It is time to bid farewell

On the last week of my internship, I was given the opportunity to attend a media interview between The Edge Singapore and Subaru. 

My colleague and I headed down to Subaru’s office where the interview was conduct. It was a great experience as I managed to see what a real media interview is like and I got the chance to interact with one of the editor.

I remember clearly in Media Relations 250 we were given an assignment to prepare our “client” for a media interview by coming up with a number of questions that could possibly be asked my the media. Similarly, my colleague had to prepare a list of questions to prepare the spokesperson of Subaru for the interview.

The interview lasted for almost an hour and everything went well. The interview was conducted on Monday, and on Wednesday, we received a call and was notified that the interview would be covered in next week’s (this week) paper. I was never expected coverage to be obtained so quickly. Just for everyone’s info, The Edge Singapore is a weekly publication.

Just incase if anyone is interested in the interview, please find below the coverage.

Another big opportunity that I was given was a chance to pitch to Nikkei, and I am glad that I managed to secure an interview with them for Subaru. The only down side is that the interview would be conducted this week and I would not be able to witness it happening.

3 months just flew by and it is still so surreal that my internship has come to an end. Last Friday, 30^th May 2014, marked the end of my internship journey with Rice Communications and it definitely has been an enjoyable and interesting one.

During these 3 months I have definitely learned a great deal that would be useful for me to continue in the PR industry. I am glad to have been given this opportunity to join Rice Communications as an intern.

Cheers,

Sheryl

The all-new Subaru WRX and WRX STI Media Launch!

On 6^th of May 2014, Subaru launched their all-new WRX and WRX STI cars. The launch was held at Vivocity’s atrium in the evening. It was both a media and customer launch, and boy, was I excited to be part of the team! This was my very first media launch that I helped out and attended and I personally love cars.

Subaru is one of my agency’s clients where we handle their PR and we were involved in helping out during this launch. Our main objective of this launch was to handle the media while Subaru’s own sales and marketing team handled the customers.

Before the launch, there were several things that were needed to be done. First item on the agenda was inviting the media. Inviting the media was handle by my colleague who contacted and sent out invitations to various targeted media. Secondly, I was in-charge of the RSVP of the event and had to do call downs to media who hasn’t responded to confirm on their attendance.

Lastly, as in learnt in school, media kits are items given out during a launch or an event to provide information to the media, and this was the item that my colleague and I had to prepare. This was also my first time preparing a real media kit that was going to be given to the media. The week before the launch, my colleague and I headed down to Subaru to collect the specification sheets of the cars and the folders for distribution.

After the finalization of the press release, I printed copies of the press release to slot them into the media kits. Items in the media kit for the launch include: a press release, specification sheets on the cars.

On the day of the launch, we headed down to the venue an hour earlier to prepare and set up the registration table. After registration and giving out of media kits, we mingled around, spoke to the media, and checked out the cars.

I was also very lucky to see, interact and get a picture with various celebrities such as Alan Wu, who was the host of the launch and 2 finalist of Asia’s Next Top Model season 2 Jodily and Natalie who are the ambassadors of the cars. The cast of Ah Boy’s to Men Musical was also present and did some performance during the launch.

From this launch, I learnt that it is very important to always interact and keep a good relationship with the media, and always making them feel special. The negative feedback received from the media was the location of the launch and not being the only ones around to view the cars. This was actually brought up by us to the client, however, the client specifically wanted it to be a media and customer launch.

Besides some negative feedbacks, most of the media were very pleased with the cars and up to date, we have received quite a number of coverage on the launch of the cars.

After the medias and customers left, my colleagues and I took a photo with the car before we left. 

I feel very honored to be part of this team and attending this launch, as it definitely was an eye opener and something very new to me. It was an enjoyable and definitely a memorable first media launch that I attended. 

Till then,

Sheryl

A day out of the office!

Over the past few weeks, I have been focusing and collating information and quotations from various hotels as one of our clients, is intending to host a breakfast seminar for 100 people here in Singapore.

