Behind the scenes at one of Malaysia’s top PR agencies – Lah!

I arrived in Malaysia with no idea of what to expect. Beyond our pre-departure information session (which informed us of general country information such as the population, weather and how to dress), our insight into the Malaysian Public Relations industry and the country itself was embarrassingly limited.

I decided to take an internship overseas for two reasons; 1) Staying in one place is a difficult task for me (AirAsia and I have formed a pretty tight friendship over the last couple of years), and 2) It’s been suggested Gen Ys will have five different career changes over their lives (Metcalf 2014)  – so who knows where each of these professions will take place? A little international exposure seemed to be an appropriate platform for getting a taste of professional settings, whilst satisfying my urge to travel.

I was lucky enough to be selected to work with GO Communications, a leading communications firm in Malaysia and South-East Asia. A gentleman named Michael de Kretser - a name renowned amongst PR circles for left-field creativity and doing the undoable, leads the company with his son Peter. About 25 people form the entire team.

My first week at GO was enlightening and full on; Hannah (another Curtin PR student) and I were split into two teams covering different clients. Straight away we were shown how to do media monitoring and clippings (something I thought we’d never do – sorry Karen Kerlin! (PR Media lecturer)) There was an immediate emphasis placed on teaching us the ropes and getting us settled in, which I was really thrilled about after having visions of being a bona fide barista by the end of my first professional placement.

It’s interesting to note at this point that GO calculates the Advertising Value Equivalent (AVEs) of generated press. When doing media clippings, the size, colour and publication are all used as inputs to calculate the amount of exposure a client received from the work. I found this to be an unusual standard for a leading firm, particularly after being taught in first year uni that AVEs are often the subject of considerable criticism. PRIA even regards it as a total ‘no no’ in the world of PR (Macnamara 2014). I discussed this distinction with a colleague; she proposed the disparity may exist, as most Malaysian clients want to see how much bang they’re getting for their buck in real, measurable figures. Australian firms, however, may be more concerned with seeing an effect created from their investment, which in turn would create a monetary return.

So far Malaysia has been a blast, and I really like the down-to-earth and chilled-out environment at GO. I’ve been told to expect events, client pitches and creative strategizing in the coming weeks, so I will report back with updates soon. I hope my blog can provide a chuckle, an insight into the Malaysian PR industry and a taste of home for all the Curtin Malaysian students abroad. 

Good luck, everyone!

Macnamara, Jim. 2014. Advertising Values to Measure PR: Why They Are Invalid. PRIA. Accessed 2 March, http://www.pria.com.au/sitebuilder/resources/knowledge/files/1868/advaluestomeasureprpaper.pdf

Metcalf, Fran. 2014. Working with, not for, the boss. Career One. Accessed 2 March, http://career-advice.careerone.com.au/career-development/professional-development/working-with-not-for-boss/article.aspx

Week 3: A new week along with new responsibilities

Good Morning friends,

For my third week of internship, when I arrived at work on Monday, I was told that I would not only be doing the media clippings process, but that I would also be the one in charge of uploading all of them on the Medine Limited's Head Office's intranet.

At Medine Limited, media clippings are made daily but are uploaded on the intranet every Monday.

So far I was only doing the media clippings and was only showed once how articles are uploaded on the intranet, but was never the one to actually be in charge of the whole process. Obviously, I was thrilled at the idea of being given such an opportunity, which showed that I could be trusted and given work without any continuous monitoring and was quite a fast learner.

This task easily took up my entire Monday. When I was done with the uploading, next I had to check the PDF files one by one to make sure that it was uploaded correctly and whether they eventually corresponded to their headlines. At the end of the day it felt nice to know that I got to do this task all by me and that the day after everyone connected via the intranet would be viewing these files.

However, I observed that the particular process of scanning all the articles on the same day that they are meant to be uploaded in the Press Review section took most of my time. As such, I proposed that instead of only doing daily media clippings and filing them in their specific folders, I would also go through the scanning, cropping, auto correcting and/or re-sizing, cross checking and through the conversion into PDF files daily, so that on the next Monday, less time would be spent in going through this process and as such time would considerably be saved, as only the uploading and checking would have to be done.

