Previously, Meihua data based on years of experience in crisis public opinion monitoring, made a month-based crisis early warning list, aimed at helping enterprises identify and respond to public opinion risks in a timely manner. Here, we are very grateful for the recognition and suggestions from our corporate friends, which motivates us to continue to launch this series. The following is a reference list we provide for the early warning of corporate crisis in February, which I hope will be helpful to all corporate PR practitioners.
In addition, due to the proximity of the time point, many risk warnings in the previous January enterprise crisis warning list still need to be focused on in February, including the quality public opinion risk caused by cold weather, the word-of-mouth public opinion risk caused by the price increase caused by the festival, the image public opinion risk caused by employee treatment, the crisis public opinion risk caused by sudden accidents, etc., for details, please check the previously released January enterprise crisis warning list.
Risky industries: Most industries, especially foreign-funded enterprises.
Representative case: Burberry's 2019 Chinese New Year advertising campaign "Modern New Year" overturned.
Risk keywords: folk customs, Chinese traditions, welcoming the New Year, greeting the New Year, Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, welcoming the God of Wealth, setting off firecrackers, Lantern Festival.
Risk analysis: The Spring Festival and Lantern Festival are among the most important traditional festivals in China, and they are also the period that requires special attention in brand marketing and promotion. When developing a marketing campaign around these two festivals, it is important to ensure that the marketing content is in line with traditional Chinese folklore and popular traditional beliefs. Specifically, it includes traditional customs such as sticking Spring Festival couplets, giving red envelopes, eating Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, setting off firecrackers, welcoming the God of Wealth, greeting the New Year, guessing lantern riddles, etc., as well as the general awareness and preference of the Chinese public for the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival.
Prevention suggestions: 1. Respect cultural traditions: The Spring Festival is the most important traditional festival in China, and enterprises should respect and reflect traditional cultural values when conducting marketing activities. Avoid using inappropriate or offensive content or using overly cheesy or stereotypical language or images, respect traditional Chinese customs and folk customs, and gain insight into consumers' emotions and identification with the Spring Festival, so as not to cause disgust or misunderstanding among consumers.
2. Avoid sensitive topics: During the Spring Festival, avoid touching sensitive topics, such as politics, religion, region, etc. These topics are prone to controversy and negative reactions, causing damage to corporate image and brand reputation.
3. Avoid common-sense mistakes: Strictly investigate relevant folk traditions to ensure that the brand will not have low-level errors of common sense in the promotion activities and promotional materials of the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival, resulting in negative public opinion.
4. Pay attention to norms and regulations: When conducting marketing activities, pay attention to and abide by the corresponding regional norms and regulations, such as fireworks and firecrackers, dragon and lion dance celebrations, etc., which should be carried out in the permitted area and time, and avoid harassing surrounding residents.
5. Standardize overseas marketing: Brands should pay attention to reminding overseas companies of the same brand in their Spring Festival marketing activities, especially the Spring Festival celebration content of overseas official accounts, to avoid sensitive, stereotyped, and inappropriate texts and **, which will cause dissatisfaction among domestic netizens, and then cause negative public opinion.
Risk industry: manufacturing industry, Internet industry.
Representative case: On the first day of the New Year's office, DingTalk Enterprise WeChat Collective Collapse The official response came.
Risk keywords: system crash, sudden accident, unexpected bug, employee leave, accident remediation.
Risk analysis: This year's statutory Spring Festival holiday is as long as 8 days, and most employees of the enterprise will be in the vacation period during these 8 days, and most of the employees are in the festive atmosphere of the Spring Festival holiday. Enterprises should anticipate the possibility of such risks and deploy corresponding insurance countermeasures in advance. For the manufacturing industry, there is also a risk that the maintenance and management of production equipment and materials will not be in place during the Spring Festival holiday, which should be paid attention to.
Prevention suggestions: 1. Predict potential risks: According to the company's own situation, identify and assess the potential risks that may occur during the long holiday in advance, including physical risks, chemical risks, employee risks (such as personnel operation errors, malicious sabotage), competition risks (malicious smears by competitors), etc., and enterprises should clarify the risk level and response priority of various types of risks in advance.
2. Formulate a management plan: according to the risk level and response priority, combined with the company's own situation, determine the prevention plan and remedial plan in advance. It is recommended that enterprises establish an emergency risk management team to supervise and coordinate risk management work, and handle and respond to risk events in a timely manner.
3. Organize emergency drills: according to the actual situation and possible risks of the enterprise, try to be as close to the actual situation as possible, determine the scenarios and scenarios of the drill, test the feasibility and effectiveness of the emergency plan, and improve the ability and efficiency of emergency response.
Risk industry: food industry, cosmetics industry, daily necessities industry, catering industry, hotel industry.
Representative case: NIO said that the first bouquet of flowers received by the man was approved in front of the grave.
Risk keywords: over-marketing, opposition between men and women, anxiety-making, inappropriate remarks, marketing gimmicks, untimely, cutting leeks.
Risk analysis: 1. Risk of excessive commercialization: With the changes in the overall economy and environment, Valentine's Day marketing may lead to consumers' consumption pressure and fatigue on Valentine's Day. Excessive commercialization can make consumers feel bored and have a negative impression of the brand.
