June 5, 2023
The ‘fringe’ of society is really very large and diverse, as a great many of us ordinary kiwis have non-ordinary fascinations. In early May, the Facebook group “Ship Spotters New Zealand” came alive as its members keenly watched the Singaporean ship ‘Shiling’. The ship was making circles northwest of Farewell Spit, according to the GPS…
June 5, 2023
Zoo Miami found itself the target of an angry mob of New Zealanders after video emerged that its kiwi encounter was more hands-on than it should’ve been. New Zealand bayed for an apology, and it received a brilliant one. Comms director Ron Magill fronted up to Radio NZ’s Guyon Espiner to give his apology. He…
June 5, 2023
Journalists understandably got in a tizz when Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown excluded some from a press conference he held to address changes in his budget proposals. That’s because journalists take seriously their role in informing the public and holding leaders to account – even if it has no legal or societal backing. They believe their…
May 1, 2023
Feature editors are filling column inches from within their own ranks. Beat journos are writing lengthy articles with solid perspectives on politicised issues. Some of these articles make good points. But it’s challenging for organisations to see journalists being impartial on weekdays and idealogues on weekends. Their concern is understandable. Information provided to a journalist…
April 30, 2023
It was right that the announcement of NZ’s bid to host the 2034 Commonwealth Games was tentative and light on details. That suggests they anticipated critique of the idea as a waste of time and money – and they got it. Given the potential for controversy, a low-profile announcement was a good approach: It gives…
April 30, 2023
NZ’s Red Cross is being asked why it has given out only $4m of $21m donated by the public for devastating February floods. Secretary General Sarah Stuart-Black says the organisation is taking time to give money where there are gaps and unmet needs. That is fair enough, but it is not what donors thought they heard Red Cross say…
April 3, 2023
The effects of Cyclone Gabrielle will be felt for years to come in Gisborne and the Hawkes Bay. The challenge is communicating that experience to those living under clearer skies. On behalf of a client, Blackland Consultant Fiann worked in the bay during the aftermath. “It’s rough. Google Maps refuses to plan your route, closures…
April 3, 2023
We have released the report of our investigation into the influence of media on the Council elections last year. We have concluded that media coverage was imbalanced; focussed disproportionately on the mayoral contest and favouring a very small set of candidates. 10 candidates received 44% of all mentions, and 83% of candidates were mentioned five…
April 3, 2023
The TodayFM closure and HealthNZ job cut plans are harbingers of a period of significant redundancy announcements. Many executives have either forgotten, or haven’t yet faced, the reputation risks from large-scale redundancies. A considerable difference between now and post-GFC, the last period of significant job losses, is the openness of employee’s professional lives, courtesy of…
March 14, 2023
Blackland has been hosting an American communications and law student, Jaquelinne Gomez. We asked for her take on how our public figures act. The standout for me is that the New Zealand experience illustrates that humility goes a long way. In the United States, public figures refrain from admitting any faults. They’re too desperate to…
March 3, 2023
Ross Taylor, Fletcher Building CEO, has been named Blackland PR’s 2022 Communicator of the Year for his calmness and clarity of communication during the nationwide Gib shortages. Ross Taylor demonstrated everything you want in a communicator tasked with providing explanations on a highly complex, emotionally charged issue. His composure and resolve, when faced with hostile…
February 16, 2023
Cyclone Gabrielle has caused physical devastation and uncertainty, but it was never going to be enough to break the spirit of New Zealanders. From the sodden ground many tales of heroism have emerged, from the saving of neighbours to the saving of stock. Despite government worries for the fragility of its subjects in a crisis, humans…
February 6, 2023
Last month, a newly elected American congressman was exposed as a serial fabulist. He had fabricated a façade of fake names, aliases, education and employment history, fraud, and even family deaths on 9/11 and the Holocaust. People like Congressman George Santos, or whatever his name is, eventually get found out when their grandiose lies suddenly…
February 6, 2023
We notice that when people face criticism, they can miss the obvious arguments in their favour. When the FMA released its stakeholder survey last month, media highlighted that less than half (41%) of people thought the FMA’s actions had brought about fair, efficient, and transparent financial markets. But the survey simultaneously showed 70% of investors…
February 6, 2023
In recent times, you will have seen many business relationships described as “partnerships”. In the corporate world, the word is now a euphemism for a financial transaction. This may have arisen from a discomfort among new generations of executives for the mucky implications of profit, and preference for the happy talk of ‘making a difference’. …
January 15, 2023
News that the Rugby Sevens will no longer include New Zealand because it is not an “iconic” festival attraction, seals our contention in 2017 that NZ Rugby’s collaboration with a moral panic over the Wellington Sevens was the wrong strategic response. The affair was a PR case study – played out over 12 years – of the…
January 15, 2023
Intense international criticism of the Qatari hosts ahead of the start of the Football World Cup drove the FIFA President to rant about feeling gay, and the Qataris to hassle journos and renege on selling beer at stadiums. We said the anti-Qatari fuss would stop once play started, as it had when other ‘problematic’ regimes…
January 15, 2023
Brands would give a leg to achieve the talkability of Meghan and Harry. But the transit of the couple’s publicity blitz is evidence that fame is never very far from notoriety. Meghan and Harry’s brand faltered this year everywhere except content-hungry America. The primary reason was over-exposure of their personalities. Their story – a simple…
November 29, 2022
The unceremonious dumping of Disney CEO Bob Chapek should be a recession-era warning for CEOs and Executives to focus on revenue, customer satisfaction, and to speak plainly. When it gets harder to make a dollar, profits matter over everything else. During Chapek’s two years Disney shares fell by 22 percent, destroying about $35 billion in market cap….
