PR Plan= Marketing Plan or PR Plan ≠ Marketing Plan? That’s the question!

Hola everyone,

My forth post is about my favourite task done during my internship. During my 20 days of internship, the best was kept for the end. I was asked to do a PR plan for Black Energy drink which is in fact a new energy drink in the world. Our client asked my supervisor to prepare a marketing plan as he wanted to launch this product in Mauritius and she gave this task to me. I was very happy as it was something that I have done in class. The only thing was that it had to be a marketing plan. And I was like; ok is it 100% similar to a PR plan? “Do not worry,” my supervisor said. “Just do it like you learnt in class.” I felt very proud of myself. My supervisor was really impressed. She realised that a PR plan is better and more elaborated than a marketing plan. Of course, I needed to add some marketing things in it although I have not done many marketing modules as major. It was a real pleasure to make this plan. While we were talking, I felt very proud while discussing about the plan as this was something I did in class. During my internship I sometimes had some issues with some technical words as I was working in an advertising agency and technical design words were difficult to learn quickly. But when talking about the PR plan I was in my world. I have put what I learnt in class in practice and felt like yes, I admit that I learnt a lot of things during my Public Relations modules. The fact that I was asked to elaborate more on some marketing issues helped me to improve myself. Nowadays many Public Relations officers and marketing offices have to work hand in hand and when learning more about the marketing plan, I realised that we have still something to learn. In addition, this was the first time I have worked on PR plan for a product. We have always worked on clients in class. I just needed to elaborate more on the competitors and on the tactics especially when working with designers. I was asked to precise what kind of billboard advertising I wanted, what type of posters would be suitable for this energy drink product.  Moreover, I had to visit many supermarkets and hypermarkets to analyse the way the product was placed and to comment to it. I was really shocked to see how Black Energy drink which is new to Mauritius, was placed. The first bad image was that dead flies were seen near the product and as everyone would think, it is not the kind of thing we want to see near drinks as if Black Energy drink killed the flies. The second thing is that being new, the product should have been placed in a special way to attract attention and not being placed with the other energy drink. As I have stated in my tactics, Black energy drinks can be displayed in spiral shaped shelves, which turns in circular motion slowly. The shelves can be put in different places in supermarkets, not necessarily in the beverages aisles.  It was a very good experience to work in real life for a real product noting that my PR plan will be viewed by the Black Energy drink committee of Mauritius. Moreover it was a fantastic thing to work on a PR plan along with my designers colleagues who did not hesitate to give ideas in terms of creativity. They did also learnt many things about PR and enjoyed giving ideas especially when their job consists of designing something already thought about. Having their word to say when dealing with the promotion of Black Energy Drink was a really good experience. My internship was beyond shadow of doubt a very good practice where I put what I have learnt in practice and learnt also new things.

Graziella Hippolyte

15806785

Charles Telfair Institute

The Media Database

In my second last week here at JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok, and things are quite uneventful. Seems like PR has downtime, usually around late December to early January because everything has been tied up for the year 2012.

The next major thing to look forward to is the PR plan for the year ahead. My boss has said that she will allow us a look at the plan and a discussion session so we can understand how it works and talk about it. This should be interesting to see whether it ties in with the PR plans we study about in class. Will update you more on that next week when she shows us it.

Other than that, we interns are put to work on another important part of PR which is not really mentioned-the media database. In other words, the database that consists of the list of media contacts with telephone numbers and emails so that we can send press releases to be published in magazines, newspapers, etc.

This is something that obviously needs to be updated properly as people are always going in and out so emails and numbers will change. The difficulty with doing this is finding the right telephone numbers (usually online or in the magazine itself) and then calling them one by one to get the right email to send press releases too. Simply looking up a valid email and filling it in the database is just enough-a publication can have multiple editors/writers and simply sending it to one lowers the chances of it being published, so you have to make sure you have the one who handles press releases.

As this is my second last week, I'm starting to feel quite melancholy. I had a great time here and I feel like I got exposed to alot of things, from the day to day media monitoring to the more exciting events where I got to meet members of the media. I'm almost 100% sure this is the career path I want to choose. I'm so glad I got the chance to pursue this internship. :)

More next week!

Christy Lau Su Mei
15130659
Curtin Bentley (Sem 1, 2013)

Social Media vs Print Media

There comes a time in ever PR interns (and managers for that matter) life when we must way up the pros and cons of both Social and Print media.
No one can say for certain which is the most effective. Im sure if you ask experienced Marketing and PR managers from an "older generation" they will stand by print advertising and media and if you asked any intern or "younger" generation PR manager they will adamantly argue for social media.

