Richard Block

Richard Block is Vice President of Marketing for Haier America. In that capacity he leads all marketing initiatives, as well as company and product promotions, through a variety of marketing platforms. He also directs the company’s relationship with the National Basketball Association, in which Haier is named the Official HDTV of the NBA. With 30 years of experience as a marketing veteran, Mr. Block joined Haier America in June of 2006.

Q: Given that Haier has so many different product categories, how does product marketing work at Haier – does the company form different silos for the marketing of each brand, with different goals, strategies and tactics or does it all fall under one company umbrella? Does each category work with its own team, whether in house or outsourced?

A: What it really comes down to is as follows: there are many different factories, all with their own teams; marketing, product merchandising and otherwise and, everyone runs their own individual company. It’s pretty much that simple… Once the product comes to market, I work with the product marketing groups that are responsible for each individual product and discuss strategy with them. Then, based on what they (in the factory) want, I execute that strategy. As such, I don’t own that strategy, they do. I do own the Haier brand, so when it comes strictly to branding, that’s something that I can execute outside of their realm.

When you look at the NBA official partnership relationship with Haier, that’s something that I execute and do for the entire Haier brand.

When I first started here five years ago, Haier had an “unaided” awareness of about 7%; it’s tripled to almost 20%; “aided” awareness is now up to almost 40%. The truth of the matter is that I believe the NBA partnership is great for the television factory. For example, I chose to use the designation of the NBA, as an official marketing partner, for nine categories because it just sounds better, works better, looks better and feels better. Most think that it’s a very strong vehicle for the TV division, but I think the whole company benefits as well.

Q: Are all your products/product categories branded under the Haier name globally or does it differ according to regions?

A: Most of what we do is branded as Haier; however, there are sub-brands. There are many companies we’ve done business with, and even here, we have sub-brands. The only part that is a bit disappointing is that because of this, we don’t have 100% of the effort going in the same direction. When you’re doing sales for a sub-brand, you cannot really market under that brand, so the investment goes to the overall pie, and gets taken down by a notch because all the monies are not going toward one goal.

Q: Haier was recently ranked by Euromonitor International, the world’s leading independent provider of business intelligence on industries, as the number one brand of major appliances in the world. What overall strategies does your company employ to retain that position, most specifically, in the US? Does social media play an important role in connecting to your customers?

A: We are very proud of that designation. Especially so, when you take into account that Haier America is a fairly young player in the United States (almost 12 years old), and that this designation is worldwide.

As to social media, the NBA partnership was key in growing our overall branding effort on that platform. We use other advertising and marketing vehicles that also impact the social media component. Just take a look at what was accomplished at the recently finished NBA All Star Weekend with our production of a 20-25 minute international infomercial; sponsorships of shooting stars for the 5th year before the 3-point and the Sprite Slam Dunk – all of which netted literally 1,000s of tweets and re-tweets! When I get a new analytics report following the All-Star Weekend and it shows that our onsite traffic for that weekend (or month) was the highest of the whole year — then you tell me how successful that is!

Certainly, our commitment within the digital/social media arena will continue to grow and we are already exploring and testing new programs.

Q: As a Chinese headquartered company, what are the cultural challenges that you encounter, if any, as to marketing operations?

A: Well, look there’s no question that there are challenges, but I don’t really think it’s because we are a Chinese company, rather because we are a foreign company, with people separated by social barriers and 12,000 miles. Often they just have different ways of looking at business aspects. In China, while they manufacture for a certain price, we actually have to buy it at a higher cost because we’re their customer and it costs a fortune when you consider freight, gasoline, time, energy/effort — whatever, to get it over here. So right away that’s a disadvantage. The other issue is in terms of distribution. China believes in a localized strategy. In China, there are hundreds of Haier kiosks and stores. As such, they have a built in customer distribution base, which is a tremendous advantage, especially when you consider that in the West we deal with the Best Buys, the Lowes, the Targets, the Wal-Mart’s or wherever in the world we sell. In the book, The Higher Way, it clearly delineates the Chinese localized strategy. This also works in our favor, since China believes that their partners here in the US, certainly know and understand the social ways of this country best, and while offering help/guidance/support, they do allow us to run the business from New York, as opposed to China.

Q: Haier’s partnerships with the NBA offer a great tie-in opportunity with a key target audience. Based on that, is Haier planning to expend its partnership program beyond sports?