November 29, 2022
By the time negative media coverage highlights your angry customers, they’ve probably been unhappy for a while. Customer complaint stories explode, then expand, because when media look for more evidence, they find plenty of frustrated people. KFC was hit this month by successive stories about an unpleasant taste change to its potato and gravy, food…
November 29, 2022
Qatar’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup is a reminder that publicity is a double-edged sword; being known risks being disliked. Attention brings hyper-focus. Before the tournament kicked off, Western media and social media carried criticisms of Qatar’s largely Sharia-based cultural values; particularly attitudes to women, LGBTQIA community, licentiousness, and immodest dress. Players, teams and…
November 16, 2022
A not-so-long read A sharp fall in Xero’s share price following its CEO change announcement demonstrated how news is influenced by existing perceptions. The day the new CEO Sukhinger Singh was announced, Xero’s share price fell 11%, from $72 to $64. You may think shares could fall because change means uncertainty. But research consistently shows…
November 2, 2022
‘The race that stops two nations’ is a Kiwi-born marketing line that replaced the long standing reference to the Melbourne Cup as the race that stopped a nation. Its continued use in the 24-hour media frenzy of the Cup proves the stickability of marketing that feels natural, if you keep at it, for years if…
October 30, 2022
All the great past words from NZ Rugby about women in sport meant nothing when it scheduled a clash of games for the All Blacks and Black Ferns. NZ Rugby has owned up to the technical error, and the All Blacks coach has asked for forgiveness. Forgiveness won’t be forthcoming because the mistake reveals that…
October 30, 2022
During mounting domestic troubles Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern this week visited Antarctica on what was presented almost as a personal adventure, linked to her regard for Ernest Shackleton. This contrasted with the new UK PM Rishi Sunak, who withdrew from a trip to the COP27 climate summit because of “domestic commitments”. He decided that it…
October 30, 2022
We’ve noticed an upsurge in self-serving surveys by activist groups and media outlets, trying to set and spring traps for businesses. In June this year, Stuff sent an email to NZ companies asking them to provide data to rate them on an ‘environmental scorecard’. Stuff said companies that did not participate would score lowest due…
October 13, 2022
Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson defended a planned public-owned media merger, saying the New Zealand public “no longer has trust in national media.” That’s half true: the public has never had high trust in big media. The Edelman Trust Barometer consistently places media as one of the lowest trusted institutions. In 2022, the media rated 50 percent net…
October 9, 2022
Further evidence from the UK this month that you must spend lots of time explaining a situation before you launch the solution. The UK Government, now headed by Liz Truss, held a ‘mini budget’. The critics predictably came for them when it was immediately followed by a fall in the Pound’s value. The problem was…
October 6, 2022
It was lucky for National that Grant Robertson scored an own goal when he declared the Labour Party would change its election campaigning to avoid angry voters. Because Chris Luxon couldn’t hit the open goal with his retort. Luxon said he was glad New Zealand was still a place where voters could come up to…
October 3, 2022
The travails of Air NZ’s not-so-direct New York service is a reminder to be wary not to let marketing get ahead of reality. Air NZ’s challenges were foreseen. It said it would operate with fewer passengers to account for the longer return leg, and that new aircraft with fewer seats will be used in 2024. So, this…
August 31, 2021
Edelman’s annual trust barometer is further proof, if it was ever needed, that professional communicators must step outside their peer bubble. The survey found highly educated and high-income earners (the top 1%) were far likelier to trust NGOs, businesses and Government than the rest of the population. That means we are communicating with two distinct audiences:…
August 31, 2021
We got a very public view this week of the result of requiring widespread consensus on any piece of communication. The Bay of Plenty District Health Board junked printed leaflets which depicted the SARS-COV2 virus with Māori facial moko, after top level complaints, including from a Labour List MP. The DHB CEO apologised, saying he…
August 31, 2021
Biden’s denial that leaving Afghanistan won’t be like Vietnam broke multiple rules of PR and politics; he answered a hypothetical question, he predicted an outcome over something he could not control, and he gave a firm point of reference against which he could be judged wrong. His denial on July 8 framed Afghanistan using the…
August 31, 2021
A phenomenon of our times is organisations beating their critics to the punch, king-hitting themselves over anticipated social values issues. It makes absolute sense to anticipate problems and respond early if you think it necessary. PR people keep a finger on the pulse to assess changes in the mood of supporters, stakeholders or the wider…
May 3, 2021
Choose a number Waka Kotahi NZTA was accused of ‘junk maths’ following its claims that a reduced speed limit on the Napier-Taupo highway would slow travellers by just one minute. NZTA defended the claim as the accurate difference between two vehicles: one travelling at the current mean speed (81 km/h) and the other at the…
May 3, 2021
PR lessons from the failed Super League The collapse of the European Super League last week teaches two important PR lessons. 1. Doubts will be revealed when public pressure comes on. 2. If you win, be magnanimous. The massive backlash and public criticisms were easily anticipated. The organisers of the breakaway clubs should’ve stress tested…
May 3, 2021
A vaccine PR test Here’s a simple PR test. Imagine you are a DHB Board member. Read the following background and answer one question. 1) Hundreds of staff at Stanford Medicine mount a physical protest when Board members and the executive took Covid vaccines ahead of frontline doctors and nurses. Similar protests emerge at…
March 29, 2021
The power of a good story Can the enduring admiration for Team New Zealand be attributed to a good story? The America’s Cup victory was met by accolades regarding a plucky nation punching above its weight; a team that beat the billionaires in technical wizardry and sailing craft. We like David v Goliath type accomplishments…
March 29, 2021
Jargon is everywhere The trite media training advice to avoid jargon needs a serious update to stop the proliferation of jargon by knowledge workers. Most people interpret jargon to mean terms related to technology. But jargon amongst knowledge and service work has proliferated. Every profession or group has a constantly evolving set of words, expressions and…
