Oranges and Apples.

Hello fellow classmates and welcome to my first PR393 blog post.

I figured with a four week internship it would make sense to post at least once a week, so here goes.

Week one at Go Communications, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

One of the biggest requirements for this unit is to relate the lessons we learn at University to the experiences we gain from our internships.

Already, one week in, I've realised that Public Relations in Malaysia differs quite a bit from the practices we learn in Australia.

One of the first things we learnt in PR Consultancy at Curtin was "the importance of billable hours". From day one it's stressed to us that as consultants it's crucial to record our activities. Our time must be accounted for and this is commonly done through a time-sheet; a sheet that records every minute of our day to ensure the right clients are billed for the correct amount of time worked.

At Go Comm's, they use a different practice to account for their efforts and to show the worth of their work.

This brings me to one of the biggest differences I've noticed so far. At Curtin we were taught that charging clients or showing clients the PR Value of media articles and clippings is old practice and no longer used in Australia, although we weren't really given an exact reason.

In Malaysia this is one of the biggest techniques used by consultants to prove their worth. After discussing this with one of my fellow interns who has grown up in Malaysia but studied in Melbourne he believed this might be a cultural thing. In a paraphrased version of our conversation he went on to say that Malaysians generally want a dollar value to everything, a receipt of their spending so to speak. This made a lot of sense to me and has given me a temporary answer to the oranges and apples of PR worth.

It was interesting to learn the formula, for calculating PR value which went a little something like this.

Article Height X Article Width (which gets converted into columns) X Casual Rate + Colour Cost X likelihood = PR VALUE

The columns, Casual Rate, Colour Cost and Liklihood is derived from a published book called Media Planner Guide Malaysia 2013.

The casual rate and colour cost changes based on the media source and pretty much means the cost of the article and the added costs if published in colour. The likelihood, is a scale from one to ten determining how easy or hard it is for that industry to get published with ten being the hardest, when a number is not provided by a supervisor the default is 4.

It was fun to add a bit of math to my day as it's not overly common in PR.

Once a PR Value is determined we type up a media clippings form, paste in the article and add it to the clients media file, very similar to the Media Clippings activity in PR MEDIA.

The next activity I got to do was a Media Landscape, this was a document we prepared to send to a client. The document listed all the media sources we contact on their behalf and a brief explanation on the type of media they are, including circulation rates and frequency.

It was interesting to have such a broad list of newspapers and magazines as Malaysia has three dominate languages; Malaysian, English and Chinese. Go Communications operates in all three languages to ensure clients reach all potential media platforms.

The most interesting part of my week was when the COO (Chief Operating Officer) asked myself and fellow intern Eve to put together a proposal for Puma. The firm received a really brief, brief (my attempt at PR humour) from Puma, the brief wanted a list of PR tactics that would gain exposure for the Puma Leisure line, underlining that Puma isn't just a sports brand.

Eve and I had just one day to put together as many ideas as we could to present to our boss. It was really interesting to bounce ideas of someone with such a different background to myself and also someone I had just met.

We both agreed that social media needed to be a strong part of our pitch and through further research decided that we needed fun PR activations to gain public exposure, the idea was that these ideas would be interesting enough for the general public to want to post online.

The pitch is this week coming so I better not give too much away but some of our ideas included a touch screen wardrobe, human mannequins, 3D lifestyle backdrops and an online treasure hunt.

Although the week started slow, it went by really quick, I'm not sure if it was because of all the learning or the fact that we had two public holidays. Malaysia has over 18 public holidays a year... I knew I lived in the wrong country.

Until next time.

Hannah

Sweaty Palms!

I commenced my internship with Netball WA on the 20th of February 2013. I have been keeping a diary of my day to day activities and feelings, but have not had a chance to upload any blog entries yet, so I’m sorry for the delay!

On my first day in the office I was filled with a mixture of excitement and nerves. I felt so honoured and happy to have been chosen to work with such an esteemed sporting organisation and also to be involved in a sport which I love and play myself. I was quickly introduced to everyone in the office and felt very welcomed and at ease after the first hour.

