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 

Initial Meeting

So I didn't realise this has been sitting in the drafts bit for ages, meant to post it about a month ago. Silly me. Oh well, this post is about my first internship day, which was full of meetings and talking and narrowing down how I was going to spend my 20 days and what was expected of me/what they'd like to get out of having me there.

The first part of the meeting revolved around what AVHI does; audiovisual equipment hire (at the minute mostly to private functions) and how they would like to expand. For a pretty recent start-up business, they've had a lot of private interest, and are doing quite well, however would like to focus more on building up a good, solid reputation that will have people coming to them, which is where I come in.

I brought up going to local schools and not for profit groups - in our area north of the river there are about 10 schools in the immediate vicinity (more if you go further), a huge number of sporting organisations who have raffles, presentation nights, and similar events, and local surf clubs and charity organisations who hold events with relative frequency. My idea with these was to offer to do their events free of charge, as long as they mention AVHI in their newsletter, have a banner up or something like that.

So I've started creating a contact list divided based on areas (AVHI operates in all metro areas) starting with the one closest to where the owner lives. This has all the details of whoever is the point of contact for each organisation.

Also in the meeting we talked a little bit about making the company more professional looking and therefore bringing in clients who are willing to pay more. Part of this internship includes pitching in with marketing as well as managing AVHI's PR, but I've found it very interesting all the same. AVHI has some of the best equipment, does installations, and has very low prices. I'm currently researching the market around Perth for AV hire, as the owner would like to offer the lowest prices. I've just sent off proofs of the new website and business card design, and I'm about to go and revise some of the advertisements and discuss with the owner building a social media presence (which is an area of PR I'm very interested in).

Until next time!!

It pays to be healthy

Wow, I can’t believe that I’ve finished my public relations internship with St John of God Murdoch; it certainly hasn’t felt like three months!

For my last blog post I would like to talk about what I have learnt about public relations in health care, which believe me, has been more than I could have imagined.

What makes public relations in health care so unique is that the health care industry will always be in demand; you will always need health care regardless of how society changes and it will constantly be growing at a constant rate.

Combine a strong growth rate and increasing competition between hospitals and you have an extremely fierce market where PR is (if it is not already) becoming an important part of organizational long term strategy. In fact many experts agree that the health care industry will be one of the biggest growths within the PR sector.

Private health care specifically relies on a squeaky clean image and strong ties with your local community and employees in order to succeed, so if you are interested in pursuing a career in community relations the health care sector might be an interesting place to start your journey.

For any PR 393 prospective students who are looking for a challenge and interesting field, I suggest trying to find a placement within the health care industry. You won’t be disappointed.

Farewell!

PRintern

Putting the RAN in BRANDING

Throughout my internship at Corporate Sports Australia for the Chevron City to Surf for Activ, I have quickly realised the importance of branding. Throughout our degree the importance of branding has come up and although it seems straightforward, it is when you put it into practice in the ‘real world’ you see it all come together.

Branding is a distinguishing name and/or symbol such as a logo, trademark or package design, intended to identify the goods or services of either one seller or a group of sellers and to differentiate those goods and services from those of competitors.

The diagram below looks at the positioning of the brand and understanding the link between a brand and its organisation, customers and competitors:

Based upon stakeholder evaluations of the strongest corporate reputation within different countries, they suggest that organisations with the strongest reputations are characterised by high levels of visibility, distinctiveness, authenticity, transparency and consistency. 

Every piece of documentation - media releases, official invitations, emails, newsletters and letters need to have the official Chevron City to Surf for Activ logo/brand on it and every time the event is written out, it needs to be ‘Chevron City to Surf for Activ’ not ‘Perth City to Surf’ or ‘City to Surf fun run’. In ensuring that all documents have this logo on it , event organisers are able to know, with confidence that its customers and competitors are familiar with the brand and can easily identify what the event logo is and are shown the same consistent logo that is distinctive from other events and organisations and is visible to them.

The event organiser, explained to my fellow intern Alanna and I about how important branding is. Everything needs to get the tick of approval from Chevron, and both organisations have an understanding of the brand of the Chevron City to Surf for Activ which you can see at the beginning of my blog post. Although the white background in the logo may seem irrelevant and unimportant, it is a part of the brand. The event manager wanted to test out a black background for the banners that will be placed everywhere - in the Event Expo, all down St Georges Terrace, Adelaide Terrace and other streets in the City and at City Beach Oval. When a sample arrived at the office, we were shown the difference between the black and white banners and all agreed that not only did the white background look more effective and let the writing stand out more but was more reflective of the City to Surf ‘brand’. The event manager continued to tell us that Chevron may not have approved this logo as it was different to all the logos that were currently in use but was good to test it out and see the difference and make notes for next year’s event.

Above are the banners on St Georges Terrace, the City start line. Imagine them with white writing and black background, the design that wasn't put forward. 

Branding may just seem to be a part of the process and come as second nature to include the proper naming of the event and have the logo on everything but when the event manager explained in literally black and white how branding works and why the banners need to have a white background, it opened my eyes to see this little detail has such high importance and works with the organisation, its customers and competitors.

What are your thoughts on branding? Have you had an experience at your internship when the wrong or right brand has been put out to the public or know of any brands that have gone wrong or are successful? 

Thanks,

Steph Sbrocco

"Its not over till the fat lady sings"

Hi Everyone!

