This is a practice aiming at being familiar with Strategic Public Relations Model. Copyright@Carole Yanxin Zhou.

1. WAY TO MODERN
MONARCHY
PUBLIC RELATIONS IMPLICATION OF 2011 ROYAL WEDDING

2. BACKGROUD
“The Queen is
supported in her
official duties by
other working
members of the
Royal Family who
carry out a wide
range of public
engagements.”

3. BACKGROUD
 Decades of scandals and
embarrassments after
“wedding of the century”
 Debate about abolishing
the Royal Family
 Economic Depression

4. SAME WEDDING
BETTER COUPLE?
 They met in the college
 They are in a stable
relationship
 Prince William is the most
popular royal
 Kate is from a middle-class
family and she’s charming

5. BUSINESS GOAL
A brand re-building for the whole family:
“Modern Monarchy”
Win a broad public’s support so that the royal
family can be maintained

6. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Problem:
 The functions of monarchy
has been weakened
 Economic situation is not
optimistic.
 Shadow of the scandals of
Charles and Diana

7. STATEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY
Opportunity:
 Young generation impressed the
public with positive image
 People like to chase their
interesting life details
 People in Britain are more open-
minded

8. RESEARCH
Research Goals:
To understand the current attitude of people toward the Royal Family, the
Royal couple and their incoming wedding
Research Methodology:
Primary Research:
The PR team of the Royal Wedding can be coordinated with some
professional research institution. For example, the YouGov@Cambridge.
They did a survey by throwing a national poll named Royal Wedding Special
through April 26th-27th, 2011.
Online Monitoring: Use the Royal Family’s Official Website; the Royal
Wedding’s Official Website and all the social media account to do on-line
monitoring.
Secondary Research: Check the family history of the Royal Family;
analyze the previous news reports of the Royal Family

9. SWORTS ANALYSIS

10. STRENGTHEN
 “Monarchy is
the most
important
symbol for
defining
“Britishness”

11. STRENGTHEN
 68% of people think Prince William would “make a good King”
while 63% people think Kate Middleton will “make a good Queen”

12.  GET MARRIED FOR LOVE
• Met in St. Andrews University where they
were studying art history.
• The marriage is the natural result of their
long-term relationship.
• Also they lived together publicly for a
long time before official engagement,
which is a very “modern” way but the
first time in the history of Royal Family.

13. STRENGTHEN
 Kate is “SUITABLE”
• Kate is a “commoner” who
was raised and born in a
middle-class family.
----“Hello, my people, the Family
wants to stand close to you”?

14. STRENGTHEN
Kate is “a conservative’s
style icon”
• A young and lovely
woman. Always smiling.
• Her pictures can be even
found in the fashion
section

15. STRATEGIC IMPLICATION
 Value the traditional side of the
Monarchy and Royal Family;
 Maintain the positive image of the
new generation (Prince William, Kate
Middleton, and Prince Harry etc.) of
the Royal Family;
 Build the relevance between the
Royal Family and common people;
 Try to modernize the Royal Family
as much as possible.

16. WEAKNESS
 It costs a lot of money
• Only the ceremony would cost at least $34 Million, including $32
million for security, $800,00 for flowers and $600,000 for
receptions.
• It would impress people that the Family is extravagant and
wasteful, especially when 50% of working class respondents
consider they are “less wealthy” since 1981.

17. WEAKNESS
Impressed public negatively:
Kate’s family company might
grow up by relying on the
royal family.

18. WEAKNESS
 Shadow of Charles
and Diana’s Marriage
• Wedding
ceremony, wedding
ring, the future of
marriage etc.

19. STRATEGIC IMPLICATION
 Avoid lead the public to feel that the wedding is extravagant
and they have to pay a lot of money for it.
 Emphasize that the key of development of Kate’s family
company is not relying on the Royal Family but to provide
competitive products and play a fair game.
 Convince the public that last generation’s tragedy would not
be repeated in this new and blessed couple.

20. OPPORTUNITY
 The British social attitudes are more
opening and tolerant.
 Only 10% people consider sex
before marriage are wrong and 21%
consider homosexuality are wrong in
2011, comparing to the 28% and
62% in 1984.

21. OPPORTUNITY
 Most people say they belong to the middle class or to the working
class, which means the whole social structure is more stable than
before. And since Kate’s from middle-class family rather than a royal
relative, it also means it’s easier to pull closer the distance between
the Royal Family and the public.

23. People have more welcoming attitude about
the Monarch’s and the Royal Family’s
existences than 11 years ago.
• 45% people consider the state of the
Monarch would stay the same,
comparing to the 27% people in 2000.
• 97% consider the Royal Family would
exist for next 40 years in 2011 while
only 72% people had the same thoughts
back in 2000.

24. OPPORTUNITY
 People consider the Royal
Wedding as a positive way to
help people view the monarchy
and the Royal Family

25.  The well-developed social
media enable the Royal Family to
be more interactive with common
people.

26. STRATEGIC IMPLICATION
 Story-telling is important
 Truly “Like ” the Royal Family rather than simply
tolerate or respect
 Show the fact that the royal working members are
working hard to foster the development of the
Britain.

27. THREATS
 Most people who are interested in the Royal Wedding are women.
 People in London are among the most indifferent groups
 55% people consider the media’s coverage of the Royal Wedding is too
much, which might result the antipathy from people toward this issue.
 Economists warn that the four-days weekends because of the wedding
might at least cost the economy 5 billion pounds lost.

28. STRATEGIC IMPLICATION
 Avoiding turning it into merely a soap
opera.
 Do not occupy all the pages of
newspapers or all the channels of TV.
 Make clear the lost of the economy as well
as the benefits of the four-days weekend.

29. COMMUNICATIONS GOAL
• The Britain is still a competitive and prosperous country.
• The Monarchy and the Royal Family still have fair reasons to survive
since they play important roles in the British culture.
• The royal working members, especially the young generation, can be the
moral mode for the British people.
• When the time comes, William would be a good King while Kate would
be a good Queen.

30. OBJECTIVES
• By September, 2011, increase by 10% positive opinion among
people to the future of the Britain, especially the future of British
economy.
• By September, 2011, increase by 20% positive opinion among
people to the behaviors of new royal couple.
KEY AUDIENCES
• People whose age are among 25-70 years old.
• People who share neutral attitude toward the Royal Family.

31. KEY MESSAGES
 The United Kingdom is still a prosperous
country, which plays a great role in the world.
 The Royal Family is trying to be a “Modern
Monarchy”.
 The Royal Family is making efforts for the benefits
of the common people and welcome Kate to the
Royal Family is a significant step.
 William and Kate are marrying because of true
love.
 The Royal Wedding can bring great benefits both
to the British culture and the economy.

32. STRATEGIES AND TACTICS
 Tactical
 As a couple, they always show up
together and doing things together
 A picture is really worth a thousand
words
 Taking advantage of social media
trend and being more interactive
 Emphasize that Kate was born in
middle class.

33. STRATEGIES AND TACTICS
Thematic:
 Engagement is a good starting
 It’s a Modern Monarchy
• Tradition is still a good thing
• Yay! We’re “Modern Family”
 Tell the public a sweet story
about true love.

35.  Economic would gain benefits, despite of the huge cost of
the ceremony.

36. Tonality
 Plain. (1) Use social media to reach a broad audience. (2) Do story telling.
 Sweet. They would tease each other in front of the camera. In their
announcement video of engagement, Kate said “William is a true
romantic” with a sweet smile.
 Candid. William and Kate have both expressed their pre-nuptial jitters in
front of public. Such kind of statement is candid and full of human
emotion, which makes this couple lovelier.

38. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?