Its been a while since I wrote. I've been so busy. I'm surpried I haven't gone insane yet. Getting home late and getting up early is the order of the day. In Kenya, some small changes can make a big difference. Take for example the resuming of schools. When schools re open after the holidays, this means major traffic on the roads...its crazey. So because of this, i'm waking up earlier than I used to so that I don't get stuck in traffic. I'm really praying Kenya's vision 2030 is not just a dream because God knows we need us some highways...
Back to interning...On Wednesday 21at January 2009, British Airways had a cocktail dinner dubbed “On Business” where they officially launched their frequent fliers for Small and Medium enterprises (SME’s). The event was held at the Nairobi Intercontinental Hotel. Since this was more of a marketing scheme, we at Advance PR Promax worked together with the British Airways marketing team. We were in charge of branding, photography and media.
Let met me give you a brief explanation about On Business. On Business is a scheme that aims at rewarding ones company with business travel benefits for every flight that employees take. It's completely free to join and helps business travel budget go further - last year members of On Business saved over £15 million on British Airways flights, flight upgrades and hotel accommodation.
Some of the business travel benefits of On Business include:
•Upgrade to British Airways and arrive rested, relaxed and ready to do business.
•Make significant savings on ones travel budget.
•Earn On Business travel points on every British Airways flight booked through ba.com or travel agents. The more the employees fly, the greater the business travel benefits. You can see how many On Business travel points your company could earn with our points calculator.
•Spend On Business points on things that will really benefit the traveler and the company. Book flights, upgrades and hotel vouchers by redeeming points online.
•Join On Business today and earn double On Business travel points on the first ten flights in your first three months of membership.
•Earn 50% more On Business travel points on flights booked using the British Airways American Express Corporate Card.
•Boost your travel points with special On Business offers.
•Take advantage of an extensive business route network flying to major business destinations around the world.
•You can also choose to offset the carbon emissions generated by your flight.
•Travelers can join the Executive Club and earn BA Miles too.
•Manage your On Business account 24 hours a day online and use it to view the travel points and past transactions.
•You can nominate up to five travel agents to access your account and two other people from the company as contacts.
The event was to start at 6pm so we definitely had to be there earlier to ensure that the BA banners were in place and that the catering was in order. We arrived at the hotel at 4 pm and got to the room where the event was to be held. The maintenance guys at Intercontinental were supposed to help us with the banners as they know better than we do how things are done at the hotel. I was so pissed off because we took like an hour trying to get a hold of them….FRUSTRATING! I was so disappointed by the 5 star hotel. Anyway, they finally came with equipment and the banners were put up just in time before the guests started to arrive. The invited guests were mostly owners of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s). After BA made their presentation and explained about On Business, they gave guests a chance to ask questions as well as an opportunity to sign in their company’s. Remember, signing in is free. After all this was done, the names of all those who had signed up were put into a draw to win a return ticket to London, courtesy of British Airways. The cocktail ended at around 11pm at night. I was too exhausted to start packing up the banners so I decided to go for them the next day…big mistake as the felas at the hotel misplaced them n I had to look around the hotel for them for a long time. All in all, the event went well. It felt good to be in the midst of people in business.
The next day, the story was in on the Prime time news on Kenya Television Network (KTN) and on Monday 19th January, 2009, the pictorial appeared in Kenya’s leading newspaper the Nation…and I’m glad it did because delivering to the media house made me very late for my date on Saturday with who knows, maybe the future father of my beautiful kids….hahaha! So I was like if it doesn’t appear....curses! But it did.
Now you must be wondering why it is that we didn't do much for BA during this event? Well this is because BA has their own marketing team and seeing that this was more of a marketing event, they managed most of it and we handled photography, media and branding.
On Saturday, British Airways made a donation to the children’s Cancer Ward at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi. There are a total of 28 children in the ward, all of whom suffer from different forms of cancer. Honestly, I didn’t want to go to the hospital because knowing me, I’d be filled with all these emotions, being in the midst of children whom are suffering from such a terrible disease. To make it even worse, the doctor said that a lot of the children won’t make it...very sad. Now SkyFlier packs, which I’ve discussed before, are packs that children on board British Airways flights are given. We had a lot of the packs sent to us from London and BA decided to donate them to the hospital. The donation was scheduled for 2pm (after work) and in attendance was staff from Advance PR Promax, the lady in charge of CR at British Airways and Kenya's representative to the British Airways Kid's Council. When we got there, the children welcomed us with a song and there after introduced themselves to us. We then introduced ourselves and had a little chit chat session. The packs were then donated to the children we were with in their library and later to those children who are almost bed ridden due to cancer. The kids were more than happy with the packs which come with crayons, books, and playing cards. It felt good to be a part of this and it felt even better to have overcome my fear of seeing sick children.
There are a lot of other things we did last week for BA. We conducted an interview with the British Airways Commercial Manager. The clip played in the Business News section on 98.4 Capital FM, Kenya’s leading radio station. I have it with me and hopefully, I’ll be able to submit it with my report. The interview was basically about how BA is holding up with the current Global Recession. Also, Kenya has been facing a major fuel crisis in a Triton scandal. I got to learn that airlines have this thing they call ‘hedging’. What happens is that airlines purchase fuel in advance at a fixed price. So whether the price of fuel increases, they will still get it at that price. The issue comes in if the price of fuel per barrel decreases, becoming lower than what the airline had purchased it for. The interview session was fun. It felt nice to see the guy being asked questions and work his way around them. I know, I’m so mean....
We also prepared a Press Release on special fares to London from Nairobi on board British Airways which has been running from the 21st of January 2009 and will be on until the 6th of February 2009. The Press Release was issued to the media and was published in the newspapers this week.
Well, the week ahead looks busy…I’m already into it. I’m already past the middle of my internship. I’m currently in the middle of reading the humongous BA crisis manual. It’s basically a management plan on how to handle a crisis, should one occur. I’m kind of looking forward to going back to Malaysia for my last semester. I can’t believe it’s almost over....
All the best everyone.
xoxo
Carol Songa
Limkokwing University Malaysia
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