• Brenze

• Advertising and marketing

Criticism in the PR industry of managing the Ben & Jerrys crisis: "Total destruction of value"

While Israel is facing Unilever's decision, the Israeli media franchisee Ben - Horin - Alexandrovich is facing a double front: representing the company and criticizing how the crisis is managed |

Industry source: "This is a first-rate public relations failure, which was corrected late only this morning and also with difficulty" | And what do the ministry respond to?

Tags

• Ben & Jerrys

• Itai Ben Horin

• Ron Huldai

David Wertheim

Tuesday, 20 July 2021, 13:00 Updated: 13:06

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on general

• Share on general

• Share on Twitter

• Share on Email

0 comments

A senior source in the industry: "He had time to think about how to outsource. But he did not explain to the Israeli public that the manufacturer of cornflakes, pillows, mayonnaise, mustard and a million other products - is the owner of Ben & Jerry's. It is a first-rate public relations failure."

While Israel is facing a first-of-its-kind boycott (since the Arab boycott) in the form of the global Unilever decision to stop selling Ben & Jerry's ice cream in Judea and Samaria, the firm headed by Israel's franchisee Ben-Horin-Alexandrovich has to deal with a double front: representation The company and the management of the huge image crisis, and at the same time - the absorption of criticism regarding the manner in which it is managed. Along with the praise, quite a few factors in the public relations and crisis management industry say today (Tuesday) to Loella Brenze that the crisis could have been managed differently, and that during the first (and critical) day of the international announcement, quite a few mistakes were made, some dramatic. Alternatives are also offered.

First, the control factor in the situation.

In contrast to similar cases in which she is "excited" about a surprising incidental company, here the announcement of the global Ben & Jerrys company about the decision has been on the table for several years and did not really surprise the Israeli franchisee Avi Singer.

According to a senior official in the public relations industry, this is the first mistake in managing the crisis.

He said, "He had time to think about how to out. But he did not explain to the Israeli public that the manufacturer of cornflakes, pillows, mayonnaise, mustard and a million other products - is the owner of Ben & Jerry's. That is - every Israeli who gives his child cornflakes supports the body tomorrow. The country in another arm of his. This is a first-rate publicist failure.

It was repaired late only this morning and also with difficulty. "According to the source," In addition, "he did not explain clearly enough that in order to punish them, one should continue to buy such ice cream in the country. ".

More on Walla!

Network and News 13 presents: The Battle for the Narrative

To the full article

Barbibai's "Sweets Confused" Video: Politicians Celebrate (Photo: Screenshot, Ticket)

"Extremely negligent explosion"

Public relations man: "Because this is a political and political event and in fact a call for a violation of the sovereignty of the State of Israel, I would let the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister lead the struggle in the first place and not try to do it myself."

There are also those who point out mistakes in digital crisis management.

Industry factor explains.

"Until now in social everyone is against Ben & Jerrys. It's like doing a two-part campaign, with 'Hid'" and then a solution that comes up after.

Do you know why they stopped doing such things?

Because no one remembers the solution.

Few are as memorable as Fauda's Arabic signs.

Most of the time, you see a campaign and wonder who put it, and then you don't see the 'solution' at all. "

He said, "The mistake was the clear lack of separation between the franchisees and the general message, which led to confusion and calls for a boycott and anger, instead of realizing that there was a victim here. Because this is a political and political event "Trying to do it myself. All the more so since Bennett himself, the incumbent prime minister, once attacked McDonald's. The state had to intervene before. The success of the BDS bodies is a success in violating the sovereignty of the State of Israel.

A veteran consumer public relations man who currently serves as a veteran communications consultant adds: "There are no clear and unambiguous metrics in the communications field to understand what the damage or success of a brand is. This is especially noticeable in election campaigns." You can see what Ben & Jerry's business results will be on Sterncast (Product Sales Index), but at the moment it's hard to gauge where things stand, so if this whole move was a 'controlled explosion attempt', I would not be impressed, as their entire lab exploded along the way. "It was a very negligent explosion."

He said, "On issues like this in the age of networks, clickbaits and counting likes, there should be no room for interpretations or misunderstandings. You have to come up with a direct, accurate and clear message. Or as we say: when you say something, you are responsible for being understood. Crises. "

Learn from McDonalds.

Bennett's post from 2018

Ben Horin: "We did not know about the date itself"

"That's why I're never interviewed about other people's campaigns. Because they do not really know what happened and that's all nonsense. Whoever did the outing is the official page of Ben & Jerry's Worldwide.

"The strategy was and still is: not to try to downplay the incident but to create a drift."

Itai Ben-Horin (Photo: Courtesy of those photographed)

In the face of these, in the office of Ben-Horin Alexandrovich, they do not enter the bunker - and with a transparency that actually evokes appreciation, they respond to the allegations. In a conversation with Walla! Brenze, explains Adv. Itai Ben Horin, who previously also ran the Blue and White campaign (in the 2019 elections) and Ron Huldai (who finally retired from the race for the Knesset after a failed information campaign and also received considerable criticism). .

According to Ben-Horin, "immediately upon publication started during the combined response orderly and background conversations all senior journalists, along with activities Digital intensively active and reactive, and of course the closure of interviews in all major media and those less so."

I understand that the intention on the part of Unilever already been In the background, why did you not prepare for it in time.

"The strategy was and still is: not to try to reduce the incident but to create a drift towards society out of an understanding that there are two battles here: 1. That the Israeli consumer will continue to purchase the Israeli factory ice cream 2. Harness the whole country to put pressure on the international corporation to change the decision. "The story takes several weeks and is prepared for it as it is written in the book. We did not know about the date itself, because it was their decision that was on the air for a long time and we did not know exactly when it would fall."

But the very early knowledge in the face of the negative reactions in the public, is it not a public relations failure?

”This is why I am never interviewed about other people's campaigns. Because you do not really know what happened and that's all nonsense. The one who made the outing is the official page of Ben & Jerry's Global. As soon as they came up with it, the Israeli press quoted it. And as you can see in both the media discourse and the network discourse - the public completely understood the message. "

In the time that has elapsed since the announcement until the time of response, the network has been flooded with hundreds of thousands of angry tweets, posts and comments and a call for a boycott, and politicians have meanwhile celebrated at the expense of your client.

"It stopped very quickly."

Do you recognize a trend reversal? Is it numerically based?

"On Twitter we have about 600,000 exposures to the tweets we posted, and in general the conversation is positive. With us on Facebook - the posts reached more than a quarter of a million people. Thousands of comments and likes. Most of the comments were positive and understood the message we conveyed. Ours - and we explain to them. The post in 'Tube' is a huge success - 26,000 likes and thousands of positive comments. As mentioned, they folded and edited their post, and our response there was received with great sympathy. "

Several right-wingers have posted support for the company.

Was there a personal contact or briefing behind the scenes?

"There was a dialogue with all over the political network and influencers. Can not give anything specific can only say that all the highest levels both at the political level and at the press level in Israel were in dialogue with us, with the Manufacturers Association and with Singer himself. .

Do you see similarities between managing this crisis and political crises like Gantz or Huldai?

"We have a very, very busy crisis department. There are lots of examples. My principle for crisis management is that every crisis is different and each time has to be handled differently. There are some that are very quiet, and there are some that should be active. Each case on its own."

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on general

• Share on general

• Share on Twitter

• Share on Email

0 comments