During the internship, I also learnt that making suggestions and working hard never hurt anyone. Of course, when making suggestions, one should not sound as if he or she is trying to impose their decisions, but should be done politely and by giving valid justification as to why and how this might help in saving time or making certain tasks easier. Even as an intern, my suggestions were often taken into consideration and put into practice, which in a way makes one feel valued.

The following days I was in charge of document filing of the articles which were uploaded the previous day and was asked to re-organize the folders in the files in alphabetical order and make simple 'Table of Contents' documents for each file. This is where organisational skills come in handy. 

The third week was pretty much about re-organizing certain folders and files and about document filing. Another section on the intranet referred to 'Living Better Tips', for that week I was also in charge of uploading new articles/files to this section and remove old articles - in other words I was generally in charge of updating the intranet specially the press review and living better tips section.

Additionally I was asked to review and add more details to a document concerning the Fondation Medine Horizons that had to be sent to Business Magazine as soon as possible.

As usual as the days passed by, I could not get the fact that - theory learnt and applying the latter in the real world of work is two very distinct processes - out of my mind. Learning is good, but being able to apply it in certain contexts and/or situations is what we are required or expected to deliver. 

I still remember and I know my fellow friends also vividly remember that at the end of every PR lectures up until now; there have always been the slides where we were told how "To be an Aspirational PR Practitioner". I personally found that these aspirational notes/steps/tips proved to be very valuable and very much applicable not only as an intern but also as an ambassador of our campus, namely - Charles Telfair Institute. 

Well, that was it for my third week experience at Medine Limited and as promised, here are some pictures of the event that took place on Friday 15th February 2013, of the 'Laying of the Foundation Stone of the new Casela & Leisure Park' by the Prime Minister - Dr. Hon. Navin Ramgoolam, GCSK, FRCP: 

The Prime Minister - Dr. Hon. Navin Ramgoolam laying the foundation stone of the new Casela & Leisure Park.

 On the left: Mr. Thierry Sauzier, Managing Director / Deputy CEO of Medine Limited, in the middle: one of the experienced feline tamer and on the right: Dr. Hon. Navin Ramgoolam.

Dr. Hon. Navin Ramgoolam (R) and Mr.  Thierry Sauzier (L) petting the cheetah under the supervision of the feline tamer expert.

On this note, I take your leave until my next blog post.

Thanking you all for your time,
Warmest regards,
Geetika Boyjoo
Curtin ID: 15172402

The Start of Something new...

Hello my PR 393 peers,

I’m Houmaira from the Charles Telfair Institute (CTI) in Mauritius and I’m currently studying for a BA in Mass Communication with double majors, Web Media and Public Relations from Curtin University. Like most of you, I’m in my third year and I will soon begin my final semester, hence the last stretch before obtaining my much-awaited degree.

It’s been a little bit more than one week since I’ve embarked on my Internship at Blast Communications, one of the leading PR firms in Mauritius. I chose Blast Communications because I really wanted to conduct my PR 393 Internship in a professional consultancy and I firmly believe that it will be extremely helpful in my PR learning journey and also a good start for my PR career. 

A few days prior to the beginning of my internship, I went through all of my PR 220 slides (media releases, newsletters, speeches, etc...) because I wanted to be well prepared before stepping into Blast's office for the first time. The people there are incredibly nice and they’ve greeted me with the warmest welcome. They have been helping me a lot with my tasks and I’m still learning the ropes. I’m trying to pay as much attention as I can and I’m writing down every little thing that I’m being taught. 

From the very first day, I’ve thrown myself into work and I actually thought that the first week would be “light”, but I was wrong. Work has been keeping me busy and my first week was rather hectic but that’s only because I’ve been assigned a lot of work from my colleagues. I’m trying to imagine working during the midst of my semester; it’d have been extremely difficult for me to juggle studies and work. Anyway, I’m glad I’ve started my internship during the holidays and I’m expected to finish it during my 2^nd week of classes at CTI.

 

I’ve been firstly introduced to the media monitoring which is at the core of Blast Communications. I’ve had to familiarize myself with all of Blast’s clients as well as their competitors before getting my scissor ready to cut out newspaper articles on these companies and make a compilation of media clippings. I’ve been told to write summaries of the newspaper articles, sometimes translating the articles from English to French or vice versa, so as to send media alerts to Blast’s clients and this had to be done in a specific way.