I have just completed my placement at 32 Degrees South Group and I cant help but feel sad. It has been such an amazing experience especially being part of such a new company. When I finished, my supervisor took the team out for celebratory/goodbye drinks and she asked us what we have learnt from this experience. My immediate answer was ‘confidence’. I said that in University your tutors see potential and they mark you accordingly however you never truly know whether you were just having a good day or whether the caliber of work would be accepted in the real world. Working with people who truly rely on you to do a good job because it involves money and business reputation, and then getting good feed back on your work, just gives you more and more confidence to be able to enter the workforce. No one could every replace that.  I also said it was so incredible to see my work go up online- knowing that it was good enough to be up for everyone to see it and represent the companies work. I was extremely lucky to have a supervisor who gave constructive criticism and compliments that I started to feel were deserved.  My supervisor also asked me whether I felt disadvantaged for working in a small boutique firm rather then a big one. I answered that I could see that each has its positives and negatives attributes. For example, being part of a boutique firm means that you are given many jobs to do and get one on one contact with your supervisor who can mentor you through your internship. However, it also means that you cannot hide behind someone else when you make a mistake, you stand out, every task given to you is something that will be used in one way or another and be a representation of the companies work. When you work for a big firm you can hide behind other people, if you make a mistake it can be easily covered, your work is not always the be all and end all of company and you get the opportunity to work with some big names. However some negatives may be that you do not get as many chances to produce work, your supervisor has little time to communicate with you and you could potentially be given unexciting and repetitive tasks. I have not worked in a big firm so I do not take my word that these negative characteristics are true- they are only assumptions. I would however be very open to working in a big firm because I have realised that you do not have to be a part of every daily task that goes on in the office, merely observing can be very educational. You also have a lot of opportunity to make an impression, stand out and potentially score yourself a paid position.

Over all this was an incredible experience- a lot of work on top of other university studies but every day was worth it. I feel proud to have obtained and completed this internship myself. It is a huge achievement. I think Curtin is incredible to provide us with this opportunity. The workforce doesn’t look so scary after all.

I have learnt that even though your internship has finished, the lessons you have learnt in this unit will stay with you throughout your working career- it is never over, it’s only just begun- and I’m excited!!

            

Thank you everyone for reading and I hope you all enjoyed your placement as much as I did!!

Martine

Xxxx

Reputation and Reliability

As I mentioned in my last post - I am currently working as the marketing and communications manager of a medical company that specialises in the diagnosis of osteoporosis (brittle bone disease). One service we offer is a mobile van which travels to rural towns in WA and x-rays people's bones to see how strong they are. The van was written off recently in a freak accident which is very unfortunate.
Having said that, I was thrilled this morning when my boss advised me that the van is expected to be back on the road in only 6 more weeks! I love the van, running this service is hands-down the BEST part of my job.
Two years ago when I was first hired the van had a shocking reputation. I know this because almost every time I phoned a rural 'contact' I was greated with answers like "oh...right...you. Is your van actually going to show up this time?" and our call centre would receive complaints from rural doctors who "had no idea we were even coming to their town, and what is it you guys do anyway?"
Clearly we had some problems with the way people viewed our van service.
It turns out local doctors often weren't notified the van was coming to their town or they weren't given enough warning and sufficient time to refer their patients to us. Constant visiting cancellations and a serious lack of communication on our end led to a reputation of unreliability. Many doctors and other rural stakeholders (patients, shire councils) didn't trust our company to provide a dependable service in their towns.
So over the last two years I've worked tirelessly (except for on casual Tuesdays, where I tend to work a little less) rebuilding relationships with our rural contacts, and establishing a network of new contacts who can help to support the mobile service. We phone, email, send letters (etc) to keep contacts up to date with the van visits months ahead of schedule and make sure EVERYONE in the database knows exactly what is happening and if there are any changes to our visits.
Although university has taught me a real way of measuring a company's reputation is yet to be developed, there have been a couple of positive outcomes from our efforts. The company now receives phone-calls from towns we haven't visited in the past who request visits with our van from simply 'hearing about the service.' Our records also indicate an increase in van bookings by over 50% from early 2009 onwards. My boss is pretty happy.
However, I was highly concerned the van's crash might bring our company's reliability factor back to square one. The owner of the company asked me to somewhat downplay the situation and tell rural doctors we would be back on the road 'very soon' (a lot sooner then we actually would be). He believed it would make us seem more reliable if we were expected to be back on the road quickly. I felt this message would have the opposite effect. We would simply be cancelling all the intial visits and then cancelling again later on.
This situation has taught me it can actually be really hard to straight out disagree with management. It is particularly hard when the topic is one of reputation; the importance of which can be downplayed and somewhat impossible to measure.
Keeping this is mind we are often told at university of the importance of being honest and open as PR practitioners. After a lot of discussion (and butting-heads) it was decided we would have to be upfront about the time-line and just continually keep our contacts up to date on a regular basis.
Unsuprisingly the majority of contacts we have were really understanding about the situation.
I guess only time will tell whether or not the crash has had an impact on the our van's perceived reliability... but I'm looking forward to contacting everyone and letting them know we'll be up and running again in 6 weeks!

Kindest regards :)
Ashleigh Coyle

Marketing, Communications Manager and Passionate Supporter of Rural Services!