Examples of PR companies for small businesses in the modern business world. Curious mistakes of global brands in PR campaigns Common techniques of black PR in politics

One mistake can greatly damage a company's reputation - especially if you do not admit guilt in time and do not reassure customers. “The Secret” selected a number of failed cases of well-known Russian and foreign companies and asked experts to explain what mistakes their PR specialists made and how unpleasant consequences could have been avoided.

Sberbank and cyber theft

Photo: Actionpress/TASS

In August of this year, an open letter from journalist Ekaterina Vlasova to German Gref appeared in an industry publication under the headline: “90,000 rubles were stolen from a Sberbank client from a credit card, and the bank does not want to look into it.” It reported that in May 2015, the journalist’s mother had 15,000 rubles written off her credit card six times. The bank promised to provide “comprehensive assistance to the investigative authorities,” but attributed the stolen amount to the client’s credit debt. A criminal case was never opened. Vlasova asked Gref to take personal control of the situation. It worked. Within ten minutes after publication, an official response came from the president of the bank with a promise to sort it out. Two weeks later, the loan was canceled and the debt was written off. But the press service of Sberbank demanded that the title of the letter be changed: they claimed that it was no longer true because the results of the investigation were sent to the client.

Judging by the comments of other bank clients who encountered problems, such an outcome is an exception to the rule. In the summer of 2015, information appeared that attackers managed to transfer money to their accounts from almost 100,000 Sberbank clients whose cards were linked to phone numbers or to the bank’s mobile application on the Android platform. The bank denied this information and even tried to accuse the media of misinformation, although by that time many complaints about cyber thefts had already appeared on the Internet.

Inna Alekseeva General Director of PR agency PR Partner

Banks and large companies in other areas have an anti-crisis response folder for such cases. But, judging by the steps of Sberbank’s PR people, they don’t have it. In the anti-crisis response folder, the main possible problems associated with the business, clients, partners, and the reaction to them are thought out and spelled out. For many, Gref personifies the market changes that are taking place within this huge state financial structure, which is why people write and will continue to write to him. The press service should think about how to create the image of an open and reasonable team aimed at results, otherwise it turns out that the image of the top contradicts the soviet image that (one would like to believe - inadvertently) they form. Usually, in such cases, the press service needs to work together with the customer service department and the call center: in general, internships in these departments will only benefit any PR specialist, they will help to better feel the needs of different clients, and not fly in the clouds of releases and comments.

When I worked as an internal PR specialist in one of the assets of Societe Generale, the crisis response folder not only existed, but was also regularly played at trainings for both PR specialists and top managers. The same applied to standards for responding to clients using social networks and the media. For Western communication agencies, media training and the development of communication standards and policies are perhaps the first step when working with clients. But, according to our internal assessment, in Russia so far no more than 10% of large companies have similar standards and folders.

Aeroflot and Field of Miracles

Photo: Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

In April 2013 appeared a video in which the presenter of “Field of Miracles” Leonid Yakubovich scolds Aeroflot for delaying the Ho Chi Minh City - Moscow flight. In the video, he calls the airline representative a “fat-assed lady” and the company itself a “scum” that allows itself a “bestial attitude” towards customers. Yakubovich claimed that passengers were kept in the waiting room for several hours without explanation and were not provided with the drinks required in such cases. According to the comments under the video, vouchers for food and drinks were offered to passengers only after the TV presenter’s speech - 10 minutes before the announcement of boarding.

Aeroflot did not ignore the conflict and published a statement in which they explained the reasons for the delay, and called Yakubovich’s behavior boorish. According to airline representatives, employees acted in accordance with all rules. This was later confirmed by the transport prosecutor's office. However, many of the company's clients preferred to believe the TV presenter rather than the investigation.

Lada Shcherbakova PR consultant

Let's proceed from the fact that we don't know how everything really happened there: either Aeroflot really didn't care about passengers, or Yakubovich had an attack of star fever. If this is scenario No. 1 and Aeroflot behaved incorrectly, then the fault of the press service is primarily that they did not teach their colleagues how to act if there is a star on board and the flight has force majeure. All service companies that may encounter a similar situation should have these types of instructions. A star is always an additional communication risk due to its fame, and it’s difficult not to recognize Yakubovich, especially since the ticket purchase is recorded in the database. Then we had to follow the classic anti-crisis campaign: we learned about the problem, we control the situation, we will definitely look into it, find out, correct it, punish it. With an open visor and a transparent process.