A: We are always looking for new partnerships. I literally take hundreds of calls and emails about new opportunities every day. I can’t even begin to fathom how many people want to do business with us. Often I feel much like Michael Douglas’s character in Wall Street, when he said, “I look at hundreds of deals and I say yes to one of them.” We need to be very discerning. I don’t necessarily think that sports are the best value, nor the right targeted demographics across the board. For, at the end of the day, although we want to see our television and electronics businesses continue to grow, we also want to continue to do business as a leading air conditioner manufacturer in the United States and the number one compact refrigerator manufacturer in the United States. Really, we see the thrust, the focal point, of our growth, in major appliances. It’s no secret that we want to continue to grow as the number one appliance brand in the world and continue that strength here on the shores of the US.

This very provocative consideration was posed by none other than Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, in an article in the NYT’s Sunday magazine section on March 10. Although published a little more than a week ago, the article titled, “All the Aggregation That’s Fit to Aggregate” offers enough thought provoking discussion points about whether or not Media and journalism are really synonymous, to trigger many more such conversations.

Keller’s point that, “we in Media have transcended earthbound activities like reporting, writing or picture-taking and created an abstraction — a derivative — called Media, in which we invest our attention and esteem,” is well taken, albeit likely to be perceived, by a great swath of consumers of news, as an old- fashioned point of view. Especially so, when he goes on to say that, “our fascination with capital-M Media is so disengaged from what really matters.” His point as to what matters, is that it is still the credentialed journalists that cover history-in-the-making, while others indulge in “the orgy of self-reference (which) is so indiscriminate, so trivializing.”

Keller supports that point with the observation that “some once-serious news outlets give pride of place not to stories they think important but to stories that are “trending” on Twitter — the “American Idol”-ization of news. And we have bestowed our highest honor — market valuation — not on those who labor over the making of original journalism, but on aggregation.”

Keller has little respect for aggregated media, which used to be called “plagiarized” media, but which now has become the “new normal” media — whose whole existence is to regurgitate what someone else already did. However, the reality is that news aggregation is actually a necessary outcome of the radical explosion of information of the past decade and news aggregators have become the best means for the average consumer of information to be able to reasonably digest even a fraction of this explosion.

From Keller’s vantage point, that as caretaker of some of the world’s best news “originators,” it is clearly an affront to have their work repurposed and repackaged. Moreover, since aggregators fall under the new “normaI” category they have often dumped journalists into the “old” media category rather than the well-deserved elevated category of “originators of news.” Aggregators are now generally positioned on equal par with those that travel the world, under difficult circumstances, to garner the news. In other words, in becoming a new news medium, aggregators have garnered undue respect, which seemingly continues to rankle the likes of Keller. Just consider as to what you hear more often, “Oh, I just read it on the HuffPost,” or, “just saw it in the Washington Post,” for example.

I offer a different perspective, however. The real objection that I have is not about the aggregation of news in general, but rather that aggregators get to choose the news that fits interests relevant to each one’s “seeming or expressed” preference, profile or demographic, and therefore limit the exposure to the gamut of news. I prefer to be the decider of what news I consume and therefore will continue to take the time to peruse favorite publications and then individually decide, on a moment-by-moment basis, what news I wish to consume.

Anyway, the times are a-changing. Since we live in a society where price very often is akin to value, I think that the NYT is playing it smart by throwing up a pay wall for receiving the news online, which is about to happen. You get what you pay for, right?

With the disastrous and colliding events taking place in Japan continuing to eclipse all other considerations and rendering everything not related to such devastation meaningless, I took a moment to reflect on a top-scoring slogan that came to mind, used not so long ago for AT&T’s long distance phone service — “reach out and touch someone.”

How far our communication systems have evolved was starkly evident during the recent Tsunami disaster when phone communication systems crashed all around and when it took a different medium than phone systems, as in social media — to “reach out and touch someone.”

According to The Telegraph, “mobile carriers over the weekend were limiting voice calls on Japanese networks with NTT DoCoMo limiting up to 80 percent of the voice calls in Tokyo and elsewhere.”

As such, the swiftness with which services such as Google’s “person finder” were organized in response to the earthquake, as well as the services of Twitter, Skype, Facebook, Google (News Alert) and Mixi, (Japan’s most popular social networking site), which miraculously worked well throughout the emergency, remains a matter of wonderment. It was primarily through these services that information about friends and relatives seeped through, domestically and internationally, and that the “lucky” relatives were reunited.

Just consider the Tsunami of 2004 that hit Indonesia and its surroundings. The power to connect people directly was in its infancy and the search for survivors was still mostly relegated to phone communication systems, which at best offered intermittent connections. Also many Londoners discovered during the July 2007 terrorist incidents that mobile phone networks were unable to cope, as hundreds of thousands of customers tried to call or send a text at the same time. As to the Haiti earthquake of 2010, with most having little or no Internet access, social media only partly made up for the lack of information coming from the affected area, with CNN playing the largest role.

