Public relations (PR) are essential in all organizations as a means of addressing issues in the society, influencing their opinions, and capturing their attention. John Marston gives an articulate procedure through which companies and individuals can implement public relations to derive its benefits. The four-step process which goes by the acronym RACE identifies four crucial areas in PR: research, communication, evaluation, and action. In the research phase, the firm or person highlights and describes the problem. The action stage involves planning and determining the appropriate course of action for the issue. The phase of communication, on the other hand, is all about identifying what to tell the public as well as the best media to use to get the message across. Lastly, the effects of the public relations program or plans are examined in the evaluation stage. To further comprehend, the RACE procedure developed by Marston, this essay will utilize the example Ryan Lochte who was recently dropped by Speedo for misconduct (Seitel, 2011).
Speedo had to make the painful but necessary decision to terminate the contract of one of their best athletes, Ryan Lochte, to restore the corporation’s public image. Ryan lost his primary sponsor during the Olympic Games after fabricating the story that he was robbed by armed men in Brazil. Once the tale hit the headlines, Speedo launched an investigation and a campaign to solve the public relations problems. They first started by getting a better glimpse or revelation of Ryan’s story. Upon investigation, the company found out that Ryan lied about the incident (research). The athlete had gone out for a night of partying, acted badly, and verbally abused security guards. Ryan thus came up with the story to hide the true happenings. Speedo officials chose to distance themselves from the scandal by dropping Ryan (action). They also donated $50,000 to the victims affected by Ryan’s actions. The spokesman of the corporation released a press statement (communication) to disclose their decision to the public. The evaluation phase will involve an assessment of whether Speedo was right to drop Ryan in accordance with the values alignment section of the sponsorship contract. The move by the Speedo will restore its image by declaring that they do not tolerate deviant athletes (The Guardian, 2016).
In 2015, social media broke from an accidental yet beneficial PR campaign that influenced the public’s fashion opinions. The reason for the PR wave was an evening dress that a Scottish woman posted that went viral sparking international debate and frenzy. The woman requested people on Tumblr to choose between a blue and black shade and a gold and white color for the dress made by Dress-gate. By doing so, she attracted more people to want to purchase similar evening dresses from the company (Contrino, 2015). The story serves as an example of the typical objectives of a PR campaign. It illustrates the importance of communication and portrays that the globe today is completely wired to real-time systems that develop a digital society. Hence, it makes it easy for PR campaigns to inform, motivate, establish a mutual understanding, and persuade (Seitel, 2011).
For starters, the Scottish lady who created the PR campaign for Dress-gate of social media informed people about their appealing attire. She reached out to many users via the Internet to influence their opinions (inform). Additionally, she persuaded them by placing two images of dresses with admirable and well-liked colors (persuade) (Contrino, 2015). By doing so, customers who liked the blue and black shades requested the dress from Dress-gate and the same applies for the white and gold lovers. Social media provides users with a sense of engagement (Seitel, 2011). By simply posting the images, the Scottish lady managed to motivate millions of people to focus on Dress-gate (motivate) (Contrino, 2015). Mutual understanding comes into play in that no one can resist the alluring appeal of blue combined with black and white combined with gold in apparel. The safe colors chosen by Dress-gate are relatable to the public.
The challenge facing Samsung can affect its sales and soil its public image. Social media and the Internet users have not been shy in exposing the recent trend of batteries in Samsung phones exploding particularly those in the latest versions or phone models. The issue has created a PR nightmare for the company that can only be dealt with by coming up with the right campaign and strategies to appeal to the people’s opinions (Sarno, 2016). The appropriate PR plan for Samsung must consider the evaluation, research, strategies and objectives, budgets and planning. It will involve four essential steps: defining the opportunity or problem, programming, action, and evaluation. In the first step, Samsung must allocate resources towards researching the current opinions and attitudes about their products (Seitel, 2011). What is the essence of the issue? What are the implications of the problem?
In programming, formal planning takes place involving the constituent goals, publics, tactics, and strategies. The action phase focuses on the implementation and communication of the PR strategies of the company. Lastly, the evaluation stage will allow Samsung to identify whether their PR plan has worked and remedy imminent loopholes in the process. Samsung will have to review its manufacturing procedure to identify the element or aspect that makes the batteries in the recent phone models to explode. Additionally, they will point out the public’s take on the matter and how it might affect the profits. Samsung will then undertake a programming process to generate remedies by incorporating the help of all stakeholders. After that, Samsung is required to communicate or disclose the information to the public and provide the assurance that it will be solved. Finally, the company is expected to follow-up on the changes they make on the new products. Since Samsung’s problem has been highly publicized in social media, the most difficult PR duty will rest in media relations. They will have to coordinate relationships with various media channels to formulate and restore their favorable public image. The other PR duties such as investor relations and internal communications are not as challenging since Samsung has had suitable interactions with its investors and employees (Seitel, 2011).
References
Contrino J. (2015). Dress-Gate—The Best Accidental PR Campaign. Stanton Communications. Retrieved January 10, 2017 from http://stantoncomm.com/four-on-friday-dress-gate-the- best-accidental-pr-campaign.
Sarno A. (2016). Samsung recall puts brand on verge of PR crisis. Retrieved January 10, 2017 from http://everything-pr.com/samsung-recall-pr-crisis/83863/.
Seitel F. (2011). The Practice of Public Relations. Boston: Prentice Hall.
The Guardian (2016). Speedo drops Ryan Lochte sponsorship and donates $50,000 fee to charity. Retrieved January 10, 2017 from https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/22/ryan-lochte-speedo-sponsorship-ended- rio-2016-olympics.