 My first and biggest task for the day was scrap booking about 9 months’ worth of hard copy media clippings. Netball WA’s biggest brand representation is for the West Coast Fever which is the women’s state league netball team for Western Australia. Thus, Netball WA on average has at least one story or mention within in print news medium each day. The Sunday times, The West Australian and Western Suburbs weekly were the basis of the newspapers I collected the clippings from. It was interesting and satisfying to be given a task for which I knew what was required of me. Having studied and collected media clippings in my PR Media 250 classes last year made this task so much easier and also reminded me that everything we learn at university is relevant and useful in a real life working environment.

  By 1.00pm the media clippings were now up to date and I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. Emily (Media and Communications manager) then asked me to do some research on other ANZ Championship teams in regards to their social media presence. I compared websites, twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram accounts and made notes as to where the West Coast fever could improve on. I found this really useful on my first day as it gave me a feel for the organisation and where the West Coast fever sat in relation to other state league netball teams around the country.

The last few hours of the day were spent sorting out membership bundles and helping with a mail out of season fixtures, merchandise and information to all of the 2013 members. My first day at netball WA couldn’t have gone better! I Honestly feel like a valued member of the PR and Media team already and cant wait to keep you all updated with other opportunities and challenges dim sure I will be faced with over the next few coming months!

To find out more information on Netball WA or the West Coast Fever brand, please check out their websites!

http://www.netballwa.com.au/default.asp

http://www.westcoastfever.com.au/

Rebecca.

"Life is a journey. Enjoy the ride."

Hi everyone! As this is my first blog entry I thought it would be best to introduce myself. My name is Bianca and I am a 4^th year  Public Relations and Professional Writing student at Curtin University in Bentley, Perth.  

 

Now you’re probably wondering why I chose the title above for this post. Well, on my way to my very first day at Professional Public Relations (PPR), nerves running wild and stuck in the usual heinous morning traffic of the Mitchell Freeway, I found myself behind a car with those very words plastered to its rear window.  Now I’m not usually one to subscribe to bumper-sticker words of wisdom but that day I took a leap of faith and I did.

 

This past week at PPR has certainly been a ride to say the least, as from my very first day I was thrown straight into the hustle and bustle of the busy PR consultancy by driving around Perth dropping off Valentines Day cupcakes to the media on behalf of a client.  Instead of spending the whole task stressing about a) completing the drop in a reasonable timeframe and b) making sure each cupcake did not melt in transit – I made the conscious decision to embrace and actually enjoy the opportunity that I was given which thankfully turned out to be a great success. Besides giving me a much needed confidence boost on my first day, I also found the task to be as informative as it was exciting which has since given me a good sense of where the media is located across our city. In my opinion, this knowledge of who’s who and where in the Perth media is invaluable and something which will continue to benefit me throughout the duration of my internship as well as my career.  

 

Back in the office, I spent the rest of the week undertaking a combination of administrational and public relations related activities.  Some of these activities included media monitoring – a task that is done everyday, where local and state papers are scanned and any coverage of clients is documented in what are known as ‘media clippings.’ I was surprised to find that the layout of these media clippings actually resemble the layout which we used in a journaling assignment for PR Media 250. This familiarity was really welcoming and certainly helped take the edge off what was otherwise a new and unfamiliar task.

 

Finally one of my major tasks this week was to conduct phone interviews with successful recipients of a grant given by one of PPR’s clients.  The aim of these interviews is to source as many potential news stories (or leads as they are called) as possible. As I am a student from a professional writing background, I have had very little experience with interviewing throughout my degree apart from a Q&A assignment in PR Media 250.  As you can therefore imagine, I was absolutely terrified at the prospect of putting on my journalist’s cap and digging for a good community-news story! However despite starting off a bit shaky and unsure, I now feel very confident conducting phone interviews and have already managed to uncover some very poignant and potential news stories. Amongst the skills of interviewing and transcribing which I have learnt from this task, another very valuable insight I have taken away with me is the overlap that I can now see exists between the Public Relations and Journalism profession. Though my classes at Uni have touched on this in the past, it is definitely one thing to learn about this overlap theoretically and another to experience it in a real working environment. Needless to say, I have enjoyed the challenge that these interviews have presented and will continue to embrace the opportunity to grow and refine these new skills throughout remainder of my time at PPR.

