Understanding the Third-Party Technique: A PR Strategy Guide

What Is the Third-Party Technique?

The third-party technique is a media strategy used by public relations firms to promote clients through news-style coverage that presents favorable messaging as reporting. It can involve hiring reporters or funding front groups to generate research that supports a client's image. The tactic raises ethical concerns because it can frame slanted claims as fact, which has made it more common as trust in corporate spokespeople declines.

Understanding the Third-Party Technique

The third-party technique may involve the hiring of a reporter to create content that portrays a company in a positive manner. A company may also sponsor an industry trade group or academic institution—known as a front group—to create dubious or skewed research that achieves the same goal.

The so-called "astroturfing" is another third-party technique. Astroturfing involves the creation of what appears to be a grassroots organization; in reality, the organization was created by a company or industry group to serve their interests.

Individuals and groups that pass along messages from a public relations firm using the third-party technique rely on the public's perception of them being reliable and independent sources. The public has to believe that the parties presenting the message are genuine and working in their best interest, even if the individual or organization is part of a front group.

Ethical Considerations of Using the Third-Party Technique

The use of the third-party technique is often seen as misleading or manipulative because it tends to present highly skewed positions or half-truths unknowingly presented as fact by reputable media organizations. The recent growth of the third-party technique has led to the creation of organizations that monitor the use of astroturfing and other third-party marketing, such as PR Watch.

Public relations firms argue that the use of third-parties in disseminating information about a client is a legitimate strategy—given the context of waning public perception of corporations and corporate spokespeople. Ideally, such messaging should come from authorities, academics, regulators, political leaders, and other public officials. 

Example of the Third-Party Technique

A frequent example of the third-party technique involves providing advanced news or preferential access to journalists who will provide a positive review, or hiring researchers to present material that backs up a company's claims. Third-party techniques may also seek to latch onto a popular meme, idea, movie, book or another thing in the public eye to promote a message.

For example, the 2012 movie "Won't Back Down," a drama about parents who team up to reform an underperforming school, was criticized as a promotion for the privatization of public schools. Critics said the movie both oversimplified such efforts and especially the portrayal of the "parent trigger," which is a legal maneuver that allows parents to change the administration of an underperforming public school—usually by changing it to a charter school.

The Bottom Line

The third-party technique is a PR strategy that promotes a client through news-style coverage that appears independent, which raises ethical concerns about misleading the public.

In the Won't Back Down case, critics argued that favorable attention reflected coordinated promotion, with tactics that can include front groups or astroturfing to simulate neutral support.