At a moment in time, when we are overcome with the destructive force that Mother Nature inflicted on Japan, with as yet unknown consequences affecting global economies and impacting market needs worldwide, there is still something meaningful to reflect on – the continued ingenuity of man, to find the means, with which to “reach out and touch someone.”

It’s that human element that we can count on most…

Chris Hosford

Hosford began his career in journalism where he worked as a newspaper and magazine editor for more than 10 years. He then was “seduced by the dark side”, as his former auto journalist colleagues teased him, and joined Hill and Knowlton to provide support and counsel to his first client, Mazda. Now, with more than 25 years in public relations, including stints at two top ten PR agencies and two automakers, he couldn’t be happier working for Hyundai. He says that taking a brand from one that was the butt of late night comics jokes to one that today is frequently mentioned in the same breath with other top auto makers has been the most fun job he’s ever had. Exhausting, but fun.

Q: The past two years have been challenging times for the automotive industry, to say the least. Can you point to new strategies that were implemented during that time that impacted Hyundai to stay above board during these years of turmoil?

A: Our strong move into digital media has been critical in our success. While it has increased the workload, it has been vital not just in our efforts to reach more journalists and, ultimately, consumers but it has been and continues to be a great learning lab for all our staff. And, it is not just a great way to speak to the media and consumers, but also a great way to listen. However, with all that is new in our business, we can never forget that the basics — great writing, great relationships and great vision. These remain the keystones of everything we do.

While also not a new strategy, the close collaboration with our AOR Ketchum continues to be a source of strength for our overall efforts. And, let’s not forget — a VERY good sense of humor!

Q: Hyundai’s Super Bowl ad was funny and quirky. Considering that social media did much to extend the impact of many Super Bowl ads pre-, during- and post- game, did Hyundai’s corporate communications strategies create programs to tie in with the ad or was it designed as a stand alone one-time exposure?

A: At Hyundai we can’t imagine an effort today that would “stand alone.” Everything we do has to operate on multiple levels over weeks, months, sometimes years. In the case of advertising PR, our efforts soon will be further enhanced as we move into a new building where all the PR and Marketing team members will be on the same floor and, literally, right next to each other. We believe collaboration, not antagonism, with marketing is a must for success today.

In regards to speaking with the media about our advertising, a very important part of our communications efforts is to demonstrate how Hyundai in the U.S. has turned into a leader in the auto industry. We utilize some of our advertising efforts, such as those in the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards to demonstrate how dynamic the brand is becoming. Be it an eye-catching ad on the Super Bowl or selling more 40 mpg vehicles than anyone else in the industry, everything we do is designed to help consumers see Hyundai as a great brand to do business with.

Q: Hyundai has been a big player in the “hybrid” car space, and in particular, its Sonata Hybrid is significantly different from other hybrids. Is the adoption rate of such cars in general changing in pace and if so, what factors can you point to that are significant?

A: The leadership that Hyundai is beginning to assert in the auto industry can clearly be seen in the Sonata Hybrid and our company’s approach to hybrid vehicles. We were the first in the hybrid market with lithium-ion polymer batteries, where the light weight and small size of these batteries is critical to improving performance while reducing weight.

We were the first company to optimize a hybrid for highway, not city, driving. Why? Because research, including that from the federal government, showed that the average driver spends 57% of her time on the highway. We wanted the hybrid benefit to be available to the consumer on roads where they spent the majority of their time.

The question we ask in designing, engineering and selling every vehicle is: what does the customer want? It is that point of view that informs our actions and approaches in PR, just as in all other parts of the company.

Q: Hyundai has several well-established niche audiences for its products. Can you briefly discuss their separate influencers and program ideas that have attracted those influencers over and above product media relations? For example: is social media being tapped as an engagement platform and, if so, can you briefly describe tactics used to trigger conversations?

A: While Hyundai does work in several niches, it has grown into the 6th largest automaker in the U.S. and the 5th largest car company in the world. Like every major vehicle manufacturer, niche products are an important part of our portfolio of products. What we’ve observed is that no matter the niche, people want to buy a vehicle from a company they trust and respect, one that they know will stand behind their products.

Our PR efforts are always focused in helping the media and consumers see various aspects of those characteristics. Whether it is protecting an owner’s investment by providing a luxury car like the Hyundai Equus that has an unsurpassed residual value in its class or a sports car like the race-winning Genesis Coupe, the overt messages may be different but underlying those we always come back to trust, respect and safety and security. We’re still smaller than some of our competitors, so we have to be sure every messages ties back to simple key values all our customers understand and want, regardless of the niche the vehicle may occupy.

