The top ten screen-sweeping crises in 2019!

Crisis public relations summaries are made every year, and I have a lot of feelings this year because crises have become a new normal. Before reviewing, let me share my four feelings.

1. Crisis screen-sweeping has become the new normal.

The most special thing about this year is that there are many types of crises. There are relatively traditional cases, such as food safety, the 315 Gala, and social marketing failures, and there are more new cases, such as live streaming and short video rights protection. Although some cases are not new, they have become the hardest hit areas of crises this year, such as employees and the international situation.

In early January this year, the uncle wrote a book "Screen Swipe", which was published by the Machinery Industry Press. The focus of this book was originally that the uncle summarized a set of methodologies through the study of hundreds of cases, telling brands how to dominate the WeChat Moments. Unexpectedly, 90% of the cases this year were basically negative, and the situation will remain the same next year.

The saying “Good news doesn’t travel far, but bad news travels a thousand miles” does fit this wise saying, but the media has undergone tremendous changes.

2. Media changes force public relations to upgrade.

When dealing with the endless stream of crises, how should corporate public relations respond to media changes and pull the company out of the hardest hit areas? This is what we need to think about after summarizing the top ten crisis public relations cases in 2019. For example, the rights protection incident of the female Mercedes-Benz owner in Xi'an opened the prelude to short video rights protection.

The uncle predicts that in 2020, with the full outbreak of short videos, especially the amplification of the social attributes of short videos, the entire crisis public relations industry will face a series of new challenges. For example, the traditional public opinion monitoring system, which previously only conducted full-network searches based on text keywords, will add short video platforms next year, and this monitoring capability requires intelligent recognition of video footage.

From text to pictures, this is a huge change, and it also brings new challenges to public opinion monitoring and responding to public statements. Therefore, any changes in the media are testing the ability of corporate public relations to keep pace with the times. Wherever the users are, public opinion will erupt.

3. The public relations officer was laid off and started selling insurance.

The value of public relations has once again become controversial at a time when the economy is in recession, budgets are being cut and revenue and growth are king. Many public relations colleagues have switched to selling insurance this year, which is also a good way out. The uncle thinks that we should put aside the blame we have to bear for the time being. As the saying goes, there is no harm without comparison.

For those PR professionals who want to change careers, I have one more thing to say: "Hurry up and change. It is because there are too many unprofessional people that have ruined the reputation of this industry. Moreover, not every company needs PR, at least not at every stage."

For those who are not PR practitioners but always like to point fingers at crisis PR, I would also like to say: "Your nonsense just represents the value of PR, because we can't stop others from talking."

Positive communication may not be a necessity for companies without money, but crisis public relations is, with the exception of the P2P crash.

4. The “power” of CCTV 315 continues to decrease.

Since 2016, I have been writing a 315 inventory every year. For four consecutive years, the destructive power of CCTV's 315 on large enterprises has been weakening year by year, and has turned into consumer reminders and warnings.

In the CCTV 315 in 2018 and 2019, the blue label was accidentally "hit". I believe that the power of 315, the "Spring Festival Gala" of China's public relations industry, will continue to weaken in 2020, but it does not mean that CCTV and other party media and central media will stop their undercover supervisory reports. Instead, it will become a new normal, just like Xiaohongshu was once again exposed by CCTV a few days ago for various "grass planting" chaos.

In addition, self-media breaks the news, traditional media follows up, relevant departments intervene and handle the matter, and traditional media then sets the tone. This communication path is already very mature, and the new media operations of traditional media are already very powerful. This is a new crisis point.

The following is a summary of the top ten crisis public relations cases in 2019, ranked in order.

1. Huawei

【Event Overview】:

Huawei's biggest crisis in 2019 undoubtedly came from the US government. Although its domestic market was strong, its overseas markets suffered a lot. Ren Zhengfei, who had been on the news for almost a whole year, received a bad review at the end of the year.

