Skip to main content

Home/ ECUAdvertising/ Group items tagged regulations

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Tracy Tuten

Google Runs Offense on Bad Ads - 0 views

  •  
    "SAN FRANCISCO - Google yanked 59% more "bad" advertisements from its online systems last year as the world's largest Internet search provider stepped up a battle against a barrage of counterfeiters, suspect downloads and other malicious activity on the Web. Google removed more than 350 million bad ads in 2013, up from about 220 million the year before. That's almost 1 million suspect ads a day. The increase was partly driven by the overall surge in online advertising, most of which is legitimate. But as Google introduces new products, scammers adapt and develop new ways to game the system. "It's a challenge," says Mike Hochberg, ads engineering director who oversees hundreds of engineers and policy experts focused on this at the company. "Google continues to add new types of ads and formats all the time, and that creates new work to track down new ways of creating bad ads." Google's online ad business has become so lucrative, generating billions of dollars a year in profit for itself and its partners, that the company's platforms, such as AdWords and AdSense, are a huge draw for what it calls "bad actors" looking to grab some of this money. In 2011, Google agreed to pay $500 million to settle allegations by the U.S. Department of Justice that ads for Canadian online pharmacies contributed to the illegal importation of prescription drugs. Last year, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood said Google was still allowing ads for illegal online pharmacies that sell dangerous or counterfeit drugs without a prescription. Google published a scorecard on its constant battle against such activity for the first time in early 2013, and the company is releasing the second report now. Hochberg says the reports and Google's increased efforts to limit bad ads and online scams were not related to the counterfeiting settlement. "Ensuring that we are serving good ads for users has been part of our ad programs from day one," he says. "Last year, we decided to put out a pseudo
Tracy Tuten

Should VW Follow the Standard PR/Legal Crisis Management Playbook? - 0 views

  • The YouGov BrandIndex, which tracks daily consumer perception, found that Volkswagen’s score in the U.S. as of Monday reached its lowest point since at least 2009, reported AdAge. The automaker’s “buzz” score had been hovering in the 10 to 11 range and now it is at -2 and “most likely to drop even further,” according to YouGov.
  • The scandal strikes an enormous blow to the corporation’s reputation.
  • A company that manufactures energy-efficient, or “green,” products like clean-diesel automobiles attains reputational benefits. Those benefits disappear with the loss of trust. The reputation of German manufacturing and the diesel engine product category have also suffered.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • The VW crisis falls into the general PR crisis category of scandals and shenanigans that entail often-shocking revelations about a company. They often implicate specific corporate executives or managers. They can involve any type of aberrant behavior including accounting mischief, safety practices, and sexual activities.
  • Other types of crisis include: Accidents and disasters. These cover terrorist activities, plant fires and explosions, vehicle crashes, disease outbreaks, and other man-made catastrophes or natural disasters. Corporate crises in this category can be “no fault” for the company or the organization may bear full responsibility. The BP oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico is an example. Product, service or staff snafus.  These are negative customer experiences caused by employees, usually reported on social media or captured by citizen journalists. The category also involves product defects. Antagonistic attacks. These involve online or offline actions initiated by customers, competitors, activists or regulators who have a bone to pick with your business.
  • While the standard PR crisis playbook can apply to most crises, the Volkswagen emissions scandal is far from typical. It involves intentional government rule breaking, rather than straightforward mistakes involved in other recalls. The wrongdoing almost certainly involves many VW engineers and decision-makers, not just a few people as in many other PR crises.
  • The emissions test fraud was one of the most egregious examples of corporate misconduct in recent times, perhaps exceeded only by Enron’s financial fraud in the previous decade. Unlike most other examples of corporate maleficence, the emissions test rigging impacts most everyone in the world by causing more pollution. 
  • The PR Crisis Management Playbook The standard PR crisis playbook calls for corporations to: Follow a previously prepared crisis management plan that defines the decision-making process, spokespersons, outlets to contact, communications channels, and which stakeholders to update. Act quickly. Quickly disseminating information and responding to media inquiries is essential in crisis communication. The first 48 hours are critical. Silence enables speculation and reflects badly on the brand, as media outlets will publish stories and the public will reach conclusions whether the company comments or not. Be open and transparent. Release all the information you have in an open dialogue with the press and the public, using both traditional and social media channels, including the organization’s website and other owned media. Apologize. Delivering an appropriate, timely and sincere apology is a vital part of responding to a crisis. PR and business executives can learn from previous corporate apologies. Quickly cut ties with company employees, employees of affiliated firms or celebrity spokespeople accused of wrongdoing. Make amends. Provide help for any victims and their families. Demonstrate that the company is taking steps to protect the public. Actions speak louder than words in these situations. Monitor the situation. Employ a media monitoring service to obtain up-to-the-minute reports, identify media mentions that call for responses and gauge the effectiveness of  corporate communications.
  •  
    An overview of the crisis communication approach as it relates to VW given its emissions scandal.
1 - 3 of 3
Showing 20 items per page