Let's reflect on theory a little longer...
This week we will be reflecting on the theories and processes underlying successful campaigns, especially public opinion and persuasion. I look forward to seeing how you use your readings and other information available on the Internet to address these current issues. You can respond to one or all of the following prompts. However, if another part of the readings caught your attention, go in your own direction and add a link for your classmates.
This week Wal-Mart announced the success of its new positioning that it launched in August. In the article “Wal-Mart rolling out new company slogan," Reuters explain the change in the slogan after 19 years. A slogan is a classic case of framing and positioning an organization based on the characteristics of the organization and publics. “The new slogan comes as Wal-Mart is incorporating more of an emotional tone into its advertising as it tries to boost sales at its U.S. stores.” Wal-Mart is a consumer-based organization, but you can reflect on the role of emotional and factual appeals in communications messages for any type of organization.
The Wal-Mart campaign also reflects the first part of the PR Process: Research. “The new ad campaign also highlights the results of new research it commissioned from Global Insight. The report said that as of 2006, the retailer saves American families $2,500 each year, up 7.3 percent from $2,329 in 2004.” What role does research have in the ideal setting and in real-world public relations campaigns?
For those who want to continue talking about ethics and how that relates to public opinion and corporate functions, check out “Pepsi CEO defines good work” in which Goodman reports on a speech by Indra Nooyi positing “performance with a purpose.” Indeed, “Being a good company in today's global world means more than having a strong financial performance, she said. Her definition includes cherishing employees and making contributions to improving public health and the environment.” How does corporate citizenship and social responsibility relate to public opinion? Is social responsibility just a trend or is it the future of corporate philosophy?
posted by prteacher @ 9/14/2007 01:19:00 AM
31 Comments:
ROPES, RACE, ROSIE...each acronym public relations students learn begins with the same step- research. How will we know where we are going, if we don't know where to start? Cutlip, Center, and Broom's emphasis (2006) on interdependent systems focuses on the importance of knowing how to adjust and adapt in situations that are often controlled by others. Researching how other organizations', corporations', or individuals' actions affect your client can enhance your ability to create and manage an effective campaign.
Although this is preached, it is rarely practiced. One of my former professors, Robert French, wrote a post http://www.auburnmedia.com/wordpress/2007/03/11/a-pr-program-that-doesnt-teach-communication-research/ about the absence of research classes in some Canadian public relations programs and even the U.S. public relations field. He claims this absence of research and research education is equal to malfeasance and malpractice.
Why are so many practitioners failing to budget time and money for research? Could it be the need to please demanding clients who want to see fast results or an over-extended staff who doesn't have time for preliminary work? Are those acceptable excuses? Certainly not. We are expected to provide the most comprehensive and effective services. Without research, I believe this is impossible.
Wal-Mart, in a daringly different move, is doing something right. The company is using research to reposition itself. After years of losing customers to Target, Wal-Mart is finally directing the brand and their image where research indicates. It should be interesting to see where this will take the bottom line and the public's perception.
Research is imperative. To counsel, one must first understand.
The emotional side of communicating and co-orienting with publics is such an important topic that is often downplayed or ignored in pubic relations research. Cutlip, Center, and Broom address attitudes and intensity of individual opinions as factors that influence overall understanding of an issue and the direction of pubic opinion (and the resulting coorientation) but do not give values and feelings the attention they deserve when it comes to why communicators craft messages the way they do. Emotional, and to a lesser extent, factual appeals play a HUGE role in how communication works and how public opinion is shaped. Advertisers and public relations practitioners use emotional appeal as a tool to set the agenda of communication because as Cutlip et al. note, issue salience and personal experience, the two main factors in agenda-setting success, are rooted in emotions (9th ed., pp. 204-5). In advertising, oftentimes “the only way to make your brand stand out is to create an emotional framework, or personality, for it,” (Jeweler & Drewniany, 2001, p. 74). Advertisers know that how their client’s product is positioned within a product category or within a specific market will largely determine how well that product sells. (Or if their product is the client itself (like a politician), how much the client is accepted.) The same theory is true for public relations. Using emotional appeals like Wal-Mart is doing to increase sales and like Pepsi is doing to improve its corporate image is a fundamental component of communication models and programs.
The Gator Nation campaign is an example of using emotional appeal to converge the perceptions of a large public with each other and with an organization to set the agenda of communication. UF is using the Gator Nation campaign to unite students, alumni, faculty, staff, and fans for the purpose of recruiting students, athletes, more staff, donations, and interest in the university on the basis of the very emotional appeals of belonging, pride, and achievement.
Emotional appeals can be considered manipulative, however. Wal-Mart appeals to customers’ sense of well-being with its new “Save Money. Live Better” slogan, but this new position seems to draw attention away from the well-known fact that Wal-Mart often strong-arms its suppliers and outsources most of its products to countries where workers are underpaid and overworked. Saving money does not mean everyone lives better. The Miami Herald article stated that Nooyi “is leading PepsiCo with a philosophy of ‘bringing together what is good for business with what is good for the world.'’” No doubt Pepsi’s communication department will work hard to align perceptions, and thus public opinion, of what is good for the world (including environmental, political, and lifestyle practices) with their business goals. As one of the comments on the Herald article states, “managers will do what they are measured and rewarded on, not their philosophical achievement. That is how Corporate America works.” (Numerous spelling errors corrected from that quote.) So while emotional appeals
One of my favorite videos documents the (vicious?) cycle of research, positioning/branding, agenda setting, and public opinion. In “The Merchants of Cool,” researchers document how MTV stays on the cutting edge of teen and preteen culture. MTV finds out what’s hot among its viewers through observation, surveys, interviews, and other media sources. Then they create programming and events that incorporate the trends they’ve discovered (trends meaning fashion, taste in music, styles of dancing, new slang, etc.) but also push the envelope a little further. So if teens are into spending their money on their cars and enjoy a good party, MTV takes that information (research) and turns it into shows like “Pimp My Ride” and “My Super Sweet 16,” glorifying fancy cars and parties (branding “cool”/setting the agenda for what’s cool) in the process. Teens then view these shows, coorientate among themselves (“Did you see 50 Cent’s sweet Hummer?” “Yeah, it was cool.”) and with MTV’s other media outlets (online discussion posts, for example) and form a public opinion by trying to emulate, and then outdo, the shows and each other in their efforts to be “cool.” MTV researches its audience again and finds that teen public opinion has accepted the ideas and brands in its shows. But now the “cool” bar has been raised, so MTV comes out with new programming like “Cribs” and “My Super Sweet 16: The Movie” to top what real teens are doing. Teens view these new shows, emulate them, and the cycle of keeping up with what’s cool goes on and on.
The whole cycle is based on emotional (teens want to be cool like the girls on Super Sweet 16) and factual (the girl on Super Sweet 16 got a $97,000 Jaguar for her birthday!) appeals, and it earns MTV a lot of money and notoriety. But what’s good for business in this case, like Wal-mart, is not necessarily good for the world. How many parents want their 15-year-old being snotty about the planning of their 16th birthday party because they saw a girl on TV act that way and still get a rockin’ party? What do these shows say about the values teens are learning? And contrast Wal-Mart’s customer-oriented positioning with that of American Apparel’s supplier-oriented positioning. Which would you rather subscribe to? The agendas set using emotional and factual appeals can be for good or can sweep other issues under the rug, but they will be stronger regardless for their use of emotions.
