Darkness Public Relations

After refusing the complain by Unilever, P & G began an active black PR campaign. In April 27, 1994 in the Danish press reports that the powder Power can destroy a fabric. This message came from the person from P & G company. In April 29 Unilever held a press conference denying all the complaints of P & G and reported that they were going to sue P & G.

In response, P & G hired a Rowland Company for massive PR campaign. The latter came into contact with all the European Association for the rights of consumers, manufacturers of washing machines, a variety of retailers and other public organizations.

Many of these organizations have been doing actively the briefings, press conferences and show the samples of fabric damaged by Power powder. As a result, photos of damaged fabric reached many major newspapers and magazines. Sales volumes of new powder began to fall with a great speed.

Environmentalists accused in Sweden Power, that he had put the national dress in a danger.

After all these PR campaigns, which was stretching for several years, P & G were able to achieve the destruction of the powder and the Power was withdrawn from the market.

It is not important whether the Power is actually harmful to the fabric or it is an invention of chemists from P & G, but he remained an important fact, that finding the real incriminating facts can literally give away a competitor, causing consumers to question the validity of the quality of the products of competitors.

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Very often PR companies are used by dependent or independent civil society. They can be used to share and create information and PR-with these same organizations tend to create newsworthy information. Sometimes public organization established specifically for specific PR-campaign.

We can say that most of the public institutions, even in its title implies fighting for something or someone’s rights protection, and thus a tool of black PR. Let us remember their names: Society for Consumer Protection, Environmental Protection Society, a society «Soldiers’ Mothers», Society for the Protection of women’s rights, etc. Yes they are just created for black PR. Many, very many such associations are fighting for something and, as a rule, information methods. It is just that the statute does not write: «The implementation of black PR».

There is a funny coincidence. The most common translation of words into Russian PR – Public Relations. But can it exist without communication with the public social organizations? And in white and black, they are essential.

The target audience in the Black PR.

An extremely important issue in black PR is choosing the target audience. Attacked object usually surrounded by the following audiences:

His clients.

Its competitors.

His companions.

State institutions with which objects interact.

Its staff.

Its suppliers.

Residents living near the company or somehow forced to interact with it.

Relatives of employees of the enterprise.

In fact, if the objective is the destruction of business of a competitor, you can attack any of the following target groups or all together.

A common mistake is to launch an attack on any one of the targets without analyzing all possible attacks. As a rule, before the attack, unless you have a particular interest (for example, reduce the number of customers from a competitor). That is why, if the purpose of your next attack does not dictate to you strictly a certain audience, you have to analyze all the available audience and how to attack them and how hey will attack in reply.

Of course, you can analyze the audience by inference and analysis of your knowledge, but it is better still to conduct a thorough investigation of the audience. How to do it? In fact, no need to immediately rush to do surveys or anything like that. Remember, all you need is to know more about the target audience surrounding the object of your attack and it can be hundreds of different ways, including those that are not described in any of the existing books.

Still, I recommend you a few ways to study target audiences:

· Open source and database. It is often about your competitor and his interactions with customers, competitors, and all other target groups. It can be found in the Internet. You just go there and consistently seek data on each of the target audiences of competitor, it is basically everything that they write about him. This data can be in the forums, in newspapers, magazines, etc. As the search engines, I recommend metabot.ru. Also, there are many databases and periodical directories. Typically, you can find a lot of information in the public domain, and this information may be sufficient for effective PR-campaign.

· Part of classified information. If the analysis of the open source did not give significant results, and you feel that for effective black PR campaign there is clearly not enough data, you can proceed to a more detailed analysis of the audience and competitors. The easiest way to study part-public information activities in the «skin’ of a customer. Nothing prevents you from becoming a potential customer or a competitor and build information from the first hand. Very often operate under the client can find the most unexpected things. Apart from the role of «client» you can act under a journalist or writer. Find the one legend that will give you access to the maximum amount of information. There are many versions of these legends and most of them are illegal. Who can interact them from outside the company? Think about who can apply there without any formal authority? Naturally, being a representative of law enforcement or tax authorities can get access to all information, but it is illegal if you are not an employee of one of these organizations. However, nothing prevents you to be:

– Job seeker in the firm,

– courier to deliver pizzas by mistake (if you want it to do quite officially, create a firm delivered the pizza)

– chance to get acquainted with any of the companies on vacation

– sales agent for advertising space,

– the wholesale dealer

– Partner Director of bowling (ie, how would you do with it once played)

– representative of the company, which investigates public opinion

– representative of a company that wants to offer something

etc.