There is scenario No. 2 - “The Presuming Star”. Let’s say that Aeroflot did everything according to the instructions, but Mr. Yakubovich was not happy with this and the whole fuss flared up because of his bad mood. Of course, we had to talk to him separately, maybe pour a glass of cognac so he wouldn’t get nervous (again, back to the instructions “How to work on board with a star”). But if everything continued according to the scenario “I want to fly away, do what you want, otherwise I will now call you an obscene word all over the country,” then the reaction of the press service was absolutely adequate. They published a post, outlined their vision of the situation, conducted an investigation, and announced the results. Calm and dignified reaction. Don’t make excuses if you’re not to blame is one of the key principles of anti-crisis communications. And if you are guilty, solve the problem, ask for forgiveness and thank you for the opportunity to do everything much better from now on.

You could strengthen your position and initiate some kind of educational campaign in the media for passengers: tell why flight delays happen, how dangerous it is to rush to take off without understanding what happened, how difficult it is to work under pressure, what the airline is obliged to do in such cases, what passengers may require. And at the same time, conduct a training for staff on “How to calm and appease a star.” But under no circumstances should we continue to discuss the topic of a presumptuous star in the public sphere. A star is a dangerous rival, and even if she is wrong, she has a strong trump card - for example, Field of Miracles has more viewers than Aeroflot has loyal passengers. But still, in my opinion, the airline’s reputation suffered less than the reputation of Mr. Yakubovich.

Ashley Madison and personal data leak

In August 2015, hackers hacked the adultery service Ashley Madison and exposed the personal data of 32 million people, including many famous personalities. At first, the hackers published only part of the information and were ready to stop leaking if the owners closed the site. But, apparently, the parties could not agree. The service's reputation was greatly damaged, and its CEO and co-founder Noel Biederman left the company.

Masha Drokova Founder of a PR studio

Scandals involving the loss of user data are becoming increasingly common, and the disclosure of personal information can become a big problem. The tragedy of Ashley Madison is that not only did the company nearly go out of business, but several people committed suicide after their details were published. Therefore, I would like companies to first of all struggle with the causes of leaks, and not think about how to protect their reputation. But if this does happen, there are several steps.

Firstly, you need to react immediately and proactively: not when several media outlets have already written about it, but exactly at the moment when it became known. It is better to notify users yourself and not hide anything, telling in detail what actually happened. This will help avoid speculation and an additional wave of negativity towards the company. Secondly, you need to tell what measures the company is taking to avoid consequences and similar mistakes in the future. Naturally, when a company has obligations to users, in particular regarding the protection of personal data, and violates them, it needs to apologize for this. But the main mistakes are still untimely communication and the fact that companies often begin to dodge, trying to hide the truth, and pretend that nothing happened. And these are precisely the reasons why the situation with user trust is worsening: they understand that they may not be told what really happened. And third: if any preventive measures can be taken in this situation, they need to be taken. Let's say, if it became known that the information of 20 million users was stolen, but the data of 120 million users can be protected, then the most important thing is to take action and tell in detail what exactly the company is doing to avoid a second leak. That is, in such a situation, the main thing is transparent, detailed, timely and honest communication.

Lululemon and fat shaming

Photo: Lululemon

Sometimes manual control can be a good way to turn a mistake into a PR campaign and get out of an unpleasant situation. But it also happens the other way around - an inadequate reaction from the company’s top person can only aggravate an already crisis situation. In March 2013, one of the most famous yoga clothing manufacturers, Lululemon, released a batch of black leggings that were not tight enough and were see-through. The company immediately received many complaints from customers, the batch was recalled, explaining everything as a manufacturing defect, and the produced leggings were sold at discounts. Lululemon shares fell almost 20%, but after some time the incident was forgotten.

The real scandal broke out six months later, when the company's founder, Chip Wilson, explained on Bloomberg TV what, in his opinion, happened to the leggings. In his opinion, they were suitable only for slender women: “Such pants are not for everyone. The problem is not the material, but the fact that some women’s thighs rub more against the fabric.” Wilson was accused of being unethical, and the next day the Lululemon founder had to release video message. In the video, Wilson apologized, not so much to consumers, but to his employees, who had to "deal with the unpleasant consequences of his actions." The public was not happy. The scandal was covered in the world's media, the company's sales plummeted, and Wilson eventually resigned from his post.

