Vera Bradley CSR

Vera Bradley has put many efforts towards their foundation for Breast Cancer research. Started in 1998, the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer was established when a friend of the company lost her life in 1994 due to breast cancer. The Foundation has raised over $10 million towards the Indiana University School of Medicine to support the Vera Bradley Chair in Oncology, Dr. Linda Malkas, and establish the Vera Bradley Center for Breast Cancer Research.
Vera Bradley creates a pattern every few seasons where 10% of the proceeds from sales of that particular pattern go towards the Foundation. Past breast cancer patterns were Pink Elephants, Pinwheel Pink, Hope Garden, and Loves Me. The most recent pattern is Twirly Birds Pink, which was released with the Winter 2010 collection.

Customers can also donate directly to the foundation by visiting www.verabradley.org.

Target Blog- MIA

Target—recognized as one of the best designer-discount stores—has a rather poor and ineffective employee communications program. After browsing the website I noticed Target provides extensive research on its community relations efforts involving education, feeding children and recycling. However, there exists a lack of discussion in terms of employee forums, programs, and/or panels. In contrast to Wal-Mart, who is always in the news for its poor communications policies and efforts, Target is normally under-the-radar when it relates to this negative press coverage. But, to it’s disadvantage, this has not prevented nor discouraged employees from visiting other social media outlets such as blogs and employee-related websites to anonymously post their negative comments.

A majority of Target employees across many stores in the U.S. have taken matters into their own hands primarily because an open discussion forum and/or any other type of communications effort does not exist among managers, team leaders, cashiers and etc. As a result, employees have reached out to websites including Indeed, True Insider, and blogs, such as Target Sucks (http://targetfiling.blogspot.com/) secretly badmouth the lack of employee recognition programs, benefits, salaries and opportunities of growth available. The majority of posts and comments are negative, particularly discouraging others to work for Target.

This serves as a perfect example of the effects of social media, and what happens when companies, such as Target, do not incorporate an effective communications policy to the company’s overall strategies and goals. If Target seeks to improve employee outreach, they need to open the board for discussion between all types of employees, especially upper management.

Dunkin Donuts Crisis Communication

Dunkin' Donuts has not encountered many crises throughout the years, however there are a couple examples when the company had to take action.

In May 2008, Food Network star Rachael Ray was featured in a Dunkin' online ad in which she was wearing a simple silk scarf. This scarf, however, caused a ruckus. Many people said the scarf looked like a keffiyeh, or a traditional male Arab headdress, and complained because of the "symbolism." As soon as Dunkin' heard about the comments they immediately tried to explain that it was simply a scarf, but when people continued to discuss the topic they removed the ad and put out a statement:

"In a recent online ad, Rachael Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was selected by her stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended. However, given the possibility of misperception, we are no longer using the commercial."

[photo of Rachael Ray + scarf: http://bit.ly/gJotQY ]

Though the removal of the ad may have quieted done the original opposers, it also sparked judgment from others who said they should not have taken down the ad. In my opinion, I agree with the latter; I don't think they needed to remove the ad. If they simply addressed the bloggers who were posting negative comments and perhaps explained further that it was just a plain old scarf--maybe even going as far as to prove the brand or logo of the scarf--then the bloggers would have no real evidence to base their claims upon and the chatter would fizzle out. However because they removed the ad entirely it brought far more media attention to the fiasco and other people felt compelled to comment on the issue.

Credit Card Crises

Though American Express is reportedly increasing its earnings and doing better than it was before, the recent economic downtown and financial crisis took a toll on the credit card company. However, American Express has faced many other issues throughout its long-standing history.

Once upon a time, the salad oil aka soybean scandal bankrupted a subsidiary of the company, as Anthony De Angelis managed to swindle millions of dollars from at least 16 companies. American Express Warehousing got themselves in trouble, as they wanted to promote their traveler's checks and signed off and De Angelis's warehouse receipts. It was a situation that could have easily been stopped, had someone anywhere down the line only bothered to check up on the paperwork. You can read the full story at Time.com.

Most recently however, American Express had some trouble in early 2010 with the volcanic ash cloud that covered most of Europe. Apparently, travelers were stranded without a means of returning home for days when all transportation was halted. During a crisis such as this, American Express really stepped up their game plan to ensure that their customers would return home safely and quickly, putting in about 12,000 hours of overtime helping individuals change their travel plans. The crisis was really one of communication, and the company has been revising its plan to ensure a continuous information flow to its customers.

