Finally I get the opportunity to venture out of the
office, it is kind of reviviscence to
leave the daily media monitoring task, I was able to accompany the PR executive
during a “Press Tour” on construction sites of one of Blast’s Clients. The
agency planned this outing to reap maximum media coverage, so various
Journalists from various media were invited to tour the premises of the client.
So here we were, waiting for the journalists at the rendezvous point. All but
one were already there, One important Journalist was late, the PR executive
decided to wait for 10 more minutes? But was this the appropriate move? The
others were penalised, waiting in the heat, but on the other hand, the
latecomer was from a very popular newspaper therefore a potential consequent coverage.
How do you guys would have handled this issue?
Minutes later we were onsite, walking in the dust and
mud, touring the construction site of a future shopping mall, the sun heat was
overwhelming and it was annoying to wear smart clothes in this situation. We were
welcomed by the project managers who gave a brief presentation of the project and
guided us through the growing buildings. The journalists kept asking questions
and seemed to be very interested. As a result of the tour, the day after, the
client’s project gained noticeable media exposure.
A thriving approach used by Public Relations
organisations includes visits by journalists to the property, destination, or a
construction site tour. That is one of the best vehicles for gaining feature
stories, and a key tool for anyone experienced in media relations. These “press
tours”, are sponsored trips that boutique PR agencies organise on behalf of
their clients. Planning the tour might
take time but nonetheless, the results can be wonderful.
Cheers and continue to enjoy your placements!
Giovani Adeline
1 comment:
Hi Giovani!
I see you’ve had a great time during your internship and I’m very glad for you.
Your post caught my attention as I was very involved with the press during the past week, just like you. If you check out my last post, you’ll see that I have been very busy with the fundraising campaign we are organizing at the NGO I’m working at, the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation.
I wanted to bounce back on the dilemma you encountered: to wait for a late- but important-journalist and make the rest wait in the sun, or to start without him? I just wanted to share my thoughts about how I would have handled such a situation. I would have definitely started without the late journalist and the reason for this is simple: in my opinion, it is better to miss the coverage of ONE journalist- even if he is an important one- than to have bad comments coming from the impatient journalists in the press. A situation like this can seem petty, but it can actually have a significant impact on the reputation of an organization. That’s just good PR
Well, I hope that your supervisor made the right decision! But I see that you got pretty good coverage anyway, so congrats!
I hope that your internship was as great as mine and that, like me, you enjoyed every second of it!
I wish you the best for the report-writing part!
Cheers
Anne-Lise Blackburn
CTI
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