on-the-GO! but now GOne.

The final moments of my two-month internship with GO Communications came to a rather "exciting" halt. February 5th marked my last day with the agency and it was also a day of celebration!

One of our clients, SUNWAY LAGOON held a massive Awards Celebration Night in hopes of "parading" their extensive line of awards and recognitions garnered over the years. The entire theme park was adorned with colorful helium-filled balloons and millions of bubbles generated from a bubble machine. Later in that evening, the streets of Sunway Lagoon were flooded with the flamboyant flow of a marching Brass band and other parade characters such as clowns, ghosts, cowboys, surfers and horses - each representing the five elements of the Multi-Theme Park that is Water Park, Amusement Park, Extreme Park, Wildlife Park and Scream Park.

Oh, but guess what? This so-called "parade" concept was actually the brainchild of our GO team! Ideas for ways to celebrate Sunway Lagoon's many achievements were discussed over lunch one afternoon and I happen to suggest: "A PARADE!". Other team members broaden the simple idea and thankfully, the Sunway Lagoon management briskly agreed upon the cool proposal.

As the PR representatives, my team were focused on media delegations and coverage for this fun event. Invitations were sent out a week before the Celebration Night and for a few days, my routine at the office was to pick up the phone, call various media people and ask if they have received such invite and whether they would be assigning someone to cover the event.

My boss also entrusted me to mock up a post release that highlighted the many wonders of the parade - before it even happened! This was definitely a challenge but I managed to cook up a pretty good news piece that would be inserted into the event's media kit for the perusal of the media.

On the day of the event itself AND my last day of internship, I helped set up the media registration booth at the main entrance and ushered in the media towards the ceremonial hall a.k.a. "The Cave" after the parade. I had to make several rounds of ushering as different media representatives arrived at different times. Some were VERY early while others were TWO HOURS LATE! Nonetheless, the show must go on and I went on - ever-so-gleefully :)

It was definitely exhausting but the entire event was well-worth it! I got to experience lots of smiles, colors and merriment. Also, our GO team had the chance to play dress-up and we ladies dolled ourselves in some gypsy-inspired attire! The CEO of Sunway Lagoon, Mr Aaron, even went all-out and showed up in a warrior ala Sparta suit! How cute:

It was truly a wonderful ending, and leaving the company is definitely bitter sweet: sweet that I no longer have to commute for two hours to reach the office; bitter that I have to leave behind a wonderful team of people that truly encapsulate the essence of Public Relations. I started off with no expectations but came out from this internship knowing exactly what to expect when practicing PR in the real world.

I know for sure that the whole idea of PR is to bring about long-term recognition of a brand - integrating culture, philosophy or trend to associate with the brand. For example, the whole "parade" idea for Sunway Lagoon seems fit as the company strives to be recognized as fun-filled and adventurous and hip. Then again, it is easy to identify these PR values but to understand it.. Well, it took me a two-month internship with GO Comm to fully embrace how PR truly works its magic.

With a small click and few waves; a contact is made and few relationships are fostered. I want to say a big THANK YOU to GO Communications for the wonderful opportunities! And to the rest of you who are still on your internship, I hope you make the best out of it! Adios.

Cheers,
Mei Anne.