Feral Jundi

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

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

Filed under: Industry Talk,Media News — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 10:26 AM

   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

—————————————————————— 

 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.

(more…)

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Industry Talk: For Standards and Organization, Look to the Fire Industry

Filed under: Industry Talk — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 1:17 PM

     How do you apply standards and some kind of organization to a contracting industry that works in war zones? Here is a look at how another industry that deals with a very dangerous environment called fire, has worked out the problem. The Federal Fire Services. (I also posted this as a comment over at Jake’s site, and figured this needed a home here as well.)    

     The one experience I have with this, was when I was a smokejumper, dispatcher, and Incident Commander Type 4 in the federal fire services.  The government uses contractors to support fire operations on a regular basis–in fact they are highly dependent on them.  It is also a system that works.

     The fire industry is a lot like the war industry the more I think about it, and the fire industry went through the same problems of standardization.  The government had to figure out what was a governmental task and what could be contracted out in fire.

     Smokejumpers, Helitac, and Hotshot crews are still all government controlled, as well as most of the upper level Incident Command positions.  But these are areas that are constantly tested for possible privatization.  Although my belief is that those functions should remain governmental, and most agree on that in this industry.  But still, there are a lot of functions that can be contracted out for forest fire operations. Aviation stuff, like helicopters and fire bombers, to camp kitchens, to communications trailers, to hand crews and engines that help to mop up on fires or even assist in initial attack on a fire.  The Incident Commander of that fire makes the final call on all of it, and they determine if that company or federal/state unit is an asset or liability.  They can also kick people off of fires, or set up training for the various management positions for anyone on that incident.  

(more…)

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Industry Talk: Media to Contractors– Who Are You Guys?, by David Isenberg

Filed under: Industry Talk — Tags: , , , — Matt @ 4:06 PM

    “Who am I?”  (with my best Derek Zoolander impression)

    It is complicated, yet simple.  I guess the one thing I think of is if we do not define who we are, someone else or even some ‘thing’ else will do it for us.  From Wikipedia, to online forums, to journalists/authors, to academics, to just good ol’ Google search rankings, there are numerous sources for defining who we are and how we are viewed out there. So to me, it is up to us to jump into that discussion and try to fill the void of information to reach a more accurate conclusion.  

    I say Google, because it is certainly a factor we have to consider in this discussion. Every time I post on this blog, or gain another reader, we are now adding to that definition and ranking in Google. We become a source of information for the discussion, and I hope to get FJ up there as a source. Perhaps one day, when someone types in PMC or Private Military Company, Feral Jundi might be a first pager (kind of floating around the bottom, but still a genuine first pager), and that researcher might stumble upon the ideas on this site.  Then I can point that researcher to others who can provide further insight, and so on, and we can start that process of defining or even re-defining who we are.  And hey, if we are good influencers, we might even win a few over to some kind of positive consensus. Excellent article David and I hope this will further push the discussion along in the realm of PMC 2.0.  –Matt

—————————————————————— 

Dogs of War:  Media to Contractors:  Who Are You Guys?

FEB 14, 2009

By DAVID ISENBERG

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (UPI) — Last week I wrote that obtaining information about private military and security contractors has never been easier than it is now. But if that is so, then why do so many private military and security contractors think news coverage of their activities ranges from poor to abysmal?

Some, echoing the old right-wing canard, think the media is hopelessly liberal and therefore has an ingrained bias toward anyone dealing with military or security issues, let alone someone who might actually carry a gun for a living.

This is far too simplistic, though. For example, the specialized trade press, with the likes of Defense News and Jane’s Defense Weekly, are hardly left wing, liberal, or promoting a pacifist agenda. Many of their reporters are military veterans who understand the challenges facing security contractors.

Though overall, reporters are like most Americans in that they don’t have firsthand military experience, this does not mean they are anti-military. It just means they don’t know the vocabulary that many contractors take for granted.

But it would be fair to say the news media in the main does not understand the industry. There are good reasons for that.

First, what is it? We know what the car industry is: It makes cars. But what is a private military or security contractor? As a semi-organized business sector it has barely been around 20 years. If we were to use the automobile industry as a reference, we would still be in the horseless carriage age. If PMCs are an industry, what is your International Organization for Standardization classification?

(more…)

Friday, February 13, 2009

Industry Talk: Blackwater Changes It’s Name to ‘Xe’, Pronounced ‘Zee’

Filed under: Industry Talk — Tags: , , , — Matt @ 12:04 PM

   Ok, here is the scoop. I called Anne on the phone, and asked her directly about this story, and it is true.  The reason for the change was for ‘brand identity’. ‘Xe’ is definitely  different and this was voted on by the leadership at Blackwater.  

    I asked Anne if they had any other names they were playing with, and she could not comment at this time.

   As for the meaning- Xe is the chemical element symbol for Xenon, a colorless, heavy, odorless noble gas. Xenon occurs in the Earth’s atmosphere in trace amounts.

    Or maybe they are going for the greek general Xenon, or going off the greek meaning of the word Xenon ‘stranger’.  Either way, this is a very interesting choice of word or symbol.  

