nestle vs greenpeace

GREENPEACE

vs. NESTLÉ

Business comunication

June 2010

Social media lessons from Nestle's

reputation crisis

Social media lessons from Nestle's reputation crisis2

About us

Violeta González Bermú[email protected]

Néstor González Ferná[email protected]

INDEX

1. Analysis: what happened?2. What was the response from Nestlé?3. Why is social media so important: some

clarifying statistics4. What can we do? Some recommendations

1. In the short term2. In the long term

1

Analysis: what happened?



1. Greenpeace accuses Nestlé of contributing to deforestation as a result of its choice of palm-oil suppliers in Indonesia

2. 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.”

March, 17 2010



1. Greenpeace created a provocative website and a video (both there are still there).

2. 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.’

3. The videos and the Killer logo and others equally offensive to the company started circulating in cyberspace. They went viral.

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/climate-change/kitkat/

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/climate-change/kitkat/



1. 68 related videos in Youtube that attracted 1.2 million hits

2. Collateral Greenpeace videos are tagged with messages about Nestlé palm oil policy: 1.1 million hits (up to 3/28/2010)

For example:

March 28-17 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ExNmhDLsIk&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToGK3-2tZz8&feature=related






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToGK3-2tZz8&feature=related



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’s Facebook page. (Not an accident or an organic shift. This tactic is part of a deliberate and well lanned campaign.)



Nestlé responds with a web statement that says the contract with the supplier has been terminated

March, 19 2010

http://www.nestle.com/MediaCenter/SpeechesAndStatements/AllSpeechesAndStatements/statement_Palm_oil.htm

Nestle response on Facebook Official statement on the website





1. Social Media community remains skeptical2. Negative Twitter comments related to Nestlé

palm oil appear every 15 minutes3. Graph of 7 days of twitter usage of "nestle“

4. The Wall Street Journal picks up the story: the case jumps from the social media to the official media

March, 29 2010



1. 1,2 million negative Youtube videos2. 95.000 Nestlé Facebook fans seeing

negative messages on its wall

Let´s recap

Nestlésharesprices



1. Negative Twitter tsunami2. The Wall Street Journal is spreading

the story

Let´s recap

2

What was the response from Nestlé?: some errors


What was the response from Nestlé: some errors

1. Censor: the Streisland effect

2. Get defensive3. Insult your

customers4. Respond with the

same weight

Some errors


What was the response: some errors

Censor: the Streisland effect

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:



Censor: the Streisland effect

1. 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.

2. 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



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.



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





Respond with the same weight

• A press release does not combat screaming hatred against a brand. You must match fire with fire. The only way Nestlé can turn this around is to carry out something that has the same weight as the criticisms and viral nature that attacked it.

• You cannot respond with traditional methods. You must match viral protest with 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

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. Secure your brandStep 2. Monitor social media sites 24x7Step 3. Create rules of engagementStep 4. Establish your crisis strategyStep 5. Define your social media response strategyStep 6. Make sure you understand the ways social media work


• 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.

Step 1. Secure your brand

Some recommendations. In the long term


Step 2. Monitor social media sites 24x7



• Train the employees on the proper use of social media tools

• Define rules for employees engaging in social media (social media policy). Basic social media guidelines like:

1. disclosing the company you work for2. Not discussing confidential information3. refraining from disparaging the company4. not engaging in impolite dialogue

Step 3. Create rules of engagement



• Set up a team who would be able to manage crisis situation and are willing to work around the clock

• Assess the situation online by harnessing the tools that are available

• Track the sources of negative publicity constantly to monitor change

• Follow the volume of responses and the type of consumer reaction (neutral, positive, negative)

• Define your response and ensure consistency in communication – do not send out multiple, mixed messages

Step 4: Establish your crisis strategy



• If consumers are silent on the situation – continue to monitor but don’t respond publically (Yet)

• If a response is demanded , wait for the initial hype and outrage to die out, then respond to those who are genuinely seeking an answer

• Listen and determine the type of response the consumers want – apology/ acknowledgement/ demand for change

• Do not respond too quickly

• Do not respond in a “corporate tone” i.e.. a press release on the website as the sole response mechanism

Step 5: Define your Social Media Response Strategy



• There are lots of do’s and don’ts.

• Make sure the person you assign to handle social media tasks knows how to properly interact with the public. Good manners and knowledge of how to appropriately respond to comments of all kinds is imperative.

• Be prepared for negative feedback. No matter how wonderful you are, someone somewhere can have a bone to pick. Realize it may wind up in your social space. Engage with negative feedback like you do positive. Don’t delete, edit or hide from negative comments (unless abusive)

• Be part of the conversation and don’t try and ‘control’ the space. Listen to the crowd. They are probably your customer.

Step 6. Make sure you understand the ways of social media before you engage in this space.


