Summer Series - The Presets at Hotel Rottnest

The weeks are flying by at Zaccaria Concerts and Touring. We have been incredibly busy in the office lately with the finalisation of Kate Ceberano's WA tour, having sold sell-out shows in Perth, Albany, Bunbury and Mandurah. My last post described how we were experiencing difficulty with selling these shows and there was a chance of cancellation, however we pulled through and all concerts were a success.

Following on from this, we have been busy with the planning stages of The Presets at Hotel Rottnest as part of Rotto Live summer series - a subsidiary of Zaccaria Group and Hotel Rottnest together as partners. We announced The Presets exclusive WA performance last week and are promoting it with the tagline "The ULTIMATE Sunday Session", which my manager Pam and I decided on as a catchy and effective selling point. This particular event is safe in terms of ticket sales - at Zaccaria we know it is going to sell out because of the nature of the performing artist and the location, time of year, weather - so aside from sales, our main aim of this campaign is to raise awareness and hype of our brand Rotto Live and also our main company, Zaccaria Group.

The artwork my manager Pam and I came up with as the official promotional poster of the event

One of the main ways of raising awareness of this event and hence the Rotto Live summer series and Zaccaria Group, is by gaining the support of a significant sponsor. A key way of getting a sponsor on board is to design and develop an effective proposal, with the aim of winning the sponsor company's support because of the exciting content and details revealed in the proposal. Zaccaria's Marketing Manager Pam delegated to me the task of designing and preparing the proposal to send to Telstra Thanks in support of The Presets at Hotel Rottnest. Telstra Thanks is a promotional branch of Telstra, aimed at Telstra customers and poses as a customer loyalty program, much like Virgin's Velocity Rewards system. Telstra Thanks offers their customers the advantage of pre-sale tickets as a way of saying "thanks for being with us", where customers are able to redeem points and benefit from other loyalty-type promotions. For Zaccaria, having Telstra Thanks as the major sponsor of this event is a huge deal - we are having our event and our brand sent to Telstra Thanks WA customer database of over 50,000 people, which for us means a sell-out ULTIMATE Sunday Session at Hotel Rottnest. For Telstra, they invest a significant amount of money into our event which we use to help promote the event. Telstra then gains from the brand association with not only Zaccaria Group, Hotel Rottnest and Rotto Live, but also with The Presets.

So the preparation of this proposal to Telstra Thanks saw me conduct significant research on The Presets to develop a profile for the group, so that Telstra Thanks could identify in one or two paragraphs the significance and prestige of The Presets. I also had to search for recent artwork and photography to use in the proposal for the design and layout, which I developed in Microsoft Powerpoint and saved as a PDF - a very effective way of producing a succinct, professional looking proposal. The proposal also included tourism information on Rottnest Island and the WA market, so as to "paint the picture" for Telstra Thanks and basically outline the environment of the entire event on paper for them, to create an idea that would be as visual as possible.

After finishing the proposal and sending to Pam for review, we sent the proposal to the directors of Zaccaria for final approval, and then e-mailed the final version to the sponsorship and marketing coordinator at Telstra Thanks. Much to my delight, the proposal was successful and we now have Telstra Thanks as the major sponsor of The Presets at Hotel Rottnest. My research and copy on The Presets was also used on the Zaccaria website - check it out here to see a snippet of what I came up with.

With this sponsorship locked in, the next task was to start planning the radio and television campaign. Pam and I considered 92.9 and Nova93.7 as the key radio stations we would use for a radio campaign - however we had to choose one. To choose between the two, we liaise with the sales and production team at both radio stations to describe the event at hand, to which the radio station responds with their own proposal. Their proposal will include types of activities they will utilise to promote our event, timeframe, implementation, description and budget. From these proposals we are able to determine which station to use - in the instance of The Presets at Hotel Rottnest, Pam and I decided on both as we could target a significant share of our desired market. Listen out for our radio and tv campaigns in the next couple of weeks!!

There will be a lot of ticket give aways on both radio stations too, so make sure you tune in. Both proposals from 92.9 and Nova 93.7 were about 15 pages long and detailed some impressive campaign activities - here are a couple of pages from Nova 93.7's proposal.

I have found working on The Presets to be challenging and satisfying as I was only given the morning to come up with the proposal that was submitted to Telstra Thanks. I have found that most tasks in this environment are bound by time constraints and it is extremely important when researching or producing any work for publishing or professional, external submission, that it be correct and written tailored specifically for the target audience.

The hands on experience I have gained at my internship has been invaluable and really reinforces how important public relations, external relations and communications are imperative for business success, particularly in the music and marketing industry. Zaccaria have asked me to stay on after my internship, working for the company until the new year. I am excited to keep learning and gaining practical experience after the last three years of theoretical learning!

Til next time,
Delta

Trouble In Musical Paradise

Hello everyone!

I have been at Zaccaria Group for about 5 weeks now, completing my internship for two days a week. I have learnt so much since my first day about not only public relations but also marketing, advertising and maintaining important professional relationships.

Here at Zaccaria Group, we have recently been having a bit of "trouble in paradise", you might say. I have learned that things do not always run smoothly, as we would hope. What do you do when you are the promoter of a touring musician or act, you've expended your marketing and publicity budget, and tickets are just not selling? I had never considered before that tickets for a well-known show would not sell - as an avid concert-goer myself, I never really think about the logistics and workings behind actually selling a show. As members of the public, we just buy our tickets and attend, that's all there is to it. So I have had my first taste of crisis management in the music marketing industry. The artist at hand is Kate Ceberano - her regional WA shows are selling fantastically but Perth is just not buying it! We have promoted Kate over the past month on television (you can see the television advert in my previous post), radio, print articles and press releases, but still no cigar.

The last two marketing and finance meetings have revolved around strategising ways to improve sales - it has gotten to the point where it is vital to consider all other marketing avenues. The marketing budget has been completely spent, with only 30% of forecasted tickets sold. Not good. As the promoter of this tour, Zaccaria Group takes risks and must put on a show no matter what - cancelling the show is not an option. The worst-case scenario would be cancelling, and this is at the high probability of not only damaging our professional reputation, but also our relationships with the artist's management. Would they sign that deal with us again, knowing we cancelled on them last time? No, probably not. Instead, business would go to our competitors. Not only this, but the artist does not want to be playing a show to a half empty venue. Could you think of anything worse? I have learnt from this that maintaining relationships with important stakeholders is a key skill in public relations practice.

Our outlook in this situation is "SELL TICKETS NO MATTER WHAT!", we will proceed with the show at any cost, because nothing is worth sacrificing a reputation. Our strategy is to bring planned advertising forward a couple of weeks, so tickets start selling earlier rather than in a couple of weeks time. We have also arranged give aways with 96fm radio and changed advertising to different tv networks - we determined this by looking at shows which get the highest ratings, then liaise with that tv network to dedicate a 30 second spot during that prime time tv show. We can also tell that, for example, women over 30 are watching Channel 7 on a Sunday night because of a particular show being broadcast. This is all vital information which helps up strategise ways out of our "crisis".

We have also considered different ticketing strategies. Sometimes it comes into consideration to drop ticket prices so that sales take off, but at times this is not appropriate. Would it be beneficial to focus on selling a more expensive ticket package (such as a meet and greet after the show and a glass of champagne) to entice our audience? Tickets just might not be selling because people do not want to see a cheap show - they want an experience. Again, we need a good relationship with our artist and their talent management for this to occur - there will be no "meet and greet" if we have already hinted chance of cancelling the show.

So that is just one aspect of crisis management in the music PR industry that I have been faced with. I hope to report on my other tasks in my next blog, as I have just realised this has taken up far too much space already! Hope you found it interesting and please feel free to comment below. I also hope you are all enjoying your placements! It seems to be flying by, considering how daunting it seemed at the start!

Until next time,

Delta.

Rock and Roll - PR in the Music Industry

I am into my second week at my internship for PR 393. I was lucky enough to secure a placement with Zaccaria Group - a Western Australian market leader in the music concerts, touring and event management industry. Zaccaria Group is comprised of Zaccaria Concerts and Touring - the music management branch, and House of Zaccaria - the fashion label, which is great for me because I happen to love music and clothes! Zaccaria also has offices in Hong Kong and Nashville, USA. Zaccaria Group also runs a not-for-profit organisation called Strike A Chord. For my internship, I am primarily involved with the marketing, communications and public relations activity for Zaccaria Concerts and Touring, and so far it has been really exciting! Zaccaria's portfolio of clients to date includes Stevie Wonder, Tina Arena, Duran Duran, Michael Buble, Sting, Kate Ceberano, Santana, KD Lang, "So You Think You Can Dance"and Tears For Fears, to name a few. To see more about Zaccaria Group, check out the website here.

