How Other Companies and Markets Affect Public Relations Consultancies

Hi Everyone,

I was warned as before I started my internship at PPR by the HR manager that business has slowed down at the time of the year which may affect the experience that I may get out of this. After my first week at PPR I noticed that this really was the case.

The recent down turn in the mining, and oil and gas sector has particularly affected many different industry's and their growth especially in Perth. I found that there has been a recent change within the business as it is harder to build relationship with companies at a difficult economic period, especially for consultancies. I saw many consultants struggle to find a balance and a pace where they reached harmony and steadiness within their client relationships and the work they delivered for clients.

People are becoming more critical about what they really want for their business, but without the right resources, and profits they will not be able to achieve their objectives.

Living expenses in Perth, have especially seen people spending less, and also becoming less interested in all that companies have to offer. In saying this, I believe that the right PR strategy could be delivered to create relationships with those in our society who may not necessarily be interested or think twice about what a company may be doing. The strategy should deliver what will benefit both the company and the public.

I found through my placement that the work pace on a day to day basis was a struggle for most, even the most experienced people within the company, and it is all due the changing business and economic world.


Ana Frankovic
16867770

Media Clippings and Orangutan Rehabilitation Program

The utmost basic task of any PR trainee in any organisation is media clippings, now as PR students we learn what is the purpose of media clippings and where do we need to source out these media clippings. Now what I do everyday as soon as I reach my desk, I start by going to the pantry to get coffee or make instant oats for a pick-me-up. Then I go to the pigeon-hole of the communication department to get the newspaper of the day or the weekends if the day was Monday. For some it is tedious or even tiresome, but for me I thought of it is like a treasure hunt on getting valuable loot. Why do I say that? Well if there is no news it can be a very mundane day as though the tourism and hospitality industry is not buzzing with news which is quite surprising for Sabah as it is one of the main incomes of the state.

I remembered my first day of being in the office, my supervisor was out on inspections and had to wait for him until later in the day, the first thing I did as soon as I was in the office for the first day was newspaper clippings. I was reading the newspapers that were stacked up high in the pigeon hole due to the fact that the holiday season had just past and the whole population of the communications department were only four people. When I was done with clipping the article and my supervisor is back in the office, I gave him the clippings I have done which he went and check on the contents, at the end of the day most of the clippings were not accepted since it wasn't so much affecting the resort. On that day onward, I learn that the media clippings be it traditional or digital it should be news that can affect the specific business values of your organisation and not the general idea of the industry.

Now in the title of this entry mention about Orangutans, believe it or not Rasa Ria Resort have an Orangutan rehabilitation program that works together with the local wildlife department for 20 years. This program is one of the unique selling point of the resort where guest and locals can visit the sanctuary with a price and learn about the Orangutans. But in recent years, the program has caught on the attention of a few NGOs regards to the program making profit out of the program and the local authorities are cooperating about the matter. This was basically my closest encounter of a crisis management issue in my internship, but what I think the communications department did at the end of the day was excellent.

Here is what happened to the whole crisis. First the newspapers that we had given the media release regarding to the program with the headline saying that the 20 year program is coming to a successful end have been printed out. The general manager's statement about the program has educated hundreds of students and guests over the past 20 years was a good approach to summarize the whole matter. The day the media release came out, every department were briefed on the matter and poster of the press release was poster on the notice board of the staff board. As for me, I was given the job of media monitoring of the press release on traditional and digital media. The furthest the news have reach was to eco-travel news portal in Australia, as for the calls for about the press release it was not hectic as the staff from the sales department were well informed and had responses provided by the communications department to talk to tour agents, guest and even reporters.

Overall, the experience of media monitoring as well as media clippings are important to keeping tabs of the external forces of the organisation and the reactions of these external forces towards the organisation.

Once again thank you and until next time.

Regards,

Lorraine Disimond.

16863147/7E3A1585

Curtin University Sarawak.

Life is a dance!

I have begun an internship at the West Australian Ballet. It is a wonderfully creative organisation and I feel extremely lucky and grateful to have been given such an amazing opportunity.

 I was instantly welcomed into the company and introduced to the office staff (of about thirty people). I was then treated to a grand tour of the large antiqued heritage-listed ballet centre. The building has been modernised and consists of a large communal office area, a grand foyer, a cafe space, three large dance studios, a lounge area, gym and physiotherapy centre.

I was given a copy of the company style guide to learn and a brochure of the current and coming ballet season. I noticed that the style guide is thorough with details of colours, text size and font. It also explores logos for different mediums, sponsor logos, details of ‘how to’ for email, telephone, fax, photocopy, paper size and style etc. One thing I found interesting was that the style guide also discussed how to communicate messages- the tone, the idea of quality customer service, professionalism and proper use of the English language. I am glad that I received a copy of the style guide the moment I commenced work and found this an incredible useful tool throughout my professional practice thus far. I know understand the importance of having a style guide. As a new employee it provided me with exactly what was expected. A style guide helps to ensure a standard that all employees follow. It also creates consistency and is engrained with the brands values, attitudes, and key messages of the organisation. The style guide formulates a consistent and memorable organisation standard.  The brochure was also useful as I gained an understanding of the ballet season. For 2014 the West Australian Ballet will perform one ballet titled Radio and Juliet at the quarry amphitheatre, three shows at His Majesty’s Theatre- Giselle, Snow White and La Fille Mal Gardee.  The company will also host a number of small genesis shows (contemporary solo dances) and public dance classes. A Black and White ball has been organised for sponsors and donators and a number of open days for the public.

I learnt quickly that the organisation is heavily focused on producing spectacular world class events and performances, increasing ticket sales and add-on sales, gaining support of ballet community (subscription packages), receiving sponsorship and donations, promoting ballet to younger audiences, ballet education, and efficient and effective public relations, marketing and advertising strategies.

I embarked on my internship during a busy period (The day before opening night of Peter Pan).  I was given a variety of jobs over the next two weeks including;

1.     A mock up of “Friends of WAB” pamphlet

a.     Create Mock up

b.     Describe what we want in a word document for the outsourced graphics teams

c.     Include all style, image, and logos

2.     SWOT analysis

a.     Where the company is at and how the shows this year have gone so far and what is in store for next season

b.     ‘In’ and ‘out’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

c.     Improvements

d.     Boardroom meeting with all important shareholders, directors, staff and dancers

e.     Categorise into most important and agreeable points

f.      Create a document based on findings of season

3.     Patron data schedule for tickets 2014 (for ticketek)

4.     Media Clippings of Onegin performance

5.     Draft of donations letter

6.     List of potential places to send pamphlets about Radio and Juilet performance at the Quarry.

a)     Draft email and send

b)    Received five emails back (sent 5 boxes of pamphlets to local shopping centres)

7.     Created a competition for the mid year newsletter – 10 double passes to see Bolshoi ballet at The Winsor Cinema

a)     Drafted letter for winners and a piece on who won for social media sites

8.     Survey for Onegin- results document in Survey Monkey

9.     Survey for Peter Pan (created) in Survey Monkey

So far I am enjoying my experience working at WAB. I am at the nine-day mark and have gained confidence in my abilities as a young PR professional. I have learnt how I can implement PR strategies and practices into a real life situation. I have found that in a real life situations results are more important than in an academic assignment. Throughout my university studied I never put much emphasis on the evaluation section however I now see the value in doing this. This is something I have struggled with personally as a student. I understand what positive effects can eventuate from PR practices that satisfy business goals and objectives and how important it is to measure these for increased productivity in coming years.