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
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