Nestle vs greenpeace.

Business comunication
GREENPEACE vs. NESTLÉ
Social media lessons from Nestle's reputation crisis
June 2010

2
Aboutus
Violeta González Bermúdez
vgonzalez@camaracantabria.com
Néstor González Fernández
info@nestorgonzalez.es

INDEX
Analysis: what happened?
What was the response from Nestlé?
Why is social media so important: some clarifying statistics
What can we do? Some recommendations
In the short term
In the long term

1
Analysis: what happened?

Analysis: whathappened?
March, 17 2010
Greenpeace accuses Nestlé of contributing to deforestation as a result of its choice of palm-oil suppliers in Indonesia
The environmental awareness group Greenpeace criticised Nestlé for obtaining palm oil from “companies that are trashing Indonesian rainforests, threatening the livelihoods of local people and pushing orangutans towards extinction.”
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Greenpeace created a provocative website and a video (both there are still there).
The campaign featured a disparaging version of the logo for Nestle’s Kit Kat candy bar with the word “Killer” on it. The slogan was ‘give the orangutan a break.’
The videos and the Killer logo and others equally offensive to the company started circulating in cyberspace. They went viral.
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http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/climate-change/kitkat/

68 related videos in Youtubethatattracted 1.2 million hits
Collateral Greenpeace videos are taggedwithmessagesabout Nestlé palmoilpolicy: 1.1 million hits (up to 3/28/2010)
Forexample:
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March 28-17 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ExNmhDLsIk&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToGK3-2tZz8&feature=related

8
Nestlé´s Facebook page is overwhelmed with negative comments: fueled by the
momentum of the Greenpeace video, Anti-Nestle discussions move away from
activist blogs and land on Nestle’sFacebook page. (Not an accident or an
organic shift. This tactic is part of a deliberate and well lanned campaign.)

9
March, 19 2010
Nestle response on Facebook
Official statement on the website
Nestlé respondswith a web statementthatsaysthecontractwiththe
supplier has beenterminated
http://www.nestle.com/MediaCenter/SpeechesAndStatements/AllSpeechesAndStatements/statement_Palm_oil.htm

March, 29 2010
Social Media community remains skeptical
Negative Twitter comments related to Nestlé palm oil appear every 15 minutes
Graph of 7 days of twitter usage of "nestle“
The Wall Street Journal picks up the story: the case jumps from the social media to the official media
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1,2 million negative Youtube videos
95.000 Nestlé Facebook fans seeing negative messages on its wall
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Let´s recap
Nestlé
shares
prices

Let´s recap
Negative Twitter tsunami
The Wall Street Journal is spreading the story
12

2
What was the response from Nestlé?: some errors

What was the response from Nestlé: some errors
Some errors
Censor: the Streisland effect
Get defensive
Insult your customers
Respond with the same weight
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What was the response: some errors
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Nestlé lobbied to have the video removed from
Youtube, citing a copyright complaint. Censoring
the video in the first place is what exacerbated
this war. People started making the Killer logo
their profile picture, at which point Nestlé
repeated the initial mistake by issuing the
following update on Facebook:

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The Streisland effect is used to describe the phenomenon when censorship causes something to become even more widespread. Don’t do it. And especially don’t do it twice. The net is such a place that whatever you delete is pretty retrievable – and even if it isn’t – the whole thing with mass protest is that it is based on perception far more than reality. Censoring fuels this emotion.
Nestle received 190 complaints within 24 hours on Facebook, and thousands of tweets reaching hundreds of thousands of consumers. The surest way to tick off users of social media is to delete their comments. It is true that by the old standards of 20th century law, brands have a right to protect their intellectual property. But social media comprises fluid networks of users sharing and retweeting and

17
Get defensive
The biggest mistake Nestlé made was by the person running the Facebook page who appeared to take every criticism personally.
Retaliation also invokes the Streisland effect.
Nestlé should not have responded to anything. Nothing they could say would make it right anyway, so it’s better to say nothing.

18
Insult your customers
Nestlé violated a basic rule of public
Relations,"Don't insult your customers".
Even if you applaud the moderator for
acting like a living, breathing human
being, the combative tone resulted in
continued rants on the Nestlé's Facebook
page, even after the company announced
It was ending its relationship with the
palm oil supplier in question.
Such an announcement should have been a
Lauded shift to a sustainable practice, but
it was lost amid the criticism.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/nestle-cargill-palmoil

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Respond with the same weight
A pressreleasedoesnotcombatscreaminghatredagainst a brand. Youmust match firewithfire. Theonlyway Nestlé can turnthisaroundistocarryoutsomethingthat has thesameweight as the criticisms and viral naturethatattackedit.
Youcannotrespondwith traditional methods. Youmust match viral protestwith viral solutions.