How much theory suggestion works in practice?
Ecological viewpoint tells us that corporation’s adjustment and adaptation are necessary. Nevertheless, the problem is when the corporate has to change, which way it should go, and how much those two answers will cost. These questions do not be covered in the system prospective although system points out adjustment and adaptation with environmental pressure are trend (Cutlip at el, 2006).
Wal-Mart changes its corporate position after holding the old one around 19 years. In this case, why not 20 years, or why not less 19 years? So far, only Wal-Mart topic management probably can provide the answer. During the 19 years of always low price, Wal-Mart is still a giant in whole selling industry. But, for other corporation, changes happen when financial crisis is coming or bad news explores. Seldom knows when to change if CEO does not change.
Research sometime plays an important role in measuring environmental temperature. I do not know why Wal-Mart conducts the research now, and what Wal-Mart research contents, either. In my PR service experience, a corporate conducts survey when new CEO or new top management comes to show some historical problems are not my fault.
In the model of coorientation, research can show the gap between organization’s view and the public view toward an issue. Unfortunately, the theoretical ideal does not always happen. Sometime, the goal of conducting research is to prove that our boss is right! Therefore, you can image how the role of PR persons function the research contents.
Why that happens in corporate? Research is expensive. In corporation, a PR practitioner is trained to spend corporate budget to tell your top managers and the outside public that the corporate is best! That is expected function because PR persons are hired as corporate cosmetologist not dermatologist.
As Frank Lang noted “In order to create lasting respect and understanding, whether with internal, external, or trade publics, public relations policy should be based on effective and thorough research,” (The Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Spring, 1951), pp. 54-64). According to him to be successful in any public relations program it is essential to determine and classify the public to whom the program is directed. I think Wal-Mart has shown a classic example of incorporating research in its new slogan. Wal-Mart identified that its market lies in the low-income group and thus it needs to design its campaign keeping this factor in mind. This is often called “Lifestyle Branding” (Lifestyle Branding) and it involves thorough research on target customer’s values and aspirations; their core identity so to say. Thus, I feel research is being increasingly incorporated in public campaigns; not only in the ideal setting but also in reality.
Ted Brader in his article "Emotion and the Persuasive Power of Campaign Ads" ( Public Opinion Pros) tells that it is not only important to collect information but it is also important to use it properly. Wal-Mart used its research on savings to appeal to its customer’s emotional as well as practical senses. For most of the consumers that go to Wal-Mart saving money may mean a lot of things; emotionally and practically. I think it is a beautiful example of tying emotions with research objectives and final goals.
I agree to what PepsiCO CEO Indira Nooyi said in her speech. I think how public perceives an organization also depends on what its perspective is on factors like corporate social responsibility and environmental concerns. A survey by Environics International was conducted to find out how these factors affect the public opinion. The key findings are listed on the website (Corporate Social Responsibility Monitor). It is interesting to note that consumers and societies form public opinion about an organization based on these factors. Thus, I believe that organizations are becoming more and more concerned about these societal factors while making policies and taking decisions; and this will continue as long as there are notions of a society.
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Since Edward Bernays introduced ‘research’ to the public relations field, public relations studies have evolved into ‘social science’ (Grunig & Hunt, 1984). By using research, public relations has also reached the stage of two-way communication from one-way communication, no matter whether it is in an asymmetrical or symmetrical way. Unilateral communication dominated by companies and organizations is no longer effective in achieving their goals in a society where public opinion is easily formed by the Internet. Any campaign or public relations practice cannot be successful without information about its target audiences. As complicated human beings, people from the same demographic group might have different personalities or lifestyles, and show different reactions to an issue. That is why campaign designers or public relations practitioners should conduct formative research and try to figure out the diverse variables that affect the public’s behaviors.
Wal-Mart’s new slogan “Save Money. Live better” is created on the basis of the results of research. Figuring out how much Wal-Mart saves American families by conducting research, the company utilized the result to plan the new campaign to boost sales at its U.S. stores. The introduction of research is a result of previous failures Wal-Mart experienced. Last year, Wal-Mart promoted higher-end goods, such as organic food, ignoring the characteristics of their main customers, who were looking for low prices and basic goods. Those products could not appeal to price-sensitive shoppers, and Wal-Mart had a loss. A similar but more severe loss happened to Wal-Mart Korea, and the company finally had to pull out of the Korean market after eight years of doing business there. It was because of a lack of understanding of the nation’s consumers. Many housewives in Korea reported that they felt confined when they visited Wal-Mart, where products were piled high in a store that reminded them more of a warehouse than a retail store. In addition, Wal-Mart sold many products in large packages though most Koreans preferred to buy items in smaller quantities. For your information, I would like to share the news article on this issue http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/22/business/won.php From actual but bitter lessons, Wal-Mart’s decision to conduct research is necessary for the company to retrieve its reputation and make profits.
I think that a company’s ineffective strategies, caused by a lack of information about its target audiences, can lead it on a desperate struggle, to the company’s detriment. That is why we should conduct research in order to learn public opinion, the attitudes, and the variables that affect people’s lives. For successful campaigns, research should be conducted over the length and the breadth of the campaigns. We need to conduct not only formative research but also process evaluation and summative evaluation. Wal-Mart just launched the new slogan based on its research. There is additional and continuous research of public opinion so that the campaign leads to success. The company must understand real and perceived public opinion because public opinion is a powerful force in our society (Cutlip et al., 2006). As Courtney and Ricco said, many companies are reluctant to allocate budget and time to research. However, we need to think of what happens if a company implements wrong campaigns and public relations practices without considering the public’s opinion. The company will ultimately be exposed to crises, and it, like Wal-Mart Korea, might fold its tent with a huge financial loss.
There is an old saying in Chinese -”Know your enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat”, which can perfectly describe the role of research in public relations. We know symmetrical communications lead to successful relationships by being mutual understanding and satisfaction, and therefore, mutual benefits occur. To enter into the process of mutual understanding, research becomes a tool or a method for organizations to understand publics and to recognize what they are in publics, and then using PR activities becomes a way to make publics know organizations or to change publics’ opinions, and thus after itinerating this process, the goal of mutual understanding will achieve. Doing research before an organization deciding its strategy is imperative, and which is definitely a way leading to successful PR. The example of Wal-Mart using research to understand publics, their impression about Wal-Mart and their substantial need at this moment, and publishing the research for publics to understand what they have contributed, starts to show an important role of research in public relations campaigns. However, in real world, research may be too expensive to do. Sometimes, big companies would have budget to have research first, and then pr strategies next, but most of time, unless there are urgent needs for research to save their future plans, they are regardless of the importance of research. Organizations always focus on their image and reputation which they want to establish in front of publics, and thus lead to one-way communication in which they only give and persuade their idea to publics; Ignoring public opinions most of time causes to failure. As Ledingham mentioned “Successful organization-public relationships develop around common interests and shared solutions to common problem” (2003, p188), mutual understanding between organizations and publics is key to build a successful relationship, and research is a key way leading to this goal.
