RMIT UNIVERSITY

PR Planning Report
Charity Auction in Miss Earth 2010 Gala Night
14 April 2011

Ta Quang Phu – s3175158

Diep Anh Thu – s3175504
Quach Le Trung – s3209824
Nguyen Thi Khanh Van – s3290426
Executive summary

Miss Earth 2010’s Gala night was a big event at the end of 2010 being well-known for the main
purpose of the show which was to raise fund for the flood victims in Central Vietnam. As the key
organizer of the Gala, Gia Gia Gemstone Company has co-operated with Red Cross and invited
more than 500 businesses in Vietnam to attend an auction activity. After the auction show, the
sum of money raised for flood victims was 74 billions VND.

However, the businessmen who won the auction did not pay afterwards. This has led to the bad
reputation for the event as well as for Gia Gia Company. Additionally, Gia Gia has made the
situation become worse when blaming for three MCs. This paper will examine another solution
to deal with this crisis as a PR department of Gia Gia Company.

The key publics that the company wishes to address are the businessmen coming more than 500
businesses who may lose the trust with Gia Gia Company and that would influence negatively
the relationship in a long term orientation. Other important publics are the flood victims who are
directly affected after the failure of the show and they may feel offensive when their difficult
situation was not empathized.

In order to address these target publics, a two-month-campaign will be set up. The main
objective of Gia Gia Company in this campaign is to officially apologize about the failure of the
auction caused by lack of event management. The company is trying to minimize negative
impacts on flood victims in Central Vietnam and always appreciates another opportunity to
connect the businesses with them.

Press conference will be the first tactics to be used to spread the apology of Gia Gia Company to
the target publics. Besides, the mails will be sent individually to 500 businesses to call for
continuous help for flood victims in Central Vietnam initiated by a donation activity in a small
scale. The media releases will be sent local newspaper as well as business magazines. The most
important channel to reach the flood victims is interpersonal. A media tour will be held for the
representative of Gia Gia Company, representing businesses with high contribution and the
journalists to visit Central Vietnam. All which is donated and the gifts from Gia Gia wil be given
to the poor people.
Compared to the real reaction of Gia Gia Company which was blaming for three MCs, this
strategy can have a better result in showing the responsibility of the organization to the target
publics. Furthermore, the company also shows their active reaction to minimize the bad result of
the Gala night on the flood victims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION:

Charity auction in Miss Earth 2010’s Gala night

11/11/2010, the Miss Earth Gala night was organized by Gia Gia Gemstone Comany with the purpose of
doing charity auction for flood victims in Central Vietnam. However, the winners of the auction refused
to pay for the items, which led to the bad perception of publics about the show and also about the
organizers.

This gala was the chance for people to support the flood victims in the Central of Vietnam by donating
or joining in the auction (VOV 2010) (see Appendice 1).

The flood victims were supposed to receive 23.8 billions VND after minusing the actual prices of four
items (Tuyen Giao 2010). However, nothing was sold and there was only more than 1 billion coming to
the flood victims through the Red Cross (Giao Thong Van Tai 2010).

Following is what Gia Gia did in reaction to the crisis:

Target publics

500 businesses having attended the auction show are targeted in order to maintain the business
relationship in the future.

Objectives

To raise awareness about the non-involvement of Gia Gia Company to the crisis.

Key message

Gia Gia Company was not fully responsible for the failure of the auction show.

Tactics

- Media release: an interview of Gia Gia Company’s Director was published on Ho Chi Minh City
Law newspaper and this article is upload online media such as vietbao.vn (vietbao 2010) (see
appendice 1a).

Evaluation

Gia Gia Company actually did not have any solution or strategy to solve the crisis. Furthermore, the fact
that they blamed for a third party like three MCs and Thanh Nien Media to “save their face” would
increase the bad reputation about the company. Apart from media releases, Gia Gia Company did not
use any other tactics to solve the problem.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

We take the role of Gia Gia’s PR department to solve the crisis and compare with what Gia Gia
did in reality. Following the recommendations:

Target publics

We decide to focus on two key publics:

- 500 businesses are the top leaders among the profitable organizations in Vietnam. They want to
increase reputation and promote their organizational image by attending to the auction. Our
communicative priority to them needs to implement because the failure of the auction has led to
the loss of their trust in business relationship with Gia Gia Company. The best way to reach
those 500 businessmen is to send direct mails and announce on some particular business
magazines.