3
Why is social media so important: some clarifying statistics

Why is social media so important: refreshing some ideas

Why is social media so important: refreshing some ideas
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Markets are conversations. Are you participating?
The conversation is going on whether you care to be involved or not.
If you choose not to be involved, you lose control of the conversation about your product, your business. You become irrelevant!
Trust can take years to build but be eroded away in just a few days.
To avoid disaster, you have to keep one finger on the pulse of the social web.

4
What can we do? Some recommendations

In the long term
Step 1. Secureyourbrand
Step 2. Monitor social media sites 24x7
Step 3. Create rules of engagement
Step 4. Establishyour crisis strategy
Step 5. Define your social media response strategy
Step 6. Makesureyouunderstandtheways social media work

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Some recommendations. In the long term
Step 1. Secure your brand
Grab your brand everywhere you can, regardless of whether or not you plan to use it
Have control of your identity all over the web
Have a unified social media username to establish trust with other members (and potential press contacts) who may belong to multiple communities with you.

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Step 2. Monitor social media sites 24x7

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Step 3. Create rules of engagement
Train theemployeesontheproper use of social media tools
Define rules foremployeesengagingin social media (social media policy). Basic social media guidelineslike:
disclosingthecompanyyouworkfor
Notdiscussingconfidentialinformation
refrainingfromdisparagingthecompany
notengaging in impolite dialogue

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Step 4: Establish your crisis strategy
Set up a teamwhowouldbeabletomanage crisis situationand are willingtoworkaroundtheclock
Assessthesituation online byharnessingthetoolsthat are available
Trackthesources of negativepublicityconstantlyto monitor change
Followthevolume of responses and thetype of consumerreaction (neutral, positive, negative)
Define your response and ensureconsistency in communication – do notsendoutmultiple, mixedmessages

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Step 5: Define your Social Media Response Strategy
Ifconsumers are silentonthesituation– continueto monitor butdon’trespondpublically (Yet)
If a response isdemanded , waitfortheinitialhype and outrageto die out, thenrespondtothosewho are genuinelyseekingananswer
Listen and determine thetype of response theconsumerswant – apology/ acknowledgement/ demandforchange
Do notrespondtooquickly
Do notrespond in a “corporatetone” i.e.. a pressreleaseonthewebsite as thesole response mechanism

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Step 6. Make sure you understand the ways of social media before you engage in this space.
There are lots of do’s and don’ts.
Makesurethepersonyouassigntohandle social media tasksknowshowtoproperlyinteractwiththepublic. Goodmanners and knowledge of howtoappropriatelyrespondtocomments of allkindsisimperative.
Be preparedfornegativefeedback. No matterhowwonderfulyou are, someonesomewhere can have a boneto pick. Realizeitmaywind up in your social space. Engagewithnegativefeedbacklikeyou do positive. Don’tdelete, editorhidefromnegativecomments (unlessabusive)
Be part of theconversation and don’t try and ‘control’ thespace. Listen tothecrowd. They are probablyyourcustomer.

In the short term

Step 1. Create a forum
Step 2. Hire a team of professionalCommunity Managers
Step 3. Startdialog, begin a process of collaboration
Step 4. Introduce yourself
Step 5. Make a pointtowelcomethecomments
Step 6. Createanareafordiscussions
Step 7. Ask youraudienceforadvice and suggestions
Step 8. Buildthecommunity as a community
Step 9. Reviewprocess

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Some recommendations. In the short term
Step 1. Create a forum
Create a forum (otherthanFacebook) thatallowsyouto set strongerprivacy and moderationsetting. A nicheNingnetwork, forexample, and a measured digital reachoutcampaignmighthelpcultivate a corecohort of digital Nestle fans.

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Step 2. Hire a team of professional Community Managers; do not delegate to PR intern
WhathappenedtoNestlehappenedbecausetheteamchargedwithmanagingitsFacebook page waseithernotqualifiedornotempoweredto do theirjob. Properlyhandled, theattackonNestle’sfacebook page couldhavebeenmanageddifferently and theoutcomecouldhavebeenradically more positive forthebrand.
IfNestle’s Social Media teamhadbeenexperienced in crisis management and properlytrained, Greenpeace’sattackontheNestleFacebook page couldhavebeenmadetofizzleout in underanhour. In otherwords, Greenpeace’sattackcouldhavebeenmadetobackfireifithadbeenmanagedbyprofessionalsinstead of amateurs.
Corporatecommsisn’taboutcreativecopy and pushingitoutthrough a breadth of channels. It’sprofessionalchess.
Thisisn’t amateur hour. Social Media managementrequiresrigorous training and razor-sharpfocus: Having a Social Media presenceforyourcompany and brand(s) isseriousbusiness. Itisn’tanafterthought. Itisn’tsomethingyou can affordtoassigntointerns. Itisn’tsomethingyou can affordtocompletelyhireoutto a digital shop, a “social media” firmoran ad agency. Youhavetotakethespaceseriously. Thisrequiresplanning, preparation, training and focus.
Ifactivistgroups (even at thegrass-rootslevel) set their targets onyou, you CANNOT affordtoleaveany of yourcommunications(digital ornot) virtuallyunmanned. Youneed Marines, Navy SEALS and Rangersonthatwall, notgreen, untestedrecruits. Hireprofessionals. The real time web isn’t a joke. Takeitseriously and you’llprobablybeokay. Hire amateurs, and suffertheconsequences. It’sthat simple.

