Terrorsimo, business, bombe ed rp

Odwyerspr analizza l'impatto dell'attentato di Londra sul mondo del business e delle rp. Concludendo che, mentre l'11 settembre rappresentò un momento di brusco arresto, gli ultimi avvenimenti drammatici potrebbero paradossalmente rilanciare le relazioni pubbliche. Il testo in inglese.

BUSINESS WILL RISE ABOVE TERRORISTS  The business world including PR and marketing will rise above attempts to rattle it by terrorist acts such as the London bombings, PR industry leaders said today.They do not see a downturn in business such as followed the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.PR and advertising were severely damaged in the wake of that attack which captured the attention of media for many months.Richard Edelman, president and CEO of Edelman PR Worldwide, said the bombings in London were tragic but that the British people are not allowing their lives to be disrupted."Neither the British nor Americans can be intimidated by such acts of terrorism,"he said. Edelman doesn't believe PR and marketing will be impacted the way they were after 9/11.Moskowitz Sees ResiliencyLarry Moskowitz, CEO, chairman and president of Medialink, said people around the world have shown resiliency in the wake of terrorist attacks such as those in Spain, Chechnya and Moscow that caused major loss of life.They have shown attackers that they will go on with their lives, he said, noting that the British are well known for their stoicism in the face of danger.
"The tubes (subways) are open in London and the buses are operating,"he added.
Moskowitz said his staff in London was at work today as usual and that he is flying to London on Sunday.
"I have many meetings set up there and will conduct business as usual,"he said.
Maury Tobin, head of radio PR company Tobin Communications, said: "We can't get into the mind-set as a country or as an economy that we need to shut down every time something happens."
Tobin said that because the attack was overseas there is a sense of detachment in the U.S. public and media. "But there's no question it makes people feel vulnerable here," he said.
Crisis Plans Are Needed
Edelman said that organizations need to have crisis plans in place on a worldwide basis to handle any terrorist acts.The Edelman blog today praised U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blairs actions in the wake of the bombings."The ability of a leader to capture the spirit of a country was never more evident than in Blairs remarks throughout the day," said Edelman. "His steely determination and commitment to the British way of life gave great confidence to viewers. It was smart for him to come back to 10 Downing Street for a second chance at the media after his first remarks from Gleneagles, Scotland"(where the Group of 8 summit meeting was taking place).Edelman said the "greatest act of defiance in the wake of this latest terrorist outrage is to go on with our lives in a normal way. We cannot allow this to change our free society."The firm's office in London is closed today but will reopen Monday.Newswire Sees Crisis TrafficDave Armon, COO of PR Newswire, said the company's 100 staffers in London were "terrified" but are all safe and the office remains up and running.PRN ran over 60 news releases from organizations in London and elsewhere related to the bombings, from news that a flower show was canceled to a release discussing the impact of the attacks on the travel industry. News from companies directly affected by the bombings was transmitted at no cost, the second time PRN has offered this service the first was 9/11. "We received positive feedback from organizations that had to put their crisis plan into effect, but might not have had the budget to go along with it," said Armon.
While the newswire was a key cog for companies' crisis PR plans, broadcast operations are the hardest hit when a story like the bombings breaks.
"There certainly is an immediate retrenchment that has to take place in a TV news room," said Armon, when asked about PRN's MultiVu broadcast PR operation. "Anything that was in the planning cycle for the evening news or the morning shows the following day usually gets scrapped. You have to be sensitive to that and be able to reschedule feeds and satellite media tours when necessary. Experts on terrorism certainly take precedent over the product launch du jour, but it's a temporary dip and these things get re-fed a week or two later.""Companies need to understand that there are factors bigger than their own organization in determining when it's appropriate to announce news," he said.Armon said PRN does have a counseling role with clients and PR firms on when to reschedule a release or broadcast event. "We will give clients ideas of when things are returning to normal, if they ask us to, and give them best-practice examples and make calls to media and ask when the schedule might be returning to normal. We always advocate that the customer talk to their PR firm, lawyers and others."Be Sensitive To MediaSimonD S Simon Productions, New York, had a satellite media tour scheduled for yesterday with 21 stations booked. Company president Doug Simon said five stations cancelled because of the London bombings, a rate, he said, could have been much worse, especially if the attacks came in the U.S."The key thing is to be sensistive to the media. With yesterday's satellite media tour, we weren't just calling up stations and saying, 'Ok, here we go, we're ready for your piece,'" said Simon. "We called ahead to let them know that we understand [the bombing coverage] is going on and said, 'Do you have everything you need? Do you need to adjust the time?'"
Simon said his company has found post 9/11, and with incidents like the London attacks, a different reaction in cities that could be considered "target markets" like Washington, D.C., San Francisco or Los Angeles, where attacks may be more likely to occur than in smaller markets.Eric Wright, VP at D S Simon, noted Southeast U.S. stories were also affected by Hurricane Dennis yesterday looming off the coast. He said weather is the number one cause for cancellations in live news events.Simon said only a wide-reaching, catastrophic event would completely disrput PR outreach. "It would have to be on such a scale that the problem of your PR outreach would be the least of your problems," he said. The point where network stations take over coverage on affiliates is where PR events become essentially irrelevant, he said, adding that situation has become rarer as affliates grumble and networks avoid the move because of the loss of lucrative advertising revenue.Back Karen HughesDilenschneiderRobert Dilenschneider, chairman of The Dilenschneider Group, said the PR and business communities should back Karen Hughes, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy, in her efforts to mobilize the great majority of Muslims who are peace-loving."We must show that the terrorists are a very small part of this community," he said."Muslims, just like everyone else, want their children to grow up in a safe world,"said Dilenschneider.He feels the business world will be impacted by the London bombings."It will be more difficult for companies doing business in the Middle East and make it very hard for Middle East companies to do business in the west,"he said.Dilenschneider gave this as his final quote: "We have to face down the bullies."Companies involved in security devices will find that their businesses will boom, he said.