2. Non-target group aversion: Valentine's Day is a holiday with couples as the main target group, but if the marketing campaign does not have a clear target group positioning, it may lead to poor advertising effect and even lead to rejection by other groups. For example, pushing a Valentine's Day product or service to a single person can cause resentment.
3. War risk: During Valentine's Day, many brands will launch activities to attract consumers. But excessive warfare can lead to damage to brand image and reduced profits.
4. Conflict of Chinese and Western concepts: Valentine's Day on February 14 is one of the traditional festivals in Western countries, which originated from ** religion. Western Valentine's Day marketing in China may cause discontent among some people.
Prevention suggestions: 1. In-depth understanding of the target group: understand the cultural background, values and consumption habits of the target group in order to better position and design marketing activities. Avoid touching sensitive topics or conflicting cultural ideas.
2. Moderate commercialization: Avoid overly commercial marketing strategies, especially to avoid making consumers feel burdened, and focus on conveying sincere and romantic emotions, rather than just promoting products.
3. Pay attention to the marketing scale: marketing promotion should pay attention to whether it will be disgusted with singles or other people, negative, and affect the brand image. If you find another way to market to non-couples, you should pay special attention to whether the "joke" is appropriate to avoid the occurrence of "merchants who think they are humorous".
4. Respect cultural traditions: understand the cultural background, values and consumption habits of the target group, and customize marketing strategies suitable for the local culture to ensure resonance with the target group and avoid touching sensitive topics or conflicting cultural concepts.
Risky industries: tourism, gaming, entertainment, education.
Representative case: Chongqing boy plays peace elite recharge 30,000 Tencent has accepted the refund information.
Risk keywords: safety hazards, playthings, game recharge, parental complaints, illegal training, double reduction policy, winter vacation odd jobs.
Risk analysis: 1. Tourism industry: During the winter vacation of students, the tourism industry may usher in a peak period, and enterprises such as tourist attractions, hotels and travel agencies may face the challenge of surging passenger flow. This can lead to problems such as decreased service quality, longer queue times, and increased customer complaints.
2. Game industry, leisure and entertainment industry: During the winter vacation, students usually have more free time, and the game industry and leisure and entertainment industry may usher in opportunities for user growth. However, game operators may face pressures such as increased server load, game balance issues, user security risks, and large amounts of student top-ups. In addition, criticism of games and short** affecting children's physical and mental health is also likely to increase.
3. Education and training industry: Winter vacation is the best period for students to participate in various types of education and training, including cram schools, training institutions, etc. This can lead to problems such as teacher shortages, conflicting curriculum schedules, and declining student satisfaction for education and training institutions. In addition, the relevant authorities are expected to crack down on disguised illegal training.
4. Part-time work during winter vacation: Some students will choose to work during winter vacation, which may bring some risks to the employer's enterprise. For example, students may lack work experience and require additional training and mentoring; Students' working hours may be erratic, making it difficult to schedule work schedules; Students may not have a clear understanding of the content and requirements of the work, resulting in a decrease in the quality of the work, etc.
Prevention suggestions: 1. Optimize security services. Tourism-related service industries are advised to increase staffing, plan and arrange service processes in advance, and strengthen customer communication and satisfaction surveys. Especially for the safety of children and the elderly, strengthen corresponding safety measures and eliminate potential safety hazards in advance.
2. Enhance the carrying capacity. In order to cope with possible risks such as increased server load, game balance problems, and user security, game operators can conduct server capacity assessments, enhance the carrying capacity of servers, strengthen the testing and optimization of game balance, and strengthen the protection measures for user account and payment security. In addition, do a good job of reminding teenagers to prevent addiction and optimize refund channels.
3. Protect the rights and interests of winter vacation workers. When employing students for part-time jobs, companies need to comply with relevant labor laws and regulations to ensure their compliance and avoid the risk of legal disputes. In addition, do a good job of safety operation tips for winter vacation workers, provide necessary safety training, ensure that students understand and comply with safety operation procedures, provide necessary safety facilities and protective equipment, regularly inspect and maintain work equipment, and establish an emergency rescue mechanism.
Risk industries: Most industries are especially the Internet industry, children's products industry, and elderly products industry.
Representative case: Black Cat complaint opens the 2023 315 special plan: create a new future of consumption.
Risk keywords: 315 in action, 315 warm-up, 315 special planning, red and black list, consumer rights protection, and stimulating consumption vitality.
Risk analysis: Although the annual 315 party is in March, many ** will carry out 315 warm-up activities and concentrated reports in February. A few days ago, the China Consumers Association announced that the theme of the 2024 National Consumers Association Consumer Rights Protection Year is "Stimulating Consumption Vitality", which mentions that "new forms and models of consumption, carry out supervision and investigation of 'overlord clauses', prepaid consumption, platform transaction behaviors, etc.", and "carry out comparative tests on elderly products and children's products" Related industries should be focused on.
Prevention suggestions: 1. Do a good job of risk assessment in advance. Enterprises should conduct a risk assessment of possible negative situations in advance to understand the products, services or business links that may be subject to complaints, as well as the causes and impacts that may trigger negative public opinion.