- The flood victims are those who suffered physical and material damages after experiencing
historical flood in central of Vietnam. Although they received limited information about the
auction, they all expected to be supported financially. Hence, the failure of this auction has
probably influenced mental believes among local residents and it will lead to the damage of Gia
Gia’s reputation. We will apologize the local residents through face-to-face meeting in a visit
and use newspaper as a formal announcement.
Objectives

- To raise awareness of 50% our target publics about the apology of Gia Gia Company about the
failure of the auction at the end of week 2 of December 2010.

- To make 20% target publics understand the seriousness of Gia Gia to fix the problem by the end
of December 2010.

- To make 10% of 500 businesses targeted co-operate with Gia Gia Company to continue help the
flood victims by the end of week 2 of January 2011.

Key messages

- Umbrella key message:

 Gia Gia Gemstone Company has taken all the responsibilities for the failure of the auction
show and is trying to minimize the negative impacts to target publics.

- To 500 businesses:

 Gia Gia Company apologizes for the bad influence on the credibility of the businesses due to
the failure of the event and hopes to have another opportunity to be a bridge between the
companies and the flood victims in the Central of Vietnam.

- To flood victims in the Central of Vietnam:

 Gia Gia Company is trying to help by call the sponsors together to continue support the flood victims
after the auction.
Tactics

Media relations:

- Media releases: media releases will be sent to local newspaper in Central Vietnam and to some
popular business magazines such as Doanh Nhan Saigon, Doanh Nhan Cuoi Tuan, etc (see
Appendice 2).

- Press conference: a press conference will be held in Ho Chi Minh City on December 2010 to
officially apologize about lack of management in the auction event and to announce the new
initiative of donating for flood victims. The journalists of the business magazines will be invited.

Interpersonal:

- Direct mail: after the press conference, mails will be sent to 500 businesses attending the Gala
night to apologize about the crisis after the event, also to appreciate the interests of the
businesses about the charity. Gia Gia Company will announce about a new donation activity
dedicated to flood victims.

- Media tour: some representative businesses and journalists will be invited to visit the flood
victims with the representatives of Gia Gia Company (see Appendice 3).
Timeline

Evaluation and Recommendations

Gia Gia resolved the problem by blaming for three MCs in the auction, which could create an
irresponsible image for the company to the publics. From our point of view, we mainly focus on taking
responsibility and show our responsible attitudes with publics by organizing a press conference with
official apology. Moreover, by sending direct mails to 500 business partners, we can maintain the
relationships with them while Gia Gia lost. What they did after the crisis happened has reflected the lack
of management skills while we have strategic crisis management such as sending media releases to local
newspapers and business magazines during two months of the campaign. By blaming for 3 MCs and
stop doing further, Gia Gia had no actions to minimize the negative impacts. In our way, we have
realistic actions to help flood victims in Central Vietnam by organize a donation activity in small scale
among 500 businesses. We also have a media tour and invite journalists as well as the representative
from the businesses. These actions show our active attitudes to fix problems (see Appendice 4).

Word count: 992

Appendice 1:

There were four items “sold” in the auction and offered the price of 74 billions VND (Dan Tri 2010):

1. An “1000 Years old Thang Long – Ha Noi” bronze drum

2. A biggest Ruby weighed 10kg in Vietnam

 3. A picture of gemstone mosaic of a Vietnamese landscape with 90 signatures from all 90 Miss
Earth contestants

4. The unique set of four wooden sacred creatures – “Dragon, Unicorn, Tortoise and Phoenix”

The attendance of more than 500 businesses in Vietnam and 90 contestants of Miss Earth 2010 created a
wonderful image for this gala. The event was broadcast live on Star World, BBC, NBC and VTV, HTV,
VTC and more than 10 local channels (Dan Tri 2010).

