We're not that gullible, Ford Australia

Earlier this month, Ford Australia announced it was ceasing production at its remaining manufacturing plants (Geelong and Broadmeadows) in 2016. It did not consider its current business model profitable in the near future.

It's depressing news to hear, but with sales of the Falcon sedan and Territory SUV in decline it was bound to happen sooner rather than later. What upset people most of all was that Ford deliberately used spin and jargon to try and hide the plant closures.

The press release talked about the company "going forward" and only briefly mentioned "clarity about plant closures." The PR guys were probably patting themselves on the back, but little did they realise they had just created one of the worst strategic communication disasters in Australia's history.

Media quickly found out what was happening - Fairfax Radio mentioned "speculation" that the plants would close - and later that night hard-hitting ABC journalist Leigh Sales asked the Australian CEO, "How stupid does Ford think Australians are?"

There was no remorse for the employees, who only found out about the closures that morning, and nor did Ford say anything to the customers who buy and own their customers. It was a stark contrast to Mitsubishi's plant closure in 2008, which did everything that Ford DIDN'T do.

In any case, it has about three years to rectify what it has done wrong. For now, not even Ford's loyal customers will forgive Bob Graziano for his sins.

Mock press release, part 2

Again today, we were asked to create a news-related media release. This time, I wrote a media-ready article from the Nine Network about the recent "More Joyous affair". Obviously, a real media release would require a date and a contact point for journalists.

Nine hedges its bets with Waterhouse

The Nine Network will continue to benefit from its association with bookmaker Tom Waterhouse after he was cleared of any wrong-doing in the recent NSW Racing enquiry.

Chief Executive Officer of the Nine Network, David Gyngell, said that he warmly welcomed Waterhouse’s involvement with the network’s sport coverage.

“Tom Waterhouse is a welcome addition to Nine’s telecast of both rugby league and racing,” Mr Gyngell said. “His insights add to our broadcast and help to further engage our audience.”

The NSW Racing stewards’ inquiry, dubbed by the media as the “More Joyous affair”, determined that Mr Waterhouse was innocent and deemed not to have gained information from his mother, horse trainer Gai Waterhouse.

Mr Gyngell also declared that Mr Waterhouse would remain a part of the Nine Network’s future broadcasts.

“His views will continue to be separate to those of the commentators and clearly distinguished with TomWaterhouse.com branding,” Mr Gyngell said. “There will be no indication that he is a permanent member of the commentary team.”

Feature article on a stranger

Today's class involved doing a short feature article on someone we found within the university campus. Names and places have been altered for privacy reasons.

Working for eight hours five days a week may sound like a career, but for one University student this is his regular study plan. The 18-year-old’s timetable resembles that of someone’s working hours, but his workload is far from that.

Born in South Australia, Scott moved with his parents to ((town deleted)) while he was still a toddler, and is now the eldest in his family of three sisters and a brother. Educated in the town all his life, he is now doing a double degree in Engineering and Chemistry at this university's local campus. As one would imagine, this takes up a lot of his time.

“I have a few lectures in the morning, [then a] small break and then a few more lectures,” he says. Wednesdays are not consistent with the rest of his week, in which he works seven hours with no breaks.

At the time he is being interviewed he is having an hour long break with another person doing his course, Sashi. “He’s a dick,” Sashi says. “No, it’s a joke… He’s a smart guy, very smart, [and] a very hard worker with all [of his] designs.”

Another of Scott’s friends, Brad, is also at the University and has known him since primary school. Although unwilling to be interviewed, Brad described Scott as a “good friend”.

Dr. Legge, head of Engineering and Science at the local campus, describes him as a very able student. “His results so far suggest he does very good work,” she says. Although he shows promising signs Dr. Legge believes that, like most engineering students, he will seek work after gaining his degree rather than do postgraduate work.

So how does Scott believe those around the campus perceive him? “Generally, alright,” he says. “Probably from a teacher’s perspective it would be understanding the topic but not doing the work. By peers, a little bit crazy, [but] fun.” These brief moments interviewing him suggest that would be an accurate summary.

Mock Press Release

While in today's Strat Comm class, we received breaking news of a protest in Melbourne's Central Business District. This took place near a construction site where three people were tragically killed after a wall collapsed on them. Our task was to create a Press Release that the Mayor of Melbourne would be likely to release.

Mayor condemns union protestors

  Lord Mayor of Melbourne Robert Doyle has condemned the actions of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) for disrupting traffic in Melbourne’s CBD during an impromptu protest.

Mayor Cr Doyle expressed dissatisfaction with the Union for not alerting authorities until the morning of the march, disrupting the routine of many commuters.

“While I am sympathetic to the CFMEU’s cause and believe that protesting is a right in any democracy, nobody from the Union contacted the council or the police and said that they were holding a protest in Melbourne’s streets," Mayor Cr Doyle said. 

