Time Warner's Community Relations and Branding

Time Warner is successful in both their consumer relations efforts and brand management. Time Warner has developed long-term relationships with its customers through its consumer relations. The company dedicates itself to offering its customers innovations in technology, products, and services. The “About Me” section of the company website details their pledge to their customers. It states that “We value our customers, putting their needs and interests at the center of everything we do.” (You can check out this statement here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/aboutus/mission_values.html). Time Warner also dedicates itself to the privacy protection of its consumers. They devote significant resources to privacy protection, and are open about how they collect and use consumer data. I believe this creates a trust in the company amongst consumers because they see the company is taking steps to protecting their privacy. You can read more about each division’s commitment to consumer privacy and the actions they take to ensure consumer privacy here: (http://www.timewarner.com/corp/citizenship/customers_content/consumer_privacy/index.html). Every division of Time Warner is at the top of their categories, which demonstrates that the company has been successful in gaining loyal customers that choose the brand for various categories. They have also maintained a positive image in the mind of the consumers as being credible sources of information. A core component of the company’s values is its journalistic integrity. You can read about what each division of Time Warner does in order to ensure its customers can trust the information, products and services delivered to them here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/citizenship/customers_content/journalistic_integrity/index.html). The PR people at Time Warner keep track of public opinion to ensure the company is successfully in their consumer relations efforts. Most of the divisions of Time Warner have blogs that allow the consumers to give feedback to the company. Each division also provides many ways in which consumers can contact the company such as telephone and e-mail. I believe the PR people keep track of the questions, complaints, and other comments that consumers make through these methods of contacting the company and use them to improve opinions.

Time Warner has positioned its brand in the mind of consumers as the leading media and entertainment company that offers the latest innovations. When I think of movies, magazines, cable, and other forms of entertainment, Time Warner is the first company that comes to my mind. I believe many other customers feel the same way and instantly associate Time Warner with the industry. Has Time Warner been able to condition us to associate its brand with entertainment??? I believe Ivan Pavlov would say they have! I think the company has done an excellent job at managing the character of its products and services. People know that they can rely on Time Warner to offer products and services that are innovative and excellent quality. I think their brand image is also one of social responsibility to the community. The company addresses business, environmental, and social issues within the community. I think this proves to consumers that the company is devoted to me the well-being of the community and gives them a positive brand image. You can take a look at the company’s social responsibility report here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/citizenship/.

I think the public relations people at Time Warner help to enhance the brand image of the company by keeping the public informed about events and news. This makes consumers feel like they are a part of the company, which is a great way to gain their loyalty. The public relations efforts to inform the public are also a great way to promote company events and news highlights. The public relations people constantly post news and press releases on their company Web site and the Web site of their divisions to maintain this contact with the public. You can look at the newsroom section of the company Web site here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom. The public relations people also enhance this brand image by hosting events that demonstrate its concern for the community. For example, the company held an awards dinner to honor principals in New York City. This is an excellent way for the public relations people to gain media attention of the company that will show their social responsibility. In addition, the public is more likely to believe a source such as a newspaper rather than a company as being credible so pitching the event to the media will increase the brand image of the company.

Media Relations at Time Warner

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS, Inc.), a Time Warner company announced the acquisition of Claxson Interactive Pay Television Networks in Latin America is complete. TBS, Inc. received formal approval from the Comisión Nacional de Defensa de la Competencia in Argentina for the acquisition of seven pay television networks currently operating in the Latin American market. These new channels will be operated by TBS in Latin America, under the direction of its president Juan Urdaneta. The networks include Fashion TV, HTV, Infinito, I.Sat, MuchMusic, Retro and Space. The company announced the acquisition is valued at $235 million. TBS Latin America will be assuming the sales representation rights for Claxon and third party-owned networks in Latin America. In addition, they will provide related technical services to these networks.

I was particularly interested in the announcement of this acquisition because we discussed media relations in my class, so this allowed me to investigate how a company used media relations for an important announcement. I was able to see the approach Time Warner took toward media relations and the tools they used to make the announcement. I learned about the completion of the acquisition on the home page of the Time Warner website, which linked to a press release announcing the acquisition that is located under the Newsroom section of the website. You can check out this press release here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1668740,00.html. I searched the acquisition using Google and discovered that the company issues the press release to other news Web sites who posted the press release. You can find the press release on PR Newswire here: http://sev.prnewswire.com/entertainment/20071004/CLTH04804102007-1.html.

