From a Media Relations Viewpoint

Media relations is very important to any company because often the news media is what can affect the company's reputation in a positive or negative way. Essentially, media relations is the many ways that a company communicates to the public through utiliziation of news media. The company should not let just anyone be their spokesperson or talk to the media because the spokesperson needs to hold a respectable, important position within the company. The person should also be media trained, focus on three to five key messages that the company wishes to enforce to the public, should have practiced with possible questions and therefore knows the right ways to respond to what can be tough questions for anyone to answer.

Because Goldman Sachs prides itself in taking action to better the environment and encourages changes to be made regarding this, they dedicate a section of their website to "Citizenship." Under this heading, you can find subheadings such as the environment, community giving, and philanthropy. Just this past January, Goldman Sachs held a day long conference event that was entitled, "Assessing U.S. Climate Policy Options," which aimed to get business, investment and NGO leaders together to discuss the U.S. legislation policies regarding greenhouse gas emissions. Goldman Sachs teamed up with an organization called Resources for the Future for this event. It was reported that senior leaders from both organizations spoke of possible options, weaknesses, and strengths of the current federal climate policy. Since the event was only open to various business leaders, I would imagine that all attendees received invitations to this event. I think that Goldman Sachs does a good job in offering the information from this event to the public because all of the numerous slides from the conference are available to look at it. For further in-depth information, the public can even download the lenghty report that they created. The conference was centered around a slideshow presentation, where there was use of graphs and visuals that could grab the attention of the attendees. In the beginning of the conference, there was a breakfast and registration which I thought was a good idea because this would give a chance for socialization and allow people to talk and get to know each other a little more. Networking is key to these events and by allowing for a breakfast break, this is made easier.

In 2005, Goldman Sachs made the annoucement that they were going to manifest an environmental policy, where they would try to influence public policy makers regarding the issue of carbon green house emissions. They released a statement reporting that they are going to fund a Center for Environmental Markets, which will "engage in research to develop public policy options for establishing markets around climate change, biodiversity conversation and ecosystem services. Recognizing that climate change cannot successfully be addressed through voluntary action alone, the firm has also committed to promoting regulatory solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions." The company reported that they would begin to encourage their employees to practice eco-friendly ways of living on a daily basis. Also, they said that they would not finance any company that did not meet their environment friendly standards. The company was able to get alot of good media attention for their policies promoting global change and since 1999, has donated $94 million dollars in grants that are directed towards educating the youth. Last November, the company created "Goldman Sachs Gives," which donates to various charities.

I think that overall the company did a decent job from a public relations standpoint because while I was searching the internet I came across many articles that were reporting of this "going green" action for Goldman Sachs. It is important to have newspaper articles and clippings because people view this source of information as more credible, since they often contain 3rd party testimonies. Also, since Goldman Sachs was trying to motivate their own employees to make changes that would better the environment, I think that the need for strong employee communication is essential to make further progress.

To further increase the awareness of Goldman Sachs "going green" I would have developed a catchy tagline like "Goldman Sachs Carbon Green House Emissions," where Sachs would stand for "sacks" in this case because the company is trying to eliminate the harmful effects of green house gases to the environment. It would also be a good idea to encourage paper items in the cafeteria of the Goldman Sachs building as well as enforcing the need to recycle by placing recycle bins in and around the building.

Goldman Sach's Use of Media

It seems that such a large, universal company would utilize some of the latest media tools and technology on the internet, such as RSS feeds, blogs, podcasting, and comment sections, but Goldman Sachs really isn't. However, they do have a feedback link, immediately displaying an email, which allows anyone to send inquiries to Goldman Sachs. Because the website allows for a LoginIn, in which you have to be either alumni, administration or have some kind of tie to the company, it makes me wonder if once you are properly logged in if the site becomes more personable in making an attempt to get feedback and thoughts from people.

