It's your values that stand out

Interning in a consultancy, I have had the opportunity to work on a range of projects with different clients. 

One client was a cosmetic surgery company, where I was asked to come up with an idea similar to the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. This was a campaign to challenge 'beauty stereotypes' and give women more confidence and self esteem. Women are one of Dove's key stakeholders, so they have positioned themselves as an advocate for women and women's issues - with a genuine interest in customers' and stakeholders' wellbeing. 

Photo - Kendra McGowan - Dove Real Beauty, PR in Practice 

Building community relationships should be a priority for any organisation, but it can be more complicated when the organisation deals in sensitive issues - such as the cosmetic surgery company. The basis behind this is to put your name behind a solid idea or conversation, which firstly benefits the community, and benefits for the organisation come later. This comes under the category of Corporate Social Responsibility - a topic I have come across countless times in my studies. Paul Portney defines it as:

"A consistent pattern, at the very least, of private firms doing more than they are required to do under applicable laws and regulations governing the environment, worker safety and health, and investments in the communities in which they operate," - The Not So New Corporate Social Responsibility: An Empirical Perspective. 2008. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 2008, Vol. 2(2), pp.261-275). 

My objective for this task was to;

• Define key stakeholders
• Work out what issues these stakeholders are facing
• Work out how to address these issues

I came up with two campaign ideas for the client - both centred around improving life for women in Malaysia. The actions called for in the [proposed] campaigns did not immediately benefit the client in any way - the only benefits they would get was from putting their name behind the cause. I also recommended using local celebrities and well known advocates on the issues to lend authority and publicity to the campaigns. 

Photo - Essential Kids

I based this approach on the BHP Billiton Iron Ore & West Coast Eagles partnership, where BHP funded a number of campaigns including 'Kicking Goals,' and 'Eagles Rock My School.' These engagements show BHP's commitment to supporting the communities they operate in (Giving West, WA Corporate Giving Index. December 2013). By engaging West Coast - who have a strong public profile and community ties - the campaign was better received and had more impact. And the benefits for BHP were that they built stronger ties with key stakeholders, allowing them to operate more efficiently and effectively. 

Photo - Giving West 2013

While I am not sure if either of these campaign ideas will go ahead, it gave me an invaluable opportunity to understand how to implement effective community relations. This brings me to an important point about CSR. Did you know a study by Reputation Institute shows your, "...willingness to buy, recommend, work for, and invest in a company is driven 60% by your perceptions of the company - or it's reputation, and only 40% by your perceptions of the products or services it sells," (Forbes). 

However I think it is important to note good CSR and PR strategies don't cover up bad business ethics. Freeman, Velamuri and Moriarty point out:

"Corporate social responsibility is often about seeming to “do good works.” And, while there is certainly nothing wrong with doing more good, there can be an implication that companies need 

to do good works because the underlying structure of business is not good, or morally neutral. This is a destructive idea—it fails to recognize the central role business plays globally in improving the 

well-being and prosperity of hundreds  of millions of people. And, it can cause companies to act in bad faith and get involved in matters where they have little expertise," Company Stakeholder Responsibility. 

Until next time, 

Whitney Slater

Curtin Bentley 

Operating in unfamiliar territory

Throughout my studies it has been highlighted that understanding your target audience and/or stakeholders is key to public relations success. In fact, Public Relations Institute of Australia includes it in their definition of PR;

‘Public relations is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation (or individual) and its (or their) publics. It's the key to effective communication in all sectors of business, government, academic and not-for-profit.’

So, when I touched down in Malaysia town to start my four week internship at Go Communications, I found myself having to research aspects of my work - cultural factors which I am attuned to at home in Perth. 

This opened my eyes to the importance of communicating with a multi-cultural audience, and truly checking how your message can be interpreted. Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia has a unique cultural landscape - there is no one dominant culture, in fact it is home to a large population of Indian, Chinese, Indonesian and Muslim people to name a few. 

Kuala Lumpur population by Ethnic Groups, 1980 - 2000

In my first week at Go I wrote my first press release, and I had to completely change my writing style. I have always written press releases in a hard news style - here in Perth it’s the recommended way to get published. As Even Peterson points out, PR is all about writing, so this was a chance for me to broaden my PR skill set. 

