Commentary on an Article from PR Week, 17/09/2010

‘Tesco prepares to go green’

Tesco focus on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) credentials as they search for the right PR Company to take on the campaign. The supermarket giant heard pitches from many Pr Agencies, though have not yet made a decision as to who will front the operation. The focus on their green issues has come after last month’s appointment of Tim Mason to the role of deputy CEO, as well as the increasing scrutiny by campaigners on Tesco’s participation in forcing local shops to close down. Tim has been appointed with the specific responsibility for driving company values and climate change. Tesco have already got prominent high profile CSR movements under their belts such as the vouchers-for-schools campaign. However, it would be interesting to see how they approach their new revamped strategy of promoting their CSR credentials, especially in terms of tackling climate change.

As climate change becomes more and more of a buzz word in the modern day CSR movements, it will be a challenge to address the issue from an original perspective and one that promotes genuine concern, especially with the present chip in their brand image as facilitators of transforming city centres into ‘clone towns’. Futerra CEO Lucy Shea has stated that Tesco should aim to reduce customers own carbon footprints by 50 per cent by 2020 as well as their own.  One suggestion to reduce customer emission was through product innovation designed to actively reduce customer’s carbon footprint. However, in order to promote their green credentials it is important that they create a participatory strategy, one that encourages their audiences to engage in their campaign. This not only reduces customer emissions but also makes them aware of Tesco’s efforts just by them taking part. For instance, there are two facets to tackling climate change, changing our behaviour and introducing innovative products that reduce carbon footprint, but also educating future generations in the importance of this current issue in order to effect long term changes. In terms of the latter, Tesco can utilise their present ties with the school community by actively seeking to educate the future generations in climate change. This can be done through for example organising a kids recycling challenge, to encourage them to come up with ideas/products on how to improve recycling in their communities. The kid with the best recycling idea/products will be rewarded and the idea/product will be promoted in their community and neighbouring communities. This participative strategy not only shows their long term commitment to climate change, but it also promotes their CSR efforts through audience participation, and utilises already successful channels of communication.

If you was leading Tesco’s campaign in promoting their green credentials what kind of approach would you take and why?

‘Tesco prepares to go green’  

http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/search/1028566/Tesco-prepares-go-green/

Dailly Newspaper Review, Week Two: Daily Mail

Monday, 20/09/10

Front Page

Nick Clegg launches a bid to crackdown on tax evasions by the middle class earners. The Deputy Prime minister proposes new intrusive tax investigations, as well as cuts in benefits such as winter pay, child benefit and free bus passes.

Political News

Tories deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft announces his departure after his attack on the Prime Minister David Cameron’s failure to secure a ‘thumping majority’ in the elections. Ashcroft held the position as chairman since 2005, and has donated £15 million to the Tory party over the years.

Business News

The London Stock Exchange launches a bid to replace its chairman Chris Gibson-Smith, who is to step down when his contract expires in 2012. The LSE have enlisted the help of City recruitment firm MWM Consulting in their succession planning.

Tuesday, 21/09/10

Front Page

Mortgage lending has plunged to a ten year low as well as loans to small firms decline successively for the past six months. The banks are now being urged to increase their lending or face swingeing new taxes, as around 500 small businesses collapse every week due to the difficulty in accessing funds to operate.

Political News

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne supports plans to increase green taxes by £22billion. The move will see 10 percent of all Government revenue come from green taxes during the next five years, and could result in soaring petrol prices.

Business News

The controversial Chief Executive of the Lloyd’s Banking Group Eric Daniels announces his retirement, which is to take place in a years’ time. The race for a candidate to succeed Daniels position begins, with Helen Weir the head of retail banking being the leading internal candidate for the £1million a year post.

Wednesday, 22/09/10

Front Page

The widow of the television comedian Les Dawson faces investigations for an alleged five figure benefits fraud. Tracy Dawson was interviewed along with her partner John Chadwick over claims that they failed to inform the Department for Work and Pensions that they were living together; the widower denies any claims of benefit fraud.

Political News

Vince Cable the Liberal Democrat Business Secretary will launch a government inquiry into corporate activities in a bid to curb the excessive behaviour of ‘fat cat’ company directors and extreme capitalism. The inquiry will enable shareholders to rein in executive pays and reduce hostile takeovers.

