HERSHEYS “ONE IS ONLY HAPPY IN PROPORTION AS HE MAKES OTHERS FEEL HAPPY”
Strategic Communication Management | 25XGAM601A Meerle Mennen | COAC4F | 2223778 | Cohort 2013
index Company analysis Issue analysis Stakeholder analysis Strategic communication advise Conclusion Literature Appendix
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Company analysis HERSHEY’S
The story of HERSHEY’S started in 1894. Milton S. company introduced HERSHEY’S cacao to the public. A few years later the first chocolate fabric from Milton was build. Milton believed in happy workers work better, he built Hershey’s Park. This park was meant for his employees and their family’s to enjoy and relax. During the years, HERSHEY’S created more products than the regular chocolate bars they increased their products. Nowadays HERSHEY’S is more than chocolate. HERSHEY’S stands for happiness, goodness and love. Milton Hershey said in 1879 “ONE IS ONLY HAPPY IN PROPORTION AS HE MAKES OTHERS FEEL HAPPY” (HERSHEY’S, n.d.) The company is focusing at the good things in life. Happiness had a simple start, for Milton Hershey. They used simple ingredients, their processes were simple and sharing a lot of smiles because they shared the products of HERSHEY’S. Goodness is the passion of HERSHEY’S. They are helping children in need. In 1909 they created the Milton Hershey School, this school was in particular for orphan boys. HERSHEY’S believes in the fact that a bright future starts with basic nutrition. They want to give children from disadvantaged communities education and support they need to reach their bright future. Besides creating a bright future for children they want to create better lives (HERSHEY’S, n.d.).
Vision HERSHEY’S:
“Continuing Milton Hershey’s legacy of commitment to consumers, community and children, we provide high-quality HERSHEY’S products while conducting our business in a socially responsible and environmentally sustainable manner (HERSHEY’S, n.d.).”
HERSHEY’S vision for the future:
HERSHEY’S wants and already is growing globally. Stated on their website: “Our strength in North America allows us to share the goodness of new and existing products with more and more people around the world every year (HERSHEY’S, n.d.)” Looking at worldwide HERSHEY’S is already growing in China, Brazil and Mexico. Those three countries have all their own products that is popular. In China the HERSHEY’s Kisses are selling good, this because gifting important in their cultural traditions. In Brazil the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are going good. And in Mexico they are one of the fastest growing brands nowadays (HERSHEY’S, n.d). In 2015 HERSHEY’S announced new goals for the future. A few of these goals are: • Being a global industry leader in inclusion and diversity in 2020 • To improve, with 95%, the company-wide recycling rate, based on the numbers from 2009. In 2009 it was 72%. • In 2020 using cage free eggs for the USA products, 100% cage free eggs. • HERSHEY’S will enroll 70.000 farmers in 2019. This with their Learn and Grow programs (HERSHEY’S, n.d.)
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With the Corporate identity mix (C.B.M. van Riel, 2010) it is possible to get to know the organisation identitymix. It also makes the personality from the company clear. The Corporate identity mix exist out of 3 components: • Behavior • Communication • Symbols
Behavior
This one is about the behaviour from the company itself and his employees. For HERSHEY’S this means they want that customers have good working conditions and even had their own themepark for employees, nowadays it is for customers as well (Herheyspark, n.d.). They want to be good for everyone and are creating good things in poor countries like their Learn and Grow program. They want to go environment friendly, like one of their goals to have cage free eggs in 2020 for the USA products.
Communication
HERSHEY communicates that they are the one who makes you happy. The HERSHEY’S homepage is all about being happy with HERSHEY’S products. It is clear and friendly. HERSHEY’S also is using quotes like Say it with a kiss and Happiness is Hershey’s (Hershey’s, n.d.). It is important that, when the customers see the webpage and other communication sees, he/she feels welcome.
Symbols
Homepage HERSHEY’S (HERSHEY’S, n.d.)
The Hershey Company (HERSHEY’S, n.d.)
The Hershey Company (HERSHEY’S, n.d.)
