Communications support of lawsuit against Russia
TASK
To assess the feasibility, possible reputational risks and organize communication support of filing a lawsuit by the ZAMMLER group of logistics companies to the International Court of Justice against Russia for the use of the letter Z.
IMPLEMENTATION
In this case, we worked on a global scale: first, we evaluated the company's initiative in terms of feasibility and reputational impact. After weighing all the pros and cons, we supported the idea. And, accordingly, influenced the decision to file a lawsuit. The point is that the ZAMMLER group of logistics companies decided to go to international courts with a lawsuit against the Russian Federation for the protection of honor, dignity and business reputation. The reason is the use of the letter Z on military equipment: a symbol associated with violence and death since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. The letter Z is in the company's logo, and this causes a number of problems at security checkpoints and in general harms the image of the company's brand in Ukraine.
After getting the information from the company and documents from lawyers, we analyzed international and Ukrainian precedents when companies refused to use the letter Z in their names. Based on the collected data, we prepared a press release for distribution in the mass media. It was translated into three languages: Ukrainian, Russian and Polish (the company also has offices in Poland and Kazakhstan). We also collected photos of the company's fleet, where drivers paint over the letter Z on their cars.
After that, target groups of mass media in Ukraine and abroad (websites, TV channels, Telegram channels) who would be interested in posting this news were determined. We considered both national and regional media (Kyiv media we considered because the company is located in the capital), as well as highly specialized ones: logistics (because the company specializes in logistics services) and legal (because they might be interested in this legal precedent). When the groups were determined, the information was sent to the selected mass media.
RESULT
The material was published by more than 70 mass media. Among them are nationwide and international, regional and highly specialized. Materials appeared in online publications and on main TV channels. The total coverage of the materials reached 20,538,356 views. Given that the news was sensational, all mass media published it for free.
And everyone remembered the company’s name. This increased brand recognition and provoked a wave of discussions in the professional community of logistics and communications specialists. After this information campaign, the national and specialized mass media began to contact ZAMMLER GROUP for comments more often. The company received a wave of approval and support from its customers and partners (one of the customers even ordered an additional service).
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