That said, we do spent significant time preparing for every product launch focusing on the most appropriate audiences and seeking the best media outlets to reach them. In that regard, we view social media as simply another branch of media and target it from that aspect. Not so long ago, media such as Facebook and Twitter were called “new media.” Today, that is old thinking. Social media are an integral part of the media and are always part of every launch plan we write and execute. The question is never “if” it is “which.”

Q: As a longtime corporate communications automotive expert, what would you have done differently, given the recall exposure that Toyota received last year? What counsel would you have given their PR department?

A: In a crisis no one bats 100%. That fact is part of the nature of a crisis. So, it is easy to criticize from the outside and Toyota has taken a lot of hits in terms of its communications regarding the crisis over the last year.

Unlike others, I think that on balance they did a superb job. They got their message points down early and stuck to those. They didn’t blame the customer, which would have been easy to do so. They didn’t expect the problem would disappear in a few days and dug in for the long haul. They put up with brutal and unfair criticism in Congress and stayed calm, if not completely unshaken. They let an appropriate amount of time pass and then used all communications channels to remind their customers that Toyota had always been a brand they could trust and that they still were.

Could they have used a more dynamic, sympathetic top spokesperson? I think so, but you work with the cards you are dealt. Last month their sales rose 45% and they remain one of the toughest competitors in the auto space. Given the severity of the crisis and the enormous amount of unavoidable negative coverage, such a rapid recovery is remarkable.

Jeanie Buss

Entering her twelfth season as the Lakers Executive Vice President of Business Operations, Jeanie Buss is responsible for overseeing all of the Lakers business operations including relationships with the team’s broadcast partners, sponsors and season ticket holders. She serves as alternate Governor for the Lakers and is currently a member of the NBA Labor and Planning committees and is active with several charitable causes including the Lakers Youth Foundation.

Q: The NBA has embraced social media as a tool for engaging its fans, but, as someone that is very active in the social media sphere, just how is Social Media an important factor in the growth of the NBA’s popularity?

A: David Stern has been the commissioner of the NBA since the mid-80’s. He has always recognized the concept of growing the game of basketball through marketing and it happens that social media is the next level of marketing. Because of that leadership philosophy there are currently 7.6 million Facebook users who “like” the NBA compared to just 2.6 million who “like” the NFL. The younger demographic utilizes and values social media and because the NBA adapted and created specific content for those medium it will only assist in growing NBA popularity in an authentic way.

The Lakers organization chose to use social media early on as a way to connect our Lakers fans without a “middleman” who might not deliver our message the way we wanted to be heard. Controlling our brand has been an important criteria when choosing sponsorship and broadcast partners.

Q: You are among a handful of NBA executives that utilize social media platforms as an avenue for communicating with both personal and professional audiences. What made you decide to utilize social media and how important do you think it is for team executives to be active in the space?

A: Team officials must realize that your fan base is not just your season ticket holders. We have found that the Lakers popularity is not only in Southern California but exists worldwide. The Lakers have 1.8 million followers on Twitter, most for any professional team. Our home arena, STAPLES Center, has a capacity of about 19,000 so it doesn’t take long to realize that the majority of Lakers fans have never had the opportunity to attend a game in person. As a team executive if we can show that we can deliver those kind of number allows us to maximize our radio and television broadcast rights fees because that translates into ratings points.

Personally, I have over 36,000 followers with the goal of connecting with fans that isn’t about the X’s and O’s of basketball. I tweet about which celebrities are in attendance that night or what has become a tradition for my Twitter followers, I’ll post a photo of Coach Jackson as we are driving to a home game. Just one more way to engage and grow our Lakers fan base.

Q: Perhaps like no other team in the NBA, or any other professional sports league for that matter, Lakers games are known for their celebrity support. A regular season game at Staples Center offers plenty of excitement both on and off the court. What role has this intermingling of celebrity and team played in developing the Laker brand into what it is today?

A: The celebrity factor at Lakers games was first introduced by former owner, Jack Kent Cooke, when the Lakers arrived from Minneapolis in 1960. He invited then America’s Girl Next Door, Doris Day, to sit on the floor creating a mystic for the VIP seats. Jack Nicholson bought his courtside seats (yes, he pays for them) in 1972 way before Magic Johnson created the Showtime era. Jack and other Lakers celebrities are not just making an appearance, they are true fans of the game. We have worked to create a celebrity friendly atmosphere so A-listers feel welcome and secure in what I believe is the safest facility in the country. My dad (Dr. Jerry Buss) once told me that when an LA resident has friends visiting and “wants to see a celebrity in person” where are you going to take them to guarantee they will see a real life celebrity? A LAKERS HOME GAME!