Facebookpage HERSHEY’S (Facebook, 2016)
Twitterpage HERSHEY’S (Twitter, 2016) 5
Personality
The values of HERSHEY’S are * Happy * Friendly * Simple * Goodness The schedule from the corporate identity mix is visual in the figure below.
Corporate identitymix Birkigt & Stadler
Corporate iden ty mix
(Eurib, n.d.)
(Birkigt and Stadler, n.d.)
Behavior
on ca ni
S
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C o m mu
ol b ym
Personality
Issue analysis Slavery in the chocolate industry
Taking a look at the word slavery most of the people will think there is no slavery anymore. But even nowadays, in the year 2016, there are people who are a slave from someone else. Think about prostitutes and child labour. But there is also slavery in the chocolate industry. Adults and children are forced to work in horrible conditions. There are about 24 million people enslaved at this moment, this is an estimated number, according to Tui Motu Interislands Magazine (Tui Motu Interislands Magazine, 2016). In the cacao and chocolate industry are a lot of child slaves. For example children from Mali were smuggled to Ivory Coast to work as slaves. A documentary from Bastard Film & TV made clear how slavery works, from smuggling the children till the plantation. Children, smuggled from Mali are most of the times between 11 and 14 years old. The price from a child of Burkina Faso will cost around €200,-. The young children are waving around with big and dangerous knifes. In the documentary it’s shown that some of the children have wounds from working and living there, but we cannot see the mental pain they have (YouTube, 2011). Looking at the issue life cycle model from Dalton there are five different stages: 1. Latent 2. Emerging 3. Active 4. Intense 5. Maturity / Resolution The ‘Slavery issue’ is at this moment in stage 2, Emerging. People are aware of the fact it is going on but are not active. They are not writing a lot about it or complaining a lot. Also HERSEY’S itself is aware that there is slavery. In the schedule below the different stages are visual. (John Dalton, n.d.)
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Coosto showed if people are talking about this issue and how much they are talking about it. In the pictures below is stated clear how much people are talking about it. The subject I searched for were: • Slavery cacao • Slavery chocolate • HERSHEY’S There has been searched from the October 25 2015 untill October 25 2016. The result are in the figures below.
(Coosto, 2016)
Media
Confectionerynews.com, thedailybeast.com and the CNN even has their own freedom project called: Chocolates child’s slaves. CNN made a video about children in the chocolate industry. CNN doesn’t talk about HERSHEY’S specifically but the webpage gives an opportunity to post reaction and they are full with comments about HERSHEY’S. One of the comments is: Boycott HERSHEY’S (CNN, 2012). Confectionary news and The Daily Beast are both writing about the fact that HERSHEY’S makes chocolate with child slavery (Confectionary news, 2015) (The Daily Beast, 2015).
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Stakeholder analysis Longlist stakeholders 1. Hershey’s organisation 2. Hershey’s employees 3. Sellingpoints 4. Consumers 5. Reeses 6. KitKat 7. Twizzlers 8. Brookside 9. Media 10. Shareholders
In the figure below you can find the a Stakeholdermapping tool. With this tool we can see how ‘important’ the stakeholders with this issue. There are two players: • Level of interest • Power There are 4 groups were the stakeholder could belong to: • Minimal Effort • Keep Informed • Keep Satisfied • Key Players (Manage Closely) When the Power is high but the Level of interest is low the stakeholder belongs to the term Keep Satisfied. If the Power is low but the Level of interest is high the stakeholder belongs to Keep Informed. The third option is Power and Level of interest are both low, in this case the vstakeholder Minimal Effort. The last one is if Power and Level of interest are both high. The stakeholder belongs to Key Players.
