Arriving at Go
Communications in Petaling Jaya (PJ), just outside of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia
was a daunting experience. Being in PJ and figuring traffic would be the
chaotic my housemate, Whiney and I set off at 8am to Go Communications. Ordering a teski (taxi) had proved
difficult, and found our selves running through the streets of PJ in high
heels. Much to the bemusement of those driving past, who must of been thinking
who are these two strange white girls across the highway.
Arriving at our office building in a hot mess, I took a moment to compose myself and take in the enormity of the task ahead. I would begin my internship in a foreign, esteemed public relations consultancy firm, Go Communications. Run by guru Michael De Krester and his son Peter, who are renown for their established connections and creative pairing, they work together to form a dynamic duo. Go Communications has a variety of clients across industries such as, property, tourism, insurance, investment, hotel, hospitality and others. The atmosphere of the office is always buzzing people running to the copier, or gathering at the media table and phones ringing non-stop. You definitely get the sense that everyone’s finger is on the pulse.
I have been assigned to team Vertical whilst undertaking my placement, which consist of my supervisor Karen and Kwan Ting. They are both fairly new to Go, and are still in the process of building the team and client portfolio. Presently Vertical are working with Tanjung Offshore and Fircroft, on the event of a joint venture (JV) signing and media conference, which is to take place on Wednesday the 18th June. This JV essentially allows Fircroft a license to operate within Malaysia. Much of my week was spent familiarising myself with the client and the compilation of PR documents that had been done in lead up to the event. This made me realise the amount of time, preparation and research that goes into an event. Particularly in the area of consultancy, where you may not have necessarily heard of the client previously or are not even familiar of the industry.
My day consists of beginning with media monitoring, whereby all of the Curtin interns have been assigned an English paper to read. In comparison to Australian, specifically Perth, the media presence is gigantic. Whereby there are six daily English and some further weekend editions too. The morning is spent reading papers and clipping, which buy midday can be quite the tedious task once you have cut pasted and scanned the article in to the survey. Although, in saying that it’s this task that becomes so crucial to learning about your client, the industry and their competition. It was not until I started this task that I realized just how relevant and crucial media monitoring is in the PR consultancy world. By then end of the week I really felt comfortable with media monitoring and noticed how much quicker I was at deciphering and knowing what was applicable to the client.
My first week at Go Communications has taught me that you really need to adapt fast to the environment and go with the flow. Essentially, you need to keep up with the pace as the world of PR doesn’t wait for those who lag behind.
Felicity Vaughan
Bentley
16183049
Arriving at our office building in a hot mess, I took a moment to compose myself and take in the enormity of the task ahead. I would begin my internship in a foreign, esteemed public relations consultancy firm, Go Communications. Run by guru Michael De Krester and his son Peter, who are renown for their established connections and creative pairing, they work together to form a dynamic duo. Go Communications has a variety of clients across industries such as, property, tourism, insurance, investment, hotel, hospitality and others. The atmosphere of the office is always buzzing people running to the copier, or gathering at the media table and phones ringing non-stop. You definitely get the sense that everyone’s finger is on the pulse.
I have been assigned to team Vertical whilst undertaking my placement, which consist of my supervisor Karen and Kwan Ting. They are both fairly new to Go, and are still in the process of building the team and client portfolio. Presently Vertical are working with Tanjung Offshore and Fircroft, on the event of a joint venture (JV) signing and media conference, which is to take place on Wednesday the 18th June. This JV essentially allows Fircroft a license to operate within Malaysia. Much of my week was spent familiarising myself with the client and the compilation of PR documents that had been done in lead up to the event. This made me realise the amount of time, preparation and research that goes into an event. Particularly in the area of consultancy, where you may not have necessarily heard of the client previously or are not even familiar of the industry.
My day consists of beginning with media monitoring, whereby all of the Curtin interns have been assigned an English paper to read. In comparison to Australian, specifically Perth, the media presence is gigantic. Whereby there are six daily English and some further weekend editions too. The morning is spent reading papers and clipping, which buy midday can be quite the tedious task once you have cut pasted and scanned the article in to the survey. Although, in saying that it’s this task that becomes so crucial to learning about your client, the industry and their competition. It was not until I started this task that I realized just how relevant and crucial media monitoring is in the PR consultancy world. By then end of the week I really felt comfortable with media monitoring and noticed how much quicker I was at deciphering and knowing what was applicable to the client.
My first week at Go Communications has taught me that you really need to adapt fast to the environment and go with the flow. Essentially, you need to keep up with the pace as the world of PR doesn’t wait for those who lag behind.
Bentley
16183049
3 comments:
Hi Felicity
It's really interesting hearing what it's like working in PR in Malaysia and how they go about media monitoring. I had a similar experience to you in that I didn't realise how important it was to be aware of news and public affairs to be able to perform your role as a PR professional. We do media monitoring at my work as well but ours is mostly done online by a media monitoring company who send us weekly updates. Do GO Communication also use online media monitoring or do they do it all manually? - Verity
They do use online media monitoring company, but as there are so many clients and media outlets in Malaysia, it's simply does not suffice. Also taking into account that some of these clients are not permanent contracts, so they are only a one off job, that it's more efficient if we scan ourselves, whether that be print or online. But along with monitoring there own press, we also clip competitor clippings and industry, I think to try and pay a third party to do this would get out of hand. As I was saying you really don't realise the scope until you get a understanding of the client and the media.
Hope you are enjoying your internship! Felicity
Hi Felicity
Reading your post was a good way to reflect on our experience at GO together. It is interesting looking back on our first day having since completed our placement.
I think we have benefited from both the agency and international contexts of Go Communication, in that we were exposed to so many different experiences. Having so many different clients gave us a taste working within a variety of industries. I think had Go Communications taken on clients from one specific industry or if we had been placed within an in-house PR context, our experience would have been a lot more limited. I sympathise with adjusting to the cultural changes interning abroad, it was a challenge but I also found the differences and Malaysian quirks quite interesting. I think we are quite fortunate to have been able to gain experience in an international context, because these are things we would not learn in an Australian university classroom.
Great post!
Georgia
15560340
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