Chapter
13
Public Relations and Sponsorship
Programs
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Public Relations Functions
The main public relations functions, as noted in Figure 13.1 are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Identify internal and external stakeholders
Assess corporate reputation
Audit corporate social responsibility
Create positive, image-building activities
Prevent or reduce image damage
Identifying Stakeholders
A stakeholder is a person or group which that has a vested interest in the organization’s well being. A list of stakeholders is provided in Figure 13.2.
Internal Stakeholders
The primary internal stakeholders are the employees of the organization, unions, and corporate
shareholders. Most of the time, the public relations department can access internal
stakeholders fairly easily.
Public relations people should work carefully with those in the human resource (HR) office to
make sure the right kinds of people are being hired and that the reward system emphasizes the
IMC theme of the company.
External Stakeholders
The external stakeholders that company leaders encounter include:
 Channel members, including wholesalers and retailers, have a direct effect on the
success of a firm
 Customers who may be strongly influenced by promotional campaigns
 The media
 The local community
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

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The financial community
The government
Special-interest groups
The marketing department tends to create contact points with customers and potential
customers. To complement this effort, the public relations department deals with the myriad
contact points that are not created or planned, yet are just as critical to the IMC effort.
Creating Positive Image-Building Activities
Figure 13.3 list both image-destroying and image-building activities.
Image-building activities include:
 Empowerment of employees
 Charitable contributions
 Sponsoring local events
 Selling environmentally safe products
 Outplacement programs for displaced employees
 Support of community events
Cause-Related Marketing
Cause-related marketing ties a marketing program in with some type of charity in order to
generate goodwill. It can help a firm develop a stronger market presence when brand parity is
present.
The cause should result in a tangible benefit to the company and be a good match for the
company based on the industry it is in.
Benefits of cause-related marketing include:
 Additional customers
 Increased profits
 Consumer goodwill for the future
 Better relations with governmental agencies
 Reduced chances of facing lawsuits
Promoting a cause-related program is tricky. You cannot overemphasize the charity but do
need to make sure various publics know of the company's involvement in the program.
Figure 13.4 notes some of the causes consumer prefer.
Green Marketing
Green marketing is the development and promotion of products that are environmentally safe.
To be successful, firms must produce the same level of quality in green marketing products as
non-environmentally safe products, and it must be at relatively the same price.
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U.S. Consumers can be divided into the five groups shown in Figure 13.5, regarding green
marketing efforts:
 true blue greens
 greenback greens
 sprouts
 grousers
 basic browns
Many companies are environmentally concerned. Each will choose the level to which they
want to promote environmentally conscious efforts.
Preventing or Reducing Image Damage
Damage control is the defense of an organization’s image when something negative, such as
bad publicity, occurs. It includes both reactive and proactive approaches.
Image destroying activities include:
 Discrimination
 Harassment
 Pollution
 Misleading communications
 Deceptive communications
 Offensive communications
Proactive Strategies
Proactive strategies include entitlings and enhancements.
Entitlings are attempts to claim responsibility for positive outcomes of events. Lance
Armstrong's wins of the Tour de France is an entitling effort by the U.S. Postal Service.
Enhancements are attempts to increase the desirable outcome of an event in the eyes of the
public. The text notes fat-free products as enhancements. Another example is a low-carb
product.
Reactive Damage Control Strategies
A list of proactive and reactive damage-control strategies is provided in Figure 13.6.
Internet interventions are designed to combat negative word of mouth being spread over the
Internet. Company members must monitor the Internet to see what is being said and respond
when something false and/or negative appears.
Crisis management involves either accepting the blame and offering an apology or refuting the
charges in a forceful manner.
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An apology strategy has five elements, as shown in Figure 13.7.