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Stakeholdermappingtool High Keep sa sfied
Key Players (Manage Closely)
4. Consumers
1. Organisa„on Hershey’s
Minimal effort
Keep informed
5. Reeses 6. KitKat 7. Twizzlers 8. Brookside
2. Employees Hershey’s 3. Sellingpoints 9. Media 10. Shareholders
Power
Low Low
Low
Interest
High
Shortlist
Looking in the schedule above we can conclude that the five most important stakeholders at this moment are: * Organisation Hershey’s * Employees Hershey’s * Selling points * Media * Shareholders For this issue i want to chose a 6th stakeholder, the Consumer. In the schedule it is stated Keep Satisfied. I think it is an important stakeholder as well, regarding this issue. Who are the 6 important stakeholders? Organisation Hershey’s This is the most important one. This is the heart of the organisation. All the decision makers, the board. The vproblem won’t be solved directly but they are the ones who will say yes or no to any kind of new producing. Employees Hershey’s The employees are the most important ones after the organisation. They are the one who need to believe, feel and show the brand and products. If they are not aware from the bad and good things that are happening with Hershey’s they can not show the brand correctly to the world.
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Sellingpoints Without selling points no money. If there wouldn’t be any store that wants to sell Hershey’s they would be bankrupt quickly. They still can make the products but without selling they will not earn money. Hershey’s needs to keep the selling points informed about what is going on if they have problems. Sellingpoints could be: * Supermarkets * Gasstations * Drugstores * Candystores Media The Media can be really good for a company but it also can ruin a company. People believe the media, if they have proof or not. People mostly won’t check the facts, if it is written in a newspaper or at an online news platform they will believe it. In the issueanalysis is already written that CNN, The Daily Beast and Confectionary news are writing about this. Besides this kind of media people are also writing on Twitter and Facebook about it. Shareholders Hershey’s is a big company. They need Shareholders. If the shareholders are pulling back Hershey’s will get a though period to keep the company financially good. The shareholders from HERSHEY’S are: * Hershey Trust Co. * The Vanguard Group, Inc. * BlackRock Fund Advisors * Janus Capital Management LLC * SSgA Funds Management, Inc. * Capital Research & Management Co. (World Investors) * Fidelity Management & Research Co. * Pioneer Investment Management, Inc. * Northern Trust Investments, Inc. * AllianceBernstein LP (4-traders, n.d.) Consumers Every company needs consumers. Without consumers no sold products, no money. When their consumers are noticing what is going on and don’t agree with the Hershey’s products anymore they will stop buying it. This would be a bad scenario for Hershey’s. Hershey’s can not exists without their consumers/customers.
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Issue advice Slavery in the chocolate industry is a growing issue. People are starting to talk about it and there are coming more and more documentaries about slavery in the cocoa industry. It is important that HERSHEY’S knows the issue is there. They need to have knowledge about this.
What can HERSHEY’S do?
HERSHEY’S is willing to change the chocolate to fair-trade chocolate. On the HERSHEY’S webpage is an announced that they are changing their cocoa by the year 2020. To see or find this announcement people need to search long. Why is it not on the homepage? Why is it not big on their Facebook page, for example in their cover photo?
Video
It would be good if HERSHEY’S tells about the change. Show the process of making chocolate in the factories. All of this in a short video. HERSHEY’S already has a video called: Making HERSHEY’S Milk Chocolate? (YouTube, 2015). But in this video people are talking about the process and it is not showing the complete process. The people in this video are: • Tim Hinegardener, leader of the factory. • Kevin Feldenzer, expert in chocolate operations • Tyrin Sterling, professional chocolate maker Imagine a video all about HERSHEY’S chocolate. A supplier bringing the cocoa, Start filming as soon as the suppliers deliver all the products. The process in the fabric starts at that moment. Film every single step and make a creative video out of it. It is good to let people tell about their jobs, what they need to do to make the chocolate you love. Besides Tim Hinegardener, Kevin Feldenzer and Tyrin Sterling it would be amazing to show the employees who are working inside of the factory. They are the ones who can tell how it is to work their and how they make this amazing chocolate. The last point is, maybe the most important one, show people that HERSHEY’S is changing. Tell them: WE ARE GOING FAIR-TRADE IN 2020. Probably people will think why in 2020 and not now. Show the process it takes to change something like this. Communicate what the company is doing. Be proud of it. It is one of the best things HERSHEY’S can do, the decision to change to fair-trade.
Packaging
Another option is write it down on the packaging of all the products. Customers will see immediately the great plans of HERSHEY’S. They do not need to search on the webpage if they are willing to change, no they can see at every moment they are changing and when it will happen.