In this case, we see poor preparation of the speaker on the part of the PR people - it is unacceptable for the head of the company to position products in such a way. The entire Lululemon case shows that mandatory speaker preparation makes the job much easier. Employees and top officials need to be explained in advance how they can and cannot respond to questions. What should you do first? A response plan is needed - it should include which employees have the right to comment on the situation and in what context, as well as prepare the official position of the company and choose an active or passive approach in communication.

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2. Tesla accidents

Sometimes new technological solutions become available to consumers, although they are not yet perfect. For example, the autopilot function in the Tesla Model S. Most car owners consider it as a great advantage that helps to drive the car, reducing fatigue and stress. But, unfortunately, this functionality did not turn out to be 100% reliable.

In early May, a Florida driver died while his Tesla was being driven by Autopilot. One of the main versions of the accident is that the autopilot was unable to recognize the white truck against the clear sky. The Tesla crashed into the back of the truck at full speed and killed its owner.

This story caused a huge scandal, which jeopardized not only the reputation and business of Tesla, but also the future of the driverless car in general.

Horrible photographs of a mangled car appeared, the company was asked to disable the autopilot function and change the name to a more appropriate one, since in fact the current “autopilot” does not allow the possibility of autonomous driving without human control. But Tesla refused. In September, a new fatal incident surfaced - another Tesla driver died in China. True, history is silent about whether the autopilot function was turned on while driving.

In its comments, the company took the position that people get into fatal accidents all the time, while autopilot provides huge advantages, including in terms of safety. This position split public opinion - many shared it, but many also condemned the rather callous statements of Tesla founder Elon Musk and his somewhat dismissive attitude towards the dead drivers.

If, due to the fault of the company, an accident occurs in which people were injured, then it is always better to take the side of the victims, expressing sympathy for them and their loved ones. The public can forgive any mistakes, but not callousness and neglect of people for the sake of financial well-being.

3. Google Anti-Semitism

Other technologies developed to make our lives better do not always serve the good. More and more bewilderment is caused by the fact that search engines, adapting to a person, show him only the information that, in their opinion, interests him. Globally, this leads to the fact that a person either “cooks” in his own juice - his information field is limited by the parameters set by the user himself, or someone else’s interests are imposed on him.

On the one hand, search engines pride themselves on their seemingly “independent” algorithms. But on the other hand, if they contribute to the development of racism and incitement of ethnic hatred, then their creators should be held accountable for this.

In early December, reports appeared online that Google was promoting anti-Semitism by offering users the auto-suggest “evil” for the word “Jews” in the search bar.

Within a few hours of receiving the complaint, this and other negative suggesters were manually removed.

A representative commented:

“Search results show the content that is on the Internet. This means that sometimes something not so pleasant may appear in the search results. Hints are generated automatically, based on search queries and user interests. They search for a lot of things on the Internet and the queries are constantly updated - 15% of new search queries appear every day. Because of this, unexpected results can sometimes appear. We do everything we can to prevent things like porn and hate speech. But we recognize that autosuggesting is not an exact science, and we are constantly working to improve the algorithms.”

However, Google responded to only part of the complaints received by the public. The service removed some of the auto-suggestions, but the popular queries displayed at the bottom of the page remained the same. And the company did not comment on this matter.

Despite publications in a number of major media outlets, the scandal quickly subsided, and generally went unnoticed by Russian and Israeli publications and social networks.

By the way, not only Jews can complain about Google. The search engine also offers similar auto-suggestions for the words “women” and “Muslims”. And this is not the first case - in May 2015, a scandal erupted due to the fact that the White House was displayed when searching for “black house” in Google Maps, and in July 2015 it was discovered that photographs of two black teenagers were tagged in the system with the word "gorilla".

You should always respond promptly to user complaints, especially if they appear in the public space and begin to be replicated. Even if you only partially satisfy the claim, the incident can be localized and the unwanted hype will quickly fade away.

4. Yandex political maps

The geopolitical problem caused a big scandal for another search engine - the company. True, in this case the troubles did not affect the company’s main service, but Yandex.Taxi and Yandex.Maps.

Of course, in regions with an unstable political situation and ambiguous border status, it is impossible to take a position that will suit all parties. But maybe, if the problems are predictable, you shouldn’t plunge headlong into the fire? And if a company in such a situation does not see a potential threat, this is a failure of all failures.

In August, Yandex entered the Georgian market. The problems started literally from the first days. But the scandal began to unfold in early September when hooligans beat up a Yandex.Taxi driver who was driving a Tesla electric car, allegedly because he worked for a Russian company. But there are quite a few companies from Russia operating in Georgia - what was Yandex guilty of?

