2. 2 HACKTIVISM: ARE YOU READY FOR THE ONLINE ATTACK?
NOVEMBER 2012
Table of Contents
The Purpose of this POV 3
The Era of Hacktivism 4
Companies React 5
Content: The New Battleground 7
Five Tips for Corporate Readiness 8
About Social@Ogilvy 9
3. 3 HACKTIVISM: ARE YOU READY FOR THE ONLINE ATTACK?
NOVEMBER 2012
The Purpose of this POV
T
he purpose of this POV is to provide brands with an overview of
new forms of activism, in which organized groups or individual
citizens leverage online and social media platforms as part of
broader issues campaigns. It also suggests a five-step readiness
framework for anticipating and reacting to potential attacks.
4. 4 HACKTIVISM: ARE YOU READY FOR THE ONLINE ATTACK?
NOVEMBER 2012
The Era
of Hacktivism
L
arge corporations have long been the ƒƒ Facebook Protests and Hijacks: Swarms
target of activist groups, special interests of activists take over a brand wall with
and other mobilized organizations issues-based posts, or an individual may
that seek to trade on the company’s size use a highly trafficked brand wall for a
and visibility to advance their own agenda. singular post that gains momentum from
From picketing to letter writing campaigns the community.
on corporate issues (real or imagined), the
world’s largest brands are no strangers to ƒƒ Parody Accounts: Especially in times
dealing with issues-based onslaughts. of crisis, fake “corporate accounts” may
appear, parodying a real issue and brand.
However, social media has given activists
a new weapon – and most companies find ƒƒ Spoof Content and Memes: Consumers
themselves unprepared to cope when the new today have access to creative tools
generation of “hacktivists” appears on their that make them as “professional” as
virtual doorstep. Unlike the letter-writing or commercial-quality advertising. Spoof
stunts of old, which were somewhat limited content, photos and videos are common
in scope and visibility, social media and digital vehicles for attacks, or less serious
give activists a way to besiege a company in a mockeries.
long-term, high- profile manner.
ƒƒ Crowdsourcing Contests: Organized and
Online activism can spring up in many places, incentivized contest that invite consumers to
and those who jump on the bandwagon may create their own parody content.
have a variety of intentions. It is common to
see activism targeted at brands stemming ƒƒ Electronic Terrorism: More serious forms
from well-organized groups looking to of hacking, that may include DNS attacks,
draw attention to issues (e.g., Greenpeace), viruses or accessing proprietary company
cyber rings looking to wreak havoc (e.g., or consumer information.
Anonymous), parody entertainment groups
(e.g., Funny or Die) as well as from individual, Social media has leveled the activist playing
unorganized citizens. field, and a single tweet or Facebook post
could be as serious a threat as an organized
Some of the most common forms of attack by a special-interest group.
hacktivism include:
5. 5 HACKTIVISM: ARE YOU READY FOR THE ONLINE ATTACK?
NOVEMBER 2012
Companies React
T
here is no single strategy for responding and the everyday citizens. Corporate reactions
to hacktivism, as each company, must recognize and react in an equally
corporate culture and situation is integrated fashion, or pay the consequences.
unique. However, the one universal truth is
that it is impossible to separate an “online” Below are some examples of well-known
and “offline” incident, as social media is brands that have faced activists or issues-
seamlessly used by activists, advocacy groups based brand attacks:
The situation Group
Shell: Arctic Ready Hoax Activist group Yes Labs, Greenpeace
On June 7, 2012 a digital campaign was The Corporate Response
launched to rally against Shell’s Arctic drilling
plans. The Campaign included: Shell issued a corporate statement on the
hoax campaign via traditional media (press
ƒƒ A counterfeit Shell website and hoax ad release to journalists), and did not respond to
campaign asking for user-submitted ads in the hoax in the medium where it was occurring
support of Arctic drilling. – online. The response format and delayed
statement led to additional confusion among
ƒƒ An @arcticready Twitter handle. consumers and perpetuated the duration of
the coverage.
ƒƒ A video of a staged press conference
“gone wrong” with the Twitter hashtag, The Lesson
#ShellFAIL.
Tracking an activist attack and responding (if
ƒƒ Recruitment of select bloggers to take part appropriate) in the medium where the issue
in the hoax is occurring is paramount to controlling the
narrative and emphasizing the truth.
The initial three days of the hoax resulted in
more than 19.5 million impressions on Twitter
and more than 39 million impressions via blog
posts.
6. 6 HACKTIVISM: ARE YOU READY FOR THE ONLINE ATTACK?
