Blackwater Aided by PR Giant, Burson-Marsteller

[seafan]

Blackwater Aided by PR Giant

By RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press Writer
October 5, 2007

WASHINGTON - Public relations giant Burson-Marsteller has vast experience steering companies through tough times. But there's a limit to how much it can help Blackwater USA, a new client that's been battered by negative publicity.

The State Department, which pays Blackwater hundreds of millions of dollars to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq, has stringent rules barring the private security contractor from discussing with the media the details of its work, according to those familiar with the arrangement.
Under those limitations, it's difficult to repair a corporate image, said one official close to Blackwater.

.....

Burson-Marsteller was brought aboard by the Washington law firms representing Blackwater _ McDermott Will & Emery and Crowell & Moring.
One of the Burson-Marsteller executives working on the Blackwater account is Robert Tappan, a former State Department official who joined Burson-Marsteller in July and is president of the company's Washington office.
At State, Tappan was deputy assistant secretary for public affairs. While at State, he spent six months in Baghdad as director of strategic communications for the Coalition Provisional Authority, the temporary governing body that disbanded in June 2004.

.....

According to the Center for Media and Democracy, Burson-Marsteller clients have included cigarette maker Philip Morris, nuclear power plant owner Entergy and Allergan, the pharmaceutical company that makes Botox.

.....

Len Biegel, a crisis management consultant who advised Johnson & Johnson 25 years ago during the Tylenol product-tampering case, said the Blackwater situation has escalated beyond a public relations emergency.
"It's really threatening the reputation of the company," Biegel said. "That puts it into the crisis category."

.....

Beau Phillips, a partner with the public relations firm Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter and Associates, said Blackwater needs to continue stressing that most of its employees are former military personnel.
"They need to help people understand that as you attack Blackwater, you're really attacking soldiers in a sense," Phillips said. "I think that's a message that would be helpful."

That may be a hard sell, however, given the unpopularity of the war in Iraq.

What was acceptable for defense contractors three years ago "will raise investigators' blood pressure today," said Richard Levick, a crisis communications expert and president of Levick Strategic Communications.
"Figuratively wrapping your company in the American flag works when the war is supported by the majority," Levick wrote in a blog posted last month on his company's Web site. "But when the tide turns, old messages no longer have the same effect."

There isn't any PR firm that can turn these atrocities by BlackwaterUSA around.

This radical right wing militia should be dismantled and prosecuted.

[seemslikeadream]

1. Burson-Marsteller

1.1 Overview

Burson-Marsteller (B-M) is one of the largest public relations (PR) agencies in the world and also the most reviled due to its mercenary attitude in choosing clients and contracts, and its frequent run ins with activists for environmental and other progressive causes. When helping its industry clients to escape environmental legislation or sprucing up the image of some of the most repressive governments on Earth, B-M brings to bear state of the art techniques in manipulating the mass media, legislators and public opinion.

In spite of B-M’s claims that the best way to deal with problems is to put one’s own house in order, the usual effect of PR is to maintain the status quo. By manipulating public opinion PR diverts attention away from difficult issues and creates the illusion of change so that a company or government can go about business as usual without having to worry about its reputation. By lobbying government and creating Astroturf campaigns PR helps to maintain a legislative environment on which industry can avoid real change

Back to top

1.2 Market-Share/Importance

Whilst in recent years Burson-Marsteller slipped back from the number one spot it remains one of the largest PR firms in the world, and with recent restructuring looks set for strong growth in the coming years. Since 1979 the company has been a part of the Young & Rubicam Inc. advertising conglomerate, which in turn was acquired by WPP Group plc<1>, the global communications services company, in October 2000. Its revenues for 2000 totalled $175m in the US and $303m worldwide, the highest in its history.

Today Burson-Marsteller employs 2,000 people in more than 60 offices in 35 countries around the world. That gives it a more international presence than any other agency, which is both an advantage (the firm is still the first choice for clients looking for genuine global reach) and a disadvantage.