I believe the press release that is posted on the website is very thorough and provides the public, employees, and company stakeholders with sufficient information regarding the acquisition. The press release describes the acquisition and then gives background on both Claxson and Turner Broadcasting System. The actual press release showed me media relations decisions Time Warner made regarding the announcement. The press release stated that the official close of the deal was announced by Louise Sams, president of TBS International and executive vice president and general counsel for TBS, Inc., and Roberto Vivo-Chaneton, chairman and chief executive officer of Claxson. I think it was a good decision by the companies to choose the president, vice president, and chairman and CEO of the companies to make the announcement. The acquisition of two companies is important news that affects a wide range of people, so I think it is important that senior management made this announcement. The press release also includes a quote from the president of TBS international, Louise Sams. This quote explains how the acquisition will enhance the company’s channel offerings, and will allow them to deliver a whole new range of quality programming genres to audiences throughout Latin America. I think the company made a good decision to include this quote in the press release because it shows how the president is concerned with serving the public interest.

I also think Time Warner used good employee relations tactics during this announcement. This past summer I completed an internship in the public relations department of Time Warner, so I am familiar with the efforts they make to keep their employees informed about announcements. Time Warner always posts important announcements on the company’s Intranet and sends weekly e-mails titled “This Week in Review” that summarizes important happenings at the company from the past week. I am positive Time Warner took these measures to inform its employees about the acquisition. I think this is very important because it makes the employees feel like that management is making an effort to keep them in the loop.

I think the public relations department at Time Warner did an excellent job using media relations to make this announcement. I think it was really important that the company posted the announcement on the company’s home page of their Web site and offered a press release announcing the completion of the acquisition. I also think it was good media relations for the company to make the press release available to other news websites. Choosing to use employees that are part of senior management as spokespersons for this announcement was an excellent way of proving their involvement with the acquisition. The messages delivered by Louise Sams in the press release shows that the company is confident the acquisition will enhance the company and that they are concerned with the serving the public’s best interests. If I were a member of the public relations department of Time Warner I would also post a YouTube video of the senior management making the announcement in order to use more new media tactics.

Time Warner Inc. Honors New York City Public School Principles

On October 09, 2007, Time Warner Inc. announced the recipients of the first “Principals of Excellence Awards.” The awards honor commendable principles that demonstrate leadership in New York City public schools. Each award includes a $20,000 grant for the school, and a $5,000 reward to be given directly to the principal. Principals are nominated for the awards by either their peers or by members of the school community. A panel chaired by Time Warner Chairman and CEO Dick Parsons selects 5 principals to receive the award out of a group of finalists. The panel judges the principals on a number of criteria such as the principal’s leadership, his or her community-building efforts, the school’s academic achievements, and the opportunities the principal’s efforts have created for the students.

Time Warner announced the creation of the awards in May, as part of its commitment to help strengthen leadership within public schools. I think the development of the “Principals of Excellence” awards and the promotion of the awards was a successful attempt of the public relations department to make the public aware of Time Warner’s corporate responsibility. Time Warner has had a longstanding involvement with New York City public schools and the creation of these awards is an excellent way for the company to share this involvement with the public, employees, and company stakeholders. I think the public relations department must have played a role in the creation of the awards and has done a good job promoting the awards. Time Warner announced both the creation of the awards in May and the announcement of the winners of the awards in press releases that were posted on the company website and on other news websites. Click here to take a look at the press release announcing the winners: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1669445,00.html. The company also posted an article describing the “Principals of Excellence” awards and what qualifies a principal to receive the award under the community section of the company Web site. You can check out this article here:

http://www.timewarner.com/corp/citizenship/community/principals_awards/index.html. After the panel selected the winners the company posted another article under the same section on the Web site that gives a brief biography of each of the winners. To read up on the winners check out his article here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/citizenship/community/principals_awards/recipients/index.html.

I think the public relations department did a good job and using the press releases as a way to also share information about the company and what it stands for. I also thought it was a good public relations decision to include quotes from the CEO Dick Parsons in the press releases because it proves he is actively involved in the selection process. In addition to the press releases, the company has organized a special reception and dinner ceremony at Time Warner’s headquarters at Columbus Circle on October 10, 2007 to present the winners with the awards. I think honoring the winners at a reception is an excellent way to increase awareness of the company’s corporate responsibility. I think the public relations department should send pitch letters to the media including television stations, radio, and newspapers so the event will receive news coverage. This would be an excellent way of reaching a mass audience and informing them about the involvement of the company in New York City public schools. I think the company did a good job at promoting the creation of the awards and announcement of the winners. It is very important that the company continues this good work in their effort to promote the reception.