PR = Press Release??

Press release is a common component of a media/press kit. Used for promotional purposes, media/press kits are distributed to journalists at the start/end (depends) of PR-generated events.

So since we have to do a press release for our assignment, I thought it was apt that we had to read "Writing a media release by Candy Tymson". After Google-ing it, I found this: http://www.publicrelationsmedia.com.au/writere.html.

Press releases have to be written in line with the style of the print publication. For example, a press release for the Straits Times will be written differently as compared to the press release for the New Paper, even though they are publicising the same event.

Because the publications receive many press releases, they will easily discard the ones that they think are not relevant to their style.

Headlines and leads (the first paragraph containing the 5Ws and 1H) are the most important part of the press releases to capture the attention of the journalists who are going through them.

In my opinion, the press release helps the journalist in my areas. One would be the reusing of what is rewritten in the press release, instead of writing another piece. It's a win-win situation you see.

So now, I shall start thinking about mine. Sounds difficult so far... :/

(Read before Week 11:
Writing a media release by Candy Tymson short loans online AND 13. Focus on Asian Public Relations Management - Richard Stanton)

When a 'flog' flops

The Internet has completely change our lives eversince 1990s. With the addition of a new media platform, it is no wonder that PR practitioners have taken advantage of its increasing popularity to get to specific target audience.

This week also happens to be my debate with the motion as 'Blogs established by PR practitioners on behalf of clients / organisations facilitate two-way symmetrical communication between organisations and their publics.'

I think my group member Haryanti and I pretty much nailed the debate with our main example of government blogs' obvious screening of comments sent in by the public.

Fake blogs or 'flogs' are blogs established by PR practitioners on behalf of clients/organisations. While on one hand it appears to be a credible, non-biased source, it is in fact created for the purpose of marketing a product, service, or political viewpointof marketing a product, service, or political viewpoint. Its purpose is to inspire viral marketing or create an internet meme that generates traffic and interest in a product or whatever it is that is being talked about in the flog.

A key element of two-way symmetrical communication is equity. With the relative anonymity of online users, unequal power in organisational message development as well as the functions such as deleting or required approval of the comments or feedbacks definitely do not translate into a two-way symmetrical communication.

Especially with the PR practitoners monitoring the comments, they are bound to screen the negative ones, thus failing to allow readers to participate in an authentic conversation unlike two-way symmetrical communication.

Flogs, in my opinion, generate two-way asymmetrical communication. One big flop is the controversy of the Wal-Mart flogs where Edelman , a global PR agency which is famous alongside with agencies like Ogilvy and the likes, failed to be transparent about the identity of the bloggers updating the flogs.

This is what Richard Edelman wrote in his blog:

"I want to acknowledge our error in failing to be transparent about the identity of the two bloggers from the outset. This is 100% our responsibility and our error; not the client's.

Let me reiterate our support for the WOMMA guidelines on transparency, which we helped to write. Our commitment is to openness and engagement because trust is not negotiable and we are working to be sure that commitment is delivered in all our programs."
(URL: http://www.edelman.com/speak_up/blog/archives/2006/10/a_commitment.html#trackbacks)

I bet there are more flogs there waiting to be exposed.

(Read before Week 10:
12. New Media and Public Relations - Kate Fitch)

SQ006 Crash

It has been almost 10 years already since the crash of SIA's SQ006 which have killed 82 people. The following year (2001), SIA was awarded second in the 2001 Skytrac Airline of the Year Award.

As predicted by Assif Shameen in online magazine Asiaweek.com, "Good crisis management and a fine reputation can save SIA."

Within hours, CEO Cheong Choong Kong was supervising a crisis-management strategy aimed at minimizing the damage to SIA's reputation. He flew to Taipei (he was from New Zealand for a business meeting) and personally met grieving relatives and a media hungry for answers — at least partially because an airline spokesman in Los Angeles had erroneously claimed in the hours just after the accident that there had been no fatalities.

"There is no point in concealing anything," he said. "They are our pilots. It was our aircraft. It should not have been on that runway. We fully accept our responsibility to our passengers, our crew and their families."
(URL: http://www.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/magazine/2000/1117/biz.airlines.html)

Then the attention moved to providing compensation to the families of the victims. At first, SIA gave $25,000 to each family of the deceased for emergency expenses. Later it offered $400,000 to the kin. Other than that, SIA also offered reimbursement of the medical bills for the injured victims and gave them compensation based on the severity of their injuries. SIA buddies were also offered assistance to the grieving families.

All these are the works of SIA's internal PR and their crisis management which really impressed me. There are a few loopholes but nothing too big. One thing for sure, they made up for the mistakes very quickly and using the CEO as the public figure shows how much SIA was apologetic and compassionate towards the families of those involved in the flight.