On December 1, 2019, exactly one year after Huawei CFO and Ren Zhengfei's daughter Meng Wanzhou was illegally "detained" by Canada, what was originally a warm and positive screen-sweeping event turned into Huawei's biggest public opinion crisis in 2019 due to the appearance of a former employee. Some foreign media even did a long report with the title "Huawei loses public support in China". This is the 251 incident.

Former Huawei employee Li Hongyuan was criminally detained on suspicion of extortion and was arrested on January 22, 2019. He was finally released on August 23, 2019 due to "unclear facts of the crime and insufficient evidence", having been detained for a total of 251 days. An interview from a self-media outlet started the screen-sweeping mode, loading various screenshots from Zhihu, Weibo, and WeChat. Almost all groups were discussing the matter.

After a whole day of discussion, everyone was looking forward to Huawei's response to this matter. Unexpectedly, the lack of an apology in the response once again sparked heated discussions in the public opinion. The full text is only 119 characters:

"Huawei has the right and obligation to report suspected illegal activities to judicial authorities based on facts. We respect the decisions of judicial authorities, including the police, procuratorate and courts. If Li Hongyuan believes that his rights and interests have been damaged, we support him in using legal weapons to safeguard his rights and interests, including suing Huawei. This also reflects the spirit of the rule of law that everyone is equal before the law."

The public has criticized Huawei for its lack of empathy. As Huawei's response went viral, the number of people criticizing Huawei for its lack of empathy increased dramatically. An article in The Paper began with the title "Go ahead and sue us!" 》commentary article once again swept the circle of friends yesterday morning.

The next day, Yu Chengdong forwarded a self-media article in a WeChat group titled "The 251 incident is a typical black public relations incident." After being shared to many WeChat groups, it was believed that this represented his position and attitude towards the matter, which once again caused public opinion to ferment.

Some commentators believe that in this incident, Huawei’s “good guy” image, which had been accumulated for a year, was instantly overwhelmed and turned into arrogance, indifference and lack of empathy.

【Uncle's comments】:

All public relations people, including the uncle, and of course non-public relations practitioners, cannot understand one thing: Why doesn’t Huawei apologize?

Because an apology can help Huawei win the hearts of the people again, and it can also reflect the Chinese Tai Chi master's ability to bend and stretch, be tough externally, and be gentle internally. Even the cleaning uncle can understand this truth, so why doesn’t Huawei’s public relations department understand it?

The editor wrote an article titled "Why doesn't Huawei apologize? "As a public relations person, this is what I think." Many people in the comment section said that I received public relations fees from Huawei.

A few days ago, I talked about this with a senior media executive who knew a lot of inside information about the matter. I also understood a little bit why Huawei did not apologize and why many related articles were 404-ed.

Huawei certainly had some shortcomings in the whole incident, but in crisis PR, what you say is not important; what is more important is what you don't say. From this point of view, the commentary I wrote at the time was basically correct in some aspects, especially the statement "PR should look at the overall situation."

As for Yu Chengdong's "assist", it was indeed redundant and counterproductive, but it also reflected one point: this is the real Huawei. The "Tai Chi Master" Huawei is just our imagination and does not exist! !

 2. NetEase

【Event Overview】:

Negative news about NetEase’s “violent” layoffs dominated the screen a week before the Huawei 521 incident. As the matter finally ended with a settlement between the two parties, the public reaction took a 180-degree turn, from "scolding NetEase for being ruthless" to Huawei's arrogant response later, everyone realized that they "had wrongly blamed NetEase."

The way public opinion erupts has become a familiar routine. It is expressed in the form of employees’ self-narration, which is released through WeChat public accounts. The content is tagged with many labels, especially the highly emotional titles, which resonate with people and then go viral, prompting official responses and countermeasures.

During the entire process, NetEase issued three statements. The first was a brief statement to the outside world, the second was an internal statement that was leaked, and the third was the result of the handling of the matter. The WeChat public account of the employee involved also mainly published two contents. The first was a self-narrated explosive article, and the second was a push of news about reconciliation.

It can be seen that in addition to NetEase's Public Relations Department handling the matter, the human resources in the "hard-hit areas" also did a lot of work in repairing individual injuries and caring for employees, which eventually ended in reconciliation. NetEase's Public Relations Department's relatively timely, open and rigorous external communication also ultimately won the public's understanding, which is easy to say but actually quite difficult.