I believe that we are on the way to emotion-centered economic age, in other words, emotional appeals have been playing a pivotal role in communications. Usually, emotional appeal is a powerful way to shape, change, or reinforce attitudes and builds relationships, so affection is able to result in the purchasing motivation. Additionally, emotional appeal is able to filter organization’s culture and spirit into publics’ minds. Although Wal-Mart, as a profit organization, aims to earn money as much as possible, its new ad campaign is struggling to take advantage of emotional appeals rather than factual appeals, just like Reuters’ report, “the new slogan comes as Wal-Mart is incorporating more of an emotional tone into its advertising as it tries to boost sales at its U.S. stores”. The magic key of emotional appeal is to create an emotional environment with which organization’s strategic publics satisfied.
Wal-Mart mounts a campaign designed to tell people that they eager to help people to live better. By replacing the motto “Always low prices” by “Save Money. Live Better," Wal-Mart creates a new environment which characterized by saving money and living better, I believe new environment will be welcomed by more publics. Additionally, a slogan is a classic case of framing, through changing slogan, Wal-Mart frame itself as an organization which can help people save money and live better rather than an organization only provide low-price merchandise. It is widely acknowledged that one how to frame itself decides how others understand it. So the changing in slogan reframes people’s understandings in Wal-Mart.
Regardless of the ROPES or RACE, the most important step in the public relations process is the first—research. The reason why research is important is that it provides knowledge, formulates strategy, inspires confidence, and ensures that practitioners achieve desired results. Research gathers information to reduce uncertainty in decision making. As Cutlip et al. (2000) proclaimed, research “is the essential ingredient that makes public relations a management functions as well as a managed function.”
In public relations campaigns, public relations practitioners first should research organization’s situations, and define public relations problems. Without researching a problem situation practitioners run the risk of acting like the six blind men in the fable of “the elephant and six blind men”. When problems are found, organization must change behavior and correct problem. As to Wal-Mart’s new campaign, undoubtedly, it is used to solve problems confronting with organization. What problems Wal-Mart have? Take Wal-Mart in China as an example, the low prices mentioned in slogan brought some troubles to Wal-Mart. On the one hand, due to the low return, many suppliers stopped providing the merchandise to Wal-Mart. On the other hand, increasingly customers suspected the qualities of goods in Wal-Mart, there is a Chinese adage that some bargain it is! So most people believe good things deserve high prices, and then they gradually lost their trusts on the qualities of goods provided by Wal-Mart. So after the research on organization, it is easy to get conclusion that it is time for Wal-Mart to begin a campaign, such as changing slogan. So research is the precondition of effective public relations and an effort to do things better.
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Walmart might be using research to show that they are saving families money, but the opinion of the company is not always positive among some of its targeted publics. I don't think a day goes by when I realize I need something for my apartment like an ironing board or a pasta strainer and I wonder outloud to someone, "Hm..I think I need to stop by Walmart or Target today for some things," to which I always receive the response, "Eww....I hate Walmart - I never shop there." Yes, Walmart is saving families money, but they did not produce research showing how much money they save families vs. shopping at Target or another equivelent store. Saving money at Walmart is a no-brainer - I feel like they need to prove how they save the most money in order for this slogan campaign to be truly successful. A 2005 study conducted by cockeyed.com showed that in a 20 item price comparison, Walmart saved customers $4.89, or 4.06% of the total price. To me, that is not a huge deal. A difference of $4.89 is not going to motivate me to drive an extra mile to Walmart if Target is right next door. Walmart needs to show, through research, that customers save a significant amount shopping at their store vs. Target if they want to be able to continue to compete. Walmart's slogan is also faulted by focusing on only 1 target public: families. I'm sure that this is the group that the organization derives most of its profits from, but I don't think that entitles them to ignore another very lucrative public: young adult/20 somethings. If college students need anything, their first instinct is to go to a store like Walmart or Target, and based on my previous anectdote it's most often Target. My opinion of Walmart was eloquently stated by another blogger: "...when I enter a Walmart, I feel my IQ going down 10 points, as if it were the shopping equivalent of chewing on lead-based paint chips. I hate their HR policies that hold back women. I hate their movies more edited than even Blockbuster dares to do. I hate that you can buy O'Reilly and Coulter, but not Jon Stewart" (). Walmart, as I'm sure many people of my demographic would agree, is the less attractive of the two. Most people I know will only shop at Walmart if a) Target is closed and b) Target doesn't have what they need. Most people will probably attempt Office Max or any other potential outlet before patronizing Walmart. Walmart potentialy has a lot to gain from the 20-something crowd, but from their new campaign it doesn't seem like they care. Research should ideally have a very prominent role in producing public relations campaigns, but we all know that this is not the case. As was discussed in the PR Casebook section of this week's Wilcox reading by Catherine Ahles (2003) in her study of campaigns submitted for PRSA's Silver Anvil Award, "A campaign's outcome must be measured against some benchmark so you know if the campaign 'moved the needle' in terms of creating awarness, increasing sales, or even changing attitudes and perceptions." She went on to say that less than half of the award-winning campaigns completed this important step of campaign writing/implementation. If you don't have a starting point, there is no way to effectively and objectively evaluate your end result. Walmart would be able to use their findings that they save families an average of $2500 a year as a benchmark to evaluate if/how their new slogan/branding attempts improve sales and, in turn, save families even more in the coming years. However, I still feel that Walmart has additional issues to deal with in terms of their corporate image as the lesser version of their competitor, Target.
The first impression I got from Wal-Mart's new slogan was that it became personalized. It gave me a kind of warm feeling. The change I think is quite successful. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy-of-Need theory, the original "Always low prices" emphasized on the people’s physiological needs, which is the basic one. As the economic development, people require a higher level of living standard rather than seeking the basic need. The new slogan reflects the higher level of need. Wal-Mart is the place that can help you not only save money, but also have a better life. Everyone hopes to have a better life. Sometimes, the image of an organization should adapt to the change of society in order to attract new public groups. Wal-Mart tends to bring a new consuming concept with the change of slogan, which targets more publics. The highest level of Hierarchy-of Need theory is the “self-fulfillment”. Many organizations try to arouse resonance in its target public’s internal feeling to the organization through the emotional appeal in communication message. Mcdonald’s changes of slogans represent the change from product itself to individual person, just like Wal-Mart. From “McDonald’s is you kind of place” in 1967 to “i'm lovin' it” now, you can see the slogan is more personalized. It is not McDonald telling you what to do, but the person “I” choose what to do. It adapts to the social trend that the young want to have their own identity and personality.
Although the article doesn’t describe what kind of research Wal-Mart has done before launching the new slogan, a cursory change is risky. Therefore, it requires a detailed and thorough research first. I think reseach is like a bridge to connect the ideal setting and the real-world PR campaign. It helps to minimize the gap between the real situation and ideal thinking. You have to know the outside enviornment first before you make a change. What you perceive may not be the real situation. It is why coorientational approach is important (Cutlip at el, 2006).
For a long time, public relation practitioners have put more emphasis in practices and neglected research. In IPRA’s study regarding evaluation and implementation in 1994, it is interesting to find that high percentage of PR practitioners recognized the necessary of evaluation and implementation, but very low percentage of PR practitioners frequently undertook research aimed at evaluating (Research in Public Relations-A review of the use of evaluation and formative research). However, a successful public relation campaigns starts with internal and external research and evaluation. It helps to identify the organization’s strengths and weaknesses in the environment and provide a basic guideline for the campaign. And it also helps to construct an effective strategy to achieve the expected outcome.