I can only imagine the havoc going on in the PR office that week.

(Read before Week 9:
8. Reputation Management: A Driving Force for Action - Nigel De Bussy AND 10. An Issues–Crisis perspective- Gwyneth Howell)

SWOT SWOT SWOT SWOT SWOT SWOT SWOT ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

To do a SWOT analysis of a company, one has to understand the company and its TA and the environment it is in. When I say 'environment', I mean the society of the country the company is in and the culture of the country.

With this week's reading to guide me, I shall do parts of my SWOT analysis of OCD Services here.

Firstly, let's consider the internal factors such as the history of the company, etc.

Despite it being in its first year, it has already been mentioned by the media a few times, namely magazines and the newspaper. OCD Services being the first company in Singapore to provide professional organizing services must have been a really good and interesting news value to journalists!

But being the first also has its lows. Could the target audience easily trust the company? It definitely hasn't gained credibility and trust from the TA yet.

As for the external factors, they are the target audience, etc.

With Singaporeans leading busy lives, an organizing service might be what we all need to ease ourselves from some stress.

However, we might also misunderstood the concept of organizing as cleaning. And another point, are we open enough to expose our clutter to strangers?

Keeping in mind how the company is operating in relation to the society especially its TA, SWOT analysis is not that hard to do. Right?

(Read before Week 8:
7. Public Relations Management in Organisations - Amisha Mehta and Robina Xavier)

Real PR Action!

A good friend of mine has just joined a PR agency a few weeks ago. I remembered how she has struggled since Day 1. And because this week's reading is about 'Public Relations Practice', I shall share what she has gone through.

Day 1 was havoc for her. She just got to know that her boss was the other person working in the company. At that time they had an account and 2 pitchs to come up with. It was only her first day and she was already given real things to work on for the account.

The second day was worse because all her ideas were rejected by her boss and she felt as though she wasn't living to her boss's expectation. Apparently her ideas were too idealistic and she wasn't clear about the difference between goals, objectives, strategies and tactics.

By the third day, she was expecting to be fired because the boss would have realised by then that he could not depend on her. Only after the first week did she realise that she was going to stay.

She soon had her first PR-generated event in which she wrote the speech herself. Even though she works OT most of the time, she feels that it is all worth it in the end.

Who would have thought a PR agency can be a two-men show? The preparation to do the pitch, the pitch itself, executing what is promised and the evaluation are a lot to handle. Even though all these are done over time, a PR practitioner could be handling a few accounts at the same time. I simply cannot imagine myself looking for media clippings and updating my media contact at the same time!

What her boss has taught her is similar to the strategic and technical competences that the chapter has mentioned. So many things have to be considered to come up with a PR plan.

According to her, PR plans are the easiest thing for her to do now. This is because she already has the skills and the required thinking of a PR practitioner.

Truly, being a PR practitioner is easier than it seems.

(Read before Week 7:
6. Public Relations Practice Gae Synnott AND 9. Strategies to Proactively Manage Activity - Melanie James)

Organise your life. NOW

The guest speaker at the lecture today Jolyn Chua has inspired me in many ways. I think that she is a daring entrepreneur who has taken the risk of introducing organising services to Singapore.

During the lecture, she talks about the problems that she has gone through such as changing the mindset of Singaporeans about the services that she provide and building up her company with little budget.

The only 1-year old company even has a reason behind its name. Jolyn believes that everyone has an Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in them and as for her, it is organising clutter.

In accordance to this week's reading 'Engaging with the Media', OCD Services is mentioned in articles published in lifestyle magazines and a newspaper in its first year, showing how involved Jolyn has been in engaging with the media.

Other than creating awareness of the company to readers of the print media, the article also gives advice to readers, educating them of the service that OCD Services can provide them.

Right now, I actually feel pretty hyped up about the project by the end of the lecture. Maybe now I should get started...

(Read before Week 6:
11. Engaging with the Media - Hamish McLean and Richard Phillips)

Gooooo-ge! ('Older brother" in Chinese)

I find that the debate during tutorial was an eye-opener as the debaters had list out several new ideas.

I think the negative team has mentioned several case studies but they did not specifically indicate if they were what the PR or the clients main idea. After a while, the affirmative team has stated that they feel that the PR agency consultants should not listen to the company all the time - which is already against what they stand for.

Moving on, this week's reading is about RESEARCH! I don't know why but it gets me excited each time I get to go something new because I simply love researching. There are just so many things that I can find and so many ways to find these information.

