Holidays are a great time for PR


Christmas is a superb time for PR. People are generally full of goodwill, and appreciate goodwill gestures by companies: tying into the season is a helpful tactic on a number of levels. First, it creates warm, fuzzy feelings among your staff. Second, it shows that your business has a human face. Third, it makes individuals want to reciprocate-after all, Christmas is the time of year when we give to other people as well as obtain from them.

Needless to say, it's essential not to appear apparent or tacky: it's also a good concept to complete something that relates to your own company's activities instead of simply run a corporate advertisement wishing everyone a merry Christmas.

In 1955, the nearby department retailer in Colorado Springs, America, decided to have a "Santa hot line" for kids to call Santa Claus. Unfortunately, due to a printing error they publicized the direct line towards the Director of Operations of the Continental Air Defense (now called NORAD). This was the top-secret missile-tracking system based just outside Colorado Springs.

The director quickly discovered out what had happened, and instructed his staff to field the calls, suggesting that they explain that the tracking system was tracking Santa's sleigh and giving updates on Santa's present position.

This has now become an annual event. Each year NORAD shows where Santa's sleigh has got to, using satellite surveillance and "Santacams" to depict the sleigh traveling across the world. The images are accompanied by commentaries from NORAD staff, Air Force staff, and national celebrities at each stage of the journey.

Even though the tracking is apparently aimed at children, the chance is used to explain how NORAD makes use of its high-technology tracking gear to protect the Western world from attack. You will find links on the website to various other pages, including job vacancies and pages for possible suppliers to NORAD. As an annual event, tracking Santa expenses relatively little and creates enormous goodwill-Christmas 2008 saw 15 million hits on the NORAD website, no small potatoes for a PR physical exercise.

Often, PR exercises are aimed at publics without being specifically directed at an "enemy." In other words, if a firm is beneath attack, the tendency is to counter the attack in the minds of the public without straight confronting the other organization.

Obviously there's usually a threat of retaliation in kind, and much depends on the nature of the exercise-but numerous organizations can and do use guerrilla tactics to take the fight towards the enemy. Even if you do not use this concept yourself, you need to be aware that someone might use it against you!

Friends of the Earth is really a pressure group devoted to environmental problems. It's an organization that is nearly entirely driven by PR: it lobbies government and industry to reduce waste, decrease the carbon footprint, and usually behave responsibly toward the environment. During one of its campaigns to combat the use of non-returnable plastic bottles, FOE deposited 1,500 bottles outside a Schweppes bottling plant.

This blocked the company's gates, but more importantly it produced a photo chance for the nearby press and TV companies. Even though Schweppes are clearly not the only business who use these bottles, FOE's action certainly left them with a public relations problem-and not one that could easily be explained away having a press release or two. Generating a high-impact event like this takes planning and coordination, but the effects are most likely to be big and far-reaching.

Legal Disclaimer

Our website is not responsible for the information contained by this article. Webworldarticles.com is a free articles resource thus practically any visitor can submit an article. However if you notice any copyrighted material, please contact us and we will remove the article(s) in discussion right away.


This article was sent to us by: Elaine Rothfield at 01242011

Related Articles

1. PR and SEO for brand promotion
The internet has, needless to say, wrought numerous changes in the way businesses operate. One of the main ones is in corporate communications, merely simply because people...

2. PR is conducted through TV companies and press releases
The media, and especially tv companies, are always on the lookout for great, interesting ideas for documentaries. They need shows with strong human interest, and preferably...

3. PR and sponsorship are needed to create a good corporate image
Sponsorship is a main plank in PR. Sponsoring events and organizations generates some good publicity, shows that the business cares, and frequently puts the business name i...

4. Sponsoring something in B2B may boost your PR campaign
Most sponsorship is aimed at encouraging business-to-consumer relationships, but there is really nothing to quit business-to-business companies sponsoring suitable events. ...

5. Do not be oppressive about your brand name
Most firms get defensive about other people piggybacking on their main brands. Some firms even go so far as to take legal action against anyone who dares to encroach on the...

6. PR also is making expert comments to the press
TV and printed news journalists often need to find an expert who can talk on a given topic. I have a friend who is (he thinks) the only Welsh-speaking astronomer in Wales, ...

7. PR can be done in a controversial manner as well
Most PR is carried out in a pretty gentlemanly way, as indeed is most business. Now and then, though, someone will pull a really cheeky stunt-and frequently there is PR wor...

8. Link your PR and advertising strategies to the news
News occurs all of the time, and numerous PR firms concentrate on creating it rather than on latching onto it. Nevertheless, you will find only so many news stories that ca...