Sorry that the link doesn't show on my message:
Following is the link for the article"Research in Public Relations-A review of the use of evaluation and formative research"
http://www.carma.com/research/PR_Metrics.pdf
What do PR practitioners do first when they are confronted with a crisis or ordered to plan campaigns? Research. Research is a common sense and fundamental thing to do in PR these days. Research can diagnose what the real problem of a crisis is and suggest a good solution. Competent PR practitioners spend more time and effort in the research part of RACE. When diagnoses are correct, prescriptions can be simple. If research is practiced in the wrong way, PR campaigns can also go in the wrong direction, resulting in futile efforts and aggravating the company’s situation.
On this point, I am very curious about the “research” of Wal-Mart. The research that Wal-Mart did was meant to reinforce its new slogan, not to solve the crisis Wal-Mart faces. Of course, we do research at every step of RACE or individual campaigns, but one slogan or campaign cannot solve the real problems Wal-Mart has. When Wal-Mart changes its slogan after 19 years, it is because it sees its situation as a crisis. It has been suffering from a market loss because of newcomers in the market like Target.
Research is important, but accurate research is more important. In theory and reality, insufficient research can mislead the PR. As Wilcox said about gathering information, “Don’t be satisfied with a cursory investigation—dig and keep on digging until you have the whole story” (Wilcox, Fifth edition, p. 530). K. Kelly wrote that there are three areas in which to conduct research: “…(a) the organization for which practitioners work; (b) the opportunity, problem, or issue faced by the organization; and (c) the publics related to the organization and opportunity. Failure to conduct research in all three areas dooms public relations to sporadic results that contribute little to organizational effectiveness” (R. Heath and G. Vasques, Handbook of Public Relations, p. 280). Wal-Mart should do broader research, not only about the price factor. To gain an overall concept about a situation, research should include the internal and external environment of Wal-Mart: the strengths of its competitors, new trends, employee problems, communications problems, needs of the target public, product freshness and proper supply, price, etc.
Why low price is not really Wal-Mart’s problem is that they already had a leading position in the retailer market with the former slogan, “Always low prices”. Nevertheless, the fact that the crisis occurred means that this strong point of price does not compensate for other weaknesses. If price is not the real problem in the Wal-Mart crisis, then research was done in the wrong way, and a PR campaign based on the results of this research cannot solve the problems.
Even though the research cannot solve the real problems of Wal-Mart, it can strengthen the “credibility” of the slogan itself and make short-term profits. Research shows real statistics on how much money US households saved. Why do we distrust the slogan?
Research gives PR credibility, but if the research is not related to an organization’s goals and problems, that organization may get lost in the woods.
Research is critical to any would-be successful public relations campaign. Hendrix stresses the importance of researching the client or organization, the opportunity or problem the campaign is based on, and all target audiences (6th ed., p. 13).
Courtney brings up an interesting point about Wal-Mart losing customers to Target. Wal-Mart's new "Save Money. Live Better" slogan is awfully similar in both format and principle to Target's long-time slogan of "Expect More. Pay Less". According to Overbeck, Wal-Mart is tiptoeing around trademark laws: "A new company that adopts a logo or name that looks like or sounds like a famous trademark for a similar product is likely to run afoul of the law, even if the logo or name is slightly different" (2005 ed., p. 279). Personally I think Wal-Mart did a horrible job with this slogan campaign. They should realize how tacky it is not only because of how uneducated it sounds but also because of how similar it is to Target's slogan.
I am not the only one who feels this way. A post written by John C. Ogg on 24/7WallSt.com (http://www.247wallst.com/2007/09/wal-marts-new-a.html) addresses the fact that Wal-Mart hasn't actually done anything to better its share value or product quality. That is what makes this such an important public relations campaign - Wal-Mart introduced the new slogan to reposition itself in the world of discount retailers without actually changing its practices or products. A new slogan can make a world of difference for an organization in the position that Wal-Mart has found itself slipping into over the years, but this campaign failed miserably.
The driving forces behind Wal-Mart's new slogan campaign should take a look at the Ethics and Professional chapter where Cutlip, Center, and Broom address winning acceptance and stature. The general opinion of public relations practitioners has often been that we are flaky, dishonest and untrustworthy. What Wal-Mart has done, or rather, failed to do, is pushing the public relations practice further from achieving social acceptance by making it appear careless and as though adequate research is not of its concern. We know that "the field still attracts many who cannot qualify morally, through a commitment to ethical practice, or functionally, through knowledge and expertise" (Cutlip et al., 9th ed.). Apparently Wal-Mart is OK with that.
Sorry my link didn't work either:
Wal-Mart's new ad campaign a yawn. www.247wallst.com/2007/09/wal-marts-new-a.html
Research adds validity and credibility to a public relations campaign. Public relations research should entail much more than press clipings. Research is an extensive and thorough process which involves the use of multiple methods, such as focus groups, polls and interviews. Most importantly, evaluation must follow research. Research is pointless unless it is evaluated and interpreted into significant results. Evaluation should occur before, during, and after the implementation of a campaign through formative, process and summative evaluation. In public relations campaigns, research is usually used to reveal public opinion of a particular organization, cause or campaign.
Wal-Mart, the world’s largest employer, has received criticism and bad press regarding unethical labor practices and more. In an interview with Wall Street Journal, Walmart’s PR Chief Leslie Dach said, “One of the things I learned from corporations is the importance of change. I learned that every crisis is an opportunity… what the American people want to see is a company taking responsibility and then moving forward.” This mentality explains Wal-Mart’s introduction of a new slogan which focuses more on emotion than on low prices. “Save Money. Live Better.” is a great new angle for Wal-Mart. And, the inclusion of quantitative results from research further enhances their new approach. When speaking about the role of PR practitioners, Dach stated, “Our job is to go out there and do good things and make sure people know about it, and have a positive agenda.”
PepsiCo’s chairman and CEO, Indra Nooyi, further believes in the philosophy of “bringing together what is good for business with what is good for the world”. Nooyi’s “performance with a purpose” philosophy is a great model for any organization to follow. If employees work in a value-driven environment and culture, then they will exude this value out into the public. Even the perception of an organization being value-driven will effect public opinion. Michael Hatcliffe, Executive VP of US Corporate Practice for Ogilvy PR believes corporate social responsibility “is about one thing: that regardless of whether or not people are consumers of a given company's goods or services, they should benefit, ideally, from the very existence of the company. They certainly should not suffer from it.”
I would like to think social responsibility is the future of corporate philiosophy. Hopefully, practitioners go beyond creating just an image of corporate citizenship and actually incorporate socially responsible policies and guidelines for management and employees to live and practice by daily. After all, public opinion and “comunication affects and is affected by social setting” (Cutlip et al., 9th edition, p. 202).
Wal-Mart's move to reposition itelf seems to be long overdue. For years the company was being outshined by other stores, especially Target. The decision to try and place the Wal-Mart brand in better public light is highlighted by the use of extensive research. Wal-Mart is proudly announcing its use of research as the reasoning behind changing the slogan and advertising campaign. It will be interesting to see how well this works with its public perception.
Research seems to be the key to excellent public relations, but apparently it is not being exercised by practitioners as much as it should be. In a study conducted by Jim R. Macnamara, titled Research in Public Relations (http://www.carma.com/research/PR_Metrics.pdf), an interesting and extensive review of research amongst PR practitioners is made. In his study, Macnamara quotes James Grunig: "I have begun to feel more and more like a fundamentalist minister railing against sin; the difference being that I have railed for evaluation in public relations practice. Just as everyone is against sin, so most public relations people I talk to are for evaluation. People keep on sinning...and PR people continue not to do evaluation research." Grunig believes that research is just not utilized as much as it should be.