Be honest and be open. Time
These changes will take some time. The video will take more or less 1 month. Filming is one point but before starting with the filmprocess there has to be a plan. What, who and where need to be clear. After the filming someone has to edit everything. This will take a few days as well. The packaging will also take more or less 3 weeks. The design has to change and to be approved. When this is okay they can send it to the printing company and they can start their process. After this the packaging can come back to HERSHEY’S and they can start with this new graphic design.
Who are you reaching with these two communication tools?
First of all it is important that all the 6 stakeholders are getting the information. These stakeholders are: * Organisation Hershey’s * Employees Hershey’s * Selling points * Media * Shareholders All of the stakeholders above are able to watch this video. When a video is online it is easy to send it to everyone in the mailing list or to a selected part of it. Besides sending the video it is a great opportunity to put in on the social media pages and their own webpage. These tools are an easy way to reach a lot of people at the same time. And putting it on, for example Facebook and the HERSHEY’S webpage doesn’t cost a lot of money. Only making the video costs money. For the organisation and employees it could be fun to watch how they make the product together. They can see the process they maybe never saw. The packaging will also reach the organisation and the employees. Think of putting some chocolate bars in the cafeteria or at the entrance. Selling points probably see more of the package then the video. Every time when a customer buys a HERSHEY’S product they see the package, so they see HERSHEY’S is going to change. The only costs here are to make the packaging. To reach the media and shareholders HERSHEY’S can send an online press release, including the link of the video. But when HERSHEY’S decides to send an offline press release they even can put a small HERSHEY’S product in it. So the media doesn’t only see the video but they see the package as well and HERSHEY’S stands out because it is something special. The offline version costs more money. This because of all the papers and samples they have to send.
Crisis?
This issue could change from an issue to a crisis. When this happens it is important that HERSHEY’S communicates the same as called above. The differences is the time, everything has to be faster. There is no time to wait. HERSHEY’S has maybe one or two days, maybe one hour. Employees have to be more active on the social media accounts, their email, the media. Everyone will start asking questions, HERSHEY’S needs to communicate the same. Tell the people there is a plan to go fair-trade but it takes time. Explain why it takes time.
Be open and honest.
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Conclusion The story of HERSHEY’S started in 1894. Milton S. company introduced HERSHEY’S cacao to the public. A few years later the first chocolate fabric from Milton was build. Milton believed in happy workers work better, he built Hershey’s Park. This park was meant for his employees and their family’s to enjoy and relax. During the years, HERSHEY’S created more products than the regular chocolate bars they increased their products. Making a company bigger is mostly good. But HERSHEY’S has one thing that is not so good; they don’t have Fairtrade chocolate. Nowadays going green, fair-trade, environment friendly are getting more important. There is still slavery in the cocoa industry. Children, sold for 200 euros, need to work with big knifes, don’t have good clothes, food or education. HERSHEY’S is one of the many chocolate companies who are still using cocoa from these plantations. HERSHEY’S is willing to change their cocoa to fair-trade, but are not communicating it very well. When HERSHEY’S communicates, on a good way, they are changing their cocoa to fair-trade cocoa in 2020, HERSHEY’S is open and honest. If HERSHEY’S is reaching all the stakeholders on a good, positive way, this will only do good and will not make the issue around chocolate industry worse for them.
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Liturature 4 Traders. HERSHEY CO, n.d. Retrieved on October 20, 2016.
http://www.4-traders.com/HERSHEY-CO-12988/company/
CNN. The CNN Freedomproject, 2012. Retrieved on October 24, 2016.
http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/12/chocolates-child-slaves/
Confectionary News. Mars, Nestlé and Hershey face fresh cocoa child labor class action lawsuits, 2015. Retrieved on October 24, 2016.
http://www.confectionerynews.com/Commodities/Mars-Nestle-and-Hershey-face-fresh-cocoa-
child-labor-lawsuits Coosto. Zoekopdrachten, 2016. Retrieved on october 24, 2016.