B-M’s reliance on international business makes it vulnerable to economic downturns or under-performing offices, as well as currency fluctuations. In recent years the Asian market was under-performing, then Europe, which was flat last in 1999. But B-M Europe has now moved back to a geographic structure-a reversal of the practice area commitment the agency made five years ago-more suited to local conditions, and that should spur growth. Meanwhile, the firm is picking up high-profile wins in Asia, like the Hong Kong government's economic development program, and expanding in Latin America, where it has a strong e-commerce practice.


Back to top

1.3 History<2>

Founded in 1953 by Harold Burson, a freelance PR man and Jim Marsteller, owner of Marsteller Advertising, Burson-Marsteller has grown to become one of the largest PR agencies in the world and a market leader in all of the major areas of PR services.

Harold Burson’s original vision for the new company was to model it on Hill & Knowlton then the clear leader in the PR sector. He quickly took the company into new fields of PR wanting to diversify into new fields from his original speciality in business-to-business communications. B-M quickly set up offices across the USA and began to pursue larger and more prestigious clients. By 1959 revenues had reached nearly half a million dollars.

Although not yet a top tier PR firm, B-M took the gamble of moving into the European marketplace in the 1960s, a move that only Hill & Knowlton had previously taken. B-M established offices in London and Paris as well in Washington DC, and Los Angeles during the sixties.

Throughout the 1970s B-M continued to expand. In 1970 it entered the field of consumer public relations with its acquisition of Theodore R. Sills Inc. And it opened further offices in Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Sao Paolo, Bahrain and in Russia. In 1979 B-M was acquired by the Young & Rubicam group of companies, and could thus begin to integrate its services with a family of other companies practising PR, lobbying and advertising.

In 1983 B-M’s revenues exceeded those of Hill & Knowlton and in 1985 it was the first PR company to earn $100m in a year. The company’s expansion was relentless and yet more offices opened across the United states and around the world.

After years as the premier public relations agency, a position that became unquestionable after H&K’s partial collapse in the early nineties, B-M saw its leadership position erode throughout the ‘90s, thanks to internal problems and the fact that several other agencies improved dramatically over the same period. With recent restructuring however it has shown string growth and in 2000 earned $303m placing it fourth in the league table of global PR firms<3>.

In 2000 Young & Rubicam was itself acquired by the WPP Group. So now Burson-Marsteller works in an even larger family of companies including its old rival Hill& Knowlton



http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=392




Of course it's not new, note the date. The extremely important thing is who is doing the surveilance, Burson-Marsteller. They deal with the far less public side of 'perception management'. Burson-Marsteller is expert in 'crisis management', giving it the opportunity to work with many of the most unpleasant and controversial governments and corporate bodies. When the public has lost faith in a government or corporate organization, one of Burson-Marsteller strategies is to generate 'third party support', a tactic which involves recuiting apparently impartial groups and individuals to support its cause. "The first stage of this is lobbying at government level; the second is the recuitment of experts as public supporters. Most interesting for the consumer movement is that a third tactic, generating 'grassroots' support, is becoming increasingly popular. Consumer campaigns are victims of their own success in that, as the public place significantly more trust in campaign groups than they do in either governments or trade bodies, they have become a useful tool for corporate PR.
http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/magazine/corpwatch/burson.htm

Burson-Marsteller is working to enhance the credibility of the Iraqi National Congress as it seeks to establish itself as a legitimate force in the postinvasion Iraq," writes the Holmes Report, a PR trade publication. "B-M has been working with the Congress, led by high profile Iraqi exile Ahmed Chalabi, since 1999, under a state department contract. Chalabi and the Congress have close ties with the Bush administration, but some critics are concerned that their support within Iraq is shallow. "We've been the communications vechicle on the outside as the INC moved into northern Iraq, then to Nasiriya, and to Bagdad, ' K. Riva Levinson, who heads the INC account for Burson out of Washington, told reporters. "We were helping the INC get out statements and videos that made it clear that the exiled opposition was consolidating and moving. It's been a tremendous ride for them and us."