    And I have to say, the inside joke I see in all of this, and I do not know if it was intentional or not, is that the musician Prince changed his name to a symbol as well.  At least we can pronounce Xe.  LOL  

    They have also changed the name of their training site and it is now called US Training Inc. Interesting stuff. –Matt

——————————————————————  

 

Xe

 

APNewsBreak: Blackwater dumps tarnished brand name

By MIKE BAKER – 1 hour ago

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Blackwater Worldwide is abandoning its tarnished brand name as it tries to shake a reputation battered by oft-criticized work in Iraq, renaming its family of two dozen businesses under the name Xe.

The parent company’s new name is pronounced like the letter “z.” Blackwater Lodge & Training Center — the subsidiary that conducts much of the company’s overseas operations and domestic training — has been renamed U.S. Training Center Inc., the company said Friday.

The decision comes as part of an ongoing rebranding effort that grew more urgent following a September 2007 shooting in Iraq that left at least a dozen civilians dead. Blackwater president Gary Jackson said in a memo to employees the new name reflects the change in company focus away from the business of providing private security.

“The volume of changes over the past half-year have taken the company to an exciting place and we are now ready for two of the final, and most obvious changes,” Jackson said in the note.

In his memo, Jackson indicated the company was not interested in actively pursuing new private security contracts. Jackson and other Blackwater executives told The Associated Press last year it was shifting its focus away from such work to focus on training and providing logistics.

(more…)

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Industry Talk: Congress Looks to Clean Up Contractors, But What About Themselves?

Filed under: Industry Talk — Tags: , — Matt @ 4:33 PM

     Hey, I am all for trying to clean up this industry.  I really am, and much of my research goes towards bettering my little niche of an industry.  

    But when will Webb, McCaskill, Waxman and company take a critical look at the way the government manages these contracts?  I will admit poor leadership in my industry, but when will they admit that the government has done a terrible job in managing these contracts and applying quality control?  

    To me, this is like saying ‘hey, build my house, and I am going to go to Mexico for a year, and when I get back that thing better be perfect’.  I would never dream of building a house like that, and of course there would be problems if you are not actively involved with the process, or have someone you trust watching over the process. The government leadership involved in managing us, must also be questioned and held to some accountability too.  

   And what is government leadership?  Figure out what you want us to do, hash out all the loose ends and legalities, call us when you need us, and actually apply quality control and management over the whole thing.  If you need more oversight manpower, then hire more federal managers to do so.  It’s as if there is this moral disengagement in government, and you just don’t want to admit fault or deal with a problem that could lead to deaths.  I say deaths, because this is a war, and people have died because of poor government contracting practices.  

   When someone gets electrocuted in a shower, that was built by a contractor that cut corners, whose fault is that?  Is it the government’s fault for not insuring that shower was built to a standard, or was it that contractor’s fault for building it as cheaply as possible so the government could save money and that company could actually make money?  Like I said, the government has been absent in the ‘caring department’, and there have been victims do to that moral disengagement.

   Now I am not calling for micro-management, I am just calling for the government to get involved with the contracts, and apply quality control. The government would also be ill served to try to stymie the power of a free market with these companies as well.  The best they can do, is make sure all the companies are playing by the same set of rules, and the contracts are managed fairly and consistently.  

     Profit making is also a part of what makes business thrive, so I don’t really understand the logic of demonizing this concept.  Every businessman starts a company, with the idea of making money and succeeding.  To take that away, takes away the one force that drives business to be the best.  That’s unless government want’s business to be more like them?  But that is a whole different topic….. 

     We have stepped up and answered the call when this country reached out during their time of need. We provided a service, and some companies did better than others in that endeavor.  I admit we have our problems, but with the war and disasters like Katrina, we stepped up and did a service that the government could not provide on it’s own.  The least the government could do is care enough to make sure the job is done right, at the time it is being done, as opposed to dealing with a poorly built house when they come back from Mexico. Just my two cents on the whole deal. –Matt

—————————————————————— 

 

Congress looks to clean up contractors

By: Jen DiMascio

February 12, 2009 04:51 AM EST

Defense contractors blamed for waste, fraud and abuse — and even for some civilian casualties in Iraq — are now facing a new Congress intent on cleaning up the mess.

The contractors are contrite about their mistakes, making the case that not all of them are created evil.

“We have millions of transactions every year that work,” said Alan Chvotkin, a senior vice president for the Professional Services Council, a contractors trade group. But missteps by KBR, Blackwater USA and Hurricane Katrina contractors stand out, he said.

“We’re colored by the failures,” he said.

Congress already is engaging on the issue.

The bipartisan Commission on Wartime Contracting, pushed into law by Democratic Sens. Jim Webb of Virginia and Claire McCaskill of Missouri, recently held its first hearing. And the Senate Homeland Security Committee has launched an ad hoc subcommittee on contracting oversight, under the direction of McCaskill, a former state auditor who has made contracting accountability one of her trademark issues.

(more…)

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress