Going Green

Hello people, Boikanyo Neo Motekwane again. This marks my fifth week at S & A PR. I'm so jealous to those who are completing their intern this week, I'm going to miss you guys. Wish you all the best in your final week and make sure you impress your boss. For me the race is not complete, not there yet.

Source: http://www.google.com.my/images

Well, this week I want to talk about something interesting ' Going green.' This developed from a productive conversation I had with one of the interns 'Boniface Badubi.' So many people think that going green means you have to completely change everything about their lifestyles, becoming completely independent from fossiel fuels or living a life that is friendly to the environment. Yes, it's true but it means making few small changes and slowly adopting them. A very good example, when was at primary school, I used to brush my teeth with water running, today I turn the water off till I need it.

Going green is preached almost everyday in TV, radio, newspapers etc. The question is;
Do you understand the benefits of going green? Are you dedicated to finding solutions for the sustainability of the planet?

Well, like I said I am interning at Salina & Associates Public Relations. I have realized something unique about this company. ' Salina & Associates Public Relations is a green home.' How do they go green.


Re-Use



Re-use is an obvious part of helping to save the world through green living. At S&A PR they have a box labeled 'Recycle paper' Sometimes when we print we make mistakes, so the same paper used is placed in the recycle paper box to be re-used. It's kind of policy at S&A PR to use the back sides of used/old documents for printing rough work. Believe me, this is helping the organization to reduce consumption of paper and to reduce the waste.

Laptop over Desktop

I didn't know this secret. Using a laptop over a desktop saves a ton on energy bills. http://www.worldwatch.org/resources
Yes, at S&A PR it's not everyone using a desktop. I'm not sure whether they have realized that they are saving tons of energy, but I have realized that.

• It's a habit at S&A PR to turn off lights when going for lunch and leaving the office after work.
• It's a habit at S&A PR to switch off computers, monitors and printers when not in use.

I think from this we can learn something guys. Make a change from today. The semester is about to start. Think of how you are going to reduce consumption. For every module we have to print, think of how you can reduce paper, water and electricity waste.

What kind of impact you can make to the environment?

Regards

Boikanyo Neo Motekwane LUCT
boimotekwane@yahoo.com

MEDIA VISIT

Hello interns! Boikanyo Neo Motekwane here. Wow! I'm four weeks old, how about you! Yes, this marks my fourth week at S & A PR. I'm having a fantastic time there, hope you guys are enjoying at your respective workplace. It's been a long journey and the journey still continues.

Why should we visit the media? Perhaps, its seems strange to start with this kind of question but it is an important question for PR firms to ask themselves before beginning a relationship with the media. Attempting to use the media is like picking up your lover or enemy. Media is a powerful tool that can lift, kill and even destroy. It should be approached with carefulness and understanding what you want from the media.

There are so many ways/strategies PR Firms/organizations can use in order to build a good relationship with the media. Well, Director of Salina & Associates PR instructed that we should start working outdoors ( being exposed to PR work outside). Yes, we did a media visit which was done as a way of building media relation.

We went to New Straits Times Press( NSTP) to meet editors. Fortunately, that day they had a session called BOOK CLUB. It's a book review which is held every Wednesday of end of month. The book review comes out in New Straits Times Book Review. It was interesting because they analyzed books the same way we did for FTV III. They looked at things like genre, theme, characters, creativity etc. Wow! it was interesting. We had a chance to meet editors like Theresa who is the founder of NSTP book review. We also met writers like Samuel and we had a chance to have a discussion with him regarding creativity in writing as his books are based on poetry and motivation.

Building a good relationship with individual journalists is possible. If they are really interested in your issue they will offer the best if you give them the best. We also went to Utusan( newspaper) and Kosmo! (newspaper) to deliver High 5 press release for media coverage of the event "High 5 cooking session " to journalists. We gave them gifts (High 5 products).

We used this time to deliver the media invitation for another event which is going to be held at the end of this month.

Well, this one is interesting. The founder of Nandos, Malaysia ( S&APR client) went to South Africa to view world cup. She came back with Nando's Hot Chakalaka Peri Peri Sauce from Nando's South Africa ( the newest flavor edition to the famous Nando's Peri Peri range of sauces).

The sauce is dressed in the Bafana Bafana green and gold as a way of support " Nando's and Bafana rocks. " The client decided to offer the sauce to different media outlets as it is not for sale but to keep the memory of the world cup alive.

Nando's Hot Chakalaka Peri Peri Sauce

Source: http://www.sundayworld.co.ca/Entertainment

Yes, we delivered the package to Utusan and Kosmo. Because I am African I had to do a rationale but as in explanation regarding the colors used which symbolizes the flag of South Africa , Bafana Bafana ( South Africa National Team) and Chakalaka( home made dish). This reminds me of the picture we uploaded for High 5 competition " High 5 and the mood of world cup"

This was a very busy day, we also delivered press releases to Healthy, Stage, Hot and Hello magazine.

This is it for today people. Note that media outlets function differently. Find out how it works before visiting. Research is recommended here.

Regards

Boikanyo Neo Motekwane LUCT

boimotekwane@yahoo.com

'PUBLIC RELATIONS' IS IT AN OXYMORON?

Hello everyone, Boikanyo Neo Motekwane again. This marks my third week at Salina & Associates Public Relations. Hope you guys are enjoying and learning new things. This week i want to involve you in a conversation. "Lets talk."

Well, I have this question for you guys..Is Public Relations an oxymoron or not? Please answer it looking at what you have done so far at your working place.
The following is my view...