Next source is classified information. Typically, such information is not entirely legal. However, detective agencies, and various other offices can collect them and readily provide. You can also arrange your agent to the target audience in order to gather information. By the way, developing advertising campaigns by a company, often adopting the so-called cool hunter (cool hunters) in youth and other target audiences. These people are being introduced to the youth party and trying to figure out fashion, and what is in terms of the audience’s great, and what is not so. By the way, this is very good for business, because the error in this activity often leads to the tragic consequences. Distracted from the topic, said that several years ago, a French firm just had to stop running on the fact that she starred an advertising roller, which was like a stylishly dressed, but from the point of view of young people on it were not the «antlers» pants, so it was not so fashionable. As a result, advertising did not to succeed.

When you are conducting a research, do not place any particular purpose. For example, do not look for «what would I find this to discredit a competitor.» Look just for more information.

Method of attack in the Black PR.

The method of compromising.

You run some information that raises doubt in the target audience of the competence of your opponent. Moreover, with this method it is necessary to cause doubt in the competence of the enemy, and not doubt in the competence of the charges.

To use this method you should: create an event that will attract the attention of the target audience and make it available through the media.

The main difficulty of this method is to search for and edit the most compromising information. Disseminated information must meet the following criteria:

Be truthful. What is the truth? What they think is true.

Be irrefutable. The enemy must deny the opportunity to refuse the information. When it comes to material facts, they are usually difficult to be challenged. However, if you talk about virtual concepts such as love, confidence, duty, honor, understanding, solidarity, acceptance and rejection, hostility, etc.,their opponent could turn upside down and your truth becomes a lie. The same thing he can do is convince key people to your campaign in the opposite way. For example, someone says that he does not like your opponent, but under the influence of financial grants someone can change his mind and your assertion that the target audience does not like your opponent will be a lie.

Be understandable. If your information is well founded, but it is based on some obscure concepts to the general public – it is better to give up the information or edit it. Confusing and difficult to transmit facts as bad as false information. They are very difficult to interest of the press, and it is difficult to convince the public for anything. If the information can not apply simple – better not to use it. However, when the target audience is made up of intellectually developed people, it is possible to use a complex information.

To be relevant. Just your information must be relevant to the interests of the target audience for which it is designed.

Be safe. Use of compromising information may be a subject to lawsuits and other negative consequences. You should consider the risks. And use this information only if the risk is justified.

How to distribute compromising and talking to the press, I’ll discuss in the following sections of the book.

Method of a Bad Praise

This method involves to publicly praise the opponent, but the result of the public must be negative. How? This is achieved by overpraising. Praise by the excessive use of epithets, unverified. And by mentioning the hidden praise of negative information (or negative in terms of the target audience).

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Example.

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Once a group of deputies wanted to speak at a gala event organized by the head of one of the districts. But some assembled people wanted to act against this chief of staff. Naturally they did not want to do it by themself, since the head could easily guess their intentions. So they turned to me, and I gave one man, who was entered in the rules of the event. Officially, he was declared as one of the local businesses.

The event started. Everyone was giving a speech. It was in the style of Soviet times. But… After the speech, and the orchestra one of my team came on stage. He said that the head of that district is so good that we have such a «remarkable chief of staff, who cares about the development of the area and building a new houses and a cafes.» Next he’s using laudatory adjectives listed to the houses, which will soon be built in the neighborhood and people soon began to realize that their neighborhood is gradually transforming in a new area. Many smiles just disappeared from the faces and celebratory mood was finished.

Also, the holiday spirit has disappeared from the face of head of the district, but the result has been achieved, the population was opposed to the district head and future developers have come to expect serious problems with the public.

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By dual audience

This method involves the sequential exposure to multiple target audiences. And the first audience is used to share the second-oriented audience. For example, at first, it will be the excited publics, then the media, and then the government. Natural sequence of actions in all cases are different. But the final audience of all PR-campaigns is always powerful government. However, going through the sequence is more strongly effective, rather than if you go direct to the authorities.

Campaigns based on this method, line up of several successive campaigns, usually united by one issue. This method is effective if you need a powerful PR. These campaigns can be implemented even on a very small budget.

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Example. Nationalism is worse than stealing.