March 1, 2021
When one fact masks another When Auckland and the rest of New Zealand moved down to CovidAlert Level 1 recently, the announcement was met with relief from the public. Most missed that the Government added a new rule to the levels;that face-coverings would be mandatory on public transport. That led to ignorance, and then…
March 1, 2021
Fashion, turn to the left Timing is everything in PR. An incident that attracts controversyone week, may have been completely ignored the week before. A case in point is the media attention on cornrow hair styles atKing’s High School. Fashion vs authority issues happen all the time. Thereason for the national fuss about King’s is…
March 1, 2021
Get to the point Jacinda Ardern got some justified backlash for taking too longbefore delivering the big levels reduction news in her announcement last week. The Government had signaled the announcement was coming, so peoplewere keenly waiting. But they were made to listen to the usual daily ‘cases’assessment before Ardern gave the news. It’s a…
February 16, 2021
IN THIS ISSUE HIDING BAD NEWS HAS ITS LIMITS SNOOKERING DO THE SAFETY DANCE Hiding bad news has its limits We are all aware of the trick whereby you release bad news during busy times. It’s terribly cynical, but it usually works because the audience is pre-occupied with other things. They either don’t see the…
February 16, 2021
IN THIS ISSUE HOW TO AVOID THE PUBLIC BACK DOWN MAXIMISING POLITICAL VISITS TO YOUR PREMISES THE THREE MISTAKES THAT LEAD TO PUBLIC BACK -DOWN Lotto pulled its Six60 Instant Kiwi scratchie promotion after criticism it would promote gambling among young people. Back-downs happen more often than they should because organisations make one of three…
July 31, 2020
When showing support for social causes, organisations are best served when they give their staff and customers the freedom to express it. When organisations co-opt social causes they can be criticised for virtue signalling. The NBA for example is getting backlash from players and fans unhappy with its ‘league approved’ Black Lives Matter and social…
July 31, 2020
Not everyone yet knows the media’s secret: you can pay for editorial content. We’re not talking about labelled advertorials. We’re talking about announcement slots, interviews and even news bulletin items. The rise of these tools is useful because the trivialising of editorial makes it harder to secure broadcast of genuine news of relevance to consumers,…
July 31, 2020
A wonderfully useful but completely meaningless phrase has popped out of corporate communications in the past few weeks: “deep clean”. After every retail excursion by an escaped poisonous covid carrier, spokespeople have reassured us that the premises have been “deep cleaned”. In one case it was a full week since the infected zombie had passed…
June 28, 2020
Countdown decided this month to tell its customers that they should refer to tampons and such like as “period products”. It is changing aisle labelling to remove stigma from periods and that “words are powerful” in doing that, especially for young women. Yes, words are powerful, but in far more complex ways than Countdown appears…
June 28, 2020
At the Wellington launch of Billy Te Kahika’s NZ Public Party, the leader digressed from a prepared speech to tell an anecdote about meeting the CEO of Merck on his plane trip to the Capital. Billy relayed, in the context of his ideas about Covid19, what the CEO had told him frankly about the pointlessness…
June 28, 2020
When our culture runs at the speed of social media outrage, organisations can feel obliged to respond in kind and at a hurried pace. Professionals ought to be more careful. We have obligations to customers and clients, staff, stakeholders and shareholders. We have obligations to accuracy, and to the history and future of our organisations. …
June 2, 2020
Controversy over an Auckland cafe’s sign behind a counter shows that in terms of reputation risks, the new normal is looking like the old normal. A sign asking staff to speak English went viral on Twitter, sparking claims of racism and disgust. The cafe’s general manager calmly explained to RNZ that it was intended to…
June 2, 2020
The mess of QR code collages at hospitality locations illustrates communication planning gone wrong. The Ministry of Health and the Government managed to create an enormous public demand for a contact tracing app. And as we sat in lockdown, the public and hospitality businesses grew convinced that what we would need in level 2 was…
June 2, 2020
The reason why Todd Muller got in such trouble in his first days as leader of the National Party was that he was too desperate to impress the media. The secret to media success is that they should need you; you should not (appear to) need them. Journalists can smell desperation and emptiness and are…
May 11, 2020
We’ve noticed lots of our clients are spending most of their time on internal communication. Many have taken advantage of the lockdown to trial new ways of engaging with staff. Most notably has been the shift to digital channels and networks to stay in touch with staff while working remotely. Some have even said they…
May 11, 2020
Lockdown has confined us to our homes, changing our daily surroundings and keeping your usual sources of inspiration at a distance. For many people and brands, it has become harder to produce their typical content for social channels. Our advice is to acknowledge that life for your customers has changed too. The battle for attention is not…
May 11, 2020
The confusion this week over the meaning of ‘elimination’ shows how critical words are to persuasion. Under pressure and stress, what might have seemed an unambiguous goal turned out to mean different things. Phrases like ‘lockdown’, ‘bubble’, ‘contact trace’ and even ‘two metres’ have become common language. A readiness to adopt new phrases forces those…
April 14, 2020
Not surprisingly, the speed of the coronavirus lockdown has resulted in communication missteps. Even the Prime Minister has had some slips, according to the recently awarded New Zealand Communicator of the Year Nicole McKee. Nicole believes the skill of communicating in challenging situations is to be adaptable and open to mistakes. “The Government has made…
March 29, 2020
Nicole McKee, spokesperson for the Council of Licensed Firearm Owners, has been named 2020 Communicator of the Year for the way she presented her members’ case on the contentious issue of firearms law. Nicole’s passionate yet cordial presentation of arguments against a firearms ban and new Arms Act was critical to being heard in the…
March 26, 2020
The virus situation has evolved fast. Now your focus will have to switch to communications about infected staff, stakeholders and customers. We’ve already supported clients through in-house infections. We have escalation plans to cover who to and how to communicate. Should your organisation encounter infection, or any other unprecedented challenges, BlacklandPR is available 24/7 to help with your communication needs. You can call our emergency number: 0800 525 500.