Q: Can you comment on the new deal with Time Warner and its expected impact on not just its existing sports broadcast outlets, but on fans as well as any other challenges that this might present?

A: The new broadcast agreement with Time Warner Cable allows the Lakers to connect more closely with our fans because we will have more input into the messaging and branding but in game and with shoulder programming which we feel is crucial to future growth. What we are most proud of is the fact we are starting two channels, one in English and the other in Spanish. The Spanish language channel will not be just an overlay but actual original programming for the audience. One of the drawbacks of the new deal is that the Lakers will no longer be carried on over the air broadcast partner, KCAL. However, the Lakers were one of the last NBA teams to be carried on an over the air channel and this has been the migration in sports the last few years. Even Monday Night Football is now on ESPN.

Q: The Lakers Youth Foundation has actively sought to encourage education. But besides the Foundation, Lakers is heavily involved in charity work,. As an example, its swift reaction, together with the NBA, to the devastating earthquake in Haiti of a few years ago. What is the overall criteria for involvement and do you play a direct role in this process?

A: The Lakers Youth Foundation is another aspect of Lakers philosophy of connection with our fans and community. My sister, Janie Drexel, is head of our foundation and has created a mission statement to assist the youth of Southern California as well as promote the game of basketball. She has done an excellent job working with schools and after school programs to refurbish basketball courts as well as build reading centers dedicated to the memory of our beloved announcer, Chick Hearn. We have several fundraisers during the season including a golf tournament, a Basketball 101 event and silent auctions during our home games.

Taco Bell is now really over the top in employing defensive tactics to counter that Alabama lawsuit that claims an independent test of the fast food chain’s beef filling was actually only 35% beef, which begs the question as to what’s in the rest of the 65%.  In fact, this subject has been invaluable material for late night pundits in the last week, who ranted and joked at the company’s expense – as an example: the head writer for the Letterman show chuckled, “we’re all finally going to find out where the Taco Bell Chihuahua went.”

Given the ongoing merciless dialogue, one can only wonder at the choices that the fast food chain made in going on the offensive with an ad blitz to counterattack the claims, taking out full page ads in newspapers across the country featuring a headline that read, “Thank you for suing us” in big, bold letters.

Really?  I don’t get the purpose.  Apparently, the somewhat sarcastic shock tactic was meant as an attention grabber to set the record straight as to the “real” story about the beef ingredients of the filling, which the ads claimed are “88% beef and 12% Secret Recipe.”  I got confused with the math because the ads went on to claim that, “ours is 100% beef USDA inspected, “with water and spices added that bring the mixture’s beef quotient down to 88%.” That’s the 12%  “secret recipe?”

Unlike McDonald’s who has always marketed their “secret recipe” and Coke’s well-known “secret sauce,” this is the first we hear of Taco Bell’s “secret recipe.”

Anyway it did not convince.

Taco Bell’s next try was to shore up its reputation with the launch of a “Talk” campaign which sounds like a right move, meant to engage and reassure taco lovers.  Except that the campaign features Taco Bell’s own employees, restaurant managers and franchisees.

Not convincing. What would employees say other than sing the company’s line?

I would suggest to Taco Bell that, rather than using ads (or controlled media) to counterattack questionable claims, consider a PR solution and turn to stellar examples such as:

• Domino’s Pizza playbook, and the tactics used when responding to its own PR fiasco when a video surfaced on YouTube showing disgusting and filthy antics from a server. Domino’s response was a bold campaign showing open frankness in conversations, all over the social networks, with a “mea culpa” and aiming to do better – all of which netted the company an almost 12% increase in sales in the third quarter of 2010.
• Toyota’s crisis book with the Prius, when it was accused of safety issues.  Toyota retained an independent third party study to prove whether or not the car was in fact safe and was cleared of all safety suspicions involving that car.

Most credible would be for Taco Bell to retain a third-party independent testing lab to come up with its own conclusions.  And should the beef come up short, stop the misguided claims and embark on a campaign that engages and reassures as to taste, price, convenience and health safety.  Surely taco lovers (including me) would be appreciative.  And should the beef indeed contain the 88% that they claim – problem solved.

I would caution that a bit of media training for its CEO would go a long way for the company’s reputation.  A video posted on YouTube has the CEO quoted, in defense of the company’s recipe as, “Taco Bell = 12 pounds of food for 3 dollars. I don’t care what’s in it, everything we eat is apparently gonna give us cancer and/or kill us anyway.”