During the time I was away (Monday December 22, 2008 – Sunday 29, December 2008), quite a number of activities took place. The British Airways picture I captioned and sent to the two most popular newspapers in Kenya - The Nation and The Standard, appeared in the Business Pictorial section of both newspapers on Monday December 22, 2009. The picture was taken during a SKAL Luncheon. SKAL is an International Association which brings together all sectors of the Travel and Tourism Professional Industry. In a raffle that took place, the first prize was a return ticket to London courtesy of British Airways.
Media Relations is crucial to BA in order to convey the most effective impression for the airline and in this case, publicity through the media was regarded more credible than advertising.
During Christmas, the airlines teams in Southern, East and West Africa (SEWA) collected books, toys and clothing to give to orphans and those affected by HIV/ Aids. The local British Airways staff here in Kenya visited Nyumbani Children's home where children who are found to be HIV positive are given medical and nutritional care. The team donated around £230 to the cause. They also took a tour of the home and met with the children, management and staff. The South Africa team focused on the Gozololo School in Umgababa which provides care and support to traumatized and orphaned children, many of whom are HIV positive. Other British Airways teams spread the Christmas cheer in Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana and Mauritius. By doing so, BA is improving the quality of life of the local community and society at large. They run a socially responsible business and are concerned with communities in the countries where they work. Other projects that BA is involved in here in Kenya include community projects in the Mukuru community where they built an ICT learning center, the fight against malaria where the airline recently sponsored a malaria campaign during the world malaria day through the Kingsley Holgate expedition, donation of items worth millions of shillings in aid of the internally displaced persons following the Kenya post election violence in 2008 and the contribution to the President’s UK scholarship award which is the first annual full tuition and living costs undergraduate scholarship for a Kenyan student to study at a UK University among others. Such essential corporate citizenship assists the worldwide airline in achieving some of its goals which include raising £2million every year for their partner charities as well as educating 7,500 young people each year.
On Saturday mornings, a children’s show called Club Kiboko airs on Kenya Television Network (KTN) at 8am. About two weeks ago, we had accompanied Kenya’s representative to the British Airways Kid’s Council Michelle- Marie to an interview at KTN offices. The interview was aired on Club Kiboko on Saturday 27 December 2008. She talked about her trip to London on BA for the first Kid’s Council meeting and her experiences there. She also showcased the new sky flier packs which she said were different and had been improved by BA after the Kid’s Council said that the previous ones were not that interesting and colorful. She will be attending the second Kid’s Council meeting in London sometime this month. Children viewers were given a chance to win the new and improved Sky Flier packs by calling the show and answering a few simple questions on British Airways. BA is the only airline that is keen on the experiences of their young fliers. The council has representatives from all over the world and Africa is represented by three children from Kenya, Uganda and South Africa. Media coordination is one of the services Advance Public Relations Promax provides to its clients and in this case, BA. With the interview came a promotional give away of samples of BA’s airline products. All this assisted in raising BA’s profile within the Kenyan market and offers specialist services to the industry.
With the New Year comes new activities and this year, we hope to improve communication between the London office and local offices in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda especially regarding community relations, we aim at building stronger relations with the media and lastly, we plan to generate more positive publicity for BA as a preferred airline as well as its products.
xoxo
Carol Songa
Limkokwing University Malaysia
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