【Comments】：

The editor believes that the NetEase incident is typical of the new normal of crisis-sweeping news throughout 2019. There are three specific points:

1. Human resources are the hardest hit area when it comes to crises.

Because the overall economic downward pressure is very great this year, many companies are laying off employees, so human resources are the "hardest hit area" of the crisis. Various problems in the layoff process will become the outbreak point of public opinion.

Throughout 2019, layoffs and crisis public relations have always been associated with each other. From JD.com to Alibaba to Didi, from large companies to small and medium-sized enterprises, almost all companies have experienced layoffs or even bankruptcy.

Just a few days ago, the suicide of a 30-year-old Changan Ford AE engineer once again dominated the news with the form of "family's self-narration + WeChat official account". The company's public response was far weaker than that of NetEase, but its ability to solve problems privately was very strong, and the relevant WeChat official account was voluntarily cancelled. I believe that, marked by the Blue Label employee incident in 2018, similar crises will continue in 2020 under a bad overall environment.

Therefore, when dealing with layoffs, the first thing to consider is procedural legality, which is the bottom line, and the second is the emotional concern for employees. When commenting on NetEase's layoffs, the uncle specifically mentioned three principles, namely legal principles, emotional principles, and business ethics.

Shouldn’t companies lay off employees when the economy is in a downturn? The larger the company, the more it will comply with laws and regulations. Ultimately, the problem lies in reason. What should be done? A big strategy: small businesses must ensure that procedures are legal, and large enterprises must not only be legal and compliant, but also take the initiative to suffer losses, and special situations must always be handled specially.

2. Ask for “conclusion” rather than “reversal”.

Although NetEase basically strictly followed the three principles in handling this matter, it was still criticized by many people at the time, and headlines like "NetEase's Failed PR" were everywhere.

This is what the uncle wants to say, the spectators are very bored, they are particularly curious and easily indignant, and they all expect a plot twist. When it comes to public relations, they are always prone to fall into such a "fantasy": a statement from a company will make everyone go from scolding you to praising you, this is awesome crisis public relations!

The uncle wiped the cold sweat from his head and thought: Fortunately, you didn’t say that this was the "standard" of crisis public relations. Conspiracy theory and reversal theory are the two biggest enemies of crisis public relations. The hacked companies are full of conspiracy theories, and the onlookers all hope for a plot reversal.

Let's return to normal and only give the public a publicly available conclusion. Don't even think about reversal or counterattack.

3. Taking advantage of the situation to “lay off employees” is a risky job.

In contrast to NetEase's layoffs, JD.com took advantage of the situation on the same day and made its first statement after Liu Qiangdong's comeback, which won him some applause. However, I always felt that this was a high-risk operation. If it was not implemented properly, it would most likely cost him multiples of the money. But for Liu Qiangdong, who was eager to find an opportunity to pay at that time, it was also a good idea, at least for now.

At the beginning of 2019, Alibaba actually also took advantage of a wave of momentum. On February 22, before the National People's Congress, Alibaba officially released an article titled "Alibaba continues to recruit outstanding talents". Zhang Yong said: "Not only will we not lay off employees this year...When the economy is bad, the greatest value of the platform economy is to create jobs."

While everyone is laying off employees and trying to slim down to survive the economic downturn, Alibaba is doing the opposite. Zhang Yong's words appear to have been made at an internal staff meeting to stabilize internal morale, but at the same time, their greater value lies in communication with society and superiors, and they have very well conveyed to the government his attitude and decision on "stabilizing the economy and protecting employment."

But the fact is, you can search "Ali + layoffs" on Baidu. I feel fortunate that no individual incidents have been magnified. In summary, in 2019, it is indeed a high-risk thing for companies to take advantage of the situation to "lay off employees".

3. Mercedes-Benz

【Event Overview】:

In April 2019, a vertical short video went viral on WeChat and Weibo, especially on short video platforms such as Douyin. In it, a female car owner sat on the hood of a Mercedes-Benz and cried for her rights. This incident also became a landmark event of "short video rights protection."

