Integrated communication marketing

Integrated communication marketing Background The public relations team in an organization faces the responsibility of ensuring that the organization achieves a positive image in the eyes of the internal and external stakeholders. It strives to achieve this through a number of ways, such as sponsorships, and event management. It also handles the challenges that face the company, especially when the company is associated with negative publicity, which could influence negatively on its operations.
Who are olive Garden’s internal and external stakeholders that have been affected by this turn of events?
Internal stakeholders affected by this occurrence include shareholders, employees, and the management of the organization. The shareholders face a reduction in business growth, owing to the negative publicity of the company, which, reduces their profits. The management also suffers from the bad reputation as they report significant loss of business to competitors. Employees, on the other hand face the association of an immoral organization, which does not contribute positively to their self-esteem.
External stakeholders include customers, the local community, as well as competitors (Strydom, 2005). The publicity of the company affects customers negatively, thus denying them an opportunity to dine at a restaurant they had previously enjoyed. The local community suffers from the immoral show that focuses on Olive Garden, which does not promote family values. Competitors enjoy the increased flow of clients to their organization as they move from Olive Garden.
For casual observers of media, would the “ Sexiest Girls of Olive Garden” appear to be a sponsorship?
For casual observers of media, the “ Sexiest Girls of Olive Garden” would appear as a sponsorship by the Olive Garden Company. This follows the idea that most programs search for organizations that can sponsor them, and then include their names in the event or program as a way of promoting their business to the audience.
Is this event an instance in which damage-control programs were in order? If so, which one (s)?
This event can be seen as one that had damage control programs in order. The overlap between the individuals who dined at the restaurant, and the people who watched the girls’ next-door show presented an effective control mechanism (Clow, & Baack, 2013). The group that dined at the restaurant consisted of more women than men. In relation to this, more women than men watched the show, thus allowing Olive Garden a perfect opportunity to gain greater publicity from the show.
Kendra Wilkinson said she believed Olive Garden could afford to appear to be a little “ edgy” without detracting from its family-friendly brand. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
I disagree with this proposition as the show associated with Olive Garden was a complete opposite of the values that a family would support. Taking photos of nude people does not in any way depict the values a family should promote, hence does not attract positive publicity for the organization.
If you were the public relations agency for the Olive Garden, how would you handle this situation? What steps would you take and what tactics would you use to ensure Olive Garden’s image is not adversely affected?
Given the role of a public relations agency to maintain a positive image of the organization in question, I would have taken a number of steps to ensure that that the organization did not lose its long-earned, positive publicity. I would have used the media to communicate to all the stakeholders about the position of the company in the issue (Clear, & Weideman, 2002). This would inform the public that Olive Garden did not sponsor the show, and it was not in support of the show’s motive. Popular newspapers, for example, would reach a wide range of families, thus alerting them of the company’s position. In addition to this, booking an interview with a television station to discuss the issue would also help in reaching more people, and informing them of the company’s position. Communicating such information on social media would also inform more people of the organizations stand in the issue. Such efforts serve to maintain the loyalty that clients have to the organization, thus protecting it from adverse effects.
References
Clear, A. & Weideman, L. (2002). Dynamics of Public Relations and Journalism: A Practical Guide for Media Studies. Lansdowne: Juta & Co, Ltd.
Clow, K. & Baack, D. (2013). Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications. New Jersey: Pearson Education Publishers.
Strydom, J. (2005). Introduction to Marketing. Lansdowne: Juta & Co, Ltd.