In my opinion, research is and should be the most important part of a PR practitioners regime. Clients should be interested in knowing what their target audience is thinking, and how they are reacting. The only way to do this is through extensive two-way communication through research.
Wal-Mart is taking a giant step forward in utilizing research to help with its public appearance. Wal-Mart has always been a consumer oriented corporation, so it seems fitting that they are evaluating their public more and changing their image to fit what the research divulges.
Walmart’s new slogan, “Save Money. Live Better”, shows dramatic change of the company’s viewpoint regarding its position, and target audiences’ perception of it in the social context. And more importantly, it implies the significance of research as a tool of fulfilling target audiences’ needs. Cutlip, Center, and Broom claim that ‘public relations specialists must anticipate and monitor changes in an organization’s environment and help interpret them to management’ (Effective Public Relations, 2006). Then, what does make PR possible to detect individual and social signals? What kind of process allows PR to translate the meaning of the signals? The answer must be ‘research’. In my view, Walmart tried to hear the target audiences’ voice, ‘I want to reduce my expenses, but not my self-esteem’ through research.
As many scholars and practitioners have discussed, formative research has been playing a significant role in public relations in that it allows PR specialists to apply valuable information, such as who their target audiences are, what they think, and what they want to hear and talk, to the real-world campaigns. Especially, when it comes to today’s PR, formative research becomes more important. Because the new communication technologies, such as the internet and a cell phone, have greatly developed, chances are very high for people to acquire sufficient amount of information. Almost everyone can access to certain website that they are interested in, share one’s opinion, and formulate public opinion interacting each other. In this relatively open system, public relations specialists need to read audiences’ thoughts and needs faster and more interactively because public opinion spread rapidly online. Accordingly, it seems that there needs to be more improvement on research processes and skills. William Stewart proposes that communication professionals should utilize real-time research tools such as blog monitoring for successful political campaigns (Public Affairs News, 2007, posted at http://www.fleishman.com/point-of-view/docs/PAFirmsWakeUptoRealTimeResearch.pdf).
In addition, evaluation research gives organizations a direction to further interactions with the public. As many theoretical and practical models have proved, evaluation greatly contributes to further strategy development affecting every step of campaign. It is found that ‘the increase in overall evaluation research activities were associated with increased participation in management decision making (Broom & Dozier, 1979, 1985, posted at http://www.carma.com/research/PR_Metrics.pdf)’. Not only do evaluation research show the further ways applicable to the real-world campaigns, it can be a basis for more accurate theories. Through evaluation research, theorists could find more meaningful variables that affect communication process and relations between organizations and their publics.
It is important to make a congruency between what messages organizations send and how the public perceive them (Interpersonal Perception and Communication, ed.Steven J. Chaffee and Jack M. McLeod, 1973) because the perception determines the success of communication. Thus, to reduce the gap, adequate amount of time to analyze and understand the difference in recognition is strongly needed before strategies are executed. For this, there should be lots of effort to understand the importance of research steps for public relations practitioners and dominant coalition. Personally, in that they took a real step based on the research translating the results in the social context, I wish a good luck to Walmart’s new slogan.
There is a traditional adage in Korea: If you know your enemy and yourself, you must defeat your enemy in all of wars. This adage provides us with the reason why we have to do research. Doing research is the way to know an organization itself and the related public.
Especially, doing research is beneficial and pivotal process in the persuasion campaign. In tailored communication campaign and customer-relationship marketing, research is the first step to do future activities. Without doing research, both of campaign strategies are not able to operate their process. A new slogan of Wal-Mart is also based on accumulative research results. The giant discount-retailer thinks no more do customers like the image of “the cheapest store” from customer research, and then the retailer should change its slogan. The new slogan of Wal-Mart is helped by a lesson in the Korean market.
Wal-mart had knocked the Korean market in the late of 1990s. As the 1st discount retailer in world market, the corporation aggressively, rolled up its sleeves to dominate Korean market. However, the result is that the Korean third-ranked department store operator announced on Monday that it agreed to buy Wal-Mart Korea for 825 billion won, cited by a news report from Korea Hearld, 05/24/2006 (I am sorry that it does not provide link-service). And recent news shows similar situation
(http://search.hankooki.com/times/times_view.php?term=+&path=hankooki3/times/lpage/biz/200609/kt2006091517400011910.htm&media=kt). The news reveals that E.Land, Korea’s fashion and consumer goods retailer, starts makeover of Carrefour, a French giant discount retailer. Why these two giant corporations leaved from Korean market?
Korean consumers want to receive different service from two retailers. Although Korean customers satisfied with the cheapest price, they expected more distinguished service and qualified product as World No. 1 retailer. However, there is no more than being cheap as other classmates said. The retailers have kept their global standards, so they did not share understand and read the mind of Korean consumers.
This result unveils why research is needed in marketing, advertising, and PR. Doing research is to set a specific direction for campaign. So it is a cornerstone for what a corporation will do in the future.
And let me think of corporation function and corporation social responsibility. Today, many corporations do a lot of social activities, including mecenat, to enhance the image of corporations. They think these activities are able to increase product sales in short-term, and improve the image of the corporations in long-term.
Holt (1995) urged that consumption is not personal activity, but is collective activity. The argument is confirmed by building on-line community. In the community, we are not only sharing product information, but also it is reaffirmed that consumption is good activity through the talk with other members. Fornell(1992) stated in the paper that consumer satisfaction is total evaluation combined with consumption and consuming experience. It means consumption is an activity combined by knowledge and emotion. So, consumption is complicated and hard to expect consuming behaviors. So a corporation should have two mandatory functions: ① disseminating product information, ② promoting emotional intimacy.
Corporation social responsibility has both of mandatory functions. The growth of corporation social responsibility increases the opportunities for corporation information, and provides consumers with good images. These images help consumer feel as a friend, not a seller. Also, corporation social responsibility promotes the proudness of the employees, because they think their work is a part of helping others. Here is an example. Yuhan corporation (http://www.yuhan.co.kr/Eng-Main.asp) is the one of respectable corporations in Korea. The corporation has done a lot of social contribution activities. Its size is small, comparing with Samsung and Hyundai, however, the corporation has been the most attractive company in every year among job finders. Actually, financial result has revealed profitable condition, and there are no conflicts between labors and employers. Therefore, there is no special advertisement for a product of corporation and corporation image campaign, but consumers believe the corporation produce good one for consumers.
I totally agree that corporations should increase activities for corporation social responsibility. It is not potential or idealistic, but is a beneficial and a reliable concept. With consideration to crisis situation, corporation social responsibility should take an account that it is more profitable if corporations veil their hidden desire that must get interests from social contribution activities.
At first glace it seemed to me as though CEO Indra Nooyi was positioning PepsiCo to be the leader in the “social responsibility” race by focusing its attention on ethical practices and information sharing. It seemed to me as though PepsiCo was at the forefront of “open systems” communication as described by Cutlip et al in Chapter seven of Effective Public Relations which states that “a functional view of public relations calls for…changing both the organization and the environment”(2006, p. 187). As stated in Cindy Krischer Goodman’s article, “(Nooyi) challenged more than 350 corporate and civic leaders in Miami on Monday to redefine what they consider a good company“(Sept 11, 2007).
