Ivy Lee was one of the very first to manage a corporate crisis by writing a press release. By taking a proactive approach, Ivy Lee could write his version of the story in order to take control of the facts. Many journalists then took the text of the press release verbatim as the material for news article.
Many historians credit Ivy Lee for being the originator of modern crisis-control communications. His principal competitor in the new public relations industry was Edward Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud.
In 1914 Ivy Lee entered public relations on a large scale when he was retained by John D. Rockefeller Jr. to represent his family and Standard Oil, ("to burnish the family image"), after the coal mining rebellion in Colorado known as the "Ludlow Massacre". Upton Sinclair dubbed him "Poison Ivy" after Lee tried to send bulletins saying those that died were victims of an overturned stove, when in fact the Colorado militia shot them.
Anyone familiar with U.S. history knows that the Ludlow Massacre occurred when Rockefeller "bought" the state militia and ordered them to squelch the union protest for better working conditions. The militia did its job and killed women, children and fathers--workers in the mines.
Ivy Lee's main goal was to maintain Rockefeller's image, or brand, as an moral, God-fearing family man and a ethical businessman.
This was the fundamental meaning of public relations. Though today's PR is seldom so dramatic as its origins Lee revised the facts in an attempt to cover up what had happened in the massacre. Lee proactively wrote the story of what had taken place by explaining to the media that a stove had caught on fire causing the deaths of so many poor people.
A blog article, from BrandCulture.com, sheds light on this fundamental aspect of Public Relations as a similar approach in our current politics and media. In this case, a current example shows how a proactive public relations and branding helps the Koch Brothers achieve political goals. The case of the Rockefeller PR practices at the beginning of the 1900s illustrates how effective PR and branding can affect people's perception of reality and feelings for a person or an organization.
The Koch Brothers have done little, if anything in the way innovation in their business or even with their lives other than just being born as the heirs of an enormous company and its conglomerates, worth into the billions if not trillions, with an annual revenue over $100B.
The blog article by brandculture demonstrates how a brand cannot be all things to all people. It is revealing how powerful PR and branding can be in motivating people to do surprising things. In the PR and branding developed by the Kochs…or whatever branding firm is serving their designs, we discover how people can be led to believe just about anything.
The Kochs' PR firm uses branding tropes and images like “Path to Freedom” while pursuing extreme right-wing political goals through their numerous “grassroots organizations” like the Tea Party. Most members of the Tea Party do not realize that the Kochs are funding and promoting the it and many other organizations like it. By using effective branding and PR, the Kochs have become successful in their extreme, elitist politics.
The Kochs use these “American pie” phrases to inspire gullible Americans. And these naïve Americans serve the Kochs’ interests while these Middle Class Americans volunteer their time and money unwittingly to deserve their own political interests.
By using effective branding, the Kochs are motivating Middle Class Americans to work for “free” for the Kochs’ Political Agenda, and at the detriment of their own middle class interests.
This reveals how powerful branding and classical rhetoric can be. It can manipulate gullible people into doing the complete opposite of their own intentions. It is ironic, comical and tragic all at the same time.
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