A unique and gratifying journey!

On my two last weeks of work I had to work on a very important project with my colleague Fiona Rome which was the arrival of Mrs Vera Baboun, Mayor of Bethlehem to Mauritius. The three things I learned the most from during those two weeks were the Facebook page that I created and managed with my colleagues, attending and assisting during the events and the post event work. Imagine Communication was asked to promote and accompany Mrs Baboun on her journey in Mauritius and this was a frantic but educating and wonderful journey for me.

Promoting the event

After the promotion of the event I never looked at Facebook the same way again! I never realized all the precautions, preparations and planning that were needed for the creation of Facebook page, so when my supervisor asked me to create and manage the page of the event I learnt pretty fast how detailed and tedious a task it was. It was quite a shock to me when my supervisor asked me to create a list of profanities or offending set of words that I thought should be set as restricted words on the page. The Mayor of Bethlehem being the center of the event I had to restrict any words that could be linked to terrorism or anything related to it and also any vulgar language or swear words, so you could imagine how long my list of words was! I also had to set the profanity filter to strong. I then had to carefully plan which cover and profile photo I would use. Finally after publishing the page it was all about creating a plan of each and every posts that I would add throughout the week before the event. The hardest part was managing the posts that were to be added immediately after each and every events. Some of the event started at 6pm and finished at 8pm and it took me one to two hours to get home so how was I to immediately update the Facebook page, but I was lucky to work in a collaborating team of coworkers so we helped each other out. Fiona sent the picture we took during each event to a coworker who immediately posted them to the Facebook page with a brief description. Below is a preview of some of the projects I worked on for the Facebook page:

The event

I also learnt a lot during all the events to which we accompanied Mrs Baboun but most of all I learned to multitask. Our boss accompanied us to all the events so we had to assist him in every little tasks. Fiona and I had a set of tasks to do, from taking pictures of each events, to recording any part of the speech of the Mayor he would ask us to. I once even had to join a group of photographers from the press on stage to take some shots of Mrs Baboun and the Mayor of Quatres-Bornes at an event at the Municipality of Quatres-Bornes. This was one of the most embarrassing and tedious task that my boss gave me. First of all I felt awkward getting on stage to take the pictures required but my boss insisted, then the fact that I am quite short made it hard for me to snap a picture amongst the crowd of agitated photographers. I named them the pack of hyenas throughout the whole evening while complaining to my colleague Fiona, as I got elbowed and pushed quite a few times which I found impolite and unnerving. I may have faced a few irritating or inconvenient moment during the different events but in the end I learned a lot and I loved working on this once in a lifetime project. Check out below two of the pictures that I assiduously took standing amongst the pack of hyenas:

Post event  

The next day after each events Fiona and I had to work on the press release, for the first one we worked on it was a bit hard because our recordings of the event were not that clear, but in the end we managed. We worked as a team on this project which quite helped as we had to manage media monitoring and follow-up calls at the same time. I felt confident and independent when we were given the task of writing the press releases and I also learnt how it was to actually write one in real life and contemplate the possibility that the information that we provide may actually appear in different newspapers.

In the end I learnt a lot from this unique and wonderful project and I am really grateful for having this unique opportunity to work on and participate in such an event. This developed many of my working skills such as managing social media, writing press releases and promoting events; and hopefully prepared me for all I may face in my future in the PR industry.

Cheers,

Sophie.  

Working with the Community is Good for your Business and YOU!

So I'm currently about a third of the way through my PR internship with the Fremantle Dockers Community Goals team and if there's one thing that I have learnt it would be that you have to give back to those who support you.

My current role is to assist in the local school competitions that they run. These competitions are held through primary schools and consist of the Freo Long Bomb, Kwik Kick and Fast Ball events as well as the gender specific Dockers Shield (Boys) and Dockers Cup (Girls). In addition to the school events my department also works closely with the Dockers partner clubs, these are local football clubs that Fremantle supports with the supplying of uniforms, footballs and other parts essential to building and maintaining a football club.

The best part about working with these programs is that some days I'm outside and get to move around instead of being to confined to an office which i struggle with as I constantly fidget. In addition to being out and about at school events the last couple of Sundays I have been working at the curtain raisers (the match before the AFL game), not only is it a great opportunity it also gives me some insight into how the AFL industry operates.