 

I apologize for the very long entry but as you can see I have had a very busy week and can’t wait to see what my second week holds in store for me!

 

Until next time…

IT’S ALL ABOUT ADAPTABILITY and MANAGEMENT

From sitting at the computer working on communication campaigns to directly liaising with stakeholders, the work of public relations professionals is consistently changing.

The past weeks at the one40william office has been a busy and exciting time as the retail division 140 continues to gain exposure in the CBD and beyond.

ADAPTABILITY

My roles over the past weeks have been constantly changing, and I have seen myself needing to adapt to various tasks and situations quickly and with ease. I have assisted with various elements of 140’s public relations sector, from assisting with a social media strategy to communicating with key stakeholders.

The following are the roles (on average) that I will complete during one day of interning:

• Media Clippings
• Communication Campaign Brainstorming
• Distribution of Communication Packages to Retailers
• Taking Instagram Photos throughout 140 (140 Instagram Strategy)
• Phone calls to stakeholders
• Assisting with 140 campaigns
• Conducting research

It is through these wide ranges of roles that I have had the ability to widen my experience of dealing with adaptability and how to change from job to job. The fast thinking and role changing work environment that I have been exposed to has increased my skills within the workplace and will certainly assist me in my future career.

Through my placement at the one40william offices I have been able to realise the importance of being adaptable to various situations, roles and workplaces.

STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

Stakeholders, target market and target audiences are the drivers behind any communication campaigns and releases that a public relations professional develops and distributes. However, it is the level of stakeholder management required to ensure that relationships are cemented with those who are influential to the success of a brand or business.

140 Perth prides itself on maintaining high communication relationships with its retailers. Therefore, I was required to ensure that I had high verbal communication skills to interact and liaison with retailers and other 140 key stakeholders.

When liaising with retailers, I was required to distribute communication material from the one40william Building Management team

Recently, I ventured out to all of the retailers to gain feedback and an insight into how the retailers are coping with the newly passed legislation and implementation of Sunday Trading. This form of one-on-one market research gave me the opportunity to really get to know the retail managers, their concerns and gain knowledge on retailer issues.

I feel as though the level of verbal communication that I use and the interaction with stakeholders (such as the retailers) has increased as a result of this role at one40william.

Until next time for more exciting 140 experiences,

Alexandra Wheeler 

Seniors for Seniors Success!!!

Part of my experience at Shine has been managing the pro-bono work the Principal, Ruth, does for the Shenton Park Dogs’ Refuge Home. I can’t tell you how rewarding it has been! This past week I found out that I was instrumental in re-homing an 8-year-old beautiful black Labrador, named Cindy – who was part of their Seniors for Seniors program. It was because of my efforts in putting together a media release for the Western Suburbs Weekly, as well as The Senior that lead to this joyous outcome!

For this post, I thought I’d go through the different steps I took to ensure that a journalist would run with this story upon receiving the media release.

1.       Initial contact;

The first step in putting together this media release was contacting and conversing with the President of the Dogs’ Refuge. It was through this discussion that the initial idea for the story came about – a release about one of the dogs’ currently at the refuge, linking it to the Seniors for Seniors program they offer for dogs over 7-years.

2.       Contacting the Cindy’s foster-owner;

Until she could be given a permanent home Cindy the ‘lovable Labrador’ was fostering with a volunteer of the refuge. This foster-owner would provide a valuable insight into the nature of Cindy and as such was someone I wanted to interview to quote in the release. Thankfully she was more than happy to help, as she adores Cindy! Interviewing her about the dog was great, even just over the phone you could hear the love!

3.       Research;

To relate the story to the Seniors for Seniors program run by the Shelter, I had to find as much out about the program as possible. This came both from ‘desktop’ research by perusing the Refuge’s website, as well as a call to the president who filled me in on the current number of dogs in the seniors program at the Shelter.

