I'm learning.

Through my observation over the past few months, I've been mainly working on research. Well, it wasn't the only thing I did - I had to review the current website, and everyone took the suggestions well. And apart from that, I had administrative and media monitoring to do.

But back to the topic of research - in essence, I've been doing pratically nothing but that. Now, having been there and done that, I must say that research is ESSENTIAL for anything (note, I actually put it in ALL CAPS and bold for a reason).

How else would we know the best way to convey a message to people, what words or images don't offend them ?
How else would we be able to find the opinion of the general public on something or other ?
How else would we be able to have a relationship with every customer ?

Research, like you didn't see that coming.

PR isn't solely about promoting the company, or throwing flowers at the company's threshold (now that was literally calqued from a language which I shall not mention), because in essence, it's the only means for a company to get a message across. Regardless of whether the PR department is within the company or otherwise, PR is what companies turn to when in doubt, or simply when they have issues to address, or if they're just not seeing good times. And it takes a great deal of PR to boost the company's reputation - if it has already been lost.

Take Skoda for example. Skoda was a car manufacturer with a previously poor reputation. A test session with an unnamed car, which turned out to be a Skoda model, proved to be successful, but when the test subjects found out that it was, in actual fact, a Skoda model, they started writing off the company already. Now, faced with such a case, any company would be more than prepared to use more than words to boost the company's standing. This is where PR would come in.

And most of all, the commandment echoed through all time, which should be the number one commandment for anyone working in a PR department :

Thou shalt not lie.

Signing off.

Narin

Week 3

Right. Hi. Again. There's been nothing out of the ordinary as far as work has been concerned. Right now, I'm doing the same tasks I've been doing earlier : media monitoring and media calls, photocopying documents, attending to phone calls (alright, here's my honest opinion on this one : being on the answering end can be downright depressing at times). I've also been observing my supervisor as she went on with her job - I do research for her... well, all the stuff she requires. It's pretty much a watered-down form of market research : I have to research on potential clients, competitors to current clients...

I'd like to call my post Sunshiney-Happy-Land, but as the francophones put it, c'est la vie ! The tool my alter ego is holding is not called Happy Fun Clown Blade, but rather, Fiery Soul Sword of Neverending Torment okay, so I went a bit too far. But read on, nevertheless.

It's often been said that PR is meant to promote truth about a company or a movement, or whatever it may be, in a wired world where even reliable media is susceptible to lies. Thing is, people have had and still have the perception that where PR is carried out, there's bound to be lies. If this is the case, then does it justify the amount of hours of research carried out by each person in the PR department ? Of course, naysayers would probably say that even the official site is as corrupt as our information is. But let's get this straight : the official site is something viewed by all stakeholders, even shareholders, auditors, whoever else would be interested in the company's standing. If one single lie is detected, the company runs the risk of being kicked out of the Stock Exchange. So I've observed it, you've observed it, we all have observed it : what we're reporting are cold, hard facts. It's something that gives me a slight sense of pride.

My supervisor has also told me that the company prefers giving hands-on jobs to people who are permanently employed by the company, rather than interns. Hiiiin, hiiiin. Malaysia Boleh ! It's the same across fields, across companies : interns are treated as nothing but people who just come and go, people who spend fleeting moments, not people who come in to gain experience. Some people around me have even gone to the extent of complaining that interns are treated like nothing but DIRT. Now, that may be hyperbole - and I'm not sure about multinational companies and their employment policy, but such is the situation here.

Signing off.

Narin

2010

Happy New Year

and all that. It’s the second week of the year and my fifth week in Esente Communications. Here I was hoping that the New Year 2010 would be ushered in with something special for us and for me in relation to the working environment, but no – the workload of the first week was already a burden for me to bear. As usual, I do media monitoring, research and some administrative work here and there, not forgetting the media calls.

I don’t know why, but this wasn’t the field of PR that I was acquainted with. I had my impressions, I had my expectations. Back in university we had constant guidance; no one ever left us alone, even if we had done things the wrong way. And we still learned to do it the right way, we were given precise explanations. The working world, on the other hand, is a dog-eat-dog world. People are ready to justify themselves and deny their liability because they have been there for a long time, before we interns ever came in. Miscommunication abounds, and if you lack the alertness and the ability to cope with working life, the blame will be put on you. And for all this, they call it public relations for Pete’s sake.

Nobody is perfect

, no one will ever be. As interns, we’re here to learn and we make a lot of mistakes (aren’t we all meant to do so?). This is our first working environment and from what I’ve heard and been told, there will be a lot of guidance, support, fun. Pfffffffff, I don’t see it.

LUCT: First week of internship.

Hey everyone.

I started my internship at Esente Communications in Hartamas on the 14th of December 2009. This organisation deals with PR, branding, marketing, listing communication, event management, advertising and media planning, among others. It’s a very small organisation, with two directors, one PR and Events manager, an accountant, an in-house designer, a junior consultant and two interns (me included).

On the first week of my internship I was assigned to draft a speech, media invitation, press release and agenda for the listing ceremony of K-Star on Bursa Malaysia. I am also assigned to do media monitoring for all our clients (this is an ongoing project), and it has to be done by 10 a.m. every morning.

I was also given the task to do research on potential clients as requested by the directors.

Throughout the first week I’ve learnt how to value the importance of research. I’ve realised the need for preparation and organised information. On top of that, each task has a deadline to be met. In the office, we use Microsoft Outlook to exchange views, or to get important announcements from the directors. It sounds so professional.

From what I’ve been told, I can expect more events in the future, more meetings with clients… Here’s to a fun and meaningful

internship.