ASYMMETRICAL CONFLICTS: WHY WALMART IS LOSING THE PUBLIC RELATIONS WAR

WalMart is getting it's $200 billion corporate ass kicked by a rag-tag team of socialists, union thugs, ex-Howard Dean moonbats and a collection of fringe special interest groups that would make any ACLU chapter leader proud. USA today has a chilling rundown of the miscreants aiming for WalMart and the tactics they are deploying.

The reason Walmart is losing this battle is because of the asymmetrical nature of the conflict. The WalMart adversaries are willing to do what ever is necessary to hurt WalMart, while on the other hand, WalMart is unwilling defend itself effectively against these attacks AND more importantly, assertively manage their reputation in the future to prevent attacks like this.

Howard Davidowitz, via the US Today article has this to say about the impact on Walmart:

"Is this campaign hurtful to Wal-Mart? Of course. It's costing them megabucks. The financial impact on Wal-Mart is enormous," says Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, a New York-based national retail consulting and investment banking firm.

What should a business do when confronted with an adversary that will resort to unethical, dirty or illegal tactics? It used to be enough to take the high road and hope the problem would eventually go away. But with the advent of citizen media, and the willingness of special interest groups to engage in increasingly hostile tactics, a new set of rules are called for. Traditional PR doctrine is woefully unprepared to fight these battles.

Dealing with asymmetrical attacks is one of the topics of our two-day Mobilizations. The US Naval War College offers this explanation of asymmetrical warfare. Jack Yoest has a great thread covering the WalMart war here.

Creative awards are meaningless if you can't convert them into revenue, profit and market share. Click here to learn more about vSente. We wage and win battles for market share.