March 26, 2020
People want useful instruction during times of panic. They don’t want to decipher what you mean. This was obvious with the lack of clarity about what was an ‘essential business’, which left thousands of Kiwis questioning whether local butchers or bottle stores would be open. Our advice to clients is to make sure your comms are specific and relevant to the relationship you have with stakeholders. Take Trade Me for example. The…
March 26, 2020
The persistence of public references to ‘social distancing’ show that you only get one shot at setting the terms of the conversation. Before Covid-19 existed, ‘social distancing’ was embedded in the Ministry of Health’s Pandemic Plan as a key containment measure. When Covid-19 hit, the operational phrase went mainstream as a message. As the crisis…
MEDIA RELEASE Panic buying caused by bad communication Organisations have contributed to panic buying and panic selling by saying the wrong things, according to a crisis communication expert. Mark Blackham, Director of BlacklandPR, today urged organisations to think carefully about what they say and do, if anything, to avoid inflaming precarious situations. “Inexpert urging…
March 16, 2020
Some businesses are pointless telling customers and suppliers that they “take coronavirus very seriously”. But do you have an escalation plan for communications when your organisation is affected? Over a month ago we called the coronavirus a “slow grow crisis”. It was difficult to respond early because its impacts weren’t clear. Over the past few…
March 2, 2020
Burger King has launched a global advertising campaign depicting mouldy burgers. The intention is to prove the absence of preservatives in its ingredients. The marketing and advertising world is aghast, as a rule of thumb is never to show your product looking bad. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine that anyone would eat a burger immediately…
March 2, 2020
Have we have reached a tipping point in public tolerance for ‘values’ marketing? Several charities, small businesses and individuals won’t participate in next week’s International Pride Parade because it has been co-opted by corporates. They said corporates were using the community event for shallow marketing rather than really contributing. This is a fascinating judgement by…
February 2, 2020
We may have finally reached ‘peak Folau’. After a year of controversy, news that he has now signed with a French team and some posturing from critics was met with silence from the public. This may be due to the matter being brought to some sort of conclusion last year by a settlement with Australian Rugby,…
February 2, 2020
The cringe-inducing sight of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison grabbing citizens of fire ravaged communities to shake their hands is a lesson about understanding people. After criticism for being on holiday during the fires, Morrison returned early and got out to meet the affected people. It was too late. A complex bundle of emotions and…
February 2, 2020
Many organisations are caught out by a crisis that starts not with a bang but a whimper. The coronavirus is just one such slow growing crisis. It has taken time for authorities to see the “story” of the virus – to understand its pattern and predict its impact. The result is that many institutions are…
December 2, 2019
Dale Carnegie said to win friends we had to avoid arguments. He thought arguments are usually conducted as fights, with both sides trying to win. And usually, no one does. We live in what some observers without historical perspective call ‘troubled times’. They think society is more fractious; that there are more disputes, more bitterness,…
December 2, 2019
Good people with good intent were at our Trusting in Truth conference. Many more good people criticise ‘fake news’ every day and call for accuracy, deliberation, and civil discussion. But good people are also the problem. We all get sucked into rash judgements, condemnation and self-serving selection of facts. This was amply demonstrated over the…
December 2, 2019
Air New Zealand this week initiated a social media firestorm on a Koru club customer with its ‘happy talk’ response to their question on when the Wellington club would re-open. If a company is determined to signal social values, it seems more logical to look for external subjects, not sacrifice your own customers to a social…
September 27, 2019
The closure of popular Auckland restaurant Gypsy Caravan shows there are risks to giving in to an outraged customer. The owners closed the restaurant following a complaint about a manager’s behaviour toward a diabetic patron. The outrage on social media, gleefully reported in news media, eventually sparked a complaint to the Human Rights Commission. The…
September 27, 2019
There’s a danger that “ethical business” is becoming a refuge for scoundrels, undermining those more serious about the practice. Thomas Cook Travel, which went bust this month leaving 150,000 travellers stranded, last year went big on a sustainability programme, right at the time its sales were beginning to tank. CEO Peter Fankhauser said at the…
September 27, 2019
Spark’s response to Rugby World Cup streaming problems is a lesson in trusting in your contingency plans. Spark were quick to act; within minutes of problems occurring the game was made available on free-to-air. Refunds were reasonable and offered quickly. But involving the CEO in public communication leaves the company no room to escalate if…
September 11, 2019
This time a year ago, Nike celebrated the controversial “taking the knee” campaign by American football player Colin Kaepernick. Half a year ago, Gillette criticised “toxic masculinity”. The global sales of the Nike brand rose 7% over the 2019 financial year; Gillette had US$8 billion dollars of brand value written off its balance sheet. What…
August 4, 2019
Each day, organisations are caustically abused by people over Twitter, and fold in the face of these views, especially when they’re republished in mainstream media. A Pew Research study has proven that views expressed on the channel do not represent popular sentiment, leading us to think that cowering before a Twitter onslaught is two types…
August 4, 2019
Being demonised by small, vocal sections of society might not be fun to bear, but it doesn’t necessarily hurt much. Exhibit One is Chick-fil-A. Once the most demonised restaurant chain in America, it’s now that nation’s favorite. This year, Chick-fil-A was judged by ordinary Americans to be the best restaurant for customer service. It has…
June 30, 2019
News of McDonald’s outperforming Burger King is evidence that small, local, meaningful gestures define a reputation that leads to commercial success. A lot about the success of McDonald’s can be attributed to its owner-operator model. The owners live among the customers they serve and are enabled and encouraged to use their marketing spend on local…
June 30, 2019
Public cynicism in response to the fashion for declaring a climate emergency has surely underlined that leadership (and PR) must be about astutely chosen words and actions. Organisations are judged not by what they say, but what they do. Reputations are set by first and second-hand experience far more than pious words. If words are all…
June 3, 2019
An online spat between two beauty vloggers over hair vitamins has shown one possible future of public discourse. It’s ugly. Millions of people have recently been fascinated by the two vloggers’ spiteful slanging match. It has been filled with long video blog counter-postings of personal invective, threats of self-harm, and tearful apologies. Followers freely switched…
June 3, 2019
The ideal of an “authentic” organisation persists because audiences respond best to expression and actions that lack artifice (that is, that appear to occur naturally, innately). But most organisations, and the professionals running them, are chronically incapable of acting in a manner that a typical person would regard as authentic. Consider, as a baseline for…