But my view began to shift as I looked deeper. While research was, I’m sure, a large part of the PepsiCo “plan” by identifying and gauging the publics’ opinion of their products, I’m not so sure that PepsiCo did not take a two way asymmetrical approach than a more ethical symmetrical approach to this situation. The changing trend of health concerns (obesity) and environmental changes (global warming) have been huge topics of debate throughout the country in the political as well as the commercial world. I believe that PepsiCo identified this trend and capitalized on it by being the first company in the beverage industry to address the issues. Then by Indra Nooyi “challenging” other organizations, which may have included PepsiCo’s rival companies, she made her company look as though it was more concerned about the consumers than other companies. It seemed to me as this was a sly ploy and an ingenious application of “press agentry“.
Which brings me to the question, “Is there a truly ethical approach to public relations?” If you believe persuasion is an ethical practice then I guess it does exist. In any argument both sides must be persuasive to have the other side understand their stance. I suppose the problem lies in persuading the other side with false information or for an “ulterior motive“. I believe PepsiCo has the public’s best interest in mind and is not bluffing when they say that they believe in health and environmental awareness, yet I also believe that PepsiCo’s ulterior motive lies in the bottom line. By appearing socially conscious PepsiCo reaps the benefits of increased revenue and recruitment of a younger audience of consumers as well as employees who, in the long term, will influence future public opinion. Keeping ethics in mind while still focusing on the bottom line is the topic of the article College Park - A Marriage of Ideas where Dianne Burch details professor Lauri Grunig's "Seminar in the Ethics and Philosophy of Public Relations" class. This idea goes a long way in defining PepsiCo’s approach.
Overall I believe that social responsibility is a trend that will continue in public relations. But I believe it is because the public demands it. I believe that overall public opinion holds that corporations have kept the general public on a “need to know basis” and have been in the Rockefeller frame of mind of “damn the public”. The public is fed up with this stance and instead values “corporate citizenship”. But on the flip side, corporations are aware of this changing public view and are capitalizing on it by appearing to be more socially aware and sensitive to its publics. What scares me is that this “Good Company” approach might simply be a more evolved form of spin.
Since long time ago in Asia, there is a well-known saying: “知彼知己 百戰百勝” (Zippyziggy Pakjunpakseung). It means that if you know the enemy first and know yourself, you will have hundred time victories over hundred fights. This saying fits well with PR activities. In other words, organization should recognize what public truly wants, and should perform as it planned, then research in the field of PR will lead to the win-win zone that is pursued by two-way symmetrical model. First, research needs to start from analyzing the social environment which the organization and publics belongs to. Also, it needs to research about the changes of social environment along with demand and need of publics. Research deals with effects of PR message judging from publics’ reactions about organizations and also includes outputs and outcomes. The agreement and disagreement between public and organization can be the subject to the research. Especially, the feedback research is very important because it is a basis of two-way symmetrical model.
Wal-Mart changed the company slogan based on the positive results from new research adding emotional and factual appeals. Originally, it is a part of public relations field to inform audience internally and externally about new polices or outcomes of organizations effectively and to build and to maintain good relationships with a variety of publics. Let’s take a look about the process of launching new slogan of Wal-Mart with the aspect of issue management. Although Wal-Mart already stood on the highest position in around the world, the company predicted the change of social environment, audience’s consciousness, and conducted new research in advance. I think that such PR activities of Wal-Mart, which is a coping with such situations rapidly, enables Wal-Mart to maintain the best position in the filed of distribution industry.
According to Wal-Mart Chief Marketing Officer Stephen Quinn, the campaign is aimed at personalizing the chain’s low prices. He said the campaign is aimed at personalizing the chain’s low prices. For example, in the two kickoff ads the company’s name is sidelined for scenes of vacationing families and father-and-son bonding while browsing for cars. The end of each commercial asserts that shopping at Wal-Mart saves families an average of $2,500 a year, making such experiences possible. Quinn said that people know they could save money by shopping at Wal-Mart and the emotional connection was what those savings allowed them to do as a family.(The Washington Post–“Wal-Mart Puts emotion in slogan”, Sep, 14, 2007) Therefore, in the field of public relations emotional appeal play a important role to attract audience’s interests and to establish good relationships with publics.
On the other hands, Pepsi CEO, Indra Nooyi emphasized on the strong financial performance including importance of employee relations, public health, and the environment to become a good company in global world. Not only Pepsi but also many companies have focused on social responsibilities to establish positive public opinions. Positive public opinions help organizations make more profits and overcome crisis rather easily. What did I pay attention to is the effort for maintaining good relationships with their employees. In my opinion, employee public relations of most companies had conducted a role for only persuasion for a long time although employees were important human resources which consist of companies. In other words, it is hard to be considered to have achieved true employee PR. Therefore, new trend like Pepsi is desirable, I think. The company Best Buy also has conducted community PR and employee PR. According to the website of Best Buy, they themselves think all people are caring whether Best Buy is a responsible company. Best Buy lead a variety of community PR activities such as environment campaign called Our Planet and donation to schools for purchasing technology for classrooms. (http://www.bbycommunications.com/csr/CSR_2007_Final.pdf)
Development of new media and technology in modern society can allow publics to share a lot of information. Therefore, publics can find out even a little activity of organizations. Under this situation, it is easy to reveal disadvantages as well as advantages of organizations. In conclusion, organization should conduct both formative research and summative research thoroughly not in order to make some mistakes to publics. Furthermore, it is necessary to take a responsibility for social interests in modern society. Those efforts will enable organizations to build and maintain good relationships with publics and to survive successfully.
Denis L. Wilcox says that “you cannot know too much about the subject you intend to promote” (2005, p. 530 5th Ed.). I think you can. Obviously, research is the most important aspect of any plan, communication or otherwise. But I do think that public relations professionals, especially those in-house, can get too close to the subject they are handling and forget how to relate to their target publics. After reading the Reuters article, it seems to me that previously, Wal-Mart may have been too caught up with its research about its low prices and believed that its customers were as well. The company failed to see that its U.S. publics were shifting their Wal-Mart attitudes and no longer just cared about prices.
To make sure that they still understood their audiences’ perspectives, Wal-Mart’s public relations professionals should have stepped back and questioned their communications plans sooner. Evaluation, “the process by which you determine whether you have met your objectives,” is the most important part of any communication plan (Wilcox, 2005, p. 543 5th Ed.). This research lets professionals know if both their strategies and their research methods for judging their audiences work. No matter if a plan succeeds or fails, the evaluation is always the first research step for the next communication plan.
And when remembering to consider their audiences perspectives, public relations professionals also need to remember that their audiences are diverse and always changing. Communication plans need to be based on research that goes “beyond demographics” to address specific situations (Cutlip et. al., 2006, p. 210, 9th Ed.). This means that those who may be part of the apathetic publics for one issue may be active for another. Therefore, professionals need to constantly research their presumed target publics. As Cutlip et. al. state, “the job of public relations is to help organizations adjust and adapt to their environments” (2006, p. 175, 9th Ed.). Professionals cannot do this if they do not relate to their publics.