1. An expression of guilt, embarrassment, or regret.
2. A statement recognizing the appropriate behavior and acceptance of sanctions.
3. A rejection of the inappropriate behavior.
4. Approval of the appropriate behavior with the promise not to violate again.
5. An offer of compensation or penance.
Impression management is the attempt to control images that are projected in social
interactions. Tactics for responding to negative publicity include:
 Expressions of innocence (we didn’t do this—someone else caused it)
 Excuses (out of our control)
 Justifications (logic reduces the degree of negativity)
 Other explanations (problem wasn’t represented fairly)
Sponsorship Marketing
Sponsorship marketing means that the company pays money to sponsor someone or some
group that is participating in an activity. In recent years, it has included sports stadiums.
Sponsorship Objectives
Sponsorships are used to accomplish many different objectives for organizations. For
example, sponsorships can:
 Enhance a company’s image
 Increase the firm’s visibility
 Differentiate a company from its competitors
 Showcase specific goods and services
 Help the firm develop closer relationships with current and prospective customers
 Sell excess inventory
To achieve the maximum impact for the sponsorship, the message should be combined with
other advertising and promotional efforts. When conducting a sponsorship program, the
marketing team should try to incorporate other trade and consumer promotions.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1.
Describe the role of the public relations department. How is it related to the
marketing department? Should both departments be called the Department of
Communications? Why or why not?
The role of the public relations department is to manage items such as publicity and
other communications with all of the groups who make contact with the company. It is
related to the marketing department because they provide some of the same functions
as the marketing department. The marketing department and the PR department may
be combined and called the Department of Communications. The Department of
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Communications would oversee both public relations and marketing activities
although making sure that each sends a uniform company message or theme.
2.
What is a stakeholder?
A stakeholder is a person or group that has a vested interest in the organization’s well being. Stakeholders are both internal and external publics.
3.
Name the major internal stakeholders in organizations. Describe their interests
in the company.
The major internal stakeholders in organizations are employees, unions, and
shareholders. Employees have an interest in the organization in terms of pay, working
conditions, and job security. Unions have the same basic interests. Shareholders have
an interest in the company because they are seeking dividends and growth of share
value.
4.
Name the major external stakeholders in organizations. Describe their major
interest in the company of each one.
The major external stakeholders in organizations are channel members, customers, the
local community, the financial community, government, and special-interest groups.
Channel members, including wholesalers and retailers, have an interest in a company’s
success because they are reliant on it for business. Customers have an interest in the
company because they prefer the products and want a continuing supply. The local
community receives tax revenues and the company provides jobs for residents. The
financial community receives loan payments. Government and special-interest groups
have interests in the way the company pays tax revenues and relates to ethical issues,
respectively.
5.
What is social responsibility? How is it related to public relations activities?
Social responsibility is the obligation an organization has to be ethical, accountable,
and reactive to the needs of society. The public relations office should be certain that
internal publics know about the company's socially responsible activities and also
inform external publics of those activities.
6.
What is cause-related marketing? How can company leaders create effective
cause-related marketing programs?
Cause-related marketing ties a marketing program in with some type of charity in
order to generate goodwill. The key is to support causes that are related to the
company's main business. It is best to avoid controversial causes in most instances.
Then, the marketing and publicity teams will try to promote the link to the cause
without making it seem like the firm is simply taking advantage of the cause to
promote products.
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7.
What is green marketing? How do different companies promote environmentally
friendly activities?
Green marketing is the development and promotion of products that are
environmentally safe. To be successful, firms must produce the same level of quality
in green marketing products as non-environmentally safe products, and it must be at
relatively the same price.
Some companies actively promote that fact that they are green, others promote the
product first and then mention that the product is also environmentally friendly, and
others still downplay the things that they do on behalf of the environment due to the
fear that it may hurt sales to promote green activities.
8.
What four forms of impression management are available to the public relations
team?
Impression management is the attempt to control images that are projected in social
interactions. Tactics for responding to negative publicity include:
 Expressions of innocence (we didn’t do this—someone else caused it)
 Excuses (out of our control)
 Justifications (logic reduces the degree of negativity)
 Other explanations (problem wasn’t represented fairly)
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