EVENTS

FEED BACK: Planning of the Event SAMAs 18

On Monday, the 30^th of April 2012, a well-known annual event SAMAs (South African Music Awards) was held at Sun City in Johannesburg. The event’s main sponsor is MTN.That is why it is called MTN SAMAs.

I am sure everybody in or from a public relations world will agree with me when I say organisations need to adapt or otherwise they will perish. Looking at the SAMAs event I could spot so many things which concluded that the organisation was not traditional marketing communication but integrated marketing communication.

Take a look at this (short summary of the SAMAs event planning)

Technological department avoided piracy

·         Lights looking at the lights they were not there to provide the light or for decoration but for avoiding piracy (why am I saying that? Who would buy or record a video which has too much lights busy spinning around the stage? I mean it will be very blur and disturbing).

·         Busy background during the performances by artist.

·         Live cameras where not only focusing on artist ‘s performances but also the audiences.

·         Little advertisements in between the live event show(e.g. nominees and those small talks about best nominated artists).




micasa  performing on satge...and the busy background



Entertainment department short highlights

The opening song by all the guest presenters, it was beautiful and so creative different from the previous SAMAs.

·         Solly Mahlangu said "To all media houses, if it you do not play it they won’t hear it, if you don't show it they won’t see it ... thank you" this showed the importance of media.

·         Zahara and MICASA collecting the awards...

 From a public relations point of view, it is always our duty to get feedback from our target audiences. Although they are two kinds of feedback namely:

·         Symmetrical feedback and

·         Asymmetrical feedback

In symmetrical feedback, we get feedback immediately while in asymmetrical we get a delayed feedback.

In today’s issue, I would like us to give feedback about the event. How was their planning? Voice out your feelings.

CORPARATE WORLD

CURRENT EVENTS: HUMAN RIGHTS DAY SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY THIS MONTH?

Have you ever heard, seen or told more often(three to five times a day) about an event that is still to happen maybe in three or six months? Have you ever heard, or being told more often (everywhere you go) about an event that had happened maybe three or six years ago? The questions have you asked yourself why not?

In Public Relations we called that news worthy and currents events

News worthy is:

·        New news

·        Interesting news/entertaining

·        Very current

Take a look at this…

                 

South Africa observes the celebration of Human Rights Day on 21 of March to remember those who perished in the highly sensational event called Sharpeville Massacre that occurred on March 21, 1960.

South Africa Human Rights Day seeks to ascertain that the South Africans have developed an understanding of the various human rights they are entitled to and can protect themselves against human rights exploitation

Know your Rights… Like no one else!!(http://qampus.blogspot.com/2010/12/world-human-rights-day.html)

 Have you heard more often about the human rights day the past last months? Comparing January to March about how often you heard about the human rights day and this April you will see that the frequency this month is very high. Why?

Because: human rights day is current and news worthy and this is what people would like to hear about this month. But you cannot come and publish events about human rights day in December, during Christmas festivals becauspeople want to hear about Father Christmas and bonuses during December times.

 What do you think news worthy enough?

SOCIAL MEDIA

BLOGS: WHY BLOGING

 

As bloggers, there is one thing we have in common and it is not lack of quality sleep. I am sure we always want more, or at least wish for more subscribers, more comments, more followers, more pageviews, and more opportunities. But is that enough?

According to the IMC (integrated Market Communication) from a public relation point of view it is important to create and nourish stakeholder relationships.

We also have to migrate from:

·         transactions to relationships

·         customers to stakeholders

·