Public Relations:

Final Lesson in Marketing Unit

 Purpose of Marketing?
o Make products known
o Reach the target market audience 
 Final lesson/piece in our marketing unit --
o “Public Relations” 
 (Ways we’ve already learned) --Companies make themselves known (marketing)
to consumers:
o Advertising
o Promotions
o Branding
o Now, add Public Relations* to this list 
o *Serves as marketing too, but adds valuable purpose:
 Protecting the image of a business
 In the eyes of the public. 
 Public relations
o Deals with the interaction of a business with its customer base
o Is crucial to a business’s success.

To  explore this topic, I have provided four public relations “case studies,” or real world
examples of public relations activities (sign up for New York Times with Google account; DO
NOT BUY SUBSCRIPTION you do not need it to read articles).
 
Read each article, and write a summary of all four that includes:

1. What was one major issue the company faced in each article?
2. How did the company respond to this issue to protect their public image?
3. Was the companies’ public relations effort effective? Why or why not?
4. Choose one of the four scenarios:
1. Write a different public relations activity you could do in response to the issue
2. Defend this activity explaining why it is effective in protecting the companies
brand or improving the companies brand within the eyes of the consumer

[This will count as a 10 point assisted grade].

https://hbr.org/2009/11/advice-to-maclaren-and-other-p
In this article, a stroller company Maclaren had to recall all of their strollers due to a design
mishap. Maclaren responded to this by recalling all of their strollers. The companies’ public
relations were slightly effective as it prevented them from being on the front page. By recalling
the stroller, it was effective in protecting the company's brand as it shows the consumer that
they were concerned and ready to fix the problem rather than hiding the problem.

https://hbr.org/2008/07/how-starbucks-growth-destroyed
In this article, Starbucks is facing less growth as the exclusivity of Starbucks has decreased. To
respond to these issues, Starbucks changed their menu and introduced Starbucks express. This
was not effective as other companies did the same and because of this, Starbucks isn’t growing
fast. I would’ve made starbucks more exclusive rather than mass producing them. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/business/smallbusiness/23sbiz.html?ref=casestudies
In this article, we see how the company Firehouse Subs was losing money and not making
profits. The company tried to start advertising campaigns. This was effective as the test cities
where the campaigns started showed that the restaurant had double digit increase in sales. This
was a good move as they are spreading brand awareness which increases their revenue. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/business/smallbusiness/15sbiz.html?
adxnnl=1&ref=casestudies&adxnnlx=1316436671-OwhVLaPQYK3AW42M0bNHHA
In this article, we see a company Hangers Cleaners starting to compete against big cleaning
companies like P&G. The issue was that Hangers cleaners weren’t well known so they started
an advertising campaign. This was a great move as they are now competing against big name
brands so the advertising definitely helped and was a good move.