Currently completing an internship at WA's one and only professional baseball team, Perth Heat. The organisation faces many challenges similar to that of a small business. With just a sponsorship manager and myself applying my Public Relation (PR) skills, an emphasis on creativity rather than spending is a must for growth of an organisation within a sporting code yet to reach mainstream status within the state or nation.
Primarily relying on sponsors and ticket sales to fund itself, I have found myself immediately involved in discussions among a variety of communication and marketing issues. While no marketing team, the organisation is forced to use creative ideas from experience in the industry (baseball) and blueprinting other successful sporting organisations in other codes. While having a more attractive budget would allow for spending on marketing and outsourcing to a PR agency which would immediately impact on the organisations exposure and reach. Using creative strategies and tactics is the only realistic option available, as the organisation seeks exposure to its unaware and latent publics.
Using Social Media has proven the cheapest form of reaching the organisations key publics, updating active publics, encouraging aware publics and posting and sharing industry related (baseball) news and piggy backing so to speak other sporting codes highlights and major events, all Heats Facebook page to reach out to latent publics. Upon identifying that unaware university students would both enjoy the novelty of baseball in Australia, entertainment and cheap alcohol on offer each home game. Targeting student magazines within Perth whose key stakeholders include such an audience, I was able to organise and offer game day tickets to leading student magazines in Perth. In return these magazines published a review in their magazines that allowed Heat to reach out to its latent public (university students). As well as this blueprinting other sporting codes interaction with it’s public through online videos that included segments from anything including talking with the players behind the scenes to asking the player their thoughts on the latest movies and music. Called "Heat TV", the online video complication now informs active publics and encourages aware publics to interact and ultimately attend games, with the hope of sharing Heat TV with latent publics.
In hindsight, doing my internship at an organisation such as Perth Heat as allowed me to notice how PR can potential be "lazy" at times, with reference to organisations with high lucrative budgets. In turn allowing myself to work with non-PR/marketing Heat staff and providing fresh, new and innovative ideas to an organisation unable to source paid PR and marketing services. Using creative strategies and tactics to slowly but surely achieve their desired exposure for the organisation in a slower but cost-efficient way.
Ben Dillon.
1 comment:
Hi Ben,
First of all, your placement sounds very interesting. An up and coming basket ball team must be like having pretty much a blank canvass (correct me if I am wrong) as you would be able to, as you mentioned, flex you creativity and apply it to the pr activity needed.
I liked your post because it highlights the need to make the best out of a preexisting situation you walk into, which is basically all internships since we all walk into established institutions with realities already set in place that we then need to adapt to and work in.
keep up the creativity and I wish you best of luck!
Ramsha
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