https://in.coosto.com/query/what?pid=27955&q%5B0%5D=HERSHEYS&sb%5B0%5D=2
5%2F10%2F2015&se%5B0%5D=24%2F10%2F2016&sview=&topic%5B0%5D%5B0%5D=hersheys&fq%5B0%5D%5B0%5D=&timeres=day&ssort=free%3ADr&authorsort=&ch=455&sf%5B0%5D=all&c%5B0%5D=ff7311&cqn%5B0%5D=&gpscircle%5B0%5D=0&a%5B0%5D%5B0%5D=& a%5B0%5D%5B1%5D=&a%5B0%5D%5B2%5D=&a%5B0%5D%5B3%5D=&akey=0&at=22a31e26d2142 3d9 Eurib. Corporate identity en Corporate image van Birkigt en Stadler, n.d. Retrieved on october 30, 2016.
http://www.eurib.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Documenten/PDF/Reputatiemanagement/v_-_
Corporate_Identity___Corporate_Image_van_Birkigt___Stadler.pdf Hershey’s. About us, n.d. Retrieved on september 25, 2016.
https://www.hersheys.com/world-travel-retail/about-us/vision.aspx
Hershey’s. Bright Future, n.d. Retrieved on september 21, 2016.
https://www.thehersheycompany.com/en_us/responsibility/bright-future.html
Hershey’s. Hello Happy, n.d. Retrieved on october 26, 2016
https://www.hersheys.com/en_us/home.html
Hershey’s. Making HERSHEY’S Milk Chocolate, 2015. Retrieved on october 30, 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZAxZgdp_hs
Hershey’s. Our new goals, n.d. Retrieved on october 24, 2016.
https://www.thehersheycompany.com/content/dam/corporate-us/documents/csr-re
ports/2015-hershey-csr-report-highlights.pdf
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Hershey’s. Our vision for the future, n.d. Retrieved on october 20, 2016.
https://www.thehersheycompany.com/en_us/this-is-hershey/a-visionary-future.html
Hershey’s. Passion for goodness, n.d. retrieved on september 21, 2016.
https://www.thehersheycompany.com/en_us/this-is-hershey/a-passion-for-goodness.html
Hershey’s. Spread goodness today, n.d. Retrieved october 20, 2016.
https://www.thehersheycompany.com/en_us/home.html
Hershey’s. An amazing story that started with chocolate, n.d. Retrieved on october 27, 2016.
https://www.thehersheycompany.com/en_us/this-is-hershey.html
Hersheypark. Free snack and gamevoucher, n.d. Retrieved on october 26, 2016
http://www.hersheypark.com
John Dalton. Reputation and Strategic Issue Management. Retrieved on October 24, 2016.
http://www.financepractitioner.com/business-strategy-best-practice/reputation-and-strategic-is-
sue-management?page=4 Facebook. Hershey’s, 2016. Retrieved on october 24, 2016.
https://www.facebook.com/hersheys/?fref=ts
The Daily Beast. Lawsuit: Your Candy Bar Was Made By Child Slaves, 2015. Retrieved on October 24, 2016.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/30/lawsuit-your-candy-bar-was-made-by-child-
slaves.html Tui Motu InterIslands Magazine. The terrible price of chocolate, 2016. Retrieved on September 24, 2016.
http://www.tuimotu.org/a/AgORete
Twitter. Hershey’s, 2016. Retrieved on october 24, 2016.
https://twitter.com/Hersheys
Van Riel, Cees B.M (2010). Identiteit en Imago (4th ed.) Den Haag YouTube. Slavery in the Chocolate Industry, 2011. Retrieved on september 21, 2016.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNpwIzeyjKQ
Appendix The reflection from FONTYS ACI Crisisday
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Crisisday Proces
What did you know on forehand about the situation (facts)?
I knew about the movie The Interview but I never saw it. I also new about the fact that is was a “big deal”. A few years ago there was a lot happening about this movie and I saw it on my Facebook, Twitter but also in the newspapers.
What was your task and role during the crisis day?
We didn’t give everyone one task or one role, we were all the same. If I need point out a few task I worked more on it would be: - Stakeholder analysis - Q&A - What happened - When did it happen - Are we responsible - Strategy - Matrix of means Almost every point. Except for statement, Bart made this. I told him my opinion but he made the statement complete
What did you want to achieve?