As it turned out, the main problem was that on Yandex.Maps the territory of Georgia does not include Abkhazia and South Ossetia; they are indicated as independent states.

The Georgian public expressed a protest against the company, launched at the instigation of the famous blogger Georgiy Dzhakhai; a wave appeared on the Internet with the hashtag #SayNoToYandexTaxi. Yandex made concessions - Abkhazia and South Ossetia began to be displayed as part of Georgia, but only for users from Georgia itself, Ukraine, Turkey and Israel.

The Yandex representative in Georgia also seemed to side with the protesters, as in his comments he stated: “I also believe that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are part of Georgia.”

Discontent was gaining momentum, and the Yandex representative office in Georgia turned to one of the most reputable law firms to protect its rights and was refused (in support of the protest). It got to the point that the Georgian government, which allowed the Russian company to operate in the country, promised to re-review the documentation of Yandex.Taxi and Yandex.Maps and take the necessary measures.

When entering new markets, you need to take into account the mentality of the population, traditions and pain points of the country. If there is a conflict, you need to think through possible scenarios for the development of the situation in advance and develop a behavior strategy for each case. It is necessary to develop a clear position of the company and broadcast it at all levels.

5. Day of the Disabled at Sberbank

Companies get into trouble not only because of geopolitics, race or gender. Some people are too straightforward when working out the event calendar. A striking illustration of this was the Sberbank campaign for Disabled Persons Day. Of course, positive transformations are obvious at Sberbank. Gref strives to keep pace with progress, paying significant attention to technology, but what happened on Disability Day?

On December 2, German Gref showed up at one of the Sberbank offices wearing an expensive suit simulating a disability. Such suits are widely used in medical schools to study diseases and also serve to test the accessibility of the environment.

Gref walked on his own two feet to the operator in order to get a loan for a wheelchair. And in conclusion, I noticed that Sberbank still needs to work on being more friendly towards people with disabilities, since during the process of applying for a loan, he saw and heard almost nothing.

It is difficult to find such a straightforward approach to working out an “event.” Wearing a disabled person's costume on Disability Day is like organizing a patriotic Moscow-Berlin tank rally on Victory Day. This is if we talk about form. But the content here is also suitable: a loan for a wheelchair for the Day of the Disabled, a loan for milk on Children’s Day, a loan for books on Knowledge Day. I wonder what the loan will be offered for on Police Day?

Event PR is an effective tool for any company. Thanks to well-thought-out activity, you can strengthen your reputation among current and future clients, as well as gain additional coverage through publications in the media. But when developing such an event, you need to carefully study both the event itself and the audience that is involved in it. Your activity should evoke only positive emotions (unless, of course, you are betting on a scandal).

Currently, PR campaigns have become an integral part of the marketing program of any organization.

However, even the largest brands make mistakes when promoting their brand.

Vivid examples of unsuccessful PR campaigns of famous brands

“I would check it out” - an unsuccessful slogan of McDonald's

In early January 2005, McDonald's launched an incomprehensible banner ad where a guy looked at a burger, and then the words “Double Cheeseburger? I would check it out." Due to the unnecessary sexual overtones, the banner, intended for a youth audience, became vulgar and completely unacceptable.

New Coke

Failed PR Campaign conducted by New Coke in 1985 was a failed attempt to compete with Pepsi. Customers felt that the new formula was tasteless and too sweet. After losing this campaign, Coca-Cola decided to return the unique taste to the drink. However, this campaign, as buyers said, was necessary only so that the company had time to replace cane sugar with fructose syrup.

Microsoft Blue Screen

At a press conference dedicated to the release of the preliminary release - Windows 98, the OS demonstrated the so-called "blue screen of death". Bill Gates justified himself by saying, "That's why it's called a pre-release."

Butcher Beatles cover

On June 14, 1966, the famous four shocked America by presenting the cover of their album - "Yesterday and Today". At first, Capitol Records tried to recall the album and eliminate it, but then a second cover was released, which was pasted on top of the previous one. McCartney and Lennon regarded it as a joke, although Harrison showed his displeasure by saying that it was nasty and unwise to begin with.

As a result, this album became the only Beatles album without profit. Although the reason was probably not only the cover, but also the fact that this collection is just a compilation with no new material.

Ford Edsel

The Edsel Auto was released in 1957. The new product was positioned as a “sophisticated car,” although buyers did not like it. To this day, they continue to find out what exactly was the prerequisite for the failure. Production of the car was discontinued on November 19, 1959.

