Textbook Chapter 6

Reflections on Textbook Chapter Six - Public Relations Practice

I find this chapter rather similar to chapter four where the issue "ethics" was brought into the context of public relations. Coy and Synnott (2009) state that a public relations practitioner draws on communications skills to help organisations solve problems, assist change, and build relationships that would improve how the organisation is perceived and at the same time, increase understanding and awareness. This means that public relations practitioner ought to come up with effective management skills and solutions to enable mutual benefits for the organisations that they work for.

One aspect of this chapter that I agree with is the fact that public relations practitioners ought to behave according to the various cultural context they are being exposed to. This could largely be referred to the five cultural dimensions by Geert Hofstede where different cultures and ethnic groups behave, think, and interpret things differently. For instance, if public relations practitioners are exposed to a country with high masculinity index, say Japan, it would be more effective if their strategies and angles are aimed towards men since they are the ones who make the decisions. As supported by Coy and Synnott (2009), cultural values are important because they provide public relations practitioners strategic choices for their professions and the organisations they work with.

This chapter has also provided me with insights on the challenges and daily pressures that public relations practitioners are exposed to. I feel that some of the most challenging aspects are how one could keep his or her clients happy. This may sound easy but I notice that there were times public relations practitioners may face certain conflicting interests that may result in dissatisfaction from their clients. For example, your methodology in dealing with a certain crisis may be effective but it may exceed the budgetting constraints set by your client that may result in certain financial loss. Even though the campaign was effective, your client may not be happy as there could be alternate solutions that could bring equally effective results.

In addition, I would also like to highlight that public relations practitioners ought to keep their clients and managers happy before they could fulfil other aspects of their challenge - good relationships, keeping good records, and building good networks. This means that keeping your clients happy is a crucial factor in maintaining a positive image and overall reputation of you and your agency.

Week 7 Reflections and Textbook Chapter 5

Lecture's Response

Today's lecture was a little different from the previous lectures. We went in depth to a particular case study that enabled me to understand better about the framework of public relations. This case study, that focuses in promoting a particular brand of sports shoes called Reebok, has shown how important it is for us to understand our target market and consumers' preferences in creating a successful marketing campaign.

In this campaign, Reebok has made clever use of celebrity endorsements that could help to push up the popularity of the campaign. They have engaged UK's original fluoro-wearing aerobics guru, Mr Motivator to help promote the launch of the new product and to increase public awareness of this brand. This includes organizing television show talks and radio interview where the celebrity would provide tips and health advices to the audience in staying healthy. Observations made in this campaign showed the number of times the celebrity mentioned Reebok in promotional shows that helped to boost consumer confidence. A dance workout party at Zirca has also increased public awareness especially among the ladies who are vying for the title "Singapore's most Motivated Girl".

I was impressed by the overwhelming response that Reebok got from this campaign and I have learnt that it is essential for companies to understand the demographics and characteristics of their consumers. By doing so, they are able to target their consumers effectively by focusing on the key points of the campaigns. In the case of Reebok, the knowledge that their target group are health conscious gives them the advantage of initiating the campaign with an interesting angle - staying healthy. Hence, public relations also requires one to have marketing skills in addition to that of management skills.

Reflections on Textbook Chapter Five - Public Relations Research

As public relations practitioners, it is essential that we conduct a thorough research on our clients' information as well as the nature of the industry to ensure that accurate information is disseminated to the public. Such measures also bring minimize media speculations about discrepancies in information. Research enables us to plan and execute proper strategies that are effective for the management of campaigns for our clients.

Conducting a proper research provides public relations practitioners a good framework for their strategies. As supported in the textbook by Coy and Synnott (2009), research "enables us to create programs based on a better understanding of issues and with a better appreciation of context" (p. 126). I feel that research provides public relations practitioners with clues and additional information that are deemed useful for further analysis of their clients' situation. It is like how Wilcox et. al. (2006) puts, "putting together a jigsaw puzzle... about where to place the individual pieces" (quoted from Coy and Synnott, 2009, p. 126).

A researcher has to be clear of what type of information is needed and how will it be used. This includes the need to know the type of questions that are relevant for their clients. For example, if your client wants to bring about awareness that there are increasing incidence of traffic accidents among 20-30 year old driver, it is important to make sense of what is happening. In this case, you'll need to communicate to your target audience with information about traffic accidents. This includes statistics that highlights the danger of such accidents. Once the objectives are achieved, you could enable them to understand the potential problem followed by suitable solutions that are relevant for them to take note of. You could then analyze the effectiveness of the problem by conducting a research of whether the level of awareness has changed, by how much, and what the audience now know about the problem, issue, or opportunity as a result of the communication program.

I believe my above mentioned example provides a degree of relevance on how useful research is for public relations to conduct successful campaigns. It is therefore important to conduct research to give us an idea on the nature of our clients' industry and the demographics of our target audience. By doing so, it helps us to effectively target our audience with the correct angles that they would be interested in engaging with.