The main platform, for me (and I bet, everyone else too) is the Internet. Maybe more specifically, Google.com. I have to admit that I cannot live without Google, at the moment. It is one of the websites that I would visit on a daily basis.

Trust no one else, but Google.

Anyway, using the search engine is not as easy as simply typing the keywords in the space provided. There are ways to simplify the research using apostrophes, commas and such.

But, let's not just narrow your search to words.

Go Youtube.com and see what you can find. Sometimes certain things are better explained in the videos than in written words.

If all else fails, there is always the library to fall back on. (I secretly love the library because I can find books there that I cannot find online.)

Have fun researching!

(Read before Week 5:
5. Public Relations Research - Gae Synnott AND 6. Public Relations Practice Gae Synnott)

Product placement - a matter of ethics?

Today we learn the type of PR tactics - written, acted, spoken and imagined money.

I'd like to comment on imagined money, or more specifically, product placement.

Do you notice the Coca-Cola red mugs sitting on the judges' table on every American Idol episode (as shown in the picture below)?

That is product placement - "a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, the story line of television shows, or news programs" as written in Wikipedia.

When I first learn about it, I was quite amaze at how subtly effective these "invisible" brands and products were. They were all around us but we did not notice it openly; they affected us subconsciously.

Then it became annoying when I began noticing all the product placement, especially those in the movies. They were everywhere!

A person wearing a dark blue t-shirt with the word "GAP" printed on its front is an example of product placement. The movie "Devil Wears Prada" has many product placement.

I think the best thing about these product placement is how they are so expensive and help to fund the movies/shows.

But if you look at it another way, is it ethical that media is "imposing" on its viewers with these brands? Are they trying to create an unnecessary desire to possess these items?

Let's take the movie 'The Devil wears Prada' as an example.

It is a story about a journalist who lands herself in a fashion magazine even though she is a fashion-noobsta. Eventually, she is transformed into a walking fashionista, wearing brands such as Prada, Gucci and the likes.

And the message is? You have to be a fashionista, not a fashion-noobsta, to survive in New York City.

Is this the right set of values that we want to spread? Which goes back to this week's readings - is it ethical?

YOU think about it.

(Read before Week 4:
4. Public Relations Ethics - Elspeth Tilley)

Let's Swear NOT To Swear

SWOT - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats - is all too familiar to me. It is a useful tool for the analysis of corporate crisis which I always use back in my Poly days.

It is a strategic planning method used to evaluate an organization and its environment. SWOT is also the first stage of planning and helps marketers to focus on key issues.

I wish to share an integrated campaign that I have done as my final year project in Poly. The objective is to reduce usage of vulgarities among our schoolmates in Poly. My group members and I decided to name it, "Let's Swear NOT To Swear".

Like most communication campaigns, our integrated campaign followed the cognitive-attitudinal-behavioural effects (awareness, attitude change, behavioural change), as mentioned in the readings this week.

The platforms used include the Internet (by having a Facebook group), creating a pledge for the youths to sign (as their promise to reduce vulgarities) and a reminder card for the youths who have signed the pledges.

A mascot, Bobo, is used throughout our campaign. We have created a story along with him, which started with him using vulgarities and being caught by the Anti-Vulgarities Squad (AVS). From the beginning, Bobo has a brown bag over his head as a punishment for saying vulgarities in public.

The story soon developed as the campaign progresses and Bobo eventually became a likeable figure where many would request to take pictures with him. All these pictures are posted up in our Facebook Group.

You can visit our Facebook Group here!

(Read before Week 3:
3. Theoretical Contexts - Marianne D Sison)

Singpost caught in vandalism act!

I have to learn about PR in my Poly times - how PR professionals help companies solve conflict, how they help to enhance how the publics (customers, shareholders, investors, etc.) see these companies.

PR is a useful tool - especially since it is (mostly) free and thus cost-effective - but I've learnt that not all PR plan works, if the PR person did not anticipate problems and prepare for Plan B.

One that doesn't work is the SingPost "acts of vandalism" on mailboxes (click on link to read more). It has used graffiti as a viral marketing effort which many has said "did not sent out the message".

In line with this week's reading, Joy Chia talks about how the public relations profession will remain relevant if it continues to adapt its practice to respond to new wats to capture the public's attention, and to be collaborative with multiple parties and stakeholders to achieve the best possible outcomes for organisations and society.

Likewise, Singpost is using a new way to attract attention - viral marketing. it refers to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses.

In my opinion, it will work to the company's advantage if the buzz is appropriate. If not, it will only create unwanted attention

But still, bad publicity is better than no publicity, no? What do you think?

(Read before Week 2:
1. Understanding Twenty-first Century Public Relations - Joy Chia AND 2. Trends and Developments - Joy Chia)