June 3, 2019
Widespread praise for the Government’s Wellbeing Budget shows the power of not leaving it to others to define your position or product. This Budget was named the “Wellbeing” Budget many months ago. The name and terminology was used by the Government as a label, an outcome, and a rationale for everything connected to it. The…
We decry the tactic of responding to a social crisis by using the tactic of a “review”. Kicking the can down the road always ends up with the can further scuffed and dented. So it has been with HockeyNZ’s review of something about coaching and team culture. The review garnered more media coverage than even…
We’re familiar with political “backdowns” like that on capital gains tax, where a concept once strongly promoted gets dumped following controversy. It seems incredible that projects kick off in full knowledge of the challenge they face, only to be dumped when that challenge is directly experienced. The complexity of democratic politics means we expect and…
May 5, 2019
When your big-city organisation is in trouble, it’s not safe to use the reactions of media as a guide to your response – if your objective is to satisfy customers or the general public. Being criticised in public is not the same as being criticised by the public. That’s because modern media, and many of…
March 29, 2019
Two weeks on from the awful deaths of 50 people in Christchurch and terrible injuries to many more, we offer some observations about the response of media and organisations. The impulse to ‘do something’ Virtually all of us were emotionally affected by the Christchurch massacre. Amongst family, friends and colleagues we reacted, interpreted and…
March 7, 2019
The Prime Minister’s former chief science advisor has been named winner of the 2019 Communicator of the Year Award, for his debunking of the “meth test myth” and stimulating public discussion on contentious issues such as genetic modification. The Award citation says Sir Peter Gluckman’s “premeditated forthrightness” to end misuse of methamphetamine contamination tests made…
Sometimes the temptation of corporate comms teams is to confine CEOs in public statements. That’s a mistake. Take the recent publicity of Vodafone’s restructure. In his first media interviews, new CEO Jason Paris gave a refreshingly honest and specific assessment of his priorities – get Vodafone in good shape for an IPO by improving its…
March 4, 2019
While firefighters battled the large wildfire that broke out in Pigeon Valley, on the outskirts of Richmond in the Tasman District, communications people – including BlacklandPR’s own Joss Debreceny – handled the heat of the public clamour for information. There was a lot at risk. The fire burned through more than 3000 hectares, including commercial…
March 4, 2019
It always pays to have a PR pro on hand to help navigate random events that may hurt your business. Lime Scooters, which has enjoyed phenomenal popularity since launching, is now being attacked over safety concerns. Recent, highly publicised problems with lock-ups, resulting in injuries to riders, prompted Auckland Council to suspend use of the…
A recent study found that when time for decisions and action is short, a person’s real nature is revealed. The study of US and German citizens found that when a game common to behavioural studies was played, the key factor in behaviour was time. More time gave people a chance to consider what they knew…
The Gillette brand may have set the high tide mark for companies coat-tailing on “social activism”. Its advertisement against “toxic masculinity” unleashed online protest from more than a million people. They flooded Gillette’s online channels. There were 1.3 million official dislikes of the razor company’s YouTube video, ranking it as one of YouTube’s 25 most…
A common excuse for not replying to criticism is “we don’t want to fuel the fire.” This is replicated in the maxim for the online world, “don’t feed the trolls”. As analogies go, this argument is particularly useless because controversy grows whether you feed it or not. The challenge is to douse the fire, not…
A very small band of protestors invaded Sea World in Brisbane this week, causing the operator to cancel two of its dolphin shows. The protestors, some in the dolphin pools, were removed by police. What struck us was the uncompromising tenor of the company’s communications response. It used two techniques to stand up for itself;…
The idea that Christmas is stressful because of family feuds is a common refrain, and a myth. But it’s a myth that could become true through repetition. These formulaic ways of talking about common parts of life spring readily to people’s lips. We joke about the “terrible twos” when a kid throws a tantrum. We…
Three versions of the song “Baby it’s cold outside” are getting airplay this Christmas, and appealed to the general public to overcome an effort to ban them. The song’s lyrics, in which a man tries to persuade a woman to stay in with him after Christmas drinks, has come in for micro-analysis in the year…
In 2019, you should finally get that crisis planning done, because your job depends on it. Despite what the PR industry says, a reputation crisis rarely creates long-term harm to a business (see long-term impact). This year, research has convinced us that the real impact of a crisis is on the jobs and reputations of…
Organisations that fear disputes put their business at greater risk. New Zealand’s banks increased the long-term risk of unreasonable regulations when they did not quarrel with policy-makers who criticised their ‘culture and conduct’. A recent review found no cases of criminal behaviour from New Zealand’s banks. But regulators’ still said they had concerns that “banks’…
The haste of organisations to avoid criticism has been spotted by journalists, who now use the PR industry’s thoughtless “apologise and dump” strategy to create even more public criticism. This appears to be what happened with the New Zealand Herald’s ‘sexist Santa’ story. The Auckland Santa parade organisers unceremoniously dumped their long-term Santa provider who…
Following the Jami-Lee Ross controversy, there was a lot of attention on the study by BPR’s Mark Blackham and academic Geoffrey Miller into the work experience and education of MPs. We studied the backgrounds of MPs for the same reason we examine the audiences of any client; to understand how they think and act. The…
The corporate world can tie itself in unnecessary knots. Imagine a large business exporting meat that was criticised for killing them. How would it respond? The answer was simple for Roger Beattie, who lets a flock of 1500 Pitt Island sheep run wild on his Banks Peninsula property. He goes to the property on…
When the Government announces a review into an industry, we advise clients to use the initial publicity to influence the outcome. At this early stage, most organisations hope against hope that the issue will go away or the outcome will be benign. So they avoid saying anything, except blandly claiming they “welcome the review”. This…
By Geoffrey Miller and Mark Blackham Since 2010 were have tracked MPs’ work and education backgrounds. We have done this to help us understand influences on their decisions, and to track our hypothesis that New Zealand politicians are becoming less like the voters than previously. Employment backgrounds and education are highly suggestive of our…
Academic institutions are one of the toughest environments for communicating. Most academic PR challenges are effectively internal issues exposed to the general public. They arise because there is a wide variety of strongly held opinions among the audience groups, a passionate diversity of opinion about educational purpose, and a hierarchy with only nominal control….
