Applebee's Social Media Crisis

At the start of this presentation, I knew I wanted to focus on a public relations crisis involving a large company and social media. In the digital age, many companies (and people) are still trying to sort out how you handle social media, especially as a company. To many people, a company's social media page is a place to comment as they wish, without holding anything back. I wanted to take a look at a social media PR crisis, see how the company handled it and advise from there.

Originally, I didn't think Putnam's theory could be applied to a social media crisis, but when I thought "outside of the box" I saw where it could be applied perfectly. The communication is between a company and the community, however it is just on the social media scale. Once I thought more about the situation, I think Putnam's theory can be applied perfectly. Putnam believes in working with the community to create trustworthiness and uphold a reputation, and I feel the way Applebee's handled this particular situation caused the company to contradict themselves. Although they received backlash from the decision to terminate the employee, I feel they did the right thing in that sense. Their actions on social media however, are what drove them down a path of PR destruction.

I am excited to say in this presentation there were things I did not think were possible to do, however I found how to work the technology quickly, and I am amazed! Upon reading the assignment, I thought there was no way I could incorporate video and audio in a PowerPoint presentation. Alas, I looked in PowerPoint and saw the button to record audio and video. At that point, it was simple. However, getting the PowerPoint into a blog post was another hurdle, and I soon saw there was not an "upload PowerPoint presentation" on Blogger anywhere. I turned to my good friend Google and quickly find the website scribd.com, where I can sign up for a free account using my Facebook credentials. I upload my PowerPoint document and was then given an html embed code. I am very excited to learn that there are ways around any issue I may have with technology, and with a quick Google search, anything is possible!

**Update** As it turns out, the PowerPoint presentation with the embedded video and audio did not work as they should. The embedded PowerPoint post was not allowing the video to be seen. At this point, I tried many different ways to convert a PowerPoint project to a video file to be uploaded to YouTube, but none were worth it. In order to submit the project as intended, I had to borrow a Mac computer from a friend, re-film my project using iMovie, and then upload the video. What you see below is the second attempt at this digital assignment.

Berger's Narrative Analysis Applied to Lululemon's PR Crisis

When starting this project, I wanted to take a look at a public relations crisis that would be of interest to me, and also one that I heard, or was in the know of when it actually happened. I have been in Lululemon stores just browsing before, since I have a hard time spending that kind of money on workout clothes. I heard of the PR crisis the company had in 2013 through reading blogs on social media sites and reading the backlash the company was facing. In particular, I remember reading the critique the company was receiving from Founder Chip Wilson's comments about how some women's bodies cause too much friction with the pants. Women were very upset about that comment, as it appears in line with weight and body image issues for women.

In researching this issue, I learned it was listed as one of the top public relations blunders in 2013. I found the company's blog, read the post that was to serve as the official statement apologizing to customers for the manufacturing problem and that they were working to ensure an issue like this didn't happen again. They also issued a recall for specific pants purchased in a specific time frame.

What I thought was most interesting and gave even more insight were the customer comments below the blog. There were hundreds of them, many were negative saying the quality all around for Lululemon athletic wear was down, and that something in the last few years  has changed this. Many people were upset because they purchased pants that ended up being sheer, but didn't fit the criteria to exchange or refund them. Of course, these were all comments on a blog, so the angry customers will voice their opinions. I hope that Lululemon, from a PR prospective, would do all they could to make the customers happy within reason from this issue.

From these incidents, I believe Luluemon sales may have dropped, but I still think the company is going strong. They have an extensive website, with many health and wellness blogs, and they appear to be doing well despite these issues.

As far as media production for the project, previously I had never heard of Soundcloud. I didn't know what it was, and I was a bit scared that I wouldn't know how to use it properly. I also didn't know how it would turn out  with me just talking, without a video. Overall, Soundcloud was very simple to use. I signed in, linked it to my Facebook account so the process would be even quicker, and did a test recording. When I was ready to record my project, it couldn't of been any easier. The uplouding process was quick and easy, and it was simple to find the embed code.

As I sound before, before this project I have never used Soundcloud, so now I can use it as an easy resource. Between this projection and my video I filmed, uploaded and edited with IMovie, I have learned a good deal in media editing and production, and have been able to do things I never thought I could or would be able to.

To hear my analysis of the Lululemon PR crisis, listen to the audio below.

A Book Review of Blur: How to Know What's True in the Age of Information Overload

I had the pleasure of reading Blur by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel.

If you would like to purchase the book, either print of Kindle, please click here.

Week 1 Discussion

According to the readings this week, the term strategic communication means a variety of different things, and it depends on your positio in an organization as to what strategic communication means for you. From my understanding of the readings, it seems the term strategic communication is a little all over the place, and there is not one nailed down definition for one specific type. In order to give the term more validation, I feel that it should be backed in theory so it can be thoroughly referenced between multiple companies and have a clear definition.

 Hallahan et al say the term strategic communication has taken on a myriad of meanings, and that there is even some backlash to the word strategic since people still liken it to war and physical combat (Hallahan et al, 2007).  Over the years, many corporations have adopted strategic communication and communication plans of some sort.

“By the beginning of the 21^st century, practically all corporations and most non-profit organizations in the United States, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa had organized formal communication programs” (Hallahan et al, p. 16, 2007).

According to Belasen in Historical Foundations of Corporate Communication, there are many articles on a range of communication topics in a top communication magazine, including investor relations, customer relations, media relations, advertising, and so on. However, Belasen notes that each writer took a different stance and had a different audience for each article.  Looking at this piece, it’s clear to see how everyone has these ideas of corporate communication and strategic communication on a broad scale, but it has yet to be molded into a “one size fits all” term.

I believe the reason there is so much information on corporate communication is because in a corporate workspace, communication can mean many different things. For example, someone in the public relations department implements new way to brand the company and communicate appropriately with the public, while someone in the technical department of the company may be at a computer writing html code all day. In that sense, it’s difficult to compare the communication tactics since the end goals of each position are very different. I believe the role of strategic communication in that since can be looked at on a broad spectrum for the entire company as a whole, but then would need to be divided down to specific goals for each department.

As stated earlier, strategic communication should have more of a theory backing to so each corporation is on the same page when it comes to what is best for the company, but I also believe it should be broken down by each department so it fits accordingly.  Strategic communication does not have to be a right or wrong answer, but there should be steps in place in order to get each department to meet their goals so the company can succeed overall.

Belasen, A. (2007). Corporate communication as a field of study and a community of practice. In The theory and practice of corporate communication (pp. 3-8). New York: Sage.

Hallahan, Kirk, Holtzhausen, Derina, van Ruler, Betteke, Veri, Dejan and Sriramesh, Krishnamurthy (2007). Defining Strategic Communication. International Journal of Strategic Communication,1(1),3-35.