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So, I had to attack one company that had almost a perfect reputation. I found very less information which I can use to attack. My agent, joining with them in interaction, by accident found on a group of general managers-nationalists.

From the side, these innocent people does not look like the nationalists, but in private, they often spoke about one of the nations in a very rude way. They actively criticized intelligence of representatives of this nation.

I found incontrovertible evidence of their nationalism, as well as text and audio recording, which were confirming this fact.

We appealed to the regional national community, then in hundreds of companies, where directors were just representatives of this nationality. It turned out that the managers of the nationalists actually constantly interact with companies, where management positions held by the representatives of this nationality.

Many influential members of the national community suddenly turned to the negative attitude towards them. As a result, the audience itself initiated a hostile action and black PR, focused on all the target audience of the company. Their active black PR activity has led to the fact that the company, led by manager-nationalists, for the year came to a complete bankrupt, ensuring the success of my client.

Nationalism is the weakness of people who want to feel more important, who has problems with the confidence. However, this weakness is served, and will serve the cause of black PR. Do not create it by your own hands. This weakness can kill you and your company.

Even if you do not have around influential people from any nationality or religion – do not scold them. Even your staff (if it is of that nationality) can ruin your business. Business in today’s society is too dependent on environment

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This method is also good if you find any audience, which suffers from improper actions by competitors and the audience putting an action against a competitor, but at the same time it is targeting a completely different audience. That is why, it is not necessary to have the facts, compromising the company, for example, in the face of customers. It suffices to find an audience which will be an intermediate between customers and the company and to attack it, and the audience itself will be then attacked by customers.

The method of virtual concept

This method is fully based on the theory of virtual concepts.

The image of any company is based on multiple virtual concepts. Often this concept: reputation, luxury, versatility, trendy, love to the buyer, the popularity among customers, value, etc.

Easy to guess that all of these concepts are enclosed only in our mind, but as a rule, have certain physical evidence, contributing to a better understanding of these concepts. So prestige, for example, may be confirmed by the price of goods, the use of expensive materials, use of the some subject known by many people. At the same time all this is a myth, because often the real cost of lifestyle products is much lower. However, this product sellers want to lay the additional value that the buyer and could take this thing to demonstrate its superiority over other people. By the way, the price of the object actually has no great significance. Often to achieve a high price item it is complemented by unnecessary or almost unnecessary elements. Note that often excavator is more expensive than a sports car, but the prestige of riding on it is questionable, unless someone makes VIP-excavator. But, even it is comfortable to ride such transport, because it safe, so that if you crashed into a house you can break its walls, but not the car. But it is not prestigious.That is why excavator can not be at a high price, but sports car can, because it has a sufficient value of prestige in the eyes of the consumer.

To destroy the myth of the value of the goods you have to consistently attack all components of the virtual concept of «prestige», namely the material constituting the object, the behavior of people associated with it, positive or negative evaluation of the subject, especially the subject of ownership.

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Example. Homeless people in the elite club.

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One of my friends got an order to reduce the level of prestige of a Moscow restaurant-club, which has an excellent reputation among the metropolitan elite. Naturally at the entrance to the club there were face-control and some burly bouncers. And, even simple cars like Lada could not be allowed there.

My friend needed to neutralize the image and prestige of the place.

What did my friend do? One Saturday, when the club met the main visitors, his men, dressed in the VIP-persons clothes, came on a luxury car to the club, then went inside. At the height of the evening they had gone to the bathroom and changed into a homeless people clothes, which means dirty and smelly clothes. The smell was generated specifically for this event. Smelling from head to toe, they went into the room and sat down on the seats. People have started to feel too uncomfortable besides them. Strangely enough, the security did not immediately realize what to do, because these people were already in and ordered dinner, and some have already eaten the dinner. It was too late to do something, because most of the elite has left the restaurant immediately. Their administrators fussed about these «homeless» and wondered how they could entrance the a club.Then they politely asked them to leave the club. A one of the guards tried to heat one of the «homeless’ poeple, but then suddenly two newspaper reporters appeared and had photographed the moment.

On the next day the newspapers had uploaded the pictures of the homeless in the area of the club, and was told that the public looks at expensive restaurants often unconventional. It was also an interview with one of the «homeless» who claimed to have received a great charity, and decided to relax in the restaurant.

The next days to maintain the image, a special person was bringing to the club a special flavour which was able to allocate an unpleasant odor for a long time. They were hiding it in a different places of the club and constantly reminded visitors of the homeless.