Organisations are often exasperated by the tendency of media to choose one ‘narrative’, making it challenging to get the other side of the story accurately reported. One way of circumventing media-driven narrative is to not give journalists the time to shoehorn quotes from an interview into their stories. A sure fire way of achieving…
Many New Zealand organisations are launching significant change programmes, transformations, or new operating models. These initiatives are intended to deliver benefits to customers and organisations, so they involve all parts of a business, and a wide range of stakeholders. Why then does mentioning ‘transformation’ or ‘operating model’ often elicit groans of despair from communications…
The reaction of pundits to Nike’s “believe in something” campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick is so confused that it offers no lead for companies about the wisdom of doing something similar. It’s common for PR experts to call any whiff of controversy a #PRfail, but some have claimed that the vitriolic US reaction against Nike…
A new study released by PR company BlacklandPR, shows that New Zealanders think Waikato is largely cows and a river, and it appears that locals think the same. Unprompted, the one thousand participants were most likely to associate the Waikato with dairy or farming in general (16%), the Waikato river (10%) and Hamilton (8%)….
These results are from a Horizon Research nationwide survey of 1000 adults conducted between 7-14 August 2018. Respondents were members of Horizon’s nationwide adult online research panel. The survey results (prompted and unprompted) are weighted by age, gender, personal income and employment status to represent the New Zealand 18+ population at the 2013 census. At…
There is an answer for all those who argue that a company, industry or region needs a “story”. The answer is to not to say we need a story, but to write it – provide the content and the words. Story writing is hard. When written by corporates the result is usually a…
We’ve reached peak virtue-signalling by businesses. More research has emerged that customers don’t want businesses or CEOs to be social activists. Last year the American Association of Advertising Agencies found that while brands and their agencies are keen on values-based marketing, the majority of consumers don’t like it one bit. Similar research this…
On RNZ’s Checkpoint this week, John Campbell ridiculed comments by Genesis Energy CEO Marc England on the basis that he “could hear the media training” in them. Campbell meant that the England’s message about Genesis becoming an energy management company was boring and unnatural. His frustration revealed that a lot of what CEOs…
BlacklandPR Waikato is moving into Panama House next week as we expand our business in the Waikato. It’s a lovely site overlooking the mighty Waikato river. We look forward to sharing it with our Waikato clients.
The simplest way to acknowledge colleagues and gain free publicity for your organisation is back again; the 2019 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards. You should nominate someone for a category in this award. Nominations close at midnight on September 17 and can be submitted online at www.nzawards.org.nz. Awards categories include: …
Some intriguing research has recently revealed that people must notice change before they remodel their predictions and expectations. Apparently, the main purpose for memory is to model the future (if fire hurts to touch, it will hurt next time). If we encounter changes in real life, we alter our memories to improve the predictions….
Within minutes of a power outage in Wellington today, punters were speculating on the reasons. Power began being restored after two hours, along with a reason for the outage – a substation equipment failure. But rumours about the outage had already spread rapidly on the streets where office workers unshackled from dead computers…
The Nurses union has waged an excellent public campaign during its pay negotiations, but it got beaten by the “first to a number” trick. The DHB’s released details of the latest pay offer, but this time gave an estimate of what the pay deal may deliver a nurse in certain circumstances: $93,000. The…
The controversy over origin of World’s fashion wear shows us the two major factors necessary for a controversy make the leap into public consciousness. A Spin Off story revealed that although World’s clothes may be assembled in NZ, materials were made in Bangladesh and China. Most New Zealanders can hardly be troubled by this…
A fascinating thing about the demise of the house safety meth test is how a social phenomenon of many years ended in one day. In a stroke, the PM’s Chief Scientist Peter Gluckman tore down an incredible and ephemeral practice that had mutated into a form of hysteria. The meth test policy led to…
Eric Murray featured in an advert that claims beer has nutritional values. According to the Advertising Standards Authority, this ex-rower is a hero of young people, so he had to be removed. We asked our own kids. They hadn’t heard of him. They hadn’t seen the advert either. When the attack came via a…
Following the first wave of reports about Israel Folau’s comments, journalists stoked the story by printing views from an ever-widening circle of prominent people. Every couple of hours a new person was headlined, each predictably outraged. This is a reminder of the magnifying power of follow-up phases in media coverage. Every piece of…
Qantas got the Israel Folau furore wrong because it confused a profile sponsorship for a value sponsorship. Profile sponsorships are of big-ticket established organisations. You’re paying for a platform to achieve brand awareness and marketing. If there’s brand alignment, it’s at the highest conceptual level (e.g. fitness, excellence, achievement), not values. Most consumers don’t…
In terms of Waikato’s role on the national stage, growth is a double-edged sword. Our city, our institutions and our companies will be scrutinised with the same fervour applied to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The scale of our success and operations means there’s either many customers or supporters involved, or a large amount of…
Mike King demonstrates that to achieve your communication objectives you usually must risk someone disagreeing with you. The tension in our professional lives is how to express our opinion without getting offside with others. We measure our communication by agreeability. We talk in truisms. Our views are expressed only very broadly. We echo…
BlacklandPR has today announced the opening of its new office in Hamilton, to be run by ex-journalist and PR expert Greta Shirley. The opening reflects growth of the Waikato economy and the demand for Blackland’s mission; PR that reaches people in the suburbs and regions of New Zealand. Blackland PR Director Mark Blackham,…
Mental health awareness campaigner and New Zealand of the Year finalist Mike King has been named winner of the 2017 Communicator of the Year Award for his ability to communicate directly and openly about mental health. BlacklandPR director Mark Blackham said Mike King was the outstanding communicator over 2017 due to his clarity and…