In the short term Step 1. Create a forumStep 2. Hire a team of professional Community

ManagersStep 3. Start dialog, begin a process of collaborationStep 4. Introduce yourselfStep 5. Make a point to welcome the commentsStep 6. Create an area for discussionsStep 7. Ask your audience for advice and suggestionsStep 8. Build the community as a communityStep 9. Review process


• Create a forum (other than Facebook) that allows you to set stronger privacy and moderation setting. A niche Ning network, for example, and a measured digital reachout campaign might help cultivate a core cohort of digital Nestle fans.

Step 1. Create a forum

Some recommendations. In the short term


• What happened to Nestle happened because the team charged with managing its Facebook page was either not qualified or not empowered to do their job. Properly handled, the attack on Nestle’s facebook page could have been managed differently and the outcome could have been radically more positive for the brand.

• If Nestle’s Social Media team had been experienced in crisis management and properly trained, Greenpeace’s attack on the Nestle Facebook page could have been made to fizzle out in under an hour. In other words, Greenpeace’s attack could have been made to backfire if it had been managed by professionals instead of amateurs.

• Corporate comms isn’t about creative copy and pushing it out through a breadth of channels. It’s professional chess.

• This isn’t amateur hour. Social Media management requires rigorous training and razor-sharp focus: Having a Social Media presence for your company and brand(s) is serious business. It isn’t an afterthought. It isn’t something you can afford to assign to interns. It isn’t something you can afford to completely hire out to a digital shop, a “social media” firm or an ad agency. You have to take the space seriously. This requires planning, preparation, training and focus.

• If activist groups (even at the grass-roots level) set their targets on you, you CANNOT afford to leave any of your communications (digital or not) virtually unmanned. You need Marines, Navy SEALS and Rangers on that wall, not green, untested recruits. Hire professionals. The real time web isn’t a joke. Take it seriously and you’ll probably be okay. Hire amateurs, and suffer the consequences. It’s that simple.

Step 2. Hire a team of professional Community Managers; do not delegate to PR intern



• There comes a point when comms are just comms, and the dialog has to move beyond well crafted words and community appeasement. Listening and talking are just the beginning.

1. Fact 1: Greenpeace has a valid argument when it comes to environmental protection.

2. Fact 2: Nestle is a complex business with enormous supply requirements, relatively inelastic price-points, and tremendous pressure in the middle of a global economic crisis to perform well for its shareholders.

• Instead of wasting so much energy fighting comms could be used to open a dialog, find some common ground, and begin a process of collaboration: Nestle knows food production. Greenpeace knows environmentally sound practices. It seems that they could both learn a lot from each other.

• Start using their digital comms team to open the door to constructive dialog on these issues. Moderating the ensuing discussions – no matter how difficult the first few hours and days may be – would be a solid next step.

Step 3. Start dialog, begin a process of collaboration



• Don’t just reply from behind a faceless corporate identity and avatar. Be a human being. Talk like a human being. Feel like a human being. Engage on a personal level with commenters.

Step 4. Introduce yourself. Put a face, name and role to your official presence.


• 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.

Step 5. Make a point to welcome the comments. Invite them. Keep it up.


• This will give discussion topics their own tab on the page, and a place for people to go to start and participate in discussions that isn’t necessarily the wall.

• Why is having a Discussions area important? Several reasons:

1. First, it helps move a lot of the traffic and activity off the wall, which isn’t a bad thing - for obvious reasons. (Not all of it, but a good amount of it.)

2. Second, it helps keep all of the conversations focused. Instead of a mess of anger and random grievances, you can create a discussion thread for each specific grievance. In the case of Nestle, these individual discussion topics could be: Saving Oranguntans. Preserving Borneo’s rain forests.

Step 6. If you haven’t done it already, create an area for Discussions on the Facebook page.


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.


• Recruit your detractors’ help in fixing the issues they are angry about. Don’t just give your angry commenters lip service. “Thanks for your comments. We will review your suggestions and share them with management” doesn’t cut it anymore. Instead, ask your audience for advice and suggestions. Right there and then. Don’t wait. They want to express themselves? Great! Redirect their energy: Shift them from anger to deliberate empowerment. They’re angry at your company? There are specific things they want you to stop doing? Perfect. Take the discussion a step further and ask them to give you better alternatives to what you’re doing now. No, really. Do it. Keep probing. Keep asking. Make them think about practical solutions together.

• In the case of Nestle, this would mean inviting Greenpeace and key environmental action think tanks to work with senior Nestle supply chain execs on finding realistic alternatives to current methods of production.

Step 7. Ask your audience for



• Once the crisis is over, thank the commenters for their help and invite them to continue what they started. Continue to be a good host. Build the community as a community, not as a fortified brand embassy.

Step 8. Build the community as a community


• 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.

Step 9. Review process

Now it's your turnDo you have a question?

Thank you for your attentionplas,plas,plas,…

nestle vs greenpeace

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