Moon hee, I have to disagree with your comment, “Wal-Mart’s new slogan ‘Save Money. Live better’ is created on the basis of the results of research.” While the research supports their new ad campaign, it’s very reactionary. Unlike Kelly’s example of MTV’s proactive use of research to identify and sell “cool.” I agree with everyone who argued that research has a vital role in public relations if used strategically. Wal-Mart, as you mentioned Moon hee, has not used research strategically or they would still have a presence in South Korea! I think Wal-Mart’s new U.S. campaign is more of a reaction to negative public opinion than a creative use of research in their new strategy.
Thinking about public opinion and how corporate citizenship and social responsibility play a role in improving relationships with the public, I thought of Laurie and Jessica’s presentation last Wednesday. I took at a look at Fortune’s list of “America’s Top 20 Most Admired Companies” and noticed that Wal-Mart used to rank #1 in 2003-2004, its currently tied for #19 (ironically with PepsiCo). Dropping almost twenty spots in three years seems like a drastic change. This list surveys executive opinions on “attributes of reputation.” Looking at the rankings, Wal-Mart ranked lowest among its peers in innovation, social responsibility, people management, and quality of products and services within its industry. Its only positive highlight was its financial soundness.
Wal-Mart’s declining rankings in the Forbes poll, give more credibility to CEO Indra Nooyi’s notion that business management needs to focus less on financial gains and more on corporate citizenship and social responsibility. Nooyi noted that “cherishing employees and making contributions to improving public health and the environment,” are far more important factors in evaluating a good company than financial returns. Her philosophy of “bringing together what is good for business with what is good for the world,” goes a long way towards garnering positive public opinion.
If positive public opinion greatly impacts the success of a company, then improving public opinion is essential. Non-profits use testimonials and emotional appeal to generate concern for their causes. Al Gore’s plea for a change in attitude helped push the green movement ahead in our culture. I imagine if used correctly, emotional appeal will help Wal-Mart improve its lagging sales, I doubt however it will improve its public image. Wal-Mart’s strategy should include attempts to address lagging “attributes of reputation” to ensure public opinion doesn’t decline any further.
The importance of research has been realized out of the Excellence theory of public relation. The two-way symmetrical communication model suggested interdependencies between the organization and its strategic publics, and thus put “research for thorough understanding of environment and strategic publics” one of the critical criteria of excellent public relations.
Observing the market of consumer products, customers’ demands are found constantly changing. When people live more affluent life thanks to economical improvement, the “quality” of goods becomes the first consideration when deciding which to buy among varied services or products provided by a number of suppliers. But when the product enters mature stage where the gap of quality of different branded products gradually condensed, people seems to turn to “price” examination as well. Therefore, customer satisfaction can not serve the panacea for establishing a loyal consumer base. Instead, company should strive to provide a competitive price along with more value. That’s what Wal-Mart’s new slogan endeavors to attain.
However, consumer behavior seems not to be rationally based on quality and price concerns. People’s “feeling” more and more directs their consumption habits. Those responses or opinions toward Wal-Mart Christina cited from another blogger as well as other friends are just the case: in spite of overwhelmingly competitive price by Wal-Mart, it just cannot defeat consumers’ “feeling” toward the brand. In this situation, negative emotions apparently conquer factual appeals.
In examining whether Wal-Mart’s new positioning strategy works, I would deem it negative. When I finished my reading, I happened to have the chance to go to Wal-Mart. With its new slogan in mind, I sought to find any hint that can be connected with the new image proposed. However, everything was the same. My opinion is well reflected in the article by David Lazarus of Los Angeles Time when the author visited Wal-Mart to see for himself that “I tried in vain to find anyone who could tell me that shopping at Wal-Mart helped them live better.”(http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-fi-lazarus14sep14,1,1935311.column?coll=la-news-columns) There are also many actual feedbacks from the publics or professionals illustrated by the author, which I think may helpful, as well as interesting, for interpreting Wal-Mart’s new slogan.
Research has always been one of the biggest steps for public relations. I've realized after taking 4 and a half years of undergraduate classes for public relations that public relations is simply impossible without research. Wal-Mart and its new slogan campaign is a good move for the company to try to make a difference which in turn will benefit itself as well. Emotional appeal in public relations campaign can be a good or a bad idea, depending on how the company carries its campaign. I feel that most of the time, when publics are approached emotionally, there are lasting effects rather than the non-emotional. Although it's hard to say what is emotional and what isn't, when something one sees personally touches them in a way where it's more than an attempt to sell, it's going to stay longer in their minds and it'll play a role in their decision making process as well. For example, I thought MasterCard did a great job starting the "priceless" campaign with their advertisement. I thought it was a successful idea because it became universal and everyone became familiarized with the advertisement and its messages. When someone mentions the similar message with the priceless message in the end, everyone automatically thinks of MasterCard. MasterCard switched up their advertisements depending on the seasonal and holiday approaches as well as family and values that can be personalized in their viewers.
However, I'm not sure if Wal-Mart's new slogan is going to be a huge success because personally, I haven't yet to see much difference in the Wal-Mart itself with its new slogan. Everything is the same and people have not spoken much of this newly developed image of Wal-Mart. This shows that it's really hard to break the already-established perspectives of people. I'm not going to think of Wal-Mart any better or worse because of this new campaign, personally. I will continue using their products as I did for the same reasons I did. It reassures the important role public relations hold in every day business because we as practitioners must try our best to maintain the highest perspectives of important publics. As I've said before, once trust is broken, it's just that much harder to regain it back especially in this era where things are rapidly changing daily, where there are abundance of information that can be found on the web and the media, and people are so skeptical of everything.
Once again, these types of situations that public relations department faces everyday reminds us that research is the most essential step toward a successful campaign whether it be an event or a brand new slogan. If Wal-Mart did a thorough research and saw that their emotional touch would reach those who viewed Wal-Mart negatively before, then it will eventually lead to a successful result of the campaign by persuading those who were not fond of Wal-Mart. Changing attitude would occur and that would be observed by the researchers. They should also remember to conduct continuous research until a visible outcome is established because they have to realize there's still room for improvement in every new campaign by observing what's going on within a campaign.
As far as ethics go, I feel like the social responsibility and corporate citizenship is definitely a trend, but a useful one. It's not just a temporary thing that must be followed, it's the building blocks of making this society a better one as a whole. In order for businesses to avoid it from becoming a simple trend, businesses should show it by action, not just by saying it. They will continue their efforts and stick to the plans for years in order to establish their firm position on what they believe and what they're willing to do. These choices should also come without the intention of increasing sales or simply "looking better" because I think those who are genuinely ethical and those who are abusing the practice of ethics will differentiate themselves in the end.
Patrick, I very appreciate your comment though I cannot agree with your idea. I thought that research is used for not only creating new idea but also diagnosing current situation and providing solutions. How did Wal-Mart realize that there were negative public opinions against the company? And how did the company figure out how much they help Americans save the expenses? Why did they bring emotional tone to the new advertisement? By research, the company could read the public opinions and learn how to reach to their publics with new slogan. In this perspective, I think the new slogan of Wal-mart is created based on the research result.
