Darkness Public Relations

The use of Black PR to attack a business of a competitor.

According to statistics, the use of black PR to attack business rivals – is the most common phenomenon in the world. This activity does not contain anything ethical and illegal. Any best reputated firm has the right to engage in black PR. Do not think that you will stain black PR. Of course if the black PR is not professionally, you can smear a strong opponent, but you’re also going to do it at the highest level, right?

A quality black PR – it’s a healthy competition, it is unnecessary to avoid and fear. It does not only help to improve the situation on the market, but also provides an indispensable service to consumers.

Let us consider some of the basic principles of this activity. No need to criticize a competitor in his forehead.Frontal abuse, where you did not use it, whether it is a personal quarrel, talk on the phone or geopolitical PR – almost always is rejected, a kind way of rejection. People do not tend to believe abuse. They often do not like when one person says bad about the other. You just give the facts and to spread them to the targetted audience, and audience, in turn, transforms these facts, think out and come to some conclusions. But these findings will contain information as abusive.

In the black PR is a basic principle. No need to curse, but only need to make sure. No need to «pour dirt» and use adjectives, and report only one fact, it makes the target audience to doubt. Moreover, can even be praised, not blamed.

From another side there is a need to attack the most important properties of a competitor. Only attacking the main properties of business of a competitor can bring the results. For example, imagine that you have to attack any building campaign and the targetted audience for attacks are potential buyers of apartments. What are the main features in this case? Quality of apartments, quality of homes, environmental cleanliness of construction site and the materials used, adequate price of flats, etc. Then black PR campaign must be based on this defects of these properties. The target audience is not interested in is the construction company produced its initial capital or where the director of the cosntruction company was on Sunday, etc, if all this does not affect the quality of construction.

The third principle is the validity of the information. You can not report false information, you can always find quite truthful information regarding a competitor, or create one. Using the correct information you’ll get way better results than spreading false information. It is always easy to fight against on the wrong part of your data and it is very difficult to fight back if the entire campaign is built on truth.

What sequence should be usually presented in the actions of the black PR campaign?

Determine what you are going to attack. You can attack the company and its customers, Or attack the company itself and its staff. Attack director, accountant and their relatives. Attack power structures that affect the business of a competitor. Attacking partners and suppliers. Attack is focused on various components of the business of a competitor. You need to analyze all of them and understand the specifics of the attacks. Understand what is the best way to attack the industry, where you can cost-effectively achieve the maximum results. Attack must be clearly focused on the object and specified so far as it is possible. If the object of attack is a product, then you need to understand what specific product you’re attacking. Not always possible to attack the whole product line of products, sometimes it is only one of the products is the subject to attack in the best way.

Next step is, you need to identify the target audience of people for whom the information is intended. Usually it is the people who are in direct contact with the object of attack. If you attack a product of the company, the target audience may be as a group of customers, and the employees who work with the product (for example, you can, spread the word about the harmfulness of production),If this accounting, the target audience is likely to tax inspection, etc. It is important to focus on the attack. If the clients of the firm consists of 10 members, it is not necessary to influence them through television. These 10 people can get information from a group of hired actors who under the guise of bystanders will meet them on the street. You can also use the letters, faxes, etc. Aim for a minimum quantity of information to attack people. That is the minimum that can help to solve the issue.

Find the necessary negative information for PR campaign. And here there are a lot of problems. It must be truthfull and sensational. It should cover the main features of the attacked object. That is why, you can either find a negative information, or to force the opponent to create it, or reframe white information. Reframation is a very interesting process. It allows us to prove that the black – it is white and white is black. However, because the enemy of retaliation may also use creative reframing, so either you have to make a reframing that can not be fight off, or find a more efficient information. What is quite interesting, the finding a real black information concerning many companies in Russia is a very easy process. Russian enterprises are not spoiled with a professional black PR and therefore they are not prepared for such attacks. In many enterprises in Russia there are clearly visible defects and flaws in the system of a business.And no matter where the service is, or any products, the Russian companies can often find a lot of flaws. Moreover, they do not even try to fix these deffects. A typical example of this area is the conversation I had with one of the leaders of the Yandex advertising. I complained about disadvantages of their advertising service. The fact is that even though they promise that the advertising message will only be seen by someone who bought the word, in fact it is not often seen by people you need. I pointed out to them how this defect can be corrected, and received this reply: «Well, because our service is just advertising, and advertising is always hanging anywhere and anyhow who watch it. Did other forms of advertising guarantee you hit the target audience?». Indeed often advertising in Russia does not guarantee getting into the audience due to the fact that the creators of the advertisement does not seek to do so. You can order advertising in the elite magazine, but it turns out that in addition to the homeless nobody reads it, because they are the first ones who take all the editions. And always, In innocence, I thought that getting into the target audience is the main objective of advertising.