4.       Writing the release;

This is where your writing skills come into play, and as a double major student of PR and Journalism, this is the part I enjoy the most! Inverted pyramid style, keeping the focus on Cindy initially before looping in the Seniors for Seniors program and some general information about the Refuge that is included in every release they send out.

5.       Approval;

After writing my release I forwarded it to my supervisor who loved it and said she would send it straight to the Refuge President for approval. Once approved it would be ready to go out to the papers. To my great pleasure she loved it too!!

6.       Photos;

A handy tip for getting a story placed is a great photo. I was asked to organise this with the foster-owner who was more than happy to take one. I suggested she do it at a Park, and with some bright colours, and that is precisely what she did. This photo was used in The Senior.

7.       Sending it out;

This was a fairly simple task. All I needed to do was some phoning to the Western Suburbs Weekly to get the names and emails of journalists currently working on the paper, and then put together an email to be sent out. My supervisor was the one who actually sent the email I drafted however, as she has a Shine Communications address, which is more professional. My supervisor also already has established contacts with The Senior so she sent it straight off to them.

8.       Organising photo opportunities;

The Western Suburbs Weekly journalist requested that their photo journalists take a photo to accompany the article, so it was my job to arrange a time convenient for both the journalist and the ‘talent’ – Cindy and the foster-owner.

9.       SUCCESS!

The Western Suburbs Weekly article can be found online, just follow the hyperlink – Page 14 in August 28, 2012 issue of Western Suburbs Weekly. And find below a photo taken of the article in The Senior.

This was an amazing learning opportunity, as I managed and was in-charge of the whole process, and seeing an article published from my media release, not once, but twice, was absolutely thrilling. More over learning that these articles led to Cindy finding a permanent new home was absolutely breathtaking. Helping a dog get a second chance at life was very rewarding, and I am so thankful for being given that opportunity!!

That’s all for today.

Elizabeth Gall
Curtin – Bentley

IT’S TIME FOR THE 140 DIFFERENCE

Welcome to my PR Professional Placement Reflective Blog!

To be different does not mean to consistently stand out from the crowd, but to ensure that your actions reflect that of originality and innovation.

It is through this notion that I chose to complete my placement at the Jones Lang LaSalle division of one40william.

My name is Alexandra Wheeler as a student as Curtin University, completing my final units of a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Marketing and Public Relations I am excited to share my experiences whilst interning at one40wiliam.

Jones La LaSalle (JLL) is a firm that focuses on the professional real estate service industry and provides such services to clients in 70 countries. With more than 200 corporate offices and 1, 000 locations worldwide, JLL has a high standard of real estate service experience. JLL is the managing agent for 140 Perth (the retail sector) of one40william building and development in the CBD.

“The Difference is 140”

Throughout my placement I will be working in the one40william office along side my mentor Kristi Dempster (Marketing and Tenant Service Manager). My work will be centered on public relations and marketing strategies assisting in developing the 140 retail segment.

GRAB THAT OPPORTUNITY

I was able to gain my placement through an opportunity of volunteering with Perth Fashion Festival in September 2011. As the 140 brand was involved with the festival, an email was forwarded by Perth Fashion Festival event manager Jacqui Brown on behalf of one40william to the volunteers. I jumped at the opportunity to complete an internship with one40william.

I was attracted to the vibrant and modern concept of the brand and the building itself. After emailing Kristi I was asked to come in for an interview. I researched the construction of the one40william building and the 140 brand to ensure I was prepared for questions on the organisation. Nervous but excited, I completed my interview and was ecstatic to receive a personal phone call from Kristi two days later informing me that I had gained one of the two exclusive internship placements at one40william.

It had really sunk in that the interview and communication skills that I had learnt from tutors and lecturers had been put into practice and paid off. It was the end of 2011, I had already cemented my placement for second semester 2012…and then it hit me, it was the experience and volunteering I had completed the past two years that assisted me in landing this placement.

IT ALL BEGINS…

I commenced my placement on the 9^th of August and my first two weeks (I had one week off) have already flown by. The corporate environment at one40william is warm and welcoming, with all employees presenting such experience and knowledge.

