Feral Jundi

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Industry Talk: Wired’s Danger Room PR Tips for Blackwater Revisited

   I wanted to resurrect this post from Wired’s Danger Room, to show some interesting ideas for public relations.  I have no clue if Sharon or the gang at Wired has been privately talking with BW since this article, but it is kind of interesting how BW has adopted some of these ideas.  Especially the whole ‘Xe’ thing. –Matt

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 Top Ten PR Moves for Blackwater

By Sharon Weinberger 

September 20, 2007   

As the saying goes, free advice and 50 cents will get you a cup of coffee (though it’s probably more like three bucks these days). So, here are my top 10 ideas for “rebranding Blackwater” as a warm, fuzzier merc outfit Private Military Contractor. (By the way, this is PR advice, so I’m not going to touch any policy/operational issues; this is just good old-fashioned spin.)

Personally, I prefer the Blackwater of current incarnation — the one that produces tons and tons of too-awful-to-be-true PR missteps, which in turn produces lots of good news stories and blog posts. But I’m just doing this is as sort of an intellectual exercise in Machiavellian thinking, like musing about how you would commit the perfect crime.

So, in no particular order…..

1) New name, preferably with indecipherable acronym.

It took decades before anyone run an “expose” about SAIC. And most people have already forgotten about it. When was the last time you saw a major article about CSC, or Computer Sciences Corporation (hmm, never). DynCorp and prostitutes? A distant memory.

Let’s face it: Does your typical American know (or care) what ARINC stands for?

Heck no.

The point here is if you want to be a shadowy, low-profile sort of company, start acting like one.

It’s a fine balance here, so no, no, nothing like “Executive Outcomes.” That was too Bond-like. Nothin’ but trouble. Personally, I’m fond of something snooze-worthy like SMS, for “Strategic Management Solutions.” Words like “systems,” “integration,” and “analytics” all work well.

Or heck, just use the acronym.

2) New logo.

Yes, that bear paw is totally awesome cool, if you want teenage boys to love ‘ya as much as they love Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Press just loooooves that logo (photographers, too!), it just screams “page one.” Choose something like the DARPA logo, that innocuous globe-shaped thingamajig also favored by companies of unknown acronyms. Remember how many problems DARPA had when they went with the masonic temple/eye thing for the Information Awareness Office?

Shadow companies should use forgettable logos. Anybody even know what Anteon’s logo looks like? Does your average American even know what Anteon does?! Of course not.

3) Don’t sell gear with your logo.

Just don’t do it. Trust me on this one.

4) Change colors (this goes with the logo point, perhaps).

Black is just soooo Angelina Jolie from her knife-cutting days. And nothin’ says “spicy mercenary story” like a man wearing wraparound shades and dressed in black. I think a darkish blue would work; still manly, but with a softer edge.

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Monday, January 12, 2009

Israel: Gaza Webcam, Traps and Trickery, and the PR War

Filed under: Israel,Tactical Thought Process,Technology — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 1:48 PM

    All of this is developing, but we are definitely getting a picture of what modern day urban warfare really means.  This is a fascinating study, and these articles(4 total) give us a glimpse as to what is going with this.

   The couple stories that jumped out at me, was the use of tunnels:

 

In another case, soldiers discovered a mannequin dressed like a soldier at the entrance to a home, Halamish said.Had soldiers entered the home, the mannequin would have exploded, collapsing the floor and causing the troops to fall into a tunnel, where Hamas men would have tried to abduct them. 

 

   And this one:

 

Unwilling to take Israel’s bait and come into the open, Hamas militants are fighting in civilian clothes; even the police have been ordered to take off their uniforms. The militants emerge from tunnels to shoot automatic weapons or antitank missiles, then disappear back inside, hoping to lure the Israeli soldiers with their fire. 

 

   Tunnel warfare is definitely a factor in this war, like I was talking about earlier. The entrapment technique is different, and certainly one to watch out for.  Hamas wants to capture an IDF soldier bad. Although the IDF saw this coming a long time ago. 

      The Public Relations war is fascinating as well, and I posted earlier about some of the things they are doing to combat negative public opinion.  And what is really interesting, and I do not have any figures to back this up, is if the IDF or the Israeli government has monetized their PR effort?  

    You might laugh, but I am always watching commercials on all of the news channels, with some Israeli group asking for donations. Where as the IDF or the government might not ask directly for money from private donors, support groups within Israel are asking.  But for the government to take advantage of monetizing their online efforts with stuff like Google Adsense, would be very easy to do and would make them some money.  Or for them to put donation buttons on everything government related would work too. We already know that Israel receives money from the US government, but this new angle on financing wars would be an interesting study. Like I said with Obama and his online campaign, the power of the internet can certainly be used by an individual or even a country, to rally support and bring in donations for the cause.  The internet makes that process very easy to do.

   But all speculation aside, the biggest benefit of a major PR campaign online, is to defeat the other side’s PR campaign.  It is a war online, as well as on the ground, and there are no limits as to where this war is being fought.  –Matt 

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January 11, 2009

A Gaza War Full of Traps and Trickery

By STEVEN ERLANGER

JERUSALEM — The grinding urban battle unfolding in the densely populated Gaza Strip is a war of new tactics, quick adaptation and lethal tricks.

Hamas, with training from Iran and Hezbollah, has used the last two years to turn Gaza into a deadly maze of tunnels, booby traps and sophisticated roadside bombs. Weapons are hidden in mosques, schoolyards and civilian houses, and the leadership’s war room is a bunker beneath Gaza’s largest hospital, Israeli intelligence officials say.

Unwilling to take Israel’s bait and come into the open, Hamas militants are fighting in civilian clothes; even the police have been ordered to take off their uniforms. The militants emerge from tunnels to shoot automatic weapons or antitank missiles, then disappear back inside, hoping to lure the Israeli soldiers with their fire.

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