I am completing my internship two days a week for ten weeks, and am currently onto my second Monday. My duties so far have mainly been related to marketing and communication strategy, including updating and evaluating concert marketing budgets - at the moment I am working on Kate Ceberano and her four concerts coming up in October in Perth, Mandurah, Bunbury and Albany. When a concert is in the planning stages, we evaluate and produce marketing and advertising activity suitable for the desired target audience. This includes securing 15 second advert spots on radio (usually Mix 94.5 and 92.9) and 30 second advert spots on television - could be any station, depending on the target demographics. For Kate Ceberano, we are using regional television station WIN (Channel 9 equivalent) and using Mix 94.5. To secure spots with these advertising mediums, we have to liaise with the production team, who will send us a proposal report outlining the potential spots we can secure - for tv it is usually 20 x 30 second spots in a week for the duration of the campaign (usually 2 - 3 weeks), and will occur during peak times. We then compare the proposal to our marketing budget to ensure the forecasted cost is not exceeded by the proposed cost provided by the tv or radio station.

With the production of such television and radio adverts, we have to first secure with the artist's management the materials we are allowed to use. For example, Kate Ceberano is touring to promote her new album, so we were told by her management to use mostly her new songs and one or two of her old songs (which the public would recognise) as well as only the new album artwork, head shots and themes, to align with Kate's new image. We write the copy and scripts for the adverts (what we want the radio stations to say) and prepare the 15 second sound-bed (the music and sound effects in the background) by liaising with a technical producer/graphic designer, get it approved by management and CAD (television governing body that classifies commercials before they are broadcast), then send it off to the radio or television station to confirm the start of the promotional campaign. The idea is to align the start of the advertising campaign with the announcement to the public of the touring artist. We then track ticket sales and determine the correlation between when the adverts air and the spikes and troughs in ticket sales (which we monitor by logging onto a program called InSight, which is linked directly to Ticketek). By doing this, we can determine if the campaigns are effective. See below television advert that has just been approved by CAD and is going to air this Wednesday.

I have also been involved in reviewing the CMS for all recipients of e-mail direct marketing (eDM). Zaccaria has a total database of over 40,000 customers, which is then broken down into different sub-databases so we can target different demographics depending on the type of artist and concert we are promoting.

Zaccaria is currently in the process of reviewing the feasibility of bringing an exciting and well-known artist to WA towards the end of the year. I hope it happens and cannot wait for the announcement - at the moment I am not allowed to say anything! For determining if a project is feasible, management will have to review how much to price tickets at, which venue to use to host the artist (Perth Arena or Sandalford Winery - Zaccaria's competitive advantage over other players in the industry!), which ticketing website to use, which communication and promotional platforms to use, decipher the probability of a sell-out show and if not a sell out then how can we make it one (secure an exciting support act), review how "big" the artist is in Australia compared to the rest of the world, and the list goes on. I have just sat in on a marketing and finance meeting with the directors, which was really interesting to observe. I have realised that finance and marketing in this type of industry go hand in hand - forecasting, budgeting and reporting is so important to continually be working away at and allows the marketing team to plan campaigns according to statistics compiled by the finance team. The meeting reminded me of the unit Business Capstone - think lots of spreadsheets, talk of ROI, graphs, and numbers, numbers, numbers aka my worst nightmare! It is cool to be able to have a real life comparison to the things we learn at uni, and definitely makes all the theory come to life and just click like it usually doesn't in the classroom!

I am excited to be here to keep learning new things. I have realised that public relations is largely a very broad profession and can be applied to almost any job, so I am enjoying the fact that my internship has a strong marketing foundation. I also am well aware of the fact that it's so important to have contacts in an industry if you want to be a leader and succeed. The number and calibre of contacts and talent that Zaccaria has is overwhelming and exciting to be able to experience.

That's all I have time for today, but will keep updating as the weeks go by.

Delta

Didn't think it could be done

So my internship has come to an end, as so with it my uni days (almost).
I never thought this day would come.

Placement was always something I saw as the end of my degree and as it fast approached I was quite daunted by the thought of putting all my learning and skills to the test.

But now that it's over i'm reflecting on just what a valuable process it has been.
When i began at 96FM I felt like a little fish in a big pond full of people with great skills and knowledge and wondered how i could ever have any impact on a large organisation such as this and continue into the workforce to pursue public relations.

