Anti-cheese campaign

I found days ago a great article in PR Daily about an anti-cheese campaign with tips for the PR team in order to manage this situation. Basically, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) designed this billboard casting the Grim Reaper as a cheesehead.

The sign appeared in Wisconsin, US, near Lambeau Field, where the Green Bay Packers routinely send opponents to meet their maker. The message is “Warning: Cheese can sack your health. Fat. Cholesterol. Sodium.”

What is PR specialist opinion ?

The one-two punch of the Packers undertone and the ill health effects of cheese isn’t really the best approach, not only from the ad side, but from the PR and marketing professionals who focus on the impact of paid media and intertwine it with earned, owned, and shared spaces.

Public relations professionals are consistently aware of their audience, whether it’s around their reactions, passion, or even just a passing mention. Tacky, distasteful ads have a way of impacting not only the audience, but the image and impact for which public relations is responsible. The best ad and PR teams work together from a unified overall objectives thought process.

As a consumer and Packers fan, I might have absorbed the health angle and understood. With the added bonus of the Packers undertone, it completely turned me off as a health-conscious consumer.

What can public relations professionals do to ensure their messaging and objectives are also getting seen on the paid side?

• Communicate brand positioning tactics and objectives.
• Realize that brand perception goes beyond ads.
• Understand that the complete package (PESO – paid, earned, shared and owned media) influences your audience.
• If health-related, understand why your target market loves a certain product or lifestyle, and focus on not overlaying a stereotype to an entire fan base. This ensures that you do not alienate those that the message might reach.
• Have a crisis communications plan in place in case an ad, shared/earned media or communications are not well received.
• Use consumer and market research to understand the demographic and prepare for any type of scenario.

Great tips, I have to say. Great lesson of learning how a crisis can be handled.

Source: PR Daily

 

Better tomorrow,

PR Pret-a-Porter.