Appendice 1a:

In the media release, Gia Gia Company Director blamed for 3 MCs for not well controlling the auction
activity (vietbao 2010) and Thanh Nien Media for not following strictly the contract (Lao Dong 2010).

Appendice 2:

The media releases will be sent in these following dates:

- 13 December 2010 (prior to the press conference): this media release will be the official apology
of Gia Gia Company about the crisis after the auction show. Gia Gia will also express the wish to
connect the businesses with the flood victims in Central of Vietnam through a donating activity
in a small scale. This will help to minimize the negative impact on the miserable victims after the
event failed.

- 30 December 2010: this media release will announce the progress of the donation activity.

- 16 January 2011: this press release is dedicated to grabbing up the donation period, announce the
result of this activity and also introduce to the publics about the tour visiting the flood victims
organized by Gia Gia Company.

Appendice 3:

In the tour, all of which raised from 500 businesses and some gifts from Gia Gia Company will be given
to the flood victims. The tour will be filmed as a documentary clip and broadcast on the News of the
national TV channel at 7pm on 28 January 2011. At the end of the clip, an acknowledgement to all
businesses having contributed to the donation activity will be on screen.
Appendice 4:

Suggested solutions Gia Gia’s solutions

Taking responsibility Blaming for 3 MCs

 Show our responsible attitude  Creating an irresponsible image of Gia
 Maintain the relationships with Gia to the target publics
business partners  Losing trust of business partners
 Strategic crisis management  Lack of management

Establish fund among 500 businesses and Gia No action to minimize the negative impacts
Gia company
 Active attitude to fix problems
 Realistic action to help flood victims in
the Central of Vietnam
References
Dan Tri 2010, ’74 ty dong cho dem “Hoa Hau Trai Dat va Doanh nhan huong ve mien Trung”’, 13
January, viewed 06 April, <http://dantri.com.vn/c23/s23-436686/74-ty-dong-cho-dem-hoa-hau-trai-dat-
va-doanh-nhan-huong-ve-mien-trung.htm>.

Giao Thong Van Tai 2010, ‘Dem hoi Hoa hau Trai dat va doanh nhan huogn ve mien Trung: Khi Ban
To chuc bi lua’, 29 November, viewed 06 April 2011,
<http://giaothongvantai.com.vn/PortletBlank.aspx/0FD6C26BB977440A8245AFBB6E6E45CB/View/V
an-hoa/FB93B33BC7B641F1A967413F3A902F16/6848.gtvt?
print=Dem_hoi_Hoa_hau_Trai_dat_va_Doanh_nhan_huong_ve_mien_Trung-
Khi_Ban_To_chuc_bi_lua$38576>.

Lao Dong 2010, ‘Vụ đấu giá từ thiện... ảo: Bên này đổ qua, bên kia đổ lại’,Tổng Liên đoàn Lao động
Việt Nam, 30 November, viewed 10 April 2011,<http://laodong.com.vn/Tin-tuc/Vu-dau-gia-tu-thien-ao-
Ben-nay-do-qua-ben-kia-do-lai/23037>.

Tuyen Giao 2010, ‘Vo luong tam ca trong viec thien’, 29 November, viewed 06 April 2011,
<http://www.tuyengiao.vn/Homhoagiao/2010/11/26378.aspx>.

VOV 2010, ‘Charity Auction attracts Miss Earth candidates’, 12 November, viewed 06 April 2011,
<http://english.vovnews.vn/Home/Charity-auction-attracts-Miss-Earth-candidates/201011/121335.vov>.

Vietbao 2010, ‘Vu 74 ty tu thien ao: Do MC nhay mua du qua’, 28 November, viewed 10 Aril 2011,
<http://vietbao.vn/Van-hoa/Vu-74-ty-tu-thien-ao-Do-MC-nhay-mua-du-qua/75271940/181/>.