But with ending my internship came a burst of confidence that it can be done and you can have an impact, be it big or small.

My supervisor gave me the feedback that I truly needed, even though I didn't request it, and it gave me faith that I had accomplished what I had set out to do and in her eyes had surpassed the expectations of an intern.

I have found blogging a great way to look back and reflect on what I have been learning throughout my internship as often we don't really focus on the bigger picture.  But it has been a great way to see just how the skills we learn in the classroom are then used in the workplace.

Even if every little task I was given wasn't specifically PR, I can see that they have helped me to broaden my skill set. Even when you're handing out newspapers in the freezing cold, you're gaining great experience and putting those communication skills to the test. Being put under pressure in a professional environment has been a great experience in pushing myself and being a part of many exciting events and competitions.

Even though instead of writing media releases I found myself instead writing promotional scripts and letters and emails I have learnt a lot that will help in the future.

Good luck to everyone and especially to those graduating this semester.
Hope you have found it as rewarding an experience as I have.

Alicia

Taking Risks

A few things I have learnt throughout my journey as an intern at 96FM is just how much of an impact public relations can have on an organisation. When I started I knew there wasn't a straight out public relations department within this company, they have a strong focus on promotions and sales but throughout my journey you begin to see that PR has a small role within everything.

PR requires a high level of communication skills and working in this environment has helped me to really extend my skills in this area. Studying something such as PR, we all naturally probably have quite good communication skills but it's when you're in a professional environment that you realise how important it can be to convey exactly what it is you're trying to say and do. I realise the importance of working as a team to each achieve your individual tasks but the most important thing i've learnt is also to have a bit more faith in myself.

In the classroom there's definitely a safety net to make mistakes and learn what is right and wrong, in a professional environment you feel as though you need to constantly get it right. And in the past i've found I always second guessed myself and needed the affirmation of class mates or teachers that I was doing the right thing. When you're put in a position like an internship, you're often given a task and you need to go about it how you think it's best, often with not as much guidance as you may like. If there's anything I want to take away from this internship it's to remember what you've learnt and ask questions, but mainly to try your best and if you get it wrong it isn't the worst thing. The main thing is to show you've tried, have a bit of initiative and give everything a go. At 96FM i've been given numerous tasks I had never done before and used a lot of programs i've never seen before. Although it was daunting it's been a great experience to learn to push yourself. 

I also learnt that you should always refer back and question yourself about how your position and the work you are doing could make a difference in the organisation cause the, how could you go wrong?

Alicia 

Making 'mates' in the name of West Mate

When you start out somewhere new there's always that apprehension and panic of meeting new people. 

Starting out at 96FM couldn't have ran smoother with the aid of an office full of the friendliest people! On arrival it's rather intimidating exiting the lift into the reception of a radio statio - music blaring, famous faces plastered on the walls. But all fear faded as I became acquainted with the busy flow of radio station life. 

On my second day we were given the new West Mate Magazine as The West Australian is working with 96FM to promote this new mens mag that comes out weekly in Fridays paper! So after having a chuckle at some of the articles we wrote up a script to play over the radio to make sure everyone was aware of this new liftout. 

After reading it about 15 times and realising that West Mate Magazine in The West was almost impossible to say without stuffing it up we laughed it off and set off in the 96FM car to take the paper to the people (with bribery of course). Stocked with over 50 Brownes products in varying flavours and degrees of caffeinated goodness we called the station to record the cross amongst Perth's busy Friday morning traffic (hands free of course). 

Setting up in Bunnings Innaloo, cause that's where all the men are apparently, we listened out for the cross and  and within seconds of it playing people came running. I never realised people actually do this, but lucky for us they do! I was given the task of making sure we had enough photos for the social media and unfortunately ended up in half a dozen photos with the overly friendly tradies of Innaloo, one very hairy man in a hippie van who clearly just wanted free iced coffee and a grumpy little kid who didn't like the flash on my camera! 

After another few stops and a busy morning of handing out newspapers we hopefully made Perth aware of this new mens liftout and made some peoples day with some free tickets. Then it was back to the office to upload all the photos and make sure the clients were happy with our promoting skills. But not without me accidentally standing in the way of James Hird and the Perth paparazzi chasing him down the street. I had no idea who he was even though i'd been looking at his face on the paper all morning, oops! 

Loving the fast paced and exciting atmosphere of this great station and more adventures and incidents to tell in upcoming blogs.