DC vs AC

In 1880, Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse became bitter rivals. The bone of contention was the method of delivering electricity to the buildings of ordinary Americans. Westinghouse liked the method created by Nikola Tesla, that is, alternating current, designated "AC". Edison preferred the direct current method, called “DC”. Edison conducted an unsuccessful PR campaign, thanks to which he wanted to intimidate users and force them to use DC. At this time, a couple of articles were published about how animals were killed by AC current discharges.

Despite this, Edison lost the information war.

PR people and marketers are becoming more inventive and creative every year. Direct proof of this is PR campaigns that not only attract the attention of the audience, but excite it, making it experience at least curiosity, and at most love or hate. And which PR masterpieces, according to our experts, were worthy of attention in the past year?

Taufik Khasimov CEO of Khisam Communications

I would highlight the summer launch of the Chinese online store Jd.com, which delighted Russian customers with low prices for branded gadgets. The basis of the information campaign was a message about low prices for top smartphones from well-known manufacturers, followed by the signing of a cooperation contract with Russian Post, and at the end of the year, Black Friday promotions. Advanced users immediately picked up the trend: to take advantage of the promotion, they registered wives, children and even neighbors; a few hours after the launch, the website of the Chinese store crashed. Despite the failure and periodic technical problems with the site, the information effect was achieved.

Next we could mention the PR campaign that accompanied the entry of the mobile operator Tele2 into the Moscow region. Every child watched the advertisement with the tempting slogan “Stop overpaying for mobile communications.” Vivid videos, and most importantly, a timely message, attracted people’s attention, which could easily be observed at card sales points with long queues. Television, outdoor advertising, information in the media and the Internet have attracted large masses of users, which was confirmed by a measurement of Russians’ trust in telecommunications segment brands carried out in December 2015 by the Center for the Study of Mass Consciousness (CIMES). Operator Tele2 entered the top three, gaining 17.3% and overtaking Beeline by 0.4%.

For dessert, we can recall the provocative PR campaign of the new Wileyfox smartphone brand from the Meridian Group, aimed at active youth. The main slogans of the campaign were the provocative phrases “fox me”, “what foxy”, “let’s foxy”. A creative approach, competent broadcasting of messages, as well as the absence of the product on the shelves ensured the attention of first the advanced audience, and then ordinary users.

Ekaterina MagranovaPR Director of the DEFA group of companies (DEFA, Plenum, Dr.JUNG)

Since the format does not allow me to talk about all the interesting promotions, I will limit myself to the three closest to me personally.

1. The LAB Experiment

The story of how a small Australian clothing chain, Best&Less, decided to debunk the myth that only high prices and famous brands can make you stylish. The guys from Best&Less are sure that fashion should be accessible to everyone and there is no need to pay a lot of money for expensive labels. Research has shown that their target audience does not perceive Best&Less clothing as something fashionable and worthwhile. The campaign was aimed at a wide audience: women from 25 to 64 years old. Best&Less resorted to a little trick - they opened a boutique with inflated prices under the invented LAB brand. Buyers found out the real cost of the item and the brand itself only when leaving the store.

I'm sure the buyers felt embarrassed when they found out the true cost, because they were willing to pay much more. On the other hand, how else can we break stereotypes if not in these ways? In my opinion, this is a perfect example. I can easily imagine a similar experiment in other areas. If you believe my colleagues, then after the sales campaign for the Best&Less brand everything became OK, which I readily believe.

2. Machine of Positivity

Project by the Russian agency Dr.JUNG for the KIA brand. In recent months, people have been bombarded with so much negative information that such “good” communications cannot but attract attention. KIA, together with the agency, decided to remind people how pleasant and simple it is to give gifts for no reason.

In order to support the KIA brand, the “Positive Machine” project was launched under the motto “Smile, country!” and the website mashinapositiva.ru.

By clicking on the “Give Positive” button on the website, users could send a positive message to a random person in a dozen major cities in Russia. After pressing the button, a business card with the sender’s contacts was generated. Agents of the “Positivity Machine” on the streets handed out gifts along with business cards so that the recipient knew who to thank.

An excellent example of unobtrusive and extremely effective communication - after all, who can remain indifferent when receiving a pleasant surprise from a stranger? Such vivid impressions are etched in the memory for a long time. It is important that people have the opportunity to find those who gave them positivity on the website mashinapositiva.ru or on social networks, thank them and even make friends. In addition, the campaign mechanics, combining online and offline, made it possible to collect CRM contacts.

