I attended the presentation, “The Ins and Outs of PR”, given by Stephanie Manas, corporate communications specialist for Ogilvy Public Relations. She spoke about her company’s approach to communications and public relations. The focus of Ogilvy PR is on building relationships to meet client goals and transform brands. The company has been successful at drastically changing brands like Ford, whose reputation as a boring, old school automaker was swapped with a reputation as an innovative lifestyle brand.
During this presentation, I learned a lot about PR strategies and the ways a brand can be transformed. According to Ogilvy PR, the best way to prompt changes in behavior is through changes in emotion. Further, the best way to tap into someone’s emotions is through storytelling.
This concept is demonstrated by a British Petroleum (BP) PR campaign. After the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, people were not thrilled to hear that BP would be a sponsor of the US Olympic team. BP’s reputation had been destroyed. In an attempt to salvage it, BP began an ambitious PR campaign. Manas showed a BP commercial featuring Olympians telling their stories. The Olympians spoke about various obstacles and mistakes that they had to overcome in order to be successful. They said that triumphing over difficulties was what made them Olympians and that BP was the perfect sponsor for the US team because BP knew what it was like to have to start from scratch and struggle to the top in order to succeed, just like them. This commercial made me think of BP in a different way because it connected the stories of the Olympians to the story of BP, making BP look strong and courageous. As a result of this strategic PR campaign, public opinion of BP began to rise significantly.
In another commercial, Manas demonstrated the power of storytelling in Brazil. To say that Brazil’s soccer fans are die-hard fans would be an understatement. Likewise, to say that Brazil was in desperate need of organ donors would be an understatement. With a brilliant program aimed at raising the number of organ donors, paired with a legendary PR campaign, Brazil was changed for the better. The program focused on distributing organ donor applications to fans during soccer games. As a result of this, the number of Brazilian organ donors went from a record low to a record high. Yes, it was easy for fans to register to become organ donors at the soccer games they religiously attended, but they didn’t just do it because it was convenient. This is where the PR comes in. The program was framed around the idea that one fan was helping another fan, and therefore, the beloved soccer team as a whole. The concept was that fans should become organ donors so that their lungs never stopped screaming for their team and their hearts never stopped beating for their team. The campaign also featured gracious fans, happy to be cheering for their team, whose lives had been saved by organ donors. This program was successful because of the influential PR and the amazingly strong effects storytelling.
I always knew that storytelling was effective but both of the examples Manas presented showed just powerful it can be. Storytelling prompts changes in behavior through changes in emotions, just as Manas had said.
“Tell the truth but make it fascinating.” – David Ogilvy
Brazilian Soccer and Organ Donors