Does it come down to your target audience? If so, how would you gauge something as complicated and important as that? How many people interested in music still pick up Xpress, Drum and the Wire and flip through the gig guides to see whats coming up? Or does everyone just hop onto Facebook and look through bands and venues pages. Often before a graphic designer even has time to design the advert that is going in a street press magazine, the event has already come up on hundreds of peoples news feeds and the information has spread like wildfire. So is that a pro of social media? What about those people then that still have not and refuse to get a Facebook, Twitter etc account? Dare anyone take the risk and rely on one form of promotion so that we can all benefit from finding out which one, once and for all, is the most effective

All arguments aside is there really ONE answer. In my experience a perfect balance and happy medium of both can be the compliment to one another and the foundation of a truly strategic PR plan.

A Ruby event...

Not only does Magenta specialise in Public Relations they also focus on Special Events. Events are an effective way of promoting a brand, corporation or cause and are a platform for a diverse range of PR opportunities. I was lucky enough to have recently worked a special event for one of Magenta’s clients.

Having done an event management unit at Curtin I wasn’t entering totally foreign territory however learning the theory in class and actually executing an event in a real life situation are two very different experiences. If I took away one vital piece of information from my time spent working the event it would be to never underestimate the amount of hard work and pre planning required to execute a flawless event. I believe it is a common misconception that events seem simple to pull together, when you’re an attendee you are oblivious to the months of hard work and planning that went into every little detail that seems so natural on the night.

Events are a key component in the PR plans created for clients at Magenta and are strategically planned to tie into the clients overall objectives and goals. The event was a true reflection of the client and successfully generated interest and interacted with key stakeholders and the public.

The event was:

·                Targeted

·                Well executed

·                Newsworthy

It is also extremely important to gain as much media coverage in the lead up to, during and post your special event. This will raise the profile of your event and brand and increase overall awareness. I was introduced to a term called the “drip-drip-drip” technique. After planning an event the key to success is to create and maintain interest up to and following the event. The drip-drip-drip technique of publicity is essentially the constant release of relevant information to really generate and stimulate interest for the media which is then conveyed to the public. The aim of the technique is to build anticipation and demand. Preparing the Publicity report for this event was a true reflection of this technique being executed effectively, with extensive media coverage gained in the lead up to the event, a big media interest on the night but also wide spread coverage post event across print and online media.

The first event I was involved with was to find a new face for a contemporary, urban shopping centre, in Perth. A competition was run over a couple of months prior to the night on the clients Facebook page. The public were invited to enter and upload a photo of them to the page and tell us why they were exciting and engaging. From the hundreds of talented entrants a top 50 were chosen and invited to attend on the night to publicly name the winner and the fresh new face of the shopping center. The winner’s prize included a $1000 wardrobe, an STM photo shoot and the opportunity to feature in all of the shopping centers promotional advertising. This year the competition attracted national attention with the queen of cool Ruby Rose DJing at the Winners Announcement Party and revealing the winner.

Here is a snapshot of my day working the event:

My day started at 8am, the office was buzzing and everyone was focused on doing what needed to be done to have tonight run as smoothly as possible. First up I helped style and shoot an Easter spread that featured in the Easter edition of the Home lift out. This was a great opportunity for us to feature all of our client’s products and get them some free PR.

Once I had arrived at the shopping center we sussed out the event site and directed the technicians as to where the stage needed to be set up and the speakers placed. I was then put in charge of filling the gift bags for the top 50 entrants with all the goodies we had collected from stores located in the center. The event kicked off at 6.30pm and the top 50 along with invited guests, VIP’S and the media all arrived to anxiously await the announcement of the winner. Models stood on the door and greeted guests, while waiters walked around with delectable finger foods and sparkling champagne.

My task for the night was the walk around with another colleague and take photos of all of the attendees which were going to appear on our clients Facebook page. It was important that the photos captured the mood of the evening, the top 50 entrants and invited guests. Writing down peoples name with correct spelling while Ruby Rose was blaring the music proved a little harder than I thought.

The winner was announced at about 8pm along with the Peoples Choice Winner. The people’s choice could be voted for on PerthNow prior to the evening. Both the girls who won were very deserving and reflected the values the shopping centre were hoping to find in their ‘new face’. It was an exhausting 14 hour day in heels, but the experience will be something I take away with me and use in my future career.

Would love to hear of any experiences you have all had working events in your placements.

Tess x