 "They had plenty of opportunity to contact the City of Melbourne and say that they were holding a rally today, rather than walk off the job at 10am this morning.”

The Mayor will be holding a press conference outside the Melbourne Town Hall at 1pm today where he will take further questions on the matter.

Brochures and issue marketing

How do you market a pair of food tongs, a fez or party sparklers? How do you stop a media "issue" from becoming a "crisis"? These are just two areas that the Strat Comm class has covered within the past week.

Print media, despite evidence to the contrary (such as this blog!), is still an effective communication tool. A brochure is the best way of providing someone with detailed information about your product. The best way of ensuring further attention is by making the product you're selling stand out - what is unique about these tongs, for instance, and how are they better than the competition? Also, try and be emotive and think of another use that your product might have - "This fez will look good at a party, while these sparklers will further add to the atmosphere!"

Also discussed in the past seven days was "issue management". With social media now a common source of news and discussion (as I poorly tried to point out last week) companies and others need to respond to any issues that arise as quickly as possible. Not doing so will make the public believe you do not care or have something to hide, which might not be the case.

A good example within Australia is the "slush fund" allegations leveled at Prime Minister Julia Gillard last year. As soon as the story was known to the press, Ms Gillard held a press conference regarding the issue and even answered questions in federal parliament. To counteract this, the media slowly released more information to put further pressure on the PM (a good tip for journos).

Still on Australian politics, an example of bad issue management would have to be the Craig Thompson affair. This has well and truly become a crisis, with Craig Thompson almost guaranteed to lose his seat at the next election. Moreover, unlike the PM who dealt with this issue within a fortnight, "Thompson-gate" has been a story for two years and it isn't going away. Thompson has always expressed his innocence but with every development he seems further and further implicated in the scandal.

Selling the conservative and stopping (or creating) crises - just another week as a Strat Comm student.

Rolf Harris is "Yewtree 5"... says Social Media

About a month or so ago now, the Metropolitan Police in Britain questioned a man as part of "Operation Yewtree", the police investigation into the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal. The recent Levison inquiry into journalism has prevented mainstream media (including press releases) from revealing names in specific cases, so social media has been guessing as to who "Yewtree 5" is.

British newspapers eventually revealed the person as an Australian entertainer. When this got back to Australia, media sources reported it widely but only referred to the person as a "prominent 60's entertainer", with some revealing his age (82 years old). More info on this can be found by clicking here.

Some small-time social media bloggers quickly deduced that Rolf Harris was the person who The Met were referring to. After all, he is Australian, has just turned 83, has been in the British entertainment industry for some amount of time and, like Savile, seems an unlikely sexual perpetrator.

First, this person who is allegedly Rolf hasn't been charged. Second, no one in the Metropolitan Police is suggesting that he has taken part in a sexual assault. While the Savile case is in the public interest, it is worth noting these two facts before anybody draws conclusions about Rolf Harris, whether he is the perpetrator of a crime or not.

The point is, don't believe everything you read on social media. "Yewtree 5" might not be innocent, but he or she is until they are proven guilty.

Three people to be interviewed

In today's world of mass marketing and social media, it's important that potential journalists, advertisers and so on understand what they're in for when they begin their dream career. Here are three living people whose insights on the media would provide one with adequate information to enter the world of Strategic Communication.

Todd Sampson

As well as being an advertiser, social commentator and panelist on Australian TV programme The Gruen Transfer, Todd Sampson helped to create the "Earth Hour" campaign by simply turning off the Sydney Opera House's lights to highlight the problem of Global Warming. He is heavily involved in the media industry as a whole and is well aware of the "social media" phenomenon.

With all this insight, it would be best to not ask him about the past or the present but about tomorrow, because chances are he'll know how companies will employ people and engage with the public in the future.

Jeremy Clarkson

Yes, the host of Top Gear. A young Jeremy started his career as a journalist in the local paper before presenting a number of TV shows in Britain. Although passionate about cars, his Sunday paper columns often criticise popular culture and political figures, with many of his views being controversial (example: he once denounced Nelson Mandela, the former President of South Africa).

With Top Gear still one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the world, it would be interesting to hear where he sees the show going years from now, and if it can still be popular - even if it has adapted to the internet somewhat.

Doug Walker

Doug Walker is an American comedian, film critic and actor whose content is shown exclusively on ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com, a website which he part owns and runs. He originally posted his videos on YouTube before moving them to the individual site with his most popular show, The Nostalgia Critic, averaging about 250,000 views per week. In contrast, my blog only had three hits in the past fortnight...

So because he has videos and the like found exclusively online, Doug would know how the internet operates and how to engage with an online audience. Being apolitical, his views on the American press and how it has adapted would also be worth hearing.

Of course, these people are all very busy with their work, therefore not all will want to talk to a wannabe journalist. Instead, you'd be better off talking to someone local and their views on modern communication. How are they going to adapt in years to come?