No one expected that this incident would stay on the hot list for a week with various plot twists. The uncle believes that Mercedes-Benz’s public relations are also completely confused. There are at least two mindsets: one is that dealers should deal with it as soon as possible; the other is to expect new hot events to cover it up.

Unexpectedly, neither of these two things came to fruition. Instead, it was Visual China, which had an accident not long ago, that had to thank the female owner of the Mercedes-Benz. It was only five days after the accident that Mercedes-Benz released a statement like an obituary on its official Weibo account. Multinational companies are so inefficient.

If the first screen-sweeping material was the crying video of the female car owner shot from a third-party perspective, the second screen-sweeping material came from an 18-minute recording in which the female Mercedes-Benz owner asked eight questions to the dealer executives. She was indeed highly educated, well-reasoned, logically clear, and well-educated. She was simply a master of debate! This recording continued to ferment on short videos such as Douyin.

【Comments】：

Judging from the impact of the negative screen coverage alone, the destructive power of this incident on the Mercedes-Benz brand is no less than that of Huawei's 521 incident. The beginning and end of the year also confirmed the new normal of crises dominating the screen. Mercedes-Benz's official negligence and Xi'an Lizhixing's amateurism are all negative examples.

But the value of this incident to public relations is by no means Mercedes-Benz’s stupidity and arrogance, but the birth of a new species: “short video rights protection”.

Short video + recording, both are what the uncle talked about in "Swiping the Screen" as "material swiping the screen". One emotion + one rationality, which completely established the "righteous" image of the female Mercedes-Benz owner in the public. It is precisely because of the strong contrast between the performance in the short video and the recording that it aroused the public's strong sense of participation. This is the key to the continuous swiping of the screen for short video rights protection.

The editor believes that in 2020, short video rights protection will surpass the so-called "employees writing public accounts to protect their rights" and become a new routine, because short videos are more in line with: having pictures, truth, emotions and contradictions.

4. Pechoin

【Event Overview】:

There were two relatively big negative events during this year's Double Eleven. One was the "godly prediction" of Tmall's Double Eleven data, and the other was that Li Jiaqi, who was at the peak of his career, publicly dissed Pechoin during a Taobao live broadcast. Afterwards, #百雀灵放李佳琪仔# became a hot topic on Weibo, with Li's fans complaining crazily, while the official Pechoin remained silent.

The next day, Li was hacked, and #李佳琪被据假推促進# became a hot topic. The onlookers quickly made the association: Pechoin PR bought hot searches to hack Li Jiaqi. Since Pechoin officials did not explain or respond, the public found a reason they thought was reasonable and chose to believe it. The screen-sweeping incident the next day was the price that Pechoin’s official silence would cost.

【Comments】：

Pechoin was dissed by Li Jiaqi during a live broadcast, and the company never responded. This case has two typical characteristics:

1. Live streaming not only sells goods, but also brings public opinion risks.

According to Li's description, the communication between Pechoin and Li was very smooth, and the decision to temporarily cancel the cooperation was actually a result of communication. But the brand certainly did not expect that Li would make the matter public during the live broadcast and label Pechoin as "dishonest".

Why didn’t the brand think of this? The uncle believes that Pechoin's e-commerce team thinks that this is just a business and still views advertising with the traditional e-commerce model. For example, it is an advertising banner on Taobao. I am the first party and Taobao is the second party. I say it will be put up, so I cancel it at the last minute. It's no problem. For consumers, it's nothing more than not being able to see the advertising banner.

But Pechoin overlooked a fact: although this form of live streaming by internet celebrities is also a form of advertising, the "live streaming + people" has media attributes, which means there is a risk of public opinion. Brands need to consider this risk when canceling orders.

2. “Cold treatment” does not mean “the scar disappears”.

We often encounter some companies that choose to "cold handle" when facing crises or negative situations. In my opinion, 90% of the cold treatment is actually due to "incompetence" rather than strategy.