September 12, 2017
When people communicate, we often use words we know other people like. But this causes trouble when our meaning of the word is different to theirs. For example, it’s de rigueur to talk about “vulnerable” people. But what we mean by using this word is extremely variable. Is it poor, aged, adolescent, female…? And…
September 10, 2017
A little-known tool organisations can use to influence new Ministers, especially new governments following general elections, is a dedicated briefing paper. Traditionally, new Ministries and government agencies supply the new Minister with a written briefing paper explaining their portfolio responsibilities, current issues and work-in-progress. Known as a BIM (Briefing for the Incoming Minister),…
July 23, 2017
New research reveals that New Zealand institutions are failing to deliver effective public communication about imminent natural hazards. Most of us know the story of the boy who cried wolf. In the versions popularized in the 1500s, the tale-telling boy is not believed when a wolf does appear. In some versions of the story…
July 13, 2017
For a career that has become a profession, the political class perform surprisingly badly at the job. Here’s two lessons you can learn from their mistakes last month. 1) Tell your story, then stop. Journalists are very good at spotting weaknesses in stories. Bill English kept telling them his story about Todd Barclay each…
July 9, 2017
If you insist on making an unpopular decision then at least have the courage to stick by it. Sky TV broke into its coverage of the All Blacks test to play an advertisement after the haka. Within 24 hours of the resulting viewer criticism they backed down, promising the ads wont air in the…
July 3, 2017
When public safety is threatened people seek reassurance in the simple answers, even though they may be the wrong ones. Organisations can use this to their advantage. In the weeks following the Grenfell fire a particular type of cladding has been singled out as the cause. Of course, the cause of the fire…
May 22, 2017
A new analysis of the removal of Sevens Rugby from Wellington has blamed the organisers, including NZ Rugby, and the police for the decline in crowd attendance. The Report, Demise of the Wellington Sevens, by public relations consultancy BlacklandPR, concludes that organisers collaborated in a “moral panic” led by police and the Wellington “establishment” against…
May 15, 2017
Companies sponsoring stuff would have whistled with relief that they weren’t BNZ when a prominent rugby player taped over their logo on his shirt. While rugby organisations did their usual stuck-in-headlights routine, the BNZ was left alone to say it was unfazed by the individual’s action and he was free to choose. It…
May 10, 2017
Many self-inflicted publicity wounds are the fault of your marketing department. We’ve seen some notable examples within a past few weeks. Pepsi was mocked for an absurd “attitude” advert about people dancing and protesting for peace and diversity while drinking the fizzy stuff. Cadbury was pilloried for removing the word “Easter” from a…
April 23, 2017
Some days, especially on LinkedIn, the sheer weight of corporate marketing about “doing good” is depressing. Heart-sleeves point-scoring is made worse for knowing it has zero impact on sales. This was demonstrated in a series of revealing studies outlined in The Myth of the Ethical Consumer. They revealed that while consumers profess social…
April 7, 2017
Three brothers were part of a team that invented a portable medical diagnosis device for an innovation competition. Which of the two photos above is the best one to help tell the story about their technology? The one of the three brothers dressed up as Star Trek figures holding their Dr McCoy version of…
April 3, 2017
When a woman complained about being sent photos of her deceased son even though she had asked for the full file, the Ministry of Justice apologised and said it had changed its processes to ensure that never happened again. A Google search of world news reveals that in just the past three days, at…
March 14, 2017
A journalist commented on our Communicator of the Year award; “You’d expect them to be good communicators because it’s their job.” That made us smile because it imagines that communication comes easily. It assumes that ‘news’ is made by people whose job it is to make news. There are thousands of people with…
March 12, 2017
The Oscars hired PwC to run a process that didn’t lead to errors in awarding gongs. They would have been better hiring a PR company to focus on clarity of leadership and communication. That’s because when the process went wrong, as process inevitably does, brave communication and leadership is the only thing that could…
March 7, 2017
NZ Rugby was asked what the behaviour of Ali Williams and Dan Carter in France (allegedly cocaine and drink driving), did to the All Black brand. The angle that made the headlines was boss Steve Tew saying “I think it’s… disappointing for rugby and for the All Blacks.” It was the answer the…
February 18, 2017
Former Police Association President and Labour Party election candidate Greg O’Connor has been named winner of the Communicator of the Year Award. The winner is selected by BlacklandPR and students at Massey University’s School of Communication, Journalism, and Marketing, from New Zealanders who have illustrated communication skills at the national level over the previous…
February 13, 2017
A strict “media policy” on who can speak to journalists only works if those who do speak are good at it, and free to use their skills. Muffin Break illustrated the weakness recently when media inquiries about “maggots” in a chicken wrap were referred up to its national office by the Upper Hutt outlet….
February 6, 2017
The death throes of the Wellington Sevens illustrate one of our favourite business maxims: act in the interests of your audience, not your peers. A few years ago the Sevens reached its crazy hedonistic zenith. Criticism of the audience took hold among Wellington influencers and decision-makers. Anxious to assuage the critics, the organisers…
November 15, 2016
Donald Trump has been elected US President despite months of intense, high-profile condemnation from the political and media establishment, and social media shouters. No previous candidate in living memory, not even Ronald Reagan, has been so vilified. Critics even questioned his right to stand as a candidate – his right to a place in…
November 6, 2016
A challenge of our social era is that it is hard to ignore headlines, but more necessary than ever before. The challenge of good PR judgment is knowing what headlines matter, and which don’t. WeightWatchers copped bad headlines when it sent a lightbulb to female journalists encouraging them to leave the light on when…
November 2, 2016
A common factor in the unfolding public relations misfire of Ardent Leisure, owner of Dreamworld, is misjudged actions. Ardent executives falsely believed that the issue was all about them, and that they needed to be seen to take action. Organised action is an artificial construct. We mistrust artifice because it requires conscious planning….