Something that I think will get people to stay at the site for at least a few minutes is that they use a very engaging and interesting virtual video with a voice over, informing the audience of the story of Goldman Sachs and everything the company stands for. They actually got many of their photos from the New-York Historical Society, the Museum of the City of New York, Fortune, Getty Images, and The New York Times, which makes for an array of wonderful pictures throughout the years. Another thing that will hook people on the site is the videos of actual employees, who are sharing their experience at Goldman Sachs and what it is like working there.

A plus to the website is the actual structure, formatting and color, which make it more modern and up to date looking. When navigating to different parts of the site the whole backdrop of the screen shades to darker while what you are actually looking at becomes brighter. This makes it easier to browse the site because things are actually standing out.

I'm sure that a big part of what brings traffic to the website is that when you type "Goldman Sachs" into the Google search engine, the official website is the first one that shows up.


I think the website needs to be revamped so that it can generate more interest, clients and gain more feedback in general. By making their website more "new media" oriented, I believe this could surely happen. If I were the Public Relations person for the site I would encourage the use of new media techniques. News releases can get pretty dry and boring, so by enhancing the forms of media communication, people can become more engaged in learning about what is happening within the company. I would urge the company to use Webinars or various other techniques so that they can keep up with the technological crazed generation. By doing this, also hopefulyl competition will decrease and Goldman Sachs will draw much more people to their website.

Meet Goldman Sachs

Most likely you are already familiar with one of the world's top investment banking, securities and investment management firms, The Goldman Sachs Group or just Goldman Sachs. Even if you're not quite sure of what they do exactly, I'm sure you've heard of them. Headquartered in Manhattan, they have been refered to as "Wall Street's Secret Society," they offer services to an extensive range of clients, such as corporations and governments. Since the creation of the renown Fortune list, Goldman Sachs has held a respectable ranking every year, this year ranking #9 on the “100 Best Companies to Work For."

I have chosen to blog about this company because over the past summer I interned in Manhattan at an investment real estate and management firm. I found the work and environment to be very exciting and challenging. However, I noticed that they lack a Public Relations/Communications function within the firm. I thought that it would be interesting to look into how similiar firms utilize the media and press and hopefully, discover if they are effective or not, while also offering my critiques and own opinions. My blog will concentrate on various ways Goldman Sachs uses the media or any medium of communication to inform the public of happenings within the company.

Goldman Sach's focuses on advising, financing, investing, securities and researching for their clients. Their website is well equipt with information regarding the history and progress of the firm throughout the years. There is a slideshow that I found to be very interesting and helpful in researching the company because it features real employees of the firm offering their insights and thoughts on what they do. The visuals are very effective and creatively used. One employee described his job as "making things happen," which I thought was a good description because it would be somewhat complicated to explain his job to an outsider. There is also timelines available as well. You can really see that the firm believes in keeping their reputation high standing and that they have a strong sense of corporate responsibility to their community. They take their philanthropy seriously and this is something I find to be very admirable. Goldman Sachs stresses in the slideshow their dedication to the community and public service, which really credits their reputation and makes it much stronger. Also, because the company is global, they are represented by 6 public relations agencies throughout the world and have 14 telephone contacts in different countries for the media.

To keep the public aware of what is going on, there are current as well as archived press releases, dating back to 2000, available on their website. However, an issue could be that the most current one is dated January 29, almost 6 days ago so they should probably have a more recent one posted. The website does a good job of showing the positive business principles of the company and the "Our Story" slideshow depicts a positive, generous and respectable company. Also, in 2007 there was a scandal involving an employee, who was involved in insider trading and accused of making $6.7 million dollars. It will be interesting to research this scandal of which I am not familiar with and see how the public still feels regarding the company and what they are doing to build their loyalty and trust with clients. This is a real ethical and moral situation that the company was faced with and I'm curious as to what comments were made by Goldman Sachs.

Also, does the public feel that the company is out just to make big profits? Has this damaged their reputation forever? Will this crisis morph into an opportunity for Goldman Sach's public relations professionals?

The investigation will continue.

Until next time,
Check out the website: http://www.goldmansachs.com/ to further introduce yourself to the company.