I’ve also conducted extensive research to draft some interview questions, to make a list of database for contact persons of various companies and for a campaign that Blast is working on. I’ve even had the chance to share and propose some of my own ideas for the campaign during brainstorming sessions and my colleagues told me that my ideas were very pertinent and useful. Furthermore, as per an urgent request, I’ve had to prepare a fact sheet of questions asked in the media surrounding a controversy linked to one of Blast’s clients, by monitoring all media portals in the past few months.

For a first week, I believe that I’ve done quite a lot of hefty tasks and I’ve been able to prove myself to my colleagues. So far, I love this internship, thanks to the positive work environment that I’m surrounded with, and I really want to make the most of it. Every day is different; I’m learning new things each and every day and the only thing that becomes monotonous is the daily media clippings.

I have to admit that the PR profession is not that easy and it is indeed really challenging because it requires a lot of time, devotion and patience and you have to be really alert and circumspect but at the end of the day, you know that you’re doing a great job as you can help make a positive change.

Well, that’s it for my first blog post. I’m glad I shared my first week’s experience with you and I can’t wait to read yours too. I wish you all good luck with your internship and hope that you will find it to be an enriching experience. Stay tuned for my upcoming posts!

Houmaira Ramjaun

15102108

CTI, Mauritius

Media Receptionist For A Day

Hi, I’m Joanna and I’m doing my last semester at Curtin Singapore! I’m currently doing my internship at Grebstad Hicks Communications, also known as GHCasia, a boutique PR agency specialising in travel, tourism, hospitality, properties and luxury lifestyle. I chose to intern at a PR agency as I believed it would be a good training ground for me to learn all the basics of a PR practitioner.

As I started my internship during November, which is also the peak period for most agencies, I had to learn fast in order to catch up with the tasks that my colleagues had assigned me. During the first week of my internship, some of the basic tasks that I handle are mostly media clippings, daily news translations and occasionally, help out with research for new businesses. Initially, I thought to myself, “Media clippings are really tedious!” as I had to cut out the coverage from newspapers & magazines, and to do a lot of cropping for online clippings. Gradually, as I started to understand the importance and value of media coverage for our clients, I LOVED doing media clippings.

In that same week, I was also activated to be a media receptionist for a client event! I got so excited; I was literally counting down to the event date every single day!

The event was indeed an eye-opener for me, to not only meet and greet the media, but also look at how the media interacts with both the host and the attendees to get a story published the following day. That day, I learnt the importance of planning ahead – be it spokesperson training or making the necessary preparations to ensure that the media gets sufficient materials to run a story – which would then determine the outcome of the coverage.

That’s all folks!

Joanna Wang Li Mei

15257040

Curtin Singapore

The overall internship's experience has been so beneficial!!!:)

Hi to all followers,

This will be my last blog post which will encompass and wrap up my whole experience in the professional world as a public relations practitioner at Imagine Communication.

This was a great opportunity which I seize, to put all that I have learnt during my studies into practice and the team of Imagine Communication has believed in me and has entrusted various tasks to me.

This was interesting as I even have to deal with issues by myself and I was guided by the project executives other there. This trust that Imagine Communication had in me has enabled me to undertake work and projects in the appropriate way and handle them as a professional.

I have grasp the most out of all the work that I have undertaken such as media clippings, press summaries, press releases, cover letter, media contact lists, report of meetings and so much more.

Assisting in press conferences and meetings were very beneficial to me as I have been able to understand the steps and procedures that should be respected on the spot. I have also been able to meet prominent figure such as the Leader of MSM, Mr. Pravind Jugnauth.

The most interesting experience acquired is during my last week whereby I had the opportunity to deal with media outlets to settle appointments as well as to accompany our client to his meetings.

I am very grateful to the team of Imagine Communication who has given me this opportunity and I thank them for that privilege. 

Thank you for having followed me during my internship and hope that you enjoyed my posts

Natacha Rosalie

From Classroom to the Real Working World

Hi everyone!

I am Delvina and currently on my final lap in completing my undergraduate degree at Curtin Singapore. My internship officially started on 2 August 2012, and I am really glad that I was able to find a placement. This would be my first post and I would like to start off by introducing the PR agency that I am interning with and my role.