Yes from a business point of view the curtain raisers are a simple and easy tool to give back to the community but the best part of it for us is seeing how much it makes the kids day. For most of my department its just another day and nothing really special to them, for me its starting to lose the novelty but for the kids who get to play at Subiaco Oval and meet the AFL players its something they never forget and something they talk about for weeks to come, which means free word of mouth and what business doesn't love that!

That's all from me for the time being, stay tuned for more insight and thoughts regarding PR and community relations and sports!

When PR calls for chilly 5am starts

Good evening bloggers!

When the public relations team at HBF have an afternoon influx of sugar, it caters for lots of creative ideas (and cavities I’m sure)! An afternoon of sweet treats lead to the birth of a genius idea – creating a video activation in the lead up to the ‘HBF Run for a Reason.’ Our minds were running wild with ideas of how we could make this happen with so little time. We put our heads together and BOOM! A ‘surprise video’ that would capture runners in training (wearing their HBF t-shirts) being accompanied on course by one of our team members, then surprised with encouraging messages, a cheer squad, and plenty of smiles and cameras along the way.

The idea meant much organisation in very little time. Camera crew had to be scheduled, acting talent to be contacted, social media announcements to entice the public, dozens of emails sent out and arranging a budget to ensure the activation would be a success.

Despite having tonsillitis and being bedridden for three days, I could not deny myself the opportunity to be part of something great, so I braced myself for the chilly 6AM start at Lake Mongar. We ran through the team brief and found our spots on course; I was manning the water station which meant giving out bottles to our surprise runners and plenty of cheering (not so forgiving on the tonsils).

Lights, camera, action! We spotted the first runner sporting a HBF tee-shirt. Three hours passed and we had now surprised nine runners with the encouragement and energy of our team. It was such an amazing experience, to see the smile on people’s faces and know their day was made; no doubt making the early morning run all the more worth it.

The incredibly talented film crew collaborated to ensure the video would be a hit. The result, brilliant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEBCySJ5NUw

Oh and dare I mention that Channel 7 loved the concept so much, we were joined by their team on the day and the story was featured on the 6PM News Saturday 2 May.

Being part of this experience really highlighted the influence that PR can have on the public and how it can contribute to how a company is viewed and respected. It was a truly rewarding experience which showed that it may only be a small idea, but the impact it may have can be extraordinary.

Well good night all, I hope you’re also learning from and enjoy your internships!

Ashleigh

When PR has a new definition

Hi,

Here is my last blog for the PR intership. It's finally the end and this what I had learn from my placement.

During my placement, Imagine Communication helped to get a better understanding and a clearer picture of the work of a PR practitioner. Throughout the whole placement, I grew into maturity and ready to take more responsibility in order to respond to the field’s requirements. Each task in the company was a step further in order to understand what the different clients’ need and know how this particular world functions. Throughout the communication sector, we came across various important actors of different industries and the knowledge acquired through the study course helped to deal with those situations and to give the best of each situation by being proactive to each client.

Regarding the company, itself, being the oldest PR Company in Mauritius, Imagine Communication had proved its efficiency in terms of media relations and media monitoring. Therefore, when dealing with media, the company identifies particular journalists who will be able to give maximum coverage to specific activities. This was the case for the conference of the Omnicane Republic Cup. For this particular event, journalists from the sport department were invited, as the company was sure that the event would get the amount of media coverage needed. Due to his experience in such field, the Company is well known in the industry and it brings different clients which we need to work with and need to perform many tasks with the help of different people. And those tasks are the duty of a PR practitioners.

At the end of the job placement, a new world was being discovered and it needs to have more in-depth knowledge. In the PR domain, each day is a new day as there are new issues which can occur at any time. Specialising in media relation, make the company and the practioner alienate themselves to the media thus making the company dependent of news concerning the different client as they need to be aware of any articles and radio broadcasts concerning the latters. However, media relations do not mean working specially with media. There are different aspects of PR like event management such as conferences, dealing with media releases and to responds in short delays to particular issues and always enhancing the reputation of the clients which need to be mastered in order to be called a real PR practitioner. In other words, practice make perfect.

Hope you enjoyed this last blog.

Cedric Amiran