like a man, not like a rabbit" are uninspired and even emasculating. As a commenter mentions, Weight Watchers should stick to its core market, women and give these tactics a rest. I do believe this line of attack will be a big FAIL for Weight Watchers.


There is a little-known school of thought in marketing that goes like this: Company X is a big, successful company, surely even a tone-deaf-sounding ad campaign must be informed by lots of intelligence from their marketing team. They are such a strong brand, they must know what they are doing, etc.

The public can sometimes think this way. And, marketers who are not on the inside with Company X can leave well-enough alone and think "it's not my problem, they must know what they are doing." Who knows, this could work, but I think not.

Thanks for reading.
Jonathan

What we are doing here

I am a lifelong marketer. What this means is that I have eat and slept (if that's possible) marketing since I can remember. I am ALWAYS interested in new marketing, good marketing, bad marketing, poo marketing. Whatever.

I've worked in PR/marketing/communications/branding for 15 years or so. I have done this mostly in a consulting capacity, advising companies on how to better communicate their messages, sell their products, achieve their goals, etc.

A large part of my career has been outside of the U.S. This means I am interested in some things going on beyond the borders of our United States. I hope you are too.

Now, I live back in my native New York City. I work as a consultant and also have a gig doing social marketing. So I have some free time to scour the web, give my opinions, and bore you.

I'll be writing about advertising, marketing, communications, branding, PR, consumer behavior, sales techniques and tactics. It goes without saying that I'll be especially interested in "new" stuff in the realm of digital communications, social media, etc.

While in Asia, I was a also blogger for a couple of years for CNET, where I commented on technology and media marketing issues and news. You can find my old blog posts archived here: CNET.

I hope you'll enjoy our time together. Please make any comments on posts, send me suggestions, link to this blog and tell your friends.

Best,
Jonathan Gardner