Overseas production quality is watched much more. Here are a few cases of subsidiaries of large international companies in Russia.

One of my student previously worked at Philip Morris. His function was to control machines operating with the foil used in the packaging of cigarettes. The machine with which he has worked, scratched foil for cigarette and struck her logos. Once the machine, for some reason, stopped working properly. This person has corrected the defects, uploaded foil and started the process. Then he went for lunch. After having lunch and a rest for a about two hours, he returned and found that the entire conveyor was stopped. The fact is that the quality control department found a deffect in a final product. Logo on the foil was stamped on the back, instead of being stamped on front. This is hardly noticeable and do not influence the quality of the cigarettes, but still the whole lot was destroyed. And for two hours the machine had produced more than 50,000 packages. Thus, the error of my student brought to the deffect for a total of $ 15,000. No one did not take the money from him, but he was fired.

I’ll tell you another case illustrating the level of quality control in the western industry. My student was working in the logistics department at the Ford factory in Vsevolozhsk (city in Russia). They were trying to produce the Ford Focus for two years. They have done about 50 cars per month, sending the whole lot to the press. Sometimes the machines have been such a fate only because of negligible quality defects. For example, in one car after driving 50,000 kilometers there is a cranky few screws on the instrument panel.

However, even this Western system allows you to find negative information about the company. For example, take some quality expensive car. The quality is difficult to find fault in. However, you can, for example, to find statistics on car crash about this car. Simply collect and publish data on tens of road accidents associated with it. For example, after the death of Princess Diana, the Mercedes sales fell for a while. Indeed, the firm was proud of airbags, and other means of protection of passengers, but none from it saved the princess.

Another way to find fault with the perfect car would be a simple car repair statistics. You can collect data: the owners, who most often come to repair their cars. Or just calculate from the statistics of the same year of production. Sometimes it gives the most unexpected results. Especially because most owners of Lada repair their cars in the garage by themself.

After gathering the information it is necessary to carry out its reframing. That is why, need to choose a perspective view of the facts, to make them be in the most effective position. As a rule, the same problem can be seen from dozens of different points. Some of them modify the problem in a private internal corporate event. Other way is to make the issue of smart news that concerns the whole of society, but do not suggest to take any action to wok out an issue. But it is only one point of view which will work, that is, considering the facts from the point of view, when the problem becomes very relevant, important, comprehensive and demanding action. Such actions that will lead, ultimately to your desired result, for example, the destruction of the image of a competitor, bankruptcy, etc. And it is absolutely true that at the wrong reframing it can become a lie. Very often people believe in the truth less than in a lie. What’s more important, if truth is not given in a proper way, it is is perceived as false.

Develop a chain of events which will be your PR campaign. Single action can be very effective, but as a rule, to achieve a significant effect you must implement a set of several stocks. Therefore, it must be immediately to develop a system of consecutive events. They may be consist of one main and several side. May be also consist of a series of similar sides, but in any case, this complex of events must be focused on one task.

For example, initially a competitor hurt your client and the client started a hunger strike in front of the city administration. Then a group of customers joining the same meeting, and then jumps into the water from the bridge to protest or burns competing products. One such event would attract little attention of the press, and all together they will cause strong repercussions. And all this during the main event may actually be a lawsuit against the group of consumers of your competitor. Of course, the claim must be based on real facts and real shortcomings of the product of the enemy. Typically, these events are not made on behalf of the customer, and on behalf of a public organization or person from people. In rare cases, the black PR can be conducted on behalf of the parent company.

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Example. Enemy powder

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In 1994, Procter & Gamble faced some problems due to the advent of washing powder Persil Power from the company Unilever. The effectiveness of this new powder was significantly higher than that of the same powder of P & G. Powder Power was much more economical. It allows a small portion of washed off as much clothes as much a big portion of the powder Ariel with the same value. P & G had to do something.

Ed Arttst head P & G has nicknamed the Prince of Darkness, has taken swift action against the new trends in the market and aggressive competitive actions of the company Unilever. Having studied in our laboratories new powder of a competitor P & G, he found a Manganese catalyst inside of it, which can harm the fabric too much. In March 31, 1994 P & G, Unilever issued an ultimatum and warned that they will have to take active steps if Unilever will not remove from the market a new powder.