References

Chia, J. and Synnott, G. (2009), An Introduction to Public Relations: From Theory To Practice, Oxford University Press, Australia, New Zealand

Case Study - CLEO Bachelor Of The Year

The ACP Magazines has created a set of objectives of which one of the top most priority is to achieve maximum media interests throughout the process of this campaign. In addition, some of the main challenges that the ACP Magazines is facing are the ability to maintain media interests and to leverage on its prestigious history to attract public's interests as well.

Having set aside their target group for this campaign, the ACP Magazines seemed well geared by engaging in several tactics such as getting celebrities to judge the event to gain further attention and to adopt catchy phrases as angles to get readers and the public to vote for the participants involved in the campaign. ACP Magazines obviously did not let off any factor that is deemed useful for publicity of the campaign. This is evident when they made use of seasonal occasions such as Valentine's Day to link it up to the media to create better angles for the campaign. Such measure has enabled the company to open up various opportunities for the publicity of the campaign. The readers would thus be exposed to a variety of perspectives that would either way give them incentives to tune into the campaign.

The overwhelming response received by the event has clearly shown how effective the ACP Magazines are in strategizing their campaigns and angles to attract interests from the public. The company has also demonstrated the ability to maintain media interests through the clever use of celebrities and seasonal hooks to create new perspectives for the campaign. The firm's flexibility has also enabled the media to tap into the live event such that they are able to conduct interviews with the participants and the winner of the event. This has also created incentives for reporters to follow the campaign to capture maximum coverage.

However, I feel that these tactics are somehow outdated as there are several companies that conduct campaigns using such tactics. Even though these tactics are effective as seen from the public's response, it is important for ACP Magazines to think of more creative ideas to maintain the crowd's interests. For instance, I feel that it would be good if the ACP Magazines to get the crowd involve in this campaign. Aside from voting, the company could get the public to participate in the competition such as being entitled to interview the participants themselves. Hence, this is not limited to the media's participation but also the public in generating greater responses.

Week 6 Reflections and Textbook Chapter 4

Lecture Response

In today's lecture, I was taught about how PR practitioners have to interpret and choose a suitable angle according to the different sources that they are being exposed to. This meant that PR practitioners have to study materials given by their client and identify a certain pattern that enables them to write a press release in a specific approach. This could pose as a challenge for them as PR practitioners have to understand their clients' target market and how some angles do not suit the audiences.

For instance, in promoting a certain set of sneakers for a particular brand, if the publishing medium and target market happens to be a teenage magazine that targets between 16 - 22 years old, one would need to understand the nature of such age groups. Since these group of people are still students who are in the midst of their studies, PR practitioners may have to decide that the suitable angle could be along the line of affordability of these sneakers instead of how useful these sneakers are. Yes we have to talk about how effective these sneakers are but the emphasis should revolve around the affordability since it is not working adults we are talking about.

Well, this is just a very direct example but I am sure there are many products out there that targets a wider age group and PR practitioners would have to understand how these group of people have something in common. In the case of the sneakers, a suitable angle could also be one that is about maintaining one's health.

What do you think?

Reflections on Textbook Chapter Four - Public Relations Ethics

In any business operations or investment, it is essential to prioritize ethics over interests since it involves reputation and image building about a firm or organization. As defined by Chia and Synnott (2009), "ethics involves morals (our sense of what is just or unjust, often called our conscience) and values (the principles, standards, or qualities we consider worthwhile or valuable in ourselves and others, such as truthfulness or dependability)". This means that in considering ethics, we have to make decisions that takes into account into our physical, social, and economical environment.

I strongly feel behaving ethically is of utmost importance in upholding a positive image of an individual. The word "ethics" reminded me of the case of Michael Jackson's death where his physician Dr Conrad Murray, who was in huge financial debts, administered a high arsenal of drugs to the pop singer even though it is not ethically correct. In doing so, Dr Conrad Murray has failed to differentiate profession and personal interests as it was evident how he prioritize his personal interests over other factors.

Even though the above mentioned example has no relevance to public relations, it has highlighted the importance of ethics as without the administration of these drugs, the pop star's situation would have been avoided and salvaged. I agree with how Howard and Mathews (1988) stated that behaving ethically has to be something "as normal and unconscious as shaking hands" (quoted from Coy and Synnott, 2009, p. 93). As public relations practitioners, we have to educate our clients in making responsible decisions that will not compromise the society's welfare and this includes being unselfish and truthful. Therefore, I feel that our responsibilities are not confined to just crisis management but also in helping our clients to improve on their organizational and ethical behaviours. In doing so, we are fulfilling our objectives in maintaining our clients' interests and image in the public.

References

Chia, J. and Synnott, G. (2009), An Introduction to Public Relations: From Theory To Practice, Oxford University Press, Australia, New Zealand