Business News

Researchers have confirmed as many as 60 small businesses will collapse every day as a result of the crippling effect of the recession and the frail economic recovery. Many businesses are blaming their failure on the reluctance of banks lending money; it is predicted 60,000 businesses will disappear between 2010 and 2012.

Thursday, 23/09/10

Front Page

Anti-social behaviour has increased in the streets of Britain as more and more police officers are taken off the beat. Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Denis O’Connor has admitted that the basic task of maintaining public peace has taken a back seat due to police officers concentrating on meeting targets for actual crimes.

Political News

Nick Clegg has launched a bid to defend foreign aid bill through committing Britain to increase their overseas spending by law. The Deputy Prime Minister declares that Britain would spend 0.7 per cent of its total income on foreign aid by 2013.

Business News

HSBC issues a statement in defence of chief executive Mike Geoghegan following reports that the CEO threatened to resign if he was not chosen to succeed Stephan Green as the new chairman. Insiders describe the race for the investment bank’s appointment of a new chairman as ‘high politics of the huge beasts of the corporate world’.

Friday, 24/09/10

Front Page

It has emerged that council tax spies have logged intrusive information on 25million homes under the Labour Government. The Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has vowed to protect public privacy by scaling back the right for tax inspectors to enter and assess properties.

Political News

Nick Clegg is to voice his guarded condemnation of the Iraq war. The deputy prime minister blames the war for damaging UK reputation on the world stage, and pledges to restore UK’s international standing through a more ‘liberal’ foreign policy.

Business News

HSBC prepares the departure of chief executive Mike Geoghegan and the appointment of Finance Director Douglas Flint as the new Chairman. The sudden double-appointment follows weeks of undignified disputes within the investment bank’s board to replace Chairman Stephen Green.

Random Thought of the Week

Sitting silently during training, pen in hand and ready to grasp every word of the pearls of ‘PR wisdom’ being showered upon us, in the case if any should slip away due to neglect from a very long and tiring day, a statement made by my trainer gives rise to a light bulb reaction in my head. Whilst describing various newspapers and their significance with different audiences and ideologies, he mentions the Guardian newspaper, and its popularity amongst the academia. I smile silently; it was uncanny how accurate his prescription of each print media to different audiences was. During my university studies, I recall the Guardian newspaper as being the bible to many of the lecturers, and as such the students were equally encouraged to supplement their current affairs knowledge with their specified ‘holy grail’ for worldly information. This exemplifies the importance in recognising the correct medium of communication, in order to enable efficient dissemination of information targeted to specific audiences. Lesson learned.

Daily Newspaper Review, Week One: The Sun

Tuesday, 14/09/10

Front Page
Lady Gaga sparks controversy by donning an outfit fashioned out of raw meat to collect her one of 8 gongs at the MTV Video Music Awards. The publicity stunt was pulled to apparently protest against the US military ‘Don’ Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy restricting gay individuals to discuss their sexuality; though, animal welfare groups did not appreciate Gaga’s attempt at voicing her human rights concerns.

Political News
Government spending cuts initiate unrest with union bosses threatening to take ‘co-ordinated action’. The prospect of huge job losses cause TUC boss Brendan Barber to brand the coalition government as a ‘demolition government’, seeing the reputation of the approval of the coalition plunder to its lowest since May elections.

Business News
The Basel III reforms drawn up to crack down on how banks lend money were voted through late on Sunday. Regulators have declared banks now have to increase their cash reserves by seven per cent compared to the current two per cent, which means millions of Brits are faced with increasingly higher overdraft, credit card and mortgage costs in a bid to recover the cost increase in banks’ business operations due to the new reforms.

Wednesday, 15/09/10

Front Page
It’s a case of ‘oops I did it again’, as George Michael grabs today’s front page headlines for crashing his Range Rover into a shop under the influence of cannabis. The star is sentenced to eight weeks in Pentonville prison, for not heeding prior warnings on many similar occasions as District Judge John Perkins declares.

Political News
The French where on full alert as the Eiffel tower is evacuated amidst a bomb scare, with 25,000 people evacuating the area around the famous landmark. Al-Qaeda issue warnings of destruction, protesting against the French legislation on the ban on full-face veils, which is to commence next spring.