When the administration found out a system of tracking visitors with that smell, it was too late already – all the elite of the club moved to another restaurant.

This is certainly not the most beautiful example, but it shows the method in action.

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The method of virtual concepts can be used to create new concepts that will destroy the old concepts and, as a result, your competitors.

Method catcalls

Since ancient times, in the theatres when people couldn’t accept the play, they were throwing tomatoes or eggs on a stage.In addition to the protest these actions hindered the actors to perform the play. Something like that can be used in today’s PR.

For example, you want to paralyze the work of a large supermarket. You can run a large crowd of people there that will create a queue at the box office. Let these people just come to the box office with an impressive amount of goods, knock out huge checks, and then say that they forgot their wallet. Similarly, you can run the crowd, which has something to complain about, or stand in a line to the bathroom.

During demonstrations of similar actions your people can rustle their feet, clapping without any reason (eg: some exact rythm), the inclusion of a siren, etc. Such methods can easily disrupt any speeches. Often when security is trying to break up the protests by using force, it will again just prove, that upper power just doesn’t want this information to be published and they have soething to hide. So, it is necessary for them to prevent the dissemination of information. To do this, you can drown out the speeches siren, which is much cheaper than the speakers used in the rally. Posters can pour paint from a helicopter or light bright searchlight.

The method of administrative resources

This method is probably is the least relevant to the PR, but lobbying of administrative resources is much more often used for black PR. In this case, just the administrative structures are set against a company and with the help of these structures, the company is destructed.

Having someone in the tax office and other authorities can be easily used to ruin your competitor. Many are trying to convince the authorities by using a corruption. This is one of the most common methods of black economic PR in Russia.

In my view this is the most messy PR, not worthy of self-respecting PR – method.

The method of hooks and bait

This method is relatively simple. Information is created to make a trap for the future victim of black PR. Object needs to be lured there and the object creates a dirt by himself. A typical example of such a company had a history in U.S. President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Initially, Clinton’s meeting with her and their romance was organized by the third party. Then another woman accused Clinton in a sexual harassment. This charge was baseless, but the court has asked: «Did you, Mr. President, have an intimate relationship with any women other than your wife?». He replied: «No». He got in a trap from which he could not escape. Then it was proved that he had a relationship with Monica and, it meant that he lied in court under oath, what is illegal.

Very often people create incriminating evidence against themselve in an interview.In the court, the lawyers of defendants recommend them to keep silence, but in contrast to PR you have to speak – and speak properly.

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Example. The construction company is killing it’s workers.

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Director of a large construction company was faced with a whole set of unexpected problems after the accidental death of one of the workers on the construction site.

So, it happenned that there was an accident as a result of bark killed one worker. Typically, these accidents are not a reason to start a black PR campaign, but in this case, someone ordered a black PR against the leadership.

An experienced journalist caem to the director of a company. The journalist could put in the mouth of the interviewee any text. How did he do it? He has asked the questions that already contains the right answer. Trying to answer it, CEO began to repeat certain words and phrases from the questions. As a result of the interview which was published, there were no questions of a journalist left, but only the answers. From this interview, it was possible to conclude that the leaders of the construction company do not care for the lives of their workers, and the availability of cheap labor and other cities do not allow them to grieve the death of a single working stupid worker and do not care about safety measures at the construction sites.

As a result, a negative attitude of customers who buy an apartments, authorities, and employees of the construction company was developed. They attacked them with all sorts of checks, and much of the staff quit their jobs and demanded to compensate various penalties in the court.

They could not soon recover from this blow.

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The essence of the method of «bait and hook» is:

First, you need to develop a separate campaign goal, which will let a competitor to be in a situation where he has to create a dirt for himself. And he can make a real damning action, and independently distribute compromising information about themselves by saying the wrong things.

Then you will receive the necessary compromate and can start your black PR-campaign, based on this blackmail.

Method of public outrage

Many businesses have a lot of things that can make the public angry.For example, it can be a CEO’s too expensive car, a luxury office, enhanced enterprise, environmental emissions, hazardous industry, harassment someone’s rights, salary of staff in the company, the political ambitions of the director, notably business enterprises, etc.

The goal of this method is to find the one object that can can make the public angry. Then disclose facts that disturb the public. Finally, the public anger is out and you have to stretch it for as long as you can.