Transcript TENTATIVE PR PROPOSAL

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PUBLIC OPINION
Bucharest, March 31, 2011
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•
A simple truth: People rarely buy anything, if at all, from a source they do not
trust
•
Yet another simple truth: People are afraid of black boxes, of things they know
little or nothing about; fear makes them think bad about those things
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MOL GAS FILLING STATIONS IN ROMANIA
 Already established for a couple of years
 The thrid largest player on the market
 Perceived in biased areas as potential supplier for Hungarian tanks in case of
invasion (which was, needless to say, nonsense)
Consequences:
 Low sales in biased areas
 Lost sales opportunities in other areas
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WHAT DID WE DO?
 Started to define the MOL stakeholders
 Learned the way each category perceived MOL
 Generated messages that each stakeholder category could easily understand
 Worked hard to prove that MOL really does and is what it claims to do and be
 Built a strong relationship with the media, both locally and countrywide
Results:
 After large volumes of information sent out by MOL through its PR effort the public
started to perceive correctly the MOL philosophy.
 MOL became so strong that it even grew to incorporate the Shell filling stations in
Romania
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DOES THAT STORY SOUND FAMILIAR ?
Let us recap just some of the current public perceptions :
 It is banks that generated the present worldwide crisis
 It is not quite safe to keep your money in the bank nowadays
 In certain areas banks do not really support their clients in their effort to make do
 Clients are always exposed, banks always make a profit
 Etc.
False or true, this is what people believe
Is this good for the banking business? Definitely not!
That is why this is a clear case for sustained mentality-change and confidencebuilding PR work
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BANKING IS A HIGLY SENSITIVE LINE OF WORK
- Its activities directly tell upon the well-being of a very large number of people
- Panic can spread easily and destabilize the system
That is particularly why lack of adequate banking information and
communication may generate panic which, in turn, is likely to snowball into
deeper crises, all the way down to a system crisis.
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FURTHER ISSUES
Another issue is that, apart from the money that changes hands at the counter or at
the ATM, banking is operating mostly with intangible “products”.
All that clients know is that they put THEIR MONEY into the hands of somebody else.
That is why that somebody else needs to be perceived as highly trustworthy for the
cycle to continue.
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SIMILARLY WRONG PERCEPTIONS
•
Why would anybody buy gasoline from MOL as long as they thought they knew that
these stations were meant to fill up invading enemy tanks ?
•
Why would anyone put their money in a bank that may elope with it?
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COMMUNICATIONWISE, BANKS SHOULD FOCUS ON

Providing enough information so that current and potential clients may grow to perceive
banks in the best possible light, as:
- rock solid,
- risk-free
- Istitutions that employ capable and trustworthy personnel.

Persuading clients that banks provide more than just high interest rates on their deposits
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CAREFULLY PLANNED CAMPAIGNS ARE KEY TO
ACHIEVING THOSE COALS
Petfood case study – change in mentality, with effect on sales
Steps taken:

Understand the categories of public involved, their likes and dislikes, then
Define and target messages accordingly
- Buyers (pet lovers) – Your pet is better off with pet food than with leftovers
- Endorsers (vets) – Pet owners care about their pets and see the doctor. Nobody cares
about stray cats and dogs
- Disseminators (journalists) – More pets equals less stray cats and dogs

Define and schedule activities:
- Support for pet contests
- Breakfasts with journalists
- Children’s day at the zoo
- Media monitoring (enables fast reaction)
- Radio show featuring vets
- Year-end get together and presents
- Press releases
- Etc.
- Breakfasts with journalists
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FINAL REMARKS
Wining and dining friends is nice, isn’t it? Well, stakeholders aren’t supposed to be friends?
Warning: Everything has to be done with moderation so that the offering may look as a
friendly gesture and a way to share information, not as bribery.
Even in the absence of legislation to say how much is acceptable to be offered as presents,
anything in the range of 5 to 15 euro can be acceptable.
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Contact
GABRIEL PÂSLARU
Mobile: 0744 530 583
Tel/fax: +4 021 323 67 00
[email protected]
www.perfect.ro
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