October 17, 2016
The New Zealand Rugby Union did not need to enter the issue of a Wellington rugby player escaping conviction for street violence. The appearance of CEO Steve Tew in interviews painted a target on the NZRU, inviting the professionally outraged to demand apologies for a “violent and sexist” rugby culture. Tew was bullied into…
October 16, 2016
24 hours after being vilified for firing a disabled worker who stole a colleague’s drink bottle, the chief executive of Bunnings went on Newstalk ZB to explain the sacking. The explanation gave enough hints to suggest that there was more than one side to the story. “These decisions aren’t taken lightly… it’s just not…
October 11, 2016
Did Brexit win because the word sounded better than Remain? An argument in the referendum wash-up is that ‘Brexit’ was snappy and active, while ‘Remain’ was dour and static. Brexit supporters were Brexiteers – adventurous, swashbuckling. Those supporting staying were Remainers – boring and against change. Words are critical to persuasion. They can…
October 4, 2016
A survey by UK-based PR week found journalists think half the PR people they deal with are not good at their jobs. The main complaint of journalists was that PR people don’t spend enough time looking at the output of the media they pitch to, making the stories of their clients irrelevant. We…
October 3, 2016
The Wellington Rugby Union hit trouble over its response to player Losi Filipo escaping conviction for a vicious fight in Courtenay Place. The WRFU initially decided to support Filipo’s court case, and stand with him under public scrutiny. But after 24 hours of pressure, the WRFU ‘mutually’ agreed to end Filipo’s contract. Many…
September 19, 2016
Bürgen’s campaign to attract “Bürgen virgins” to try their bread in bed sparked a little negative feedback on their Facebook page. This formed the basis for stories on the Stuff and New Zealand Herald websites. Bürgen did not appear to answer media inquiries, the story died, and the campaign continued. This is an interesting…
September 14, 2016
There is an easy way recognise the people in your networks and to get some effortless publicity for your organisation; nominate a staff member, friend or acquaintance for the New Zealander of the Year Awards. BlacklandPR has been working with the Awards for five years and is an official sponsor. Nominations close on…
September 14, 2016
It has been fascinating to study performance of the “transparent” approach to communication adopted by councils over contamination of the Havelock North water supply. We’ll put aside the initial slow response to connect the dots, as that’s disappointingly normal for all of us facing the uncertainty of contamination. Once the water supply was…
September 4, 2016
We live in in a topsy-turvy, hyper-sensitive era, where photos of staff playing the fool get a public treatment worse than dangerous malfunctions that risk lives. AirNZ declared itself “appalled” at photos on social media of a pilot kissing a blow-up doll and video of a flight attendant spitting water, and taking the issue…
August 22, 2016
The writer of a “human interest” story on Stuff about safety box cutters got in touch with Foodstuffs to ask whether their staff used them. Foodstuffs would not confirm whether the staff used safety box cutters. What they said: “At Foodstuffs we adhere to the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 across…
August 17, 2016
Most of the time organisations apologise in public, they either don’t need to, or they do it in a dreary, formulaic and saccharine manner. The Birkenhead Brewing Company chose to withdraw and apologise when called out on some new Maori-influenced product branding. They did it thoroughly, and in a way unique to their style. What they…
August 4, 2016
Beware of people claiming customers respond well to companies that take stances on social issues. There’s a US study by Weber Shandwick doing the rounds. A quick look at the numbers doesn’t back up the claim that we’re witnessing the “dawn of the activist CEO”. Here it is in a nutshell: More than…
August 1, 2016
In our Mind the Gap function this week over 30 professionals working in agriculture addressed the effects of a growing divide between urban and rural New Zealand. Data presented by Andrew Fraser of DairyNZ and Emma Higgins of Rabobank, illustrated an alarming lack of familiarity with the rural sector among urban New Zealanders. …
August 1, 2016
According to research by the Economist Intelligence Unit, CEOs say reputation is their organisation’s most prized asset. But they also say it is the most vulnerable and hardest to get right. It is the capriciousness of reputation that makes CEOs wary of engaging when their organisation is criticised in public. When you’re not certain…
July 26, 2016
The tether that once bound urban and rural New Zealand has come loose. Urbanisation has disconnected us. Some people even contemplate a country without rural industries. I don’t. I am convinced we need to rebind urban and rural New Zealand for the better of our economic and cultural future. We need to build…
July 11, 2016
It was revealed that the Wellington Rugby Football Union faked a video depicting an uncover “sting” operation by Hurricane players of sideline abuse at junior rugby. BlacklandPR commented on the issue because parents and players were depicted unfairly and inaccurately, it deceived the public in the interests of a “good cause”, and because a…
July 11, 2016
Complaints from vegan activists about “secret” animal ingredients are becoming a regular part of media diet. Earlier this year complaints and a news story frightened Z Energy into stopping use of a feather-based pastry conditioner in vegan pies (fair enough), and reviewing its use in meat pies (what?). This week people promoting their…
July 4, 2016
We’ve got a lot of time for the response of ex-All Black Troy Flavell when media asked him about his guilty plea and conviction for driving over the alcohol limit. Flavell owned the situation: he refused to apply for name suppression. He said the community needed to see him take responsibility for his actions….
July 4, 2016
OJI Fibre Solutions could not have imagined that its business recycling cardboard would be in the public spotlight for a week. But it was, when a body was found in cardboard bales on the premises. There was no controversy about the company’s involvement, but as so often happens, the attention spooked the company into…