But this trick is indeed a trick for small businesses, because as I said before, negative screen-sweeping is the new normal. When a new hot spot comes, your negative news will be covered up. This is indeed true, but you have not thought about it: covering it up does not mean that it will continue to ferment, and the "scar" you leave in the hearts of the public, the media, and especially the stakeholders will disappear immediately.

5. Visual China

【Event Overview】:

On April 10, 2019, the first photo of a black hole in human history was released, instantly sweeping social networks around the world. But on China's social networks, the focus of this matter shifted to Visual China. The uncle wrote a commentary article at that time, titled "Visual China's "Self-destructive" Crisis Public Relations". Unexpectedly, "Self-destructive" crisis public relations became a popular term in 2019 and was directly quoted in various inventory articles.

Why is it self-destructive?

First, the official statement was refuted. You said the copyright of this picture belongs to ***, but they said it is not authorized to you.

Second, the strategy of pushing the founder out to defend himself was wrong. You emphasize "copyright awareness" and are still building a monument for yourself, but people are scolding you for "phishing-style rights protection."

Third, the public anger was hard to appease, and the public + self-media + traditional media attacked it together. Finally, it was forced to take the initiative to close the website to prevent netizens from continuing to dig up their graves.

For several consecutive days, affected by this incident, Visual China's stock price plummeted.

absolutely

Unexpectedly, on December 10, 2019, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued a document stating that Visual China had violated national Internet laws, regulations and management requirements, and engaged in Internet news information services without obtaining an Internet news information service license, seriously disrupting the order of network communication. Its website was shut down again.

【Comments】：

The scar heals and the pain is forgotten.

The fact that a company founded by traditional media people is so unpopular essentially reflects a major problem with the company's business practices. This is no longer a discussion of the "technique" dimension of crisis public relations. On the other hand, crisis public relations cannot save Visual China.

Thinking he was "smart", he took the initiative to shut down the website, engaging in self-destructive crisis public relations in an attempt to steal the limelight. As expected, after the negative public opinion passed, Visual China did not reflect on or correct the service qualifications and review mechanisms it provided. Eventually, the regulatory authorities took strong measures to rectify the chaos.

Two words: You deserve it.

6. Lenovo

【Event Overview】:

On May 23, 2019, Lenovo CFO Huang Weiming was interviewed by CNBC News Network and talked about the issue of tariff trade, "We absolutely have the ability to transfer part of the production and manufacturing from the countries affected (by tariffs) to other unaffected areas." This statement was interpreted as "Lenovo's manufacturing plants moved out of China," causing a public opinion crisis in China.

Subsequently, Huang himself apologized and said that his relevant statements were inaccurate, causing misunderstanding among the media and the public.

It can be said that when it rains, it pours. Just a few days ago, on May 18, during the Sino-US trade friction, someone on Zhihu broke the news that "Lenovo has cut off supplies to Huawei." Subsequently, the person involved came forward to apologize, and Lenovo officials also publicly refuted the rumor.

In fact, the past two years have been the worst time for Lenovo to be hacked. On May 5, Lenovo Group’s official WeChat account responded to “the Internet’s unwarranted slander of Lenovo since 2006” with the message “Keep thinking, stay young”. In the comment section of this WeChat post, facing the sarcasm of netizens, Lenovo’s public relations department rarely responded with anger and toughness, causing sparks to fly.

【Comments】：

1. With the globalization of communication, companies have no secrets.

Communication has been globalized, so it is unlikely that one thing is said abroad and another is said at home, and the two sets of content do not affect each other. For example, it is easy to find that some multinational companies or brands will deliberately act humble and apologize sincerely on Weibo when they encounter a crisis, but they may not mention the matter at all or show a different attitude on foreign social media.

2. The ability to understand the overall situation must override the position.

From the perspective of a corporate CFO, this statement is correct, cost control is a priority, and the interests of the company and shareholders are maximized. However, from the perspective of national conditions, there are obviously problems. We also saw the timeline above. Lenovo was hacked once in the same month, so executives should be more cautious in their statements.

