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

On The Road. .

So I'm nearing the end of my placement and after being sick for a very long time it was essential that I came back strong. Upon my return I was required to draw up the media releases for each state leading up to the national roadshow. These media releases detailed each states event and information on the oZAPP awards. The process of sending out the media releases was long but good practice in searching for the right information and resolving undelivered emails as you go. I spent the whole afternoon glued to my computer until each and every media release was sent.

One of the most important things I've learnt is that the traditional strategies, such as media releases, take a long time, especially updating the databases! But without these there would be a lot of missed out opportunities for promotion. 

During the roadshow week, the spokesperson Bill Tai visited Perth and presented at SpaceCubed. This event was really well organised and took a lot of cooperation and teamwork between staff in Perth and France. This event proved to be a great learning experience as, despite pre-planning, we were faced with communication issues and venue access problems on the day of the event. The person we were working with at the venue failed to assist us (a group of four girls in heels) as we carried six boxes of glasses and alcohol up from the basement. The event ran well and no guests had a clue about the stressful setup! 

Me and the other intern set up a table at the front to check in guests as they arrived and present them with name tags. A simple but essential job at an event. I actually enjoy tasks like that as it gives me the opportunity to organise all the information I have and give me a sense of control. Throughout the rest of the night I helped with tasks here and there and served drinks to the guests. The biggest challenge was packing up the event in time for one directly after when guests still had all our hired glasses! but we found a way around that eventually! 

Not everyone had arrived by the starting time of the event so I continued to check people in while Bill spoke. By the middle of his presentation I was able to listen in and get a feel for the content. This was an eye opening experience as I had been writing the content and working on things involving Bill for so long that it was great to finally have the chance to listen to what he had to say and add to my understanding of the oZAPP's event. There was one particular quote that resonated with me from the presentation. Bill took his passion of extreme sports to compare Lain's theory with a surfing analogy to illustrate why it is timing and not perfection that is the most important factor when developing a company. 

"Starting a company is a lot like surfing. 

There are three places you can be with respect to the wave, in front, on, or behind it. 

If you are behind, it is impossible to swim up the back and get in front to ride, being early feel a lot like being wrong, but if you hit it just right it just takes a couple of easy strokes and you are up and riding." Bill said.

I think this analogy can be applied to numerous life aspects including PR. In PR you have to be in the right place at the right time to be effective. If you let a crisis get out of control it can reach the point of no return and if you come in too early the campaign will not be effective, indeed timing is everything. 

At the end of the night I finally had the opportunity to meet the man I had been writing so much about over the last few months. Bill was a genuinely lovely guy who has immense knowledge in the social media and startup industry. It was a pleasure to meet him and it definitely added to the experience of working on the event! 

Official oZAPP image: Email signature and promo flyer 

Official oZAPP Photos taken by Maya Kavanagh

Bill Tai presenting at Spacecubed as part of the oZAPP's National Roadshow

The Big Launch!

As of the 1st of August the oZAPP Awards has been launched!

This is the event that I have been working on for the past 13 days of my internship. Throughout this time I have done completed numerous tasks that have given me an understanding of different areas of the competition including;

- Developing a PR plan for the duration of the awards
- Developing a Media plan for the West Australian
- Establishing an extensive national media contact database
- Media sponsorship package development
- Media release writing and distribution throughout Australia and
- Client meetings

It felt like it was a long time coming but gee does time fly when your having fun! Before I knew it the launch had approached and the competition was under way!

Unfortunately I spent the week of the launch in bed by the doctors orders but I have been kept in the loop via email and have done some work at home, I cant wait to be back in the action next week! 

Just so you understand the project I am working on; The oZAPP Awards is Australia's largest app competition searching for the nation's best new mobile application concept. The oZAPP Awards is a Curtin University initiative and aims to foster dialogue and collaboration between innovators, researchers, investors and industry, and to stimulate innovative business culture throughout Australia. 

Along with the launch of the competition, the oZAPP website was officially launched. The website

includes information on the industry, resources, case studies, blog posts, information on the judges and sponsors, and entry forms for the competition.

The last few weeks have been busy as we worked to get everything completed by the launch and it has shown me a lot about working in the PR field and for a consultancy. The biggest thing that I came to realise is the time needed to be factored in to get all media coverage and work approved by. When your working for a client it an integral part of the operation to get all media content and information signed off on by the client to ensure that what we as the consultancy are sending out in their name is accurate. As a national competition with industry professionals from around the world involved, there is more than one person who has to sign off on all content and with different time zones, getting things signed off has been difficult and deadlines have had to be altered to ensure that all content is accurate before it is distributed to the media.

So now that the competition is under way, we'll be following the PR plan I developed for the roadshow coming up, publicity for the event, and developing the judging criteria and outline for all judges.

Have a look at the website and spread the word about this competition. You don't have to be tech savvy to have a great idea for an app so get involved!!

Until next time! 

A Once In A Lifetime Experience. .

Hi Everyone!

For my placement I am interning at 32 Degrees South Group (32dsg), a Perth-based events and communications agency that also review luxury goods, travel destinations and concierge choices. My main project consists of working on a curtain initiative, the oZAPP Awards, a a competition to identify Australia’s best mobile app concepts.

From the first day this placement has been amazing! The staff are lovely and I get along with all of them really well. Going into this placement I thought that I wanted to go down the PR Consultancy track and after only one day I knew that this was the industry I wanted to be in and the work I enjoyed doing. Its a perfect fit for me I think and its been great to know that my supervisor can see my passion for PR and the 'natural' flair I have for it. I can definitely see myself doing this as my career- and I think realising that is the best feeling and outcome that could have happened. 


Ive found doing this placement an amazing experience as I've had to establish a PR strategy from scratch and have also developed a media plan and presented it to a journalist at The West Australian. The biggest thing I've found is that completing a strategy for an assignment is so different to completing one for a client as you have to ensure that the strategies you suggest are realistic, achievable, and fit the clients needs and budget. Its been an invaluable experience and its good to know that I have the ability to develop a plan for a client that is both realistic and completed to a level that can be implemented straight away. 

I can't believe I'm only eight days in! So far I've completed a PR strategy, media plan, media database, presented to the company director, been present at a media meeting and had my PR plan presented to the client at the monthly board meeting. To top it all off my supervisor has moved back to France so I am working for her in the office through weekly calls. This is definitely a once in a life time experience! 

Until next time. . 

Erin.