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Soulati-'TUDE!

Is Conflict Good Public Relations?

10/16/2019 By Jayme Soulati

ALT="Marc Veyrat, Restaurateur and Chef of La Maison des Bois"
Screenshot from www.marcveyrat.fr

Conflict is well, conflict, usually not a good thing. As public relations goes, conflict ranks as bad…except when it isn’t. Sound confusing? No problem; let me share a story about conflict that could be regarded as a PR ploy to grab some PR on the global stage, especially in my view as a PR professional.

Michelin Guide Causes Major Conflict For Restaurateur

Marc Veyrat, 69, chef/owner of La Maison des Bois in France, slammed a lawsuit at the Michelin Guide for reducing his restaurant’s three-star rating to two stars.

Mr. Veyrat’s attack on the Michelin Guide puts his feud front and center on public display.

His beef, which is probably a cuss word in Mr. Veyrat’s vocabulary since his cuisine is plant-based, centers around the lack of transparency by Michelin in sharing how stars are awarded or reversed.

To show just how much drama encompasses Michelin Guide ratings, Mr. Veyrat’s comment in a magazine (reprinted in the New York Times) surpasses any doubt he’s kidding.

“I feel like my parents died a second time,” said Mr. Veyrat to a magazine. “Can you imagine the shame I feel: I am the only chef in history to get a third star and then to lose it the next year.”

In Michelin’s defense, they say Mr. Veyrat’s “accusations are baseless.”

Most interesting, the downgrade to Mr. Veyrat’s business by Michelin did not affect La Maison des Bois. Its business actually increased 10 percent over last year. Mr. Veyrat mentioned “his anger stemmed mostly from his wounded pride.”

Understanding The Importance Of Michelin’s Stars

The Michelin Guide awards three stars to the most elite restaurants. In 2019, 27 restaurants received three stars and 84 received two stars. Quite a dichotomy, right?

Along with stars comes great prestige and pressure on the chefs to maintain their 3-star elite rating. When a star is removed, conflict obviously becomes the name of the game.

So, I’ll ask again: is conflict good PR?

Conflict As Public Relations

ALT="La Maison des Bois restaurant with alpine view"
Screenshot taken from www.marcveyrat.fr

Let’s take a look at the main fact of this story: Mr. Veyrat’s business increased 10% over last year!

Perhaps his lawsuit contributed to that and perhaps not. Seeing the “shame” Mr. Veyrat feels about his demotion from a three- star to two-star restaurant, his bark and lawsuit certainly contribute to this public relations debacle.

On the other hand, Michelin Guide offers no flinch about their decision to remove a star from La Maison des Bois. Their chief critics stand firmly by their decision, although no one really knows just how those decisions get made. The latter forms the groundwork for the lawsuit by Mr. Veyrat who will see his nemesis in court late November.

In thinking about restaurant public relations as a profession, communications pros must be diligent in their strategy. It takes consistency with events and news to attract and keep patrons. Add to that that arrogant chefs who may also own the restaurant, ahem, Mr. Veyrat, and challenges abound.

If there’s a lawsuit, this conflict brings the curious in droves. More people want to know what the big fuss is all about because people generally are nosy creatures.

Conflict Where There’s No Conflict

In my opinion, this story plants a big giggle on my face. It got the attention of the New York Times, and that’s certainly a huge achievement in media relations circles. Mr. Veyrat’s escapades feature in both print and digital editions of this global publication.

If you know media relations, we work hard to get our clients featured in the New York Times. Here comes a winy restaurateur filing a lawsuit over removal of a star, and voila (literally because he’s French), he lands a story about his shame. On the flip side, the New York Times published a photo with the article of Mr. Veyrat accepting his three stars last year from Michelin Guide. No ruckus there, eh?

So, conflict in this case is certainly good PR for this French restaurant with alpine views bordering Italy and Switzerland.

What do you think?

Filed Under: Media Relations, Public Relations Tagged With: conflict, Marc Veyrat, Media Relations, Michelin Guide, restaurant PR, The New York Times

Is Twitter’s Messaging Enough For Wall Street?

11/14/2014 By Jayme Soulati

ALT="Twitter Wordle"Twitter, my former-fave social media app, is suffering from low mojo amongst Wall Street analysts. Since its IPO one year ago (November 2013), the honeymoon is over and tough questions are more the norm.

Twitter has had a recent spate of lackluster messaging being disseminated via tweets and blog posts versus the accustomed 1:1 analyst interview.

Message Mapping By Soulati

Perhaps Twitter should’ve engaged Soulati Media for a message mapping exercise? Hey, Twitter, it’s not too late to give me a shout!

That’s my shameless plug, and why not? Don’t forget to see my infographic on message mapping here!

Back to Twitter

Upon review of The New York Times Nov. 13, 2014, “Twitter Speaks Up With Growth Strategy Intended to Soothe Wall Street,” it seemed Twitter’s dog and pony for financial analysts had the right messages. What also seemed to be the problem was the reception of those messages.

Revenue is weak; plans to raise revenue are average; users aren’t visiting as much as prior; there is management turmoil; the future looks bleak for the company (according to the story); and, new features aren’t being launched fast enough.

In my view, Twitter really messed up by not communicating in the last 12 months about its plans to shore up the publicly traded company and keep share price growing to investor satisfaction.

Seems to be Twitter’s problem may be its messaging and its messaging delivery; that’s called public relations. When you open the doors as a public company and invite all kinds of scrutiny, investor relations is critical. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Marketing, Message Mapping/Mind Mapping Tagged With: Anthony Noto, Asia-Pacific, BBC, Bloomberg L.P., Dick Costolo, Facebook, message mapping, message mapping book, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Twitter, Wall Street

ALT="Jayme Soulati"

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