The Public Relations Handbook

When the coronavirus pandemic hit in early 2020, many companies were caught flat-footed. Companies scrambled to gather information about what the pandemic meant for their operations, employees, and share price. They needed real-time, on-the-ground intelligence about how COVID-19 was spreading, how governments were responding, and how it would impact their company and industry.

Companies also needed to make immediate business decisions, such as whether employees should go into the office, how they were going to provide personal protective equipment for their workers, and if they should halt operations altogether. And they had larger questions, too: Could they handle a surge in online sales, could they staunch losses from shutdown orders, and what could they do to help their community deal with the crisis? Around the globe, companies large and small faced a dizzying number of questions needing immediate answers.

To answer these questions and create a strategy, companies needed timely intelligence. To convey their decisions, they needed good public relations.

In the intelligence community, we talk about the “black swan” event that has the lowest probability but the highest potential negative impact. In other words, the black swan event lies beyond normal forecasting or reasonable expectations. The coronavirus pandemic of 2020–2021 is the black swan event of our time, causing major disruptions to the way we live and do business.

The companies that have handled the pandemic and accompanying global shutdowns the best have been those that gathered pertinent information quickly, made sound judgments using the intelligence gathered, and successfully conveyed their response strategies to their employees, customers, and shareholders. Setting industry specifics aside, companies that are best positioned to emerge stronger from the pandemic are those that can (1) access information from their existing intelligence networks to make critical business decisions, and (2) communicate their decisions with a savvy public relations strategy.

The most successful and reputable companies worldwide increasingly rely on sophisticated information-gathering programs—known as “business intelligence”—to assess developments in their industries and operating environments before making key decisions. These companies also use the information they gather to inform their public relations strategies. Whether those strategies involve responding to an emergency or touting a company’s successes, the most successful ones are those backed by business intelligence and analysis.

Best-in-class companies develop intelligence-collection efforts in support of their business objectives. Working closely with senior decision makers, they build a tailored network of intelligence sources to deliver a proprietary stream of timely and actionable information—which they can then use for a public relations strategy.

In this chapter, we share our experiences working in private business intelligence to demonstrate how to harness intelligence for your public relations advantage. Case studies involve the following types of intelligence gathering programs: (1) “know your partner” due diligence; (2) strategic intelligence; (3) monitoring political, economic, and security risks; (4) intelligence-based media campaigns; (5) exposing wrongdoing; and (6) crisis management.

“KNOW YOUR PARTNER” DUE DILIGENCE

Reliable information about business partners is critical to sound business decisions in the United States and around the world. This requires due diligence designed to assess the risks associated with partnerships, mergers, and investment opportunities. Companies need targeted due diligence and background research that combines thorough public data and traditional investigative research with well-sourced, on-the-ground information. Individuals and companies need to know their partners and any potential “red flags.” They need advance information and analysis of the individuals and entities critical to a transaction or investment.

The best-case scenario uses intelligence to prevent potential black eyes, rather than waiting until problems emerge and force the client into damage control mode. We often conduct such background due diligence investigations on companies and their principals as part of a transaction or acquisition in order to identify reputational issues, among others, that may not have cropped up as part of the client’s financial analysis. While we often identify potentially problematic issues that can be thought through and managed, in some cases we uncover real deal breakers.

In the case of a recent acquisition of a major eastern European construction firm, we determined that one of its executives had consistently provided sizable financial incentives to state and municipal officials across the region to win contracts. While further investigations indicated that this was not a firm-wide practice, we did find, not surprisingly, that the compliance culture at the company was significantly underdeveloped.

In another case, a large multinational financial institution was preparing to buy a smaller bank in Central America and asked for a thorough review of the bank’s senior management in the region before concluding the deal. The due diligence methodology included inquiries with corporate, regulatory, and industry sources to determine the senior managers’ reputation. Through this process, the acquiring bank learned that a member of the target’s senior management team had business ties to a known criminal in the region, and that the same individual had been investigated for alleged involvement in criminal activities. The due diligence process was critical for the larger institution’s visibility and allowed it to take appropriate steps before concluding the deal. Had information about this individual come to light after the deal, it could have significantly harmed the entity’s regulatory and reputational standing. The acquiring institution would have had to deal with the public relations fallout from its involvement with the individual as well. In the high-stakes world of global finance, a competitor could have seized on the association as a way to tarnish the reputation of the financial institution. Having information ahead of time made all the difference.

In a post-pandemic world, many emerging markets will see an increase in mergers and acquisitions, and a consolidation in some sectors where distressed assets are newly available. This makes it all the more important for companies entering the market to feel confident about taking advantage of these opportunities. They also need to feel confident about the partners they are going into business with, to mitigate any potential public relations fallout from those who may be trying to hide corrupt business practices, unsavory dealings, or questionable associates. This comes down to protecting a company’s reputation.

STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE

Because information is so important to mitigating risk, many companies operating and investing globally have come to rely on sophisticated, ongoing information-gathering programs. These are business-intelligence collection programs that are designed to provide strategic information to company decision makers. Many companies have developed internal processes to collect external information that could affect their bottom line and to assess critical developments in their industry and operating environments. Companies often work with outside providers to help build the internal intelligence systems and capabilities they need to use external business intelligence—all of which is designed to improve their decision making and overall public relations strategy.

For example, we worked with a multinational corporation with worldwide operations, including in Brazil and Colombia, to develop internal intelligence mechanisms to manage incoming competitive and security-related information that impacted their most important operations. The company developed the internal systems and protocols necessary to then analyze information coming from external networks. These external networks were able to provide real-time intelligence about ongoing and emerging threats to the company’s operations.

In one of their country markets, the company was able to learn about a rival’s potential interest in assets considered to be in competition with its own operations. Having advance intelligence about the competitor’s interest in the market gave the company the time it needed to assess its own investment in that desirable market and to devise a public relations strategy to convey the company’s strength there. In another market, we were able to provide the company with intelligence about security risks emanating from violent street protests. Thus informed, the client was able to create and implement a risk-mitigation strategy and protect its valuable investment there. The work the company did to safeguard its assets also mitigated potential public relations blowback had the company been caught unprepared.

Another case involved sensitive strategic intelligence support for a commodities company with an extensive production operation in Asia. The client’s concern was that it had made a significant infrastructure investment in an area that had become embroiled in civil unrest. Suddenly, the local plants had to deal with an unpredictable insurgency, labor strife, and a shifting government regulatory structure, all of which could imperil their staff and seriously affect the bottom line. One option was simply to relocate facilities, but that would mean jettisoning a major investment. Together with the client, we put in place a strategic intelligence program to help it stay in front of events and respond quickly to the unexpected. This required establishing a nimble network of people on the ground who could report on events in real time and, even more importantly, anticipate problems before they occurred so the client was not blindsided.

The first piece of an effective strategic intelligence program is to develop the intelligence, and the second is to ensure a communications structure is in place to securely convey the information. Our next step for this client was using operatives in Manila and London to ensure operational security. We then relied on a variety of advanced encrypted communications platforms to transmit intelligence. Last, we helped the client utilize the information to manage a local public relations campaign.

MONITORING POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND SECURITY RISKS

In addition to ongoing business intelligence collection and the internal protocols to receive and process it, companies operating in regions rife with political violence and criminality also need to monitor political, economic, and security risks. But they also need ongoing intelligence collection and surveillance of political and economic risks. Understanding the political, economic, and security environments in which business units, factories, retail stores, headquarters, partners, or acquisition targets operate is essential to a company’s risk-mitigation strategy. The most successful companies develop an intelligence-based approach to making these risk assessments and ongoing monitoring that provides timely information from external networks of on-the-ground sources. Watching the headlines is not enough for many corporate executives. These companies and their C-suite executives need proprietary information relevant to their specific corporate business objectives.

For example, we worked with a nonprofit service organization seeking to expand to several different countries around the world, including Ukraine, South Korea, and Mexico. The organization required a series of reports analyzing each country’s political, economic, and security situations, as well as the reception it would likely receive in each country. Part of what made the reporting successful was that the initial reports developed a list of key contacts for the organization, a road map of governmental bureaucracy, and real-time intelligence about the security environment to help make important expansion decisions. Ongoing intelligence monitoring has helped the organization mitigate significant risks to its mission and personnel posed by political violence and organized crime in these countries. Further, the ongoing stream of information about the political, economic, and security environment has enabled the organization to implement a robust public relations campaign designed to fortify its work in the eyes of the community and the governments of the countries where it operates. A strong, forward-leaning public relations campaign can help create necessary alliances between an organization and the community in the face of security concerns. Such relationships become invaluable in circumstances when assets or personnel come under attack.

In another case, we helped a company with operations in Egypt to navigate the changing political landscape during the period of the Arab Spring protests and the ousting of two consecutive governments between 2011 and 2013. The company’s assets in the country were located in an area subject to protests, and the company itself came under assault for its association with the former government of Hosni Mubarak and his privatization program. Company executives needed to understand the immediate security risks as well as the longer-term political and economic consequences of regime change. Given the ongoing dynamics in the country, we worked with the client to develop a stream of political, economic, and security reporting based on intelligence gathered from key on-the-ground sources in Egypt. The long-term monitoring project continues today, even as the political situation in Egypt has stabilized, because the information provided to the client continues to inform operational and strategic business decisions in the country, as well as its public relations strategy there. Understanding the risks of the operating environment has also helped the client develop a positive posture in the community and with the government, which helps to insulate the company from potential future targeting.

INTELLIGENCE-BASED MEDIA CAMPAIGNS

Intelligence-collection programs help companies and organizations develop proactive media campaigns in an effort to influence their operating environments. Rather than just reacting to unfavorable conditions, these entities use information to create favorable conditions. Companies with robust intelligence networks develop ongoing streams of information to feed continuing media campaigns designed to benefit the entity.

Over the past years, we have worked with authoritative media outlets in Asia, the Middle East, and eastern Europe on behalf of clients for this purpose. After developing information specific to a client’s interest, we move to the implementation stage, which entails strategically deploying the information collected in an effort to help the client influence events in a beneficial direction. Moreover, we have the capability to follow up traditional media with a second layer of supportive social media, providing clients with a ready platform for honing and implementing effective global messaging.

In one such case, our client was an opposition figure in a Middle Eastern country who was trying to repair relationships with key establishment leaders. The first step was to use knowledgeable sources close to the regime to determine likely opportunities for connection and what messages might be most effective. We were able to bring critical information to the attention of journalists who might be interested in covering the issue, ones with authoritative voices in the target market who were already covering the issue at hand. In this case, we worked with a respected international journalist who covered political factions in the country in question and who wrote a positive piece about our client’s contributions to political stability in that country.

In such media campaigns, the goal is to work with journalists who can quickly learn about an issue, find the hook that makes it newsworthy for the general public, independently verify the information with their own network of sources, and then develop stories for publication. Such a concerted media campaign can yield significant benefits for a company or organization—but the key is to have solid, verifiable information developed via established intelligence methodologies to back up the narrative.

EXPOSING WRONGDOING

In the course of doing business around the globe, clients have found themselves faced with unscrupulous actors who might be impeding their business interests or actively working to sabotage their work in certain regions. Companies used to a level playing field of competition in areas where the rules and regulations are more transparent and better enforced may have difficulty operating in environments where competitors may take unlawful action to secure advantage. In some cases, clients may seek legal recourse. But in others, a savvy media campaign using sourced intelligence could be an effective way for companies to expose adversaries’ wrongdoing or neutralize competitors seeking to undermine their business objectives.