NOVEMBER 2012
The situation The Situation
Kenneth Cole: #CairoTweets Starbucks: Guns Coffee
After the designer himself tweeted an In the United States there is a fringe
intensive promotional message linking his ne firearms rights group who petitions states
fall line to protest in Cairo, Cole was besieged to adopt “open carry” laws allowing licensed
with protest and spoof content with went viral. individuals to carry hand guns openly. To
@KennethColePR was a fake twitter handle bring the issue to the forefront, a loosely
set up by a jokester who continued to tweet organized group of open carry activists
memorable one-liners akin to Cole’s faux pas. targeted Starbucks in liberal cities located in
Another individual created a Photoshopped states where open carry was permitted. The
picture of a Kenneth Cole storefront with the result was an offline and online media frenzy
infamous tweet decaled on a front – sparking and reaction from the unionized baristas at
days long debate about its authenticity. Starbucks.
Group Group
Individuals and unorganized online jokesters Lobby group OpenCarry.org
The Corporate Response The Corporate Response
Kenneth Cole apologized publicly and profusely Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz was forced to
on Facebook and Twitter for his mistake. adopt a position on gun control overnight. The
However, no further remark on the decal company ultimately decided, despite pressure
debate nor @KennethColePR was ever made from gun control groups and baristas. To defer
– causing some to question ho the crisis was to the state law on the open carry issue, so as
handled. The fake Twitter account ultimatelly not to turn gun control into a legacy issue for
offered to stop tweeting and hand over the the brand. It has reinforced this stance in the
profile if Kenneth Cole donated to a charity face of boycotts from gun control lobbies over
such as Amnesty International. The account the past two years
was ultimately removed.
The Lesson
The Lesson
Be ready for the unexpected, create a flexible
A timely apology is key – but one post may not response framework that can be applied to
be enough to counteract the volume of content any situation.
and conversation that an issue can generate.
Staying active and responsive throughout the
issue will help cut down on speculation and
rumors.
7. 7 HACKTIVISM: ARE YOU READY FOR THE ONLINE ATTACK?
NOVEMBER 2012
Content:
The New Battleground
I
n the last 24 months, one of the major content has the power to rapidly accelerate an
advantages gained by hacktivists is the activist agenda, and create confusion in the
leveling of the content playing field. Tools marketplace.
and creative resources once available only to
large companies and creative agencies are The Shell Arctic Ready campaign by Yes Labs
now affordable, widely accessible and in the and Greenpeace pre-empted a real Shell
hands of the public. corporate brand campaign, and flooded the
market with fake-PR and spoof content. It also
As illustrated above, the ability to create (or invited consumers to get involved and create
ask the public to create) commercial-quality their own:
Activist billboard
covering, and
parody digital
content.
Real Shell print ad.
Combatting a “successful” activist attack on a brand now requires more than good PR after the
fact. It requires a robust, multi-channel readiness, escalation and reaction plan.
8. 8 HACKTIVISM: ARE YOU READY FOR THE ONLINE ATTACK?
NOVEMBER 2012
Five Tips for
Corporate Readiness
T
he saying goes that “the best defense is a good offense.” While it is impossible to know
what activist-led scenario may befall your brand, you can act today to set up processes and
frameworks that will help you handle these incidents in a calm and strategic manner.
1. Always-On Listening 4. Know Your Escalation
Procedures
Always-on social listening of owned platforms
(like Facebook) and non-owned platforms like Knowing when to react, and when not to
blogs and message boards can help ensure over-react is key, and mapping out escalation
you are discovering and containing potential procedures ahead of time can help cooler
issues before they become large. heads prevail in a live situation. Escalation
procedures should include points of contact,
2. Plan for the Worst stakeholders who must be involved, final
decision-makers, and weekend contacts.
Think like an activist. Look at your marketing,
your CSR and your corporate history and 5. Get Ready to Play Offense
anticipate the most likely scenarios for
social activism. Don’t forget to anticipate the As a situation escalates, simply posting a
unexpected, like the Starbucks Open Carry statement via traditional or digital means
example above. may not be enough. Additional management
tactics, such as social media monitoring,
3. Develop Response Protocol search intent modeling, content creation and
distribution, dark sites, keyword marketing
All organizations, especially those engaging and other forms of paid media may be required
in social media proactively, should have a to manage the situation.
Response Protocol document that is primarily
used to guide day-to-day discussion on
platforms. However, this document must also
include “red alert” response protocol, should a
problem arise – including holding statements,
which can be invaluable in minimizing public
outcry while a larger solution or response is
discussed.
9. About Social@Ogilvy
S
ocial@Ogilvy is the largest social media marketing communications
network in the world. Named 2011 Global Digital/Social
Consultancy of the Year by The Holmes Report, the practice
leverages social media expertise across all Ogilvy Mather disciplines,
offering an extensive list of services within the foundational business
solutions – Listening and Analytics; Social Business Solutions; Social
Media Marketing and Communications; Social Shopping; Social CRM;
Social Care; and Conversation Impact.
For more information, visit social.ogilvy.com and connect with
us at www.facebook.com/socialogilvy, www.twitter.com/
socialogilvy, www.slideshare.com/socialogilvy.
Contact: kaitlyn.wilkins@ogilvy.com and john.bell@ogilvy.com