My team leaders explained the best way to write the release, and after reading past GO press releases and local newspapers, I understood my usual approach was not going to work. Most Malaysian media outlets write in a more colourful, descriptive style - where in Australia we’re basically 'banned' from any unnecessary detail and comment. So in my press release for the National Kidney Foundation I followed my team's advice, and took into account the fundamentals of a press release to make sure it was effective. Read up on 5 mistakes not to make in press releases here. 

In the end, my release got half a colour page in a newspaper. I should also note I read the local papers every morning, so this helped me understand the preferred style and content. 

By adapting my writing skills to suit a different audience, I was able to communicate the client's message more effectively. This task helped me to hone my writing skills - to write more succinctly and clearly. First week down, and this made me much more confident to tackle other tasks. 

Whitney Slater

Curtin University - Bentley 

Starting the day 'happy'

One of the teams at the agency is running a radio campaign for a client.  They have sponsored a daily news program on one of the local radio stations named 'Happy News', where only positive news is featured.  They have asked the office to send in ideas for news topics each morning.  It is a fun and positive way to start my day, looking for 'happy' articles while doing my daily media monitoring. A few of my suggestions made it through to be aired on the program.  I think this is a clever campaign to associate the company with a happy, positive, feel-good image.

Something I have found very useful throughout my internship is that my supervisor often CCs me into her discussions with clients and journalists.  It has been a good way for me to see how she develops and looks after her working relationships.  I can also see how she pitches stories to be published and how she handles awkward or difficult situations.

Pitching Perfectly

Today I was asked to join the agency CEO and company secretary for a client pitch.  The client was a small hospitality business looking for public relations assistance in its launch.  We all sat down with a coffee, the CEO had a prepared PowerPoint presentation he ran in the background throughout his speech.  We had bought along a projector, as is customary with pitches but the small business did not have the office space to facilitate this so we had it running on the laptop at the end of the table.  The CEO spoke with a confident and casual demeanor, drawing attention to the parts of the presentation that were of particular importance or relevance to this client.

The pitch presentation included:

- The agency’s credentials including their multiple awards.

- Their selling point:  ‘Tailored press releases to each and every media outlet’.

- Working process: Initial meeting and brainstorm with entire team.

- Past projects specific to client's industry and goals.  They gave the specific example of a past Burger joint launch with a Barack Obama look alike. The client was impressed with the way the launch built confidence with investors, gained wide media coverage and lots of customers on launch day.

- Free advice: Client wanted to hold its launch during Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month, the CEO warned against it.

- Budget: The client did not have a set budget.  The CEO explained the importance of setting at least a rough budget for the benefit of both the firm and the client; otherwise it is hard to gauge expectations of both parties.  Competing PR firms that the client had previously met with, had given quite low quotes.  The CEO was upfront and honest about prices (ie.professional fees, additional costs for events etc).

Today’s venture beyond the office was a great learning experience.  It was really good to see the CEO, a winner of Best PR Practitioner, in action.  I feel like I learned a lot today just from watching the way he discussed sensitive topics with clients ie budgets and telling a client when they are wrong.  These are things they don’t teach you in the classroom and things that are taught best through practical experience.

Georgia Gunther
15560340

Interning abroad

I was lucky enough to be selected as one of the students to complete the internship unit abroad.  I am interning at a Public Relations agency based in Kuala Lumpur.  I hope to make the most of this experience.  I hope to work for a multinational company or in an international position, on completion of my degree.  So I hope the contacts I make and the experience I have interning abroad will open up desired opportunities for me in the future.

In the couple of days that I have been here at the consultancy I have already met so many people from various backgrounds and noticed things that differ from the typical Australian working culture.  The working days are quite a bit longer here.  Our hours are 9am to 6pm, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you go home at 6pm.  Most days there is still plenty to do after 6pm and no one is ever in a rush to get home.  I am always impressed by the work ethic of all the employees.  My team leader usually stays past 7pm to miss the traffic and finish off the days’ many tasks.

There is a nice working culture at the agency.  There are four separate teams that work on a handful of clients each.  My team consists of the team leader and one other member, both PR professionals and now myself. 

My team

 Each team takes an hour lunch break together, rather than going one by one.  It is a good way to develop relationships with co-workers and I feel this beneficial for the team work required during work hours.

Staying in Kuala Lumpur for a month and working 9 – 6 Monday to Friday, I feel as if we are getting the real experience of full time public relations work in a different country.  Unlike university, where you have three other units, part time work and a private life all obscuring your focus on an assignment or task at hand, the benefit of working full time have been a more refined focus specifically on the handful of clients your team is responsible for.

Georgia
15560340