I began my experience by reading and reviewing past Marketing Plans and Public Relations Plans. This essential information provided me with a cement understanding and knowledge of the direction of the 140 brand. To ensure that I gained a further insight into 140’s brand values I studied past newsletters, the website (http://www.140.com.au/) and social media channels (http://www.facebook.com/140Perth).

A regular role that I conduct each morning when I arrive is to collect media clippings that are about or mention one40william, competitors (enex100, Carillion City, Claremont Quarter or Forrest Chase) and details on the retail industry. The clippings are collected from newspapers and then strategically displayed and filed in an organised manner.

Liaising with the retailers within 140 has become a consistent role that I conduct. This is to ensure that the retailers receive important and relevant information regarding the re-development stage that 140 is about to enter.

I attended a social media meeting with Kristi regarding the development of 140’s Instagram photo feed. The meeting reviewed the goals that are to be achieved and the specific requirements of the photo’s that are to be posted. I was then given the opportunity to venture out and take photo’s of the retailers products and the 140 building.

THE DIFFERENCE IS 140

After my first two weeks I have been exposed to amazing experiences and practices that I could only learn through an internship. I have gained a larger insight into the 140 brand, realizing it is not only a retailing driven sector of one40william but a brand that promotes itself and its values. The promotional avenue taken by 140 is creative and innovative, thus highlighting the 140 brand tagline, “The 140 Difference”.

Experience is the key to knowledge and understanding, and this experience is worthwhile!

More 140 adventures next time!

Alexandra Wheeler

Excel spreadsheets, media clippings and more excel spreadsheets!

Hello Everybody Completing PR393!

I hope all of your placements are going well and you are all learning a lot.

I have recently finished my first week at Professional Public Relations (PPR) in Perth and have learned so much already. I am really enjoying my time at PPR! For those of you who don’t know of PPR I’ll give you all a brief rundown. PPR is the largest public relations consultancy in Perth with over 100 clients. Their client lists includes well known brands such as MacDonald’s, Bunnings, HBF, Chevron, Landcorp, Perth Fashion Festival, Emirates and Murdoch University. PPR consists of four different teams in house including corporate communications, consumer, investor relations and digital public relations. During my placement I have not been placed in a specific team rather, I have been given the opportunity to work across all teams which furthers the diversity found in consultancy.

I have been given a number of different tasks over the past week but I wanted to reflect on some of my main tasks. One of these has been media monitoring. On my first day I was given a crash course in how PPR completes their media clippings for their clients – there was a lot to remember! I’ve learnt how to clip both hard and soft copy articles along with calculating the Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE). You still need to know maths to work in public relations! I managed to work it all out and successfully completed my first few clippings with only minor mistakes. After a full week of practice, I can safely say I could take this skill to a graduate position. I find it interesting that we are not taught how to complete media clippings at university. I understand that every organisation does media monitoring differently but we could have had a small amount of time dedicated to media clippings in one of our PR units to assist us when we complete our placements. I picked it up quite easily but it would have been beneficial to have done it previously.

As the title of my blog post suggested, I have used a lot of Excel spreadsheets since starting my placement at PPR. I have used Excel previously but not to the extent I have this previous week. I have slowly learned how to be more competent in using Excel but I am sure there are many more functions within the program that could make my use of the program more efficient. Many of the tasks I’ve been asked to complete have included the use of Excel such as several media lists for different clients and a forward features list. My eyes have seen so many lines, rows and columns that I’ve been dreaming about Excel. Somehow I think I’ll need to go to the optometrist after my placement is completed!

The forward features list was a large task requiring information for around thirty different publications to be gathered. Without completing this task I would have never had known that it was possible to get a list of features that the publication was going to run in the next year. A forward features list is a great source of information for a consultant assisting with the implementation of a media placement strategy. Although the downside to updating a forward features list is that it is very time consuming, I could feel myself becoming stressed as I felt I wasn’t working fast enough. I was however reassured by one of the consultants that I was doing well and not to stress over it.

Three main things I learnt during the first week of my placement;

1. Time Management – Being able to allocate time to a specific task and complete the task efficiently is vital to the success of a public relations consultancy.