3. Angry response to netizens has short-term effects, but the long-term risks outweigh the benefits.

The essence of public relations is communication. In crisis public relations, companies may seem strong, but in fact, they are often weak. On the contrary, individuals may seem weak, but in fact, they are strong. Therefore, when facing public doubts, the general perspective of corporate public relations is: to feel aggrieved, to seek tolerance, to seek understanding, or even to seek sympathy. However, when Lenovo Group’s public relations department responded to the rumors, it adopted a tough attitude, which can be considered a strategy. But when looking at the Huawei case together, the risks of Lenovo doing so are still greater than the benefits.

7. Baidu

【Event Overview】:

On July 3, 2019, a major accident occurred at the Baidu AI Development Conference. During his speech, Robin Li was splashed with water by the audience, and the scene was very embarrassing. Afterwards it was discovered that this person had been live streaming on social media platforms the entire time. The four words "Hong Yan Huo Shui" and the short video of Robin Li being splashed with water flooded the screen, and Li also topped the hot search list.

Fortunately, Li Yanhong responded appropriately. He first silently endured a whole bottle of mineral water being poured over him without getting violent. He instinctively said, "What's your problem?" Then he responded, "There will be all kinds of things that will happen on the road to AI, but our determination to move forward will not change. AI will change everyone's life."

Baidu officially responded to the incident twice via Weibo. The first time, it continued Li Yanhong's statement, that is, "Some people pour cold water on AI. There will be all kinds of unimaginable things happening on the road of AI's development, but our determination to move forward will not change."

In its second statement, Baidu strengthened its stance: "We are outraged by the incident that occurred at the AI ​​Developer Conference and strongly condemn the behavior of the perpetrators!"

In the end, the man was administratively detained for five days for provoking disturbances.

【Comments】：

Robin Li himself handled the matter appropriately and gracefully, and was able to get back to the theme of the speech. Baidu's official two responses, the first one was timely, and the second one had an attitude and conclusion, were also considered relatively successful. But in fact, what the uncle wanted to say was a question and a conclusion.

One obvious problem is the security of the conference. How is it possible for a stranger to get a certificate and walk onto the stage openly, especially when the founder is on the stage?

One conclusion is that after the man was released, he disappeared from the public eye, and even the reporters who were waiting at the door of the detention center were disappointed. In fact, everyone, including the uncle, really wants to know why this man did this? What kind of injustice is going on? Baidu characterized this incident as a "prank", so it did not give the public a reasonable reason.

As we all know, Baidu's brand reputation suffered great damage due to the Wei Zexi incident, and some netizens believe that the criticism of Robin Li is an act of justice. In fact, Baidu's public relations failed to address this issue head-on.

8. Fuling Pickled mustard tuber

【Event Overview】:

In early August 2019, a few comments by a famous Taiwanese commentator on a TV show unexpectedly sparked heated discussions among netizens on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The original scene was:

"There is a pickled mustard tuber stock in China called Peiling Pickled Mustard Tuber. Mainland Chinese people always add pickled mustard tuber to their instant noodles. Now that the economy is bad, mainland Chinese people can't afford pickled mustard tuber. Therefore, the stock of Fuling Pickled Mustard Tuber has fallen sharply recently."

Following tea eggs, eating pickled mustard tubers has become a new way for domestic netizens to show off their wealth. The company involved, @Wujiang Fuling Zhacai, also quickly followed up with multiple Weibo posts responding and mocking the matter, many of which were about giving away Zhacai to netizens.

The editor believes that the overall response level of Fuling Zhacai was not very high, but it did reap this wave of traffic. Just when everyone thought that this wave of screen-sweeping was over, unexpectedly, this famous Taiwanese host added drama to himself, disclosed his address, and asked for pickled mustard tubers. The company also went along with it and sent the pickled mustard tubers, which was also posted online again.

After many rounds of discussion, this matter gave us the illusion that the Taiwanese celebrity and Fuling Pickles seemed to have jointly planned a screen-sweeping event.

【Comments】：

Strictly speaking, this is not a major crisis, but rather an opportunity to leverage marketing momentum.