Wal-Mart tries to use the new slogan as a new image through the emotional and factual appeals, advertising; thus, Wal-Mart now not only stands for people’s momentary issue, but also the quality of their living. According to Global Insight’s research, Wal-Mart changes their strategy to emphasize more on what customers’ need. There is no doubt that research represents a vital role in marketing and analyzing targets. I definitely agree with the above saying. I often did the research, such as ACNelson reports provide strong statistical evidence on the target market, before starting a marketing plan and media purchasing plan in my college time. What’ more, as a marketing specialist in education, I had to segment and position the target through first-hand investigate in students and their behavior. So, I strongly think research in the idea setting or even real business world, including PR campaign, should be focused importantly.
After reading the article, the first thought jumping over my mind is “I’m.” American Red Cross and other organizations cooperate with MSN.com to present their new vision to the other target publics. People always regard Red Cross as a symbol of fundraising or saving poor with old-fashioned promotion. This time, Red Cross has a new image to the publics. Through stimulating action, adding a little cute icon, Red Cross successfully arouses many people’s concern of the charity. It is estimated that 92,534.67 dollars has been raised for through I’m (not just for Red Cross). That means the communication message successfully reach its goal to arouse people again in a new look.
Additionally, I would like to talk about Wal-Mart’s new strategy. From “Always Low Prices” to “Save Money, Live Better,” Wal-Mart changes their strategy from price to value, especially customer’s value with low prices. Through the newest advertising, Wal-Mart obviously is trying to offer consumers’ more additional “things” to shape a new image to the publics. However, we can trace back to last year. With 46 years high reputation in the commitment, “Low Prices, Always,” Wal-Mart attempted to stock upscale merchandise and persuade customers to spend more to increase its individual store sales, Michael Barbaro, the reporter of International Herald Tribune claimed on March 1st, 2007.(http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/01/business/walmart.php) Now Wal-Mart is seeking the balance -“Save” money here, and also “Spend” more here. However, it is difficult to say that their announcement will stay in a win-win situation to convince the publics of their incorporating more of an emotional tone and value through their advertising. Will it be really successful in this national “champion (retailer)” by changing their slogan?
Conducting multiple studies in designing public relations activities are required to construct effective PR activities. It is extremely crucial to properly analyze target audiences and current trends of which organizations or companies must be aware, and to create effective public relations messages by first pre-testing, evaluating, and revising each. Proper research conducted prior to each step of public relations activities is further imperative. Though this is not always possible for small companies or other entities which lack sufficient resources to conduct thorough research, preparation must be undertaken as much as possible, whether by analyzing secondary sources, conducting surveys, or initiating research projects. Too often, PR activities are unsuccessful and monetarily wasteful because planners overlook the importance of prior in-depth research and analysis.
Let��s take a look at Wal-Mart��s case. It is reasonable to assert that Wal-Mart likely changed their slogan based on the results of recent studies, yet their new slogan of ��Save money. Live better�� does not yet appear to have achieved any measurable success. In this instance, if Wal-Mart desired to overcome their reputation for selling cheap and low-quality goods, a more logical approach would be to focus on offering higher-quality items and shift its focus away from saving money and achieving better living standards. From this vantage, the new slogan may not seem so advantageous. Even worse, many have noted the surprising similarity with the popular Target slogan, ��Expect more. Pay less.�� Moreover, others have pointed out that although they can purchase cheap goods from Wal-Mart, they are hardly likely to plan a vacation as portrayed in many of Wal-Mart��s new commercials. (Below are some recent news coverage relating to these opinions) http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-fi-lazarus14sep14,1,1935311.column?coll=la-news-columns; http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/09/12/walmart_slogan)
How then, does Wal-Mart suffer by changing their slogan? Perhaps Wal-Mart will be unsuccessful in gauging customer wants and expectations of Wal-Mart in spite of its efforts to meet current trends such as the increase focus on quality of life rather than cheap goods. It is my belief that if Wal-Mart were to more carefully pre-test its new slogan, revise its message and create more convincing advertisements based on solid research results, a more effective campaign could be achieved. In these respects, an approach which accounts for a company��s or organization��s environment, a balancing of current trends and target audience expectations is critically important. If organizations pursue current trends too excessively, and without proper research
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Save Money. Live Better.
Always low prices.
Where's the difference in the feeling those two slogans give you when you read them in the first place?
Always low prices of course kind of tells you that you are going to save money shopping here compared to another place, but as marketing research shows,and this was a topic in my advertising class, too, people tend to link low prices to low quality ( as high prices to high quality).
Even though low prices do not necessarily mean low quality, it normally makes consumers think that. There might be more controversial examples, but I only can think of one right now: The German grocery store called "Aldi". They offer the lowest prices on food and sometimes special offers such as technical devices, sports gear or some exotic food. The special offer topic changes every week twice. They did a great job in communicate both low prices and good quality.
They are successfull in keeping prices low by keeping costs low. They cut out brokers and distributors and sell directly what they bought. Besides, they do not have displays, food will be stuffed in cardboard boxes.
As far as I know, and this is a thing I noticed even though I only spent 4 weeks in the US yet, Wal Mart is very well known for what people consider bad quality. So they do good in changing their slogan trying to show that they also can help improve people' lives - no matter if it is true or not.In the last 10 years, people's attitudes changed very much towards
a healthier lifestyle. So the new Wal Mart slogan that also includes "Live better" also picks up this thought. They try to make themselves being considered a healthier, better-lifestyle store.
Also, they are picking up what researchers found out about families saving money buy buying at Wal Mart. Though this saving is fictional (maybe they would not have bought the same stuff it it would be more expensive so it mihgt be that they have not really "saced" this money), it is a smart idea to use this for commercials. First, people can see that these are real numbers, found by scholars, Wal Mart did not made these up, and second, if you react to research you react to what your consumers tell you by their consumerism. So, acting according to research is one of the most important things to focus on in PR.
I did not use any articles on the Aldi issue, but as a proof for the strategy you can have a look at
http://www.bandt.com.au/news/5c/0c00dd5c.asp .
It basicly talks about the Aldi Australia Strategy, but this is copying the German strategy and this article is in English. :-)
After seeing the Wal-mart’s campaign, I see that it uses different slogan to transfer the image of the stores. People will have different thoughts about these two slogans. Wal-mart’s new ad presents a new conception: “saving money.” The campaign wants to push their goods and services to more people who didn’t care to save money originally. Therefore, we can know that Wal-mart wants to “diffuse” their conception and increase their customers. “Diffusion refers to the process by which new ideas and practices are spread to members of a social system.” (Cutlip. et al, 2002)
Although its slogan is more emotional than it was, it uses research results to show the truth and persuade the publics. Research is an important part of PR process. It also can help us to present ideas. Moreover, it helps us to plan and execute programs. Although these two slogans are different, I think they have continuity and consistency because they both tell people the goods and services are cheaper than other’s stores. Also, the slogans all are short and clear. It’s clearly that if we use the “seven Cs” to communicate, it’s easier to attend organizations’ goals. (Cutlip, et al, 2002)
I also notice that Wal-mart uses TV ads to promote. Is it more effective than before? I am curious about that. It’s obvious that Wal-mart plans this campaign with different strategies and tactics to attend the new goal. Although it is a big seller, it still changes and improves the slogan and ads. It gives me a point: no matter how successful a company is, it should always pursue improving, and, keep the eyes of itself.
I see this news “Wal-Mart to Online Customers: Don't Call Us” on line. I think that if they put so much money and resources to improve the sale, they still need to listen to their customers. Although it’s not a big deal, but it’s important and influence customers’ satisfying. This is also relate to the social responsibility.
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