2. Team Work – When working in a consultancy, you are not alone. A single client account may be covered by several consultants so it is important to communicate well with others about your own workloads and how much capacity you have day to day to complete necessary tasks.

3. Microsoft Outlook – This program has saved my brain from being fried to pieces this week. I was able to enter in all the tasks I needed to complete and allowed me to set reminders for meetings. This is truly the best friend to any consultant or anyone in general!

This first week has allowed me to put into practice what I have learnt at uni and I hope to transfer this knowledge into the workplace upon graduation. Here is a great article from PR Daily explaining what skills employers’ desire from PR professionals today.

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/10077.aspx

I look forward to reading more PR393 blogs.

Deanne

Bentley Campus

Consultancy Work

Heard about the Perth Fashion Festival? McHappy Day? If it wasn't for PPR (Professional Public Relations) you may not have! These are some of PPR's clients:

Note: these were taken after Friday drinks, I may not have been holding the camera steady.

Hi, I am Liam and I am doing my internship at (you guessed it) PPR - and 'I'm Lovin' It' (McDonalds is one of PPR's clients and yes we do get free burgers).

So far it has been most exciting. Lately I have been busying myself with database maintenance - oh and they made me sign something to say I won't steal any of their information so DON'T ASK!

I have been creating a media clippings file for the Perth Fashion Festival - and unfortunately Sarah Pauley, the 'Face of Perth Fashion Festival' (the hottest model in Perth) will not return my calls :(

I have also been updating contact lists (ie stalking journalists).

My main goal at PPR is to get an insight into the workings of both the consultancy and the industry as a whole.

At the moment I am looking for talent to appear in McDonalds stores for McHappy Day. We are contacting sporting types, politicians and minor celebrities (TV personalities, etc). Perth has hundreds of Z list celebrities, so if anyone can help me with contacts please send them my way!

P.S. On Monday 20 September, the winners of the PRIA campaign awards were announced. PPR won three. Go PPR!

Source: www.pria.com.au/news/id/1016

Felicity works in the office across from my desk. Nicole and Peter work upstairs. What an awesome bunch of people I work with!

Liam :)

Media Monitoring: No Laughing Matter

The first time we met, my Managing Director made sure I understood the importance of media clippings to our business. "I've come down very hard on interns, employees, who miss clippings," he warned. There was once someone missed a clipping on our client and he instantly demanded to know who it was.

Media clippings, quite simply, is the Return On Investment (ROI) of PR. It is how we demonstrate to our clients that we have done our jobs. Just as advertisements are the product of advertising agencies, media clippings are the "products" and the "results" of PR. This is because the information that led to these clippings usually originate from press releases produced by PR agencies.

But more importantly, media clippings allow us to track and understand how the press responds to our PR activities. If the press release is dull, for example, or if our press conference was not well attended by the media, we can only expect that press coverage will be minimal (and clients will be screaming!). At the end of the day, it is the clippings report that our clients will refer to when evaluating our performance.

It isn't surprising then that media monitoring is our first task in the morning when we arrive at work. There will be a stack of papers waiting for us, and each person has to grab at least two on the way to his or her workstation. Certain clients expect their clippings report in by 11am everyday, so we can't take our own sweet time.

The relevant articles will be cut out and pasted on a clippings template containing several details such as publication, page, date, and section. In addition, there is a specific way to quantify media coverage, called the advertising value equivalency (AVE) and PR value:

AVE = Height (cm) X Column size X Advertising rate + Colour surcharge (if article is in colour)

PR Value = AVE X 3

The reason why PR Value is three times that of AVE is because PR professionals believe that news articles are more credible than advertisements and thus worth more for the same amount of space. It should be noted, however, that AVE is a controversial measurement. We were taught in class that it is not a suitable formula for evaluating PR, and the US Institute for Public Relations (IPR) has formally rejected it.

AVE is deemed unethical as there is no scientific evidence to prove that news articles are more effective that advertising. If you have the time, click here to read the IPR's informative discussion of the various issues concerning AVE.

Nonetheless, there is no denying that AVE puts a dollar value on media clippings, not to mention that some clients actually demand it as proof of an agency's work.

Cheers,
John.