Although Fuling Zhacai is a very traditional enterprise, its persistence in new media operations has enabled it to reap huge traffic when it encounters opportunities that can go viral. This is actually the first point I want to make. This year, there was an opinion to "stop updating Weibo, WeChat and Douyin", and the uncle pointed out at the time that this was a typical clickbait title.

Second, in the face of netizens' ridicule and complaints about this matter, the best way for the company is to respond in a humorous way that matches the power of complaints. This is what the uncle emphasized in "Screen Swiping". The power of complaints is Internet culture and one of the core driving forces of screen swiping.

9. Oaks

【Event Overview】:

On June 10, 2019, Gree published a report on its official Weibo account titled "Report on the Production and Sale of Substandard Air-Conditioning Products by Aux Air-Conditioning Co., Ltd.", initiating a public reporting approach to rights protection, which was subsequently followed by imitators.

From the perspective of crisis public relations, this is crisis public relations for AUX Air Conditioning. The public reports from its main competitors have put AUX Air Conditioning in a passive position. The latter's response was not only slow and missed the point, but also incited nationalism, which were all failures.

On the contrary, Gree Air Conditioning, under the leadership of internet celebrity Dong Mingzhu, took the banner of being responsible to consumers and eradicating the cancer of the industry. Its reporting behavior was accompanied by pictures and truth, which attracted the attention of relevant departments. This big banner that Gree has hoisted was used by Sister Dong for more than half a year. It became the biggest topic in the air-conditioning industry this year, and was as famous as Lei Jun's "1 billion bet".

【Comments】：

The editor still sticks to his point of view at that time. In terms of the public reporting-style rights protection method, he does not recommend that companies learn from Gree, because exposing the shortcomings of peers is equivalent to cutting off your own path. How can you ensure that you will always be fine? When it comes to dealing with crises, we must avoid learning from AUX, which failed to make full use of its speed of response and strength of response, and was thus beaten by its opponents.

10. HEYTEA

【Event Overview】:

Heytea is an internet celebrity brand that has been deeply loved by young people in the past few years, but in 2019, it encountered a series of crises.

On April 19, 2019, the marketing expert @Durex and @Heytea had a cross-border collaboration. It was supposed to be a good story, but because of the problem of being too excessive, this social marketing turned into a crisis accident.

The National Office against Pornography and Illegal Publications reposted the article "From Durex to 'Breast Enlargement' Coconut Milk: Chinese People Ruined by Soft Pornography" on its official Weibo account, again criticizing the two companies by name.

If the marketing accident was an accident, then the food safety issue has become a "nightmare" that this Internet celebrity store cannot escape in 2019. Since the end of 2018, Heytea has been exposed to various food safety issues in Shanghai, Xi'an, Suzhou, Xiamen and other places.

Among them, the two incidents in Suzhou and Xiamen were the most serious. In the former, consumers found flies in their drinks, and in the latter, the market supervision department found that the ATP index of the containers (ATP is the abbreviation of adenosine triphosphate, and an excess of ATP index means that the cleanliness of the tableware is not up to standard) was seriously exceeded.

【Comments】：

No matter what kind of tea it is, or how much young people like it, Heytea is ultimately a traditional food company. Therefore, what consumers care about most is not new flavors but food safety issues. This is the bottom line. It is reasonable for a brand to be high-profile and pursue individuality, but it does not mean that there are no problems in the management and operation of the company. Of course, it also includes the fact that the leadership does not attach importance to crisis public relations.

The crisis public relations here does not mean deleting posts or blocking news, but a complete public opinion management mechanism, how to reversely guide the business, predict and check corporate risks in advance. Heytea cannot ignore the construction of these traditional brands just because it is an Internet celebrity brand. After all, you still sell tea drinks and bread.

We have had in-depth discussions with Didi's senior public relations executives. Ever since the ride-sharing incident, Didi's public relations department has actually provided a lot of support to the business department to prevent crises. Because although it is an Internet company and advocates the sharing economy, from the perspective of serving customers, Didi's business model is similar to that of traditional taxis, only more complicated.

Text: The Almighty Uncle

Source: PR Home