For example, we worked with a client to develop information related to a financial institution’s ongoing ties to an Iranian bank, which controverted international sanctions. The client believed that the financial institution was involved with the Iranians, so the first step was to verify its theory. We launched a discreet investigation into the financial institution using sources close to the entity, who confirmed the entity’s continuing relationship with the Iranian bank. This type of intelligence-gathering effort must be carried out with operational security front and center, so we used a seasoned team of intelligence professionals to develop the information. With this information, we worked with a journalist to publish an article about the financial institution in a reputable publication in Europe. As noted, in such media campaigns, the goal is to work with journalists who are already working on and interested in the relevant issues, can independently verify the information provided with their own sources, and then develop a story for publication. After we exposed the financial institution’s wrongdoing, the client then crafted its own public relations campaign designed to capitalize on the information conveyed in that initial article.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Often, a global crisis such as the coronavirus pandemic, a natural disaster, or domestic unrest provides a stress test of firms’ crisis-management capabilities. Corporate entities need to develop security and crisis-management protocols when operating in unstable environments, including effective and sustainable security and safety programs, emergency-response systems, and disaster-recovery plans. These plans could be related to threats to a facility, employees, and information, or to unforeseen crises and location-specific concerns. As noted, companies that had existing crisis-management plans in place were much better equipped to handle the coronavirus lockdowns in 2020. They were able to enact existing safety protocols and plans for operating remotely, thus mitigating the health risks to their employees and financial harm to their bottom line, while promoting their strategies via an organized public relations campaign. Faced with uncertainty, steady public relations messaging backed by good intelligence and sound protocols can do a lot to build confidence in the ability of a company and its leadership to handle a crisis.

For example, when a small international law firm found itself flat-footed in response to civil unrest in Chile, it realized that its crisis-management function had to be expanded. While the law firm had well-developed internal communications surrounding its life safety function, its crisis-management team needed to include an external communications element and protocols to guide its communications with external clients and other stakeholders, as well as local authorities and its national embassy. At the same time, we decided that the life safety function could use further refinement to include a component responsive to a potential pandemic flu outbreak. This meant building in plans for when sick employees should stay at home and return to work, when to suspend travel, and—critically—what infrastructure key employees would need to work from home if needed. Although we did not foresee the coronavirus pandemic, the company’s plans were readily adaptable.

In another case, we worked with a multinational conglomerate seeking to revamp the security protocols for its Latin American subsidiary in an area subject to paramilitary and insurgent activity. We conducted physical security assessments and recommended ongoing security protection for corporate facilities and management—including everything from armored cars to a vetted security detail, surveillance cameras, and safe rooms—to safeguard them from threats.

Using on-the-ground intelligence, we also developed and executed a strategy for continued production in the unstable area. It was important to identify and remediate weaknesses in its security posture and create a proactive and ongoing risk assessment capability for the company. With security protocols in place and public relations messaging at the ready, the company felt confident it could protect itself and its workers from a variety of potential threats.

Most recently, we worked with a multinational corporation with operations in the United States and Europe to help shore up its emergency management plan during the coronavirus pandemic. Fortunately, we had already established protocols with the client during the H1N1 outbreak in 2009, so its immediate response to COVID-19 was ahead of its competitors’. This was invaluable to the company and its employees from a health, financial, and public relations perspective. While its competitors were struggling to make crisis management decisions and figure out how to operate remotely, our client was already shifting gears to community outreach through a robust public relations campaign. The company was able to demonstrate stability and leadership in the communities where it is present and received much praise for its corporate social responsibility.

TAKEAWAYS

Top companies can and do utilize business intelligence for their public relations advantage in several ways:

1.Companies operating in the United States and around the world face a variety of challenges—from the everyday challenges of getting product to market to unforeseen black swan events such as the coronavirus pandemic. Best-in-class companies, however, are successful in navigating these challenges with the help of good intelligence and good public relations.

2.Companies cannot wait for a country’s political, economic, or security environment to stabilize before continuing operations, just as they cannot count on a competitor to openly advertise its interest in entering a desirable market.

3.Companies need information and public relations to defend their positions and to advance their objectives. Intelligence can help companies avoid certain pitfalls before they become public relations disasters. Intelligence can also arm companies with the ammunition they need to communicate critical business decisions, insulate themselves from further targeting, expose wrongdoing, or create community and government alliances.

4.The marriage between intelligence and public relations can set companies and leaders apart, giving them the competitive advantage they need to succeed.