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Step 3. Start dialog, begin a process of collaboration
There comes a pointwhencomms are justcomms, and thedialog has tomovebeyondwellcraftedwords and communityappeasement. Listening and talking are justthebeginning.
Fact 1: Greenpeace has a validargumentwhenit comes toenvironmentalprotection.
Fact 2: Nestleis a complexbusinesswithenormoussupplyrequirements, relativelyinelasticprice-points, and tremendouspressure in themiddle of a global economic crisis toperformwellforitsshareholders.
Instead of wasting so muchenergyfightingcommscouldbeusedto open a dialog, findsomecommonground, and begin a process of collaboration: Nestleknowsfoodproduction. Greenpeace knowsenvironmentallysoundpractices. Itseemsthattheycouldbothlearn a lotfromeachother.
Startusingtheir digital commsteamto open thedoortoconstructivedialogontheseissues. Moderatingtheensuingdiscussions – no matterhowdifficultthefirstfewhours and daysmaybe – wouldbe a solidnextstep.

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Step 4. Introduce yourself. Put a face, name and role to your official presence.
Don’tjustreplyfrombehind a facelesscorporateidentity and avatar. Be a humanbeing. Talklike a humanbeing. Feellike a humanbeing. Engageon a personal levelwithcommenters.
Step 5. Make a point to welcome the comments. Invite them. Keep it up.
This is important. Be cordial, be kind, be professional, and assume your role as the custodian of facts. Not propaganda: facts. If someone claims something about your company or products that is inaccurate, politely respond to their comment with a link to factual information that will help them reconsider their position.

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Step 6. If you haven’t done it already, create an area for Discussions on the Facebook page.
Thiswillgivediscussiontopicstheirowntabonthe page, and a place forpeopletogotostart and participate in discussionsthatisn’tnecessarilythewall.
Whyishaving a Discussionsareaimportant?Severalreasons:
First, ithelpsmove a lot of thetraffic and activity off thewall, whichisn’t a badthing -forobviousreasons. (Notall of it, but a goodamount of it.)
Second, ithelpskeepall of theconversationsfocused. Instead of a mess of anger and randomgrievances, you can create a discussionthreadforeachspecificgrievance. In the case of Nestle, these individual discussiontopicscouldbe: SavingOranguntans. PreservingBorneo’s rain forests.
This is one of the first tangible ways that you will regain control of the situation: Manage the influx of comments. Organize it. Redirect it. Refocus it. Give the discussions purpose and focus.

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Step 7. Ask your audience for
Recruityourdetractors’ help in fixingtheissuesthey are angryabout. Don’tjustgiveyourangrycommenterslipservice. “Thanksforyourcomments. Wewillreviewyoursuggestions and share themwithmanagement”doesn’tcutitanymore. Instead, askyouraudienceforadvice and suggestions.Rightthere and then. Don’twait. Theywanttoexpressthemselves? Great! Redirecttheirenergy: Shiftthemfromangertodeliberateempowerment. They’reangry at yourcompany? There are specificthingstheywantyouto stop doing? Perfect. Takethediscussion a stepfurther and askthemtogiveyoubetteralternativestowhatyou’redoingnow. No, really. Do it. Keepprobing. Keepasking. Makethemthinkaboutpracticalsolutionstogether.
In the case of Nestle, thiswould mean inviting Greenpeace and keyenvironmentalactionthinktankstoworkwithseniorNestlesupplychainexecsonfindingrealisticalternativestocurrentmethods of production.

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Step 8. Build the community as a community
Once the crisis isover, thankthecommentersfortheirhelp and invite themtocontinuewhattheystarted. Continuetobe a good host. Buildthecommunity as a community, not as a fortifiedbrandembassy.
Step 9. Review process
Convince management to let you turn the feedback from your new virtual think tank into something a little more formal. Form a team to look into how to take those ideas and make them happen. That kind of review process will identify what ideas have merit, and what ideas don’t. It’s a valuable exercise in that alone.

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Nestle vs greenpeace.

by Néstor González on Oct 14, 2010

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Nestle vs greenpeace. — Presentation Transcript