Business News
Watchdog report the increase in complaints made about banks, a staggering 460 per day. Lloyds were owners of over a quarter of the 84,212 complaints made about banks and insurers, which exemplifies many firm’s lack of effective complaints handling as consumer focus watchdog chief Mike O’Connor comments.

Thursday, 16/09/10

Front Page
George Michael graces the front pages of The Sun on a consecutive day as he sobs amongst paedophiles and rapist in the Vulnerable Prisoners unit at Pentonville prison. The inmates welcomed the star to a chorus of taunts and jibes, reducing him to tears, causing the prison to prescribe drugs to help the star sleep.

Political News
Consultants where paid extortionate amount of money to do labour minister’s jobs, as much as £2,500 a day was paid out to these ‘fat cat’ consultants by the government ministers. A total of £1.8billion pound was spent on external advisors during the Labour government, with Department for Culture, Media and Sport being the worst culprit, spending £1.2million in 2007-08.

Business News
The soaring price of cotton sees the inflation in clothing price, as chief executive of Next Simon Wolfson predicts it could hit five to eight per cent rise during the course of next year. Of those, young mothers will bear the brunt of this with kids clothing having the highest cotton content, thus, a 10% price rise in kids clothing is forecasted. 

Friday, 17/09/10
 

Front Page

George Michael is desperate to reduce his time spent with his tormentors at the Vulnerable Prisoners Unit, as his aids launch a legal bid to lower the prison sentence on the grounds that the current eight weeks is too ‘excessive’. Michael’s lawyers have declared that the star is to be let out on bail whilst the appeal takes place.

  
Political News

Union bosses unite in a bid to prevent David Miliband becoming the leader of the Labour party. The unions GMB, Unite, Unison and CWU strategically agree to vote either David’s brother Ed or ex-Schools Secretary Ed Balls as they are the only two people who have enough backing to prevent David from taking Labour leadership.

Business News

The biggest dairy provider reports huge profit warnings, as price wars drive down the profit margins by 7million than expected. The profits warning have resulted in National Farmers Union to brand milk as the next ‘lager’ due to supermarket’s use as a loss leader in luring customers in.
 

The Beginning

I have started a 10-week PR/corporate communication internship at Brunswick (exciting times), and during this programme I will be taking you through my journey of the PR world, by commenting on articles on ‘PR week’, as well as keeping abreast of the daily news using various newspapers.

So tie up your shoelaces and lets begin our journey!

Commentary on an Article from PR Week, 13/09/09

‘Blair cancels London book signing after security fears’

The first article that has caught my attention is the furore around Tony Blair’s book launch, partly because it is the Taj Mahal of all PR jobs and partly because two weeks prior I had watched a programme on one of Tony Blair’s first ever interviews after his step-down. It is an interesting watch, especially in terms of how the former PM handled the questions from a PR’s perspective. Although the interview is very open, and at first glance you raise an appreciative brow at Tony Blair’s attempts to openly discuss difficult topics on national TV, delving further it would emerge that ultimately he did not really answer Andrew Marr’s key questions; reinforcing his exceptional ability in dodging spitting flames, (maybe he could do Cameron’s PR if Coulson should step down-just a suggestion). Have a watch if you have the time, 'Tony Blair interview with Andrew Marr'.

Possibly the interview is a PR feat to gradually ease Blair into the public eye before the book launch, dipping your toes into a hot bath tub before jumping in. If that was the case, it appears it would have failed its purpose as demonstrated by the unrest at Dublin book signing, and the cancellation of the London book launch amidst security fears. The former PM states the cancellation was, ‘to avoid the inconvenience to the public it would have caused’, or more so to reduce the chips being hammered into his reputation-ok bulldozing in Blair’s case. Nevertheless, the cancellation was a good move, it is widely excepted that Tony Blair has fallen out with the people, but to create a situation to ‘air your dirty laundry’ would not be a wise move. Moreover, although it would have been the culmination to the PR drive in promoting Blair’s memoir, the shoe throwing in Dublin followed by the cancellation of the London book signing still did the job in headline grabbing media coverage. So it would seem Tony Blair did not do so badly by his book as I had expected, oh he is a slippery fellow isn’t he!

What do you think-is the furore around Tony Blair’s book launch a good thing or a bad thing? And how would you rate the PR drive around it?

'Blair cancels London book signing after security fears’   

http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/search/1027130/Hit-Miss/ 

'Tony Blair interview with Andrew Marr'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tn4f