B-M is one of the largest public relations agencies in the world and also the most reviled due to its mercenary attitude in choosing clients and contracts, and its frequent run ins with activists for enviromental and other progressive causes. When helping its industry clients to escape enviromental legislation or sprucing up the image of some of the most repressive governments on Earth, B-M brings to bear state of the art techniques in manipulating the mass media, legislators and public opinion."
http://www.guerrillanews.com/print

"Burson-Marsteller has identified persuasive individuals who defy the limits of traditional viral marketing and spread the word about a company, brand or product to an average of 14 people. These are e-fluentials, defined according to their intensive use of e-mail, chat rooms, message board, company and opinion web sites. They make up 10% of the U.S. online adult population (11 million), but reach a total of 155 million U.S. adults online or offline as they tell on their experiences. E-fluentials are socially and politically engaged and vocal citizens in cyber and traditional spheres. They frequently interact with well-known news and media organizations. In doing so, e-fluentials connect the dots between companies, media organizations, policy makers and consumers."
http://oracle.zenic.net/


December 18, 2001

Burson-Marsteller, a global communications and public relations firm, is creating an alliance with Cyveillance to allow Burson-Marsteller's corporate and institutional clients to track and respond to that which is being said about them across the Internet. Cyveillance's technology is capable of scouring the entire Internet at high speed to locate, filter and prioritze company or institution-specific dialogue, offering clients the ability to address potential issues such as negative comments about the corportation, a brand, or their service reputations.

"Negative comments or dialogue, which can be devastating to large corporation, often begin unnoticed in the recesses of the Internet," said Eric Letsinger, director, channel development, Cyveillance. "Our technology provides an early detection system to identify these threats and gauge their potential impact, allowing Burson-Marsteller to alert their clients to critical issues far in advance of a crisis."
http://dc.internet.com/news/print.php/942201

Dirty hands - a few of Burson-Marsteller's less public clients

Regimes
Argentina's fascist junta
Indonesian Government
El Salvadorian Government
Nigerian Government
Saudi Arabia - BKSH, a Burson Marsteller subsidiary which deals with government lobbying, was hired on Septmeber 14, to promote Saudi interest in the US following the terrorist attacks
Mexican Government (to promote NAFTA)
Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu
South Korea (to avoid discussion of human rights issues during the 1988 Olympics)
UNITA - The US sponsored Angolan guerrilla army

Corporate
Union Carbide (after the Bhopal disaster, which killed thousands)
Babcock & Wilcox (for Three Mile Island nuclear accident)
Exxon (following the Exxon-Valdez oil spill)
Europabio - a body representing the biotechnology industry
http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/magazine/corpwatch/burson.htm

Edward Neys, former U.S. Ambassador to Canada is chairman of Burson-Marsteller. He is also a director of Barrick Gold Mining. George Bush Sr. just before leaving office gave Barrick $10 billion in gold mining rights on US public land for $10,000. Then he got a job with Barrick as an international consultant.


and there's more

[seemslikeadream]

2. Dirty hands - a few of Burson-Marsteller's less public clients

just for emphasis

Regimes
Argentina's fascist junta
Indonesian Government
El Salvadorian Government
Nigerian Government
Saudi Arabia - BKSH, a Burson Marsteller subsidiary which deals with government lobbying, was hired on Septmeber 14, to promote Saudi interest in the US following the terrorist attacks
Mexican Government (to promote NAFTA)
Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu
South Korea (to avoid discussion of human rights issues during the 1988 Olympics)
UNITA - The US sponsored Angolan guerrilla army

[seafan]

3. Thank you for that information, seemslikeadream. Not surprising at all.

I would really like to know the extent of BlackwaterUSA's involvement in New Orleans in Katrina's aftermath.

There were many reports of black-clad ninja-like soldiers patrolling the streets with fearsome weapons.


Private mercenary militias are nothing more than marauding bands of thugs, with loyalty and accountability to no one. They should be outlawed.

[seemslikeadream]

4. KICK