I used to agree with the statement " Public Relations is an oxymoron," because of what i used to hear or read about regarding Public Relations profession/professionals. "They say Public Relations is being associated with all unethical things, for example lying, spin etc.They say Public Relations will never be ethical because the practice itself is a kin to manipulation and propaganda because of selfish information from Public Relations firms."
Source http://www.insidepublicrelations.blogspot.com/.
I disagree with the above information. Indeed the media tend to lead the public to believe that there is someting dishonest about public Relations.

Working at Salina & Associates Public Relations has opened my eyes. I now understand what Public Relations is. I have come to a conclusion that Public Relations is not an oxymoron because Salina & Associates Public Relations (PR FIRM) is a mirror reflecting information about their clients to the public and media. At S&A we are involved in well conceived, honest approaches to achieving mutual trust and respect from our clients and the community. I have realized that S&A PR understand that the relationship between them and the public is strengthened by honesty and fairness. A very good example is their campaign " HIGH 5 BEST TASTE EXPRESSION CONTEST" Strategies and tactics used for this campaign were very reliable. The competition was also fair.

Again, we are also encouraged to be fair at all times when calculating PR Value.

From this i came to understand that Public Relations is ethical. I have realized that PR firms understand and use PRIA code of ethics in their everyday work. For example fairness and honesty.
All I can say is Public Relations is not an oxymoron. PR firms like the one I am working at have a responsibility to stand up to their client and challenge something they feel is not ethical.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

That's all guys. Have a wonderful weekend and see you on Monday.

Regards

Boikanyo Neo Motekwane LUCT
boimotekwane@yahoo.com

Getting involved

Hi guys, Boikanyo Neo Motekwane again. This marks my second week at Salina & Associates Public Relations. I am having a fantastic time at Salina & Associates. Okay this week, i met the Director of S & A Public Relations Selina bt Dato 'Seri Yeop Junior'. We were introduced to her and she was happy to meet us.

Like i said everyday at S&A Public Relations i have to do media monitoring, media clippings and media coverage, but that's not all that I'm doing. My colleague Carole introduced us to one of the upcoming events " HIGH 5 Cooking session with Chef Ismael" High 5 Bread is one of their clients. She came out with a campaign "High 5's Best Taste Expression" Contest. The campaigns' objectives was to increase sales and to increase awareness, Target audience consumers and strategies social media
( facebook).

How to win

• snap a picture of you enjoying any High 5 bread range

• upload the picture as a fan photo

• Rally your friends for votes' the more likes your picture gets, the higher your chances of winning.

• the most likes garnered at the end of the month wins the Grand prize of RM500 Cash + High 5 Hamper.

To spread the word/ to increase awareness I and Molly came out with a strategy to upload our photo and invite our friends to vote. The good thing is for them to vote they have to join the High 5 Bread account in Facebook and by doing so i believe they were getting to know what High 5 is. I am sure about this one because most of them were asking questions wondering what High 5 is. We used this opportunity to explain to them about High 5 Bread.

Molly Tsima and Boikanyo Neo Motekwane ( Salina & Associates PR Interns)
Theme: High 5 Bread and the mood of world cup
Rely on it and be energized while watching your favorite team

This is the picture we uploaded. Fortunately we reached to 128 votes. Did we increase sales? Yes we did. Most of our votes were wondering where they can find High 5 Bread and yes' we didn't hesitate to feed them with information.

I am hoping to see a good turn up for the upcoming event ( HIGH 5 COOKING SESSION WITH CHEF ISMAEL) because we have reached 4, 472 people with our campaign.

Boikanyo Neo Motekwane LUCT

boimotekwane@yahoo.com

New Beginnings

Hi guys, Boikanyo Neo Motekwane here. Actually, this marks my first post in this blog. I am interning at Salina & Associates Public Relations.
Salina & Associates provides a range of public relations consultancy services that include brand building, event management, celebrity endorsements, crisis communication and investor relations. They are dealing with more than 200 clients and most are successful organizations such as Lux, Nandos, CIMB, Delicious, High 5 Bread, Bio Oil, Aiken etc.
Source http://www.salina-publicrelations.com

Working in Salina & Associates is a great experience because I am learning new things everyday. My first week at Salina & Associates was a little bit relaxed but productive. This week I was introduced to S&A staff. Wow, they are friendly and easily to connect with. I was also introduced to S&A clients, had to read and understand what they are doing. Was given the SOP of the company( Standard Operating Procedure) which is kind of instructions to what is done in S&A Public Relations. This include how to write press release, event management, interviews, invoicing, clippings, report etc. My face was full of smiles when seeing the SOP because I realized it is what we did in school.

Well, the same week was introduced to do " Media Coverage". The estimated amount to be paid for the space in the media. I was like' oh no, what is this, i never did this before. Okay it seems like I'm going to do a lot of calculations and measurements here.' My supervisor who is so friendly taught me how to to media coverage for newspapers, magazines and broadcast. The same day she assigned me to do media coverage for different clients from different media outlets.
I did this with Molly who is also an intern in S&A Public Relations.

We were given 10 files with almost 10-15 pages in. We did calculations and measurements for each client and finished in 2 days. My boss was so excited because she thought we are going to take weeks doing calculations.

Formula for newspapers: Height X Column X Rate + Color

Formula for Magazines: Full Page / number of clients in a page

Everyday in S&A Public Relations i have to do media monitoring and media clippings. I'm not just scanning, cutting clippings from newspapers and magazines but i use this time for reading about clients in clippings. This has helped me to improve my vocabulary and even creativity in writing.

Guys i feel the media coverage thing is very important because we didn't do it school, if you want me to clarify more leave a comment. Thanks

Boikanyo Neo Motekwane LUCT
boimotekwane@ yahoo.com