2. Improve the complaint handling mechanism. Enterprises should establish a sound complaint handling mechanism to ensure that consumer complaints can be handled in a timely and effective manner. This includes setting up a dedicated complaint handling team, establishing complaint channels, and developing a clear complaint handling process.
3. Strengthen product quality and service quality management. Enterprises should strengthen the management of product quality and service quality, ensure that products meet the requirements of relevant standards and regulations, and provide high-quality services, including strengthening the management of the first chain, product testing and quality control, and training employees to improve service levels.
4. Establish positive communication channels. It is recommended that enterprises maintain good communication and interaction with consumers, and achieve it through the establishment of customer service and social platforms, so as to respond to consumers' questions and concerns in a timely manner and enhance consumer satisfaction and trust.
Risk Industries: Most industries.
Representative case: The interviewer of station B responded to the suspected discrimination of BUPT's remarks, and the official apologized at station B.
Risk keywords: academic discrimination, gender discrimination, age discrimination, false publicity, bizarre interview questions.
Risk analysis: February to March is the opening time of spring recruitment for most enterprises, and there are some public opinion risks during the recruitment of employees
1. Discrimination and unfair treatment. There may be discrimination against certain groups in the recruitment process, such as gender, age, race, etc., or unfair treatment in treatment.
2. False propaganda. Companies may exaggerate or fabricate their strengths, performance, or benefits packages to mislead job seekers into making the wrong decisions.
3. The recruitment process is not transparent. In the recruitment process, companies may have opaque processes, untimely or inaccurate information, which can cause confusion and dissatisfaction to job seekers.
4. Inappropriate interview questions. During the interview process, companies may ask inappropriate or illegal questions, such as marital status, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, etc., which violates the privacy of job applicants.
5. Recruitment information leakage. Improper information management or data breaches may lead to the disclosure of personal information of job applicants, posing security risks to them.
Prevention suggestions: 1. Improve the recruitment system. Ensure that the recruitment process is transparent, fair, and compliant. Formulate clear recruitment policies and procedures, clarify the responsibilities and authority of each link, and avoid the interference of human subjective factors. Ensure that job postings are truthful and accurate, and avoid exaggerated or false claims. Provide detailed job descriptions, requirements, and benefits packages to avoid misleading job applicants.
2. Ensure the security of job search information. Strengthen information management and data protection, ensure the security of job applicants' personal information, and take the necessary technical and organizational measures to prevent information leakage and misuse.
3. Establish communication channels. Maintain good communication and interaction with job seekers, and respond to job seekers' questions and concerns in a timely manner. Establish customer service**, social ** platforms and other channels to provide timely feedback and support.
4. Do a good job in training and recruitment: Provide the necessary training for recruiters to understand the appropriate interview questions and code of conduct. Develop the professionalism and professionalism of recruiters to ensure that they are able to carry out the recruitment process correctly and fairly.
5. Strengthen public opinion monitoring. Pay close attention to the attention and evaluation of the public on corporate recruitment, and respond and explain in a timely manner. Establish a public opinion monitoring mechanism to discover and respond to potential negative public opinion in a timely manner, especially for platforms such as Xiaohongshu, Zhihu, and Bilibili.
Risk industries: construction industry, fire protection industry, manufacturing industry.
Representative case: 14 listed companies exposed environmental risks last week Shaanxi Coal Holding Company was fined 1.92 million.
Risk keywords: green development, safe production, industrial structure, adjustment guidance, policy risk.
Risk analysis: The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has recently revised and issued the Guiding Catalogue for Industrial Structure Adjustment (2024 Edition), which will come into force on February 1, 2024. Among them, the encouraged category adds intelligent manufacturing, agricultural machinery and equipment, CNC machine tools, network security and other industries, and the restricted and eliminated categories add new categories of fire protection, construction industry and related fields that do not meet the requirements of green development and safe production. If the business of the enterprise involves relevant content, it needs to guard against relevant policy risks.
Prevention suggestions: 1. In-depth understanding of policies. The company should carefully study the "Industrial Structure Adjustment Guidance Catalogue" to understand the details of the restricted and eliminated items in the catalogue, and clarify the main reasons for the restriction and elimination of business and the corresponding timetable.
2. Assess the impact of the business: The company should conduct a comprehensive assessment of the eliminated business to understand the degree of its impact on the company. The assessment includes the revenue contribution of the business, market share, number of employees, etc., and prepare for follow-up responses and interviews.
3. Formulate a business adjustment plan. Based on policy requirements and the results of the business impact assessment, develop a business adjustment plan. The plan may include options for downsizing, transitioning, or exiting the business to ensure the viability and sustainability of the plan.
4. Communicate with relevant parties. Communicate with relevant departments, partners, customers and other relevant parties in a timely manner to understand their understanding and expectations of the policy, and seek the possibility of cooperation and support.
5. Optimize resource allocation: Optimize the allocation of resources according to the business adjustment plan. There may be a need to reallocate human, financial and material resources to support new business development or investments in other areas.
The data of this article**: Meihua data public opinion monitoring team collated and collected.