Johnson and Johnson Crisis

Johnson and Johnson’s infamous crisis was in 1982 when Tylenol bottles were being tampered with cyanide. Johnson and Johnson responded quickly and effectively. However, recently in 2009 Johnson and Johnson had a recall on Motrin. Johnson and Johnson received negative publicity because they tried to keep the recall a secret. In 2008, Johnson and Johnson had sent contractors to go to drugstores and buy out Motrin, something known as “phantom recall”. However, people caught onto this and in 2009 Johnson and Johnson had a public recall on Motrin. Johnson and Johnson’s secrecy got them in trouble and consumers looked unfavorably on their actions. The FDA along with their shareholders were confused on the why Johnson and Johnson wanted to remove Motrin from the drugstores but did not actually make a public announce about a recall until 6 months later. Another crisis that Johnson and Johnson dealt with was the Motrin commercial that upset mommy bloggers. Johnson and Johnson have dealt with many crises. The company has done an excellent job admitting their mistakes and trying to improve their image.

Hearst Corporation- Crisis Communications

The much-discussed post on MarieClaire.com, “Should “Fatties” Get a Room?” brought crisis to the Hearst Corporation. The blogger expressed her disgust for the new CBS comedy Mike and Molly, citing, “I think I'd be grossed out if I had to watch two characters with rolls and rolls of fat kissing each other ... because I'd be grossed out if I had to watch them doing anything.” This hit Hearst hard – outraged readers commented on the post with their own feelings of disgust towards the author herself. 28,000 emails were sent to Hearst Magazines owned Marie Claire, and Facebook events were formed, announcing a date and time to meet outside the Hearst Tower to demand a public apology. (I was actually there the day of the "protest!")

Hearst Magazines public relations professionals discussed the ideal plan to ease consumers. Though the editor-in-chief, Joanna Coles did not directly apologize, she did mention that the particular writer was battling her own insecurities. Within 24 hours, the author herself posted an update on the entry, “I would really like to apologize for the insensitive things I've said in this post. Believe it or not, I never wanted anyone to feel bullied or ashamed after reading this, and I sorely regret that it upset people so much. A lot of what I said was unnecessary. It wasn't productive, either...” Since then, public scrutiny has dwindled. It was important during this time that certain protocol be followed, and it was. Public interest was placed first, the magazine took responsibility, the publication was open to the public, and designated the editor-in-chief and original blogger as the spokespeople. It was a bold move for the editor-in-chief to make a statement, and an even bolder move for the author to take the blame and apologize to the public.

Macy's 2009 Reorganization Means 7,000 Layoffs

Macy's 2009 Reorganization Means 7,000 Layoffs
By: Carly Hart Feb 2, 2009

Macy's has announced its 2009 reorganization plan, taking the bull by the horns in this sluggish economy. Macy's new business plan is a bold one, seeking to consolidate operations and dynamically reduceits debt. According to the press release available on the Macys.com site, most of the operational decisions will be made in New York. Divisional offices, including San Francisco, Miami and Atlanta, will suffer deep cuts. 2,850 layoffs, or about 40% of the total net job losses, are expected to occur at these locations under Macy's 2009 reorganization plan. Moreover, Macy's still intends to close 11 under performing stores. The remaining stores can expect 5-6 job losses per store, mainly to keep staffing in line with projected sales figures and customer service needs.

Macy's 2009 reorganization plan: More than just layoffs;

In addition to the 7,000 layoffs, Macy's intends to pro-actively seek to reduce its debt. Employees are also being forced to tighten their corporate belt. Merit raises for 2009 and bonuses for 2008 for executives will not be awarded. Management will also be seeking to reduce executive perks, including clothing discounts, and company cars, as well as financial counseling and life insurance. Additionally, Macy's will be reducing its employer match for employees' 401(k)s. Even stock holders are being asked to tow the line since the retailer plans to slash its quarterly dividend by more than half, down to 5 cents per share. Further aggressively seeking to reduce its potential interest debt, Macy's has also announced it is seeking to buy back $950 Million in notes expected to mature in April and July. One thing is clear: throughout the company, everyone will be impacted by Macy's 2009 reorganization plan in one way or another.

Macy's 2009 reorganization plan: New customer-focused program to drive sales concurrent with Macy's job cuts and aggressive debt reduction and cash conservation practices, the retailer is also launching a new program called "My Macy's" that will focus on customer needs by region. This local marketing program should help reduce costs since customer needs vary by location and the ability to make merchandising decisions based upon varying regional needs should lead to higher customer satisfaction. This new customer-focused approach will help set Macy's apart since customer service will be key in this floundering economy. Rather than wait for disaster in the face of lower sales projections for 2009, the retailer is doing all it can to make sure it doesn't become a casualty of the current economic crisis.