This opportunity of planning an event excited me as I find it interesting! After listing out and collating the different proposals and prices, we sent them to the client for their final decision. After much consideration, the client decided to go with Shangri-La Hotel, located at Orchard.

Last week, my colleague and I headed down to Shangri-La, to do a site visit, and at the same time, discussed with the events’ coordinator on the layout and necessities needed for the event. The contract was then sent to us the next day. After discussion and confirmation with our client, we finalized the contract and secured the location!

This was the ballroom that I did the site visit at and booked. 

(Source of photo: Shangri-La Singapore)

Another thing in relation to this that I am working on is the checklist. Basically, the checklist consists of items needed for the seminar, its due date, and who would be responsible for the item. Doing this, reminds me of projects I have done in school. Next thing on the list is to book shuttle buses for the client’s guests to transport them from one hotel to another.

As smooth as it may sound, there were plenty of ups and downs while planning and securing a location. As there would be a 4-day event held at MBS during that period, most of the guest would be attending that event and would be staying at MBS. Our client initially wanted a hotel that is located closer to MBS as it would be more convenient for the guest to head over for the seminar.

I faced plenty of difficulties while searching for a location as most hotels located near MBS were all booked out during that period, and we would be placed on waitlist and would only be notified a month before the event date. Another difficulty encountered was the clash of choices. There were some locations that we felt was perfect for the event, however the client rejected it, as they did not like the venue. I then searched for more venues slightly further away and managed to come to a conclusion with the client and secured the booking with Shangri-la Hotel eventually. 

Before heading to Shangri-la Hotel, my colleague and I travelled to parts of Singapore to deliver books from another client to various media publications. This was my first experience going around delivering items to the media. However, I was disappointed, as I did not get to experience meeting and speaking to the media as we were only allowed to drop our items at the front desk counter. I feel that meeting and speaking to the media would give me a better experience and understanding the PR industry better.

This is me carrying the items that were delivered to the media

Nonetheless, I believe I would have another opportunity to expose myself to the PR industry and learn from these experiences.

Till then,

Sheryl

One month in!

Hi all!

This is my very first post since I started internship. My name is Sheryl and I’m from Curtin Singapore.

It has been a month plus since I started my internship programme with Rice Communications Pte Ltd, and I have been enjoying myself! Just a little bit about my company, Rice Communications is a PR agency that provides strategic, insightful and customized professional communications services.

This is the logo of the agency I'm interning at. More information of Rice Communications can be found here: http://www.ricecomms.com

I cannot believe time is passing so quickly. I am very thankful for having superiors who are patient at answering my questions, clearing my doubts, and giving me work one at a time. As I am new to this industry, it is something that I absolutely need.

Even though it has been only a month plus, I have definitely learnt a great deal. There are plenty of similarities and plenty of differences between working in the real world and drafting up a PR plan and doing projects in school.

The similarities between school and working are the parts of a PR plan and other projects I have done in school. For example, press releases, media list, media pitching, media callings, media training, and many more!

However, through this internship experience, I have learnt and seen how real media pitching, media calls, media interviews, creating a media list, sending out of press releases and many more are done! Something I never got to do while creating PR plans and pitches for my projects in school, and it has been a real eye opener.

Initially, I felt that doing media calls is the scariest thing to do! What if I say something wrongly? What if I gave the wrong information? Or what if I could not answer their questions? But now, after doing a number of calls, I am kind of used to it.

Another thing that is relatively new and that I have learnt at Rice Communications is media monitoring. I have heard this term numerous times by different lecturers but I have never done it hands on. Doing media monitoring daily allows me to be updated about the happenings in my surroundings and also allows me to further understand the relationship of the news with the current clients. Doing media monitoring is to also keep a look out for any coverage or mentions of the clients.

The things I have learnt so far will definitely help me in future if I continue working in the PR industry. I am glad I took up this internship as it has taught me a great deal, and I am certain I will learn much more in the next two months. Because of this internship, I believe I have learnt to manage my time better, juggle my commitments, and appreciate other little things in life.

Till then,

Sheryl