3. Our Voice in Song

The pharmaceutical company Novartis introduced the drug Gilenya for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. The drug came under attack from the media, who doubted the pills' effectiveness. Accusations were made of deteriorating patient health. Of course, in such a situation, silence is the worst strategy. The company has created a resource dedicated to the positive impact of the drug on the lives of patients with multiple sclerosis. The face of the campaign was musician and actor David Osmond, who also suffers from this disease. I absolutely don’t like stocks that try to achieve goals by “knocking out tears,” but here the situation is different - David inspires people with his example - yes, this is a terrible disease, but look: I live my life to the fullest. So you can too. The centerpiece of the entire campaign was David's song "I Can Do This." The campaign was a great success. Well, personally, I want to believe that someone was really inspired by Osmond’s example.

Evgenia LogachevaMarketing Director VE Group

It’s hard for me to remember any really high-profile PR campaigns in the past year. Perhaps the crisis has taken its toll, perhaps it has become almost impossible to come up with a truly original idea to break through the information noise to reach the target audience. And what does the concept of “PR campaign” include? Today, high-profile PR campaigns are most often impossible to imagine without media seeding and viral videos. Social networks are playing an increasingly important role. Let’s remember the large-scale campaign to attract attention to the release of the new “Star Wars” - avatars with swords on Facebook, discussion of “leaks” about the film in the media, advertising wherever possible. An excellent tool for capturing the attention and engaging the target audience is real-time marketing, which allows you to “catch the wave” and attract more attention to the company/product/event. But you have to be careful - any trend can work both positively and negatively. In order not to go far, let's remember about Louboutins and pants - the Bedush & Marennikova agency decided to use the increasingly popular trend to attract attention to the Vincent Van Gogh exhibition at Artplay. It would seem like a cool idea, but not everyone liked it, especially Christian Louboutin’s PR manager. What does this mean? That when referring to someone, it is still worthwhile to make sure once again whether someone’s copyright is being violated, and to calculate in advance the public’s reaction. Fun for the sake of fun will not bring much return.

Olga Dashevskaya Founder of PR Inc. communications agency.

One of the main events in the life of every Russian family in 2015 was the celebration of the 70th anniversary of Victory Day. Of course, the most striking PR campaigns of the past year are associated precisely with this great date. I think everyone remembers the grand procession along Tverskaya with portraits of grandparents who defended the country during the Great Patriotic War. I consider the “Immortal Regiment” campaign to be the most talented and noticeable project in the field of public communications last year. More than 500 thousand people personally took part in the procession. Millions of Russians were involved in the action on social networks: they talked about the exploits of family members, shared photos of the war years from family archives.

There were many regional projects dedicated to the anniversary of the Victory - for example, the very bright project “Pendulum of Time” by the musical theater of Vladislav Yuryev and the Tambov regional branch of the Union of Writers of Russia. This literary and patriotic relay race through creativity united people of different generations and social statuses (theater and film artists, political and public figures, youth and veterans took part in the project) with the aim of unconventionally remembering the events and experiences of the war years and paying tribute to the participants of the Great Patriotic War.

I noted these projects because they have the greatest audience involvement. Over the past couple of years, the result of a professional PR campaign is no longer just people’s knowledge of the subject of promotion, but the depth of involvement of the audience itself in communication with a product, service or news.

Karina MartirosyanPublisher, producer, owner of the DVSTYLE Media agency

Of course, we remember 2015 with interesting and bright PR campaigns. In a situation where direct advertising methods are not only expensive, but also not always effective, the creative moves of PR people - “gray eminences”, as I call them - sometimes deserve special attention and evaluation.

One of the most memorable ones for me was the PR campaign for the Animals Alive Planet charity movement. People in this movement, famous and not, are ready to set an example to society and be responsible for their words and actions in the face of the whole world. And they do it creatively and brightly. Each of their campaigns are non-standard art ideas that support complete environmental friendliness and the careful use of natural resources and are aimed against the extermination of animals for consumption.

For example, for one of these events, stunning eco-fur coats were created. These are not just fur coats, but a new embodiment and form of presentation of art, real art objects. The reverse side of each twinler (double-sided fur coat) was decorated with a reproduction of a painting by prominent Russian artists. The action was supported by famous actors, directors, musicians and leading media, and this speaks not only of the relevance of this topic, but also of the success of the PR campaign.

Text: Prepared by Angela Mikoyan