 

MAX PR is a fast-growing independent PR agency based in Singapore. The agency specialises in healthcare, consumer, crisis and corporate communications. It comprises well-established and veteran practitioners in the Asia Pacific regional marketing communications landscape and has presence through its own staff/offices or affiliate partners in 14 markets throughout the region. 

The PR agency consists of only six people including myself. My main role in the agency is media monitoring/ media clippings, materials development, social media updates (Facebook), media list updates, event help, desk research and reports, and other ad-hoc tasks.

Media Monitoring/ Media Clippings

There are various newspapers which I have to go through every morning. My role is mainly to look for news in print media that has references to a specific client and the agency’s designated topics of interest, to record them down and to clip the client’s coverage. Other than from the print media, I would also need to monitor and clip news articles from the Internet, and from various business e-newsletters that my colleagues had assigned to me.

Materials Development

Till now, I have helped to do up part of the wrap-up report for the agency’s two clients. I am tasked to collate all the media coverage of the clients into the PowerPoint slides as well as to research for the circulation numbers that each publications and websites have.

Social Media updates (Facebook)

I am tasked to update the Facebook statutes for a client thrice a week. These updates include post-event comments and other health related news (as the client is from a healthcare industry).

Media List updates

The update of media list is quite a taxing job as I had to go through many different publications and Internet websites from both Singapore and international. But I feel this job is an important one as there are frequent changes within the various media themselves, where some journalists either resigned or transferred to another department. As such, it is important for us to keep our media list updated, and thus able to pitch the stories of our clients to the right media, with the right contacts.

 

I am happy to be spending these two months at MAX PR, to learn and to gain a lot of invaluable PR experiences. I will be sharing more on my internship soon. Till then, hope everyone has great experience in their respective companies!

 

Cheers,
Delvina Chiang
15006527
Curtin Singapore

First week in the shoes of a PR intern

Hello everyone...
I am Yashni, a 3^rd year BA Mass Communication student studying at Charles Telfair Institute, Moka. I am actually interning in a PR Agency, Odysseus. The agency mainly focuses on public relations and event planning.

As I know that nearly all PR students would be doing an internship in the future, are actually participating in an internship program, or dream of some day working in the PR field, I am going to reflect on my weeks interning so that you can indirectly learn from my experiences.

What would I mainly be focusing on?

Surely not about my day-to-day clothing selection, the food and shopping I did...

 I will be mostly laying emphasis on what I have achieved in my first week as an intern and also about some of my responsibilities within the agency.

I can't really believe it's been a week already since I have started interning at Odysseus. It somehow seems longer, but all in all I am pleased with how the week has gone. The overall feelings I have observed in myself this week have, aside from a sometimes debilitating tiredness towards the end of each day, been mixed and often very exciting, stressful, nerve-racking but constructive.

Unlike the usual first weeks of work in any organisation, my first week has been quite hectic consisting mostly of managing the invitations by contacting all the PR, Marketing, Event and Communication Manager, and confirming the VIP lists in regards to the ‘Salon de la Com’, the first Communications Trade Show in the Indian Ocean which will open its door at Swami Vivekananda International Convention Centre on the 26 and 27 July 2012.

I cannot deny that it certainly took me some time to really understand what they are demanding from me and becoming more comfortable with the working place. However, my director was very understanding and flexible which eased me a bit. He did find some time out of his busy schedule to discuss the work with me, introducing me to the other staffs, which was great of him. By this point, I think I have met all the members of the team who without exception have been supportive, welcoming and encouraging.

My day at Odysseus normally starts with passing through all the newspapers of the day and looking for news for media clippings purposes. Currently, I am tasked to research and write for the company’s website whereby they are targeting a specific European market. I can say there are plenty of research work waiting for me this week. Will keep you guys informed on the details.

If I were to give you people an advice it would certainly be - When you walk in every day, just ask yourself how you can make the most out of this opportunity. It is high time for you to learn to accept criticism even though at times it can be a tough pill to swallow. Remember that only those who care will make the effort to guide you in the right path. You want to make PR as your career right? So take the maximum knowledge available from your supervisors and use this opportunity to the maximum to grow into a PR Pro!

Well, that’s all I have for today.

I will leave it to you now: Are you planning to do a PR internship soon? Have you started? What is your internship like so far? If you’re not interning yet, do you want to sometime in the future? 

Let me know in a comment...