The most important thing for me was practising with a crisis. This was the ultimate change to do all the steps you need to do during a crisis, but this time without the pressure like it is in the ‘real’ world.
What do you think of your own performance?
I think I did good. I was active and wanted to “deliver” something good and something that could be used if it was really happening. I learned new things about how to handle a crisis.
What do you think of the team performance?
In my opinion we had a good team. We all stayed calm and worked together. I think these two things are important during a crisis.
Output
What type of crisis you are dealing with?
Preventable crisis. Hackers got personal information from Netflix subscribers in The Netherlands. They said they have all the personal information including their credit card details. This because Netflix kept the movie: The Interview online and didn’t put it offline
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Did you prepare a Q&A and did it cover all the questions? Include the Q&A (based on max 10 questions). We prepared an Q&A but I think it didn’t cover all the questions. I thin in a real crisis there will be many questions people have and can ask during a press moment.
Our questions:
Q1: how many subscribers are involved in this situation? A1: At this moment we are researching this situation, it’s not clear if and how many people are affected. Q2: How are you going to research the size of this situation? A2: A team has been set up to research this situation. Q3: How could this have happened? A3: We have a presumption that it has something to do with the attack on Sony in 2014. We are investigating the cause. Q4: How do you know if this problem is only in the Netherlands? A4: Research will show if we were hacked and if it involves only the Netherlands. Q5: Who is responsible for the attack and this situation? A5: Research will show who is responsible for the attack. Q6: How are you going to compensate the inflicted subscribers? A6: If research shows that our subscriber has been affected by this attack the proper compensation will follow.
What was your strategy and how did you follow that strategy?
- Crisis Typology in SCCT: Preventable crisis - SCCT Response: Rebuild Strategy We decided to keep it calm and only tell the world what we new and that we were doing a research for all the details.
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What was your key message/statement? Include the key message (1/2 page) Welcome everybody, thanks for all coming on short notice
This morning around 8:30 we received signals that we might have been hacked and precious data of our subscribers was out on the street. As soon as we discovered the situation, our staff immediately started to investigate the situation, to establish quickly where the problem is coming from. The following steps have already been taken in the last few hours: - We started an investigation with the government to determine who the attacker could be and what the impact is to our subscribers. - We contacted all banks in the inflicted region to be sure they were aware of the on-going situation. - We are trying to respond on all messages we received over our channels, mail and social media. Please be aware that we received a lot of messages and we really want to give everyone a proper respond, so we kindly like to ask you for a bit of patience. - We set up a hot-line for all people who have questions about the hack and might have been inflicted. Please contact our special hot-line if you noticed any kind of weird transactions on your bank accounts on 0900-NETFLIX. We are doing everything in our power at the moment to secure our system, investigate the size of the hack and on top of all ofcourse making everyones precious data secret again. As soon as we know if there is data out on the street, and how big this breach is, we will contact all inflicted subscribers personally to see how we can compensate our customers in order to regain their trust again. Know that we feel extremely responsible for the inconvenience it coursed all you Netflix loving people. Here fore we would like to appoligize. Tomorrow morning we hope to have finished our investigation, and be able to tell you more. Thank you all.
Who was the ‘spokesmen’ and why?
An employee from Netflix, this because they are in the middle of the crisis but also know the company very well. They are up to date about all the details.
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Experience
What have you learned from this experience?
The most important thing that I have learned during Crisisday is how to deal with a crisis and what kind of steps need to be taken to handle the crisis.
What would you do the same and what would you do differently next time?
I think I would start the same and work the same but the mean difference would be more research about who is tweeting about you and the crisis. And maybe a bit more research to the actual subject.
How has this experience contributed to you as a professional? How can you use this experience in your (future) work? I’m not sure if this really helped for my future because if I ever have to deal with a crisis it would be more stressful, chaotic and I would feel more pressure. But I think if I can stay calm enough I will think about how and what I / we did during this class and hope it will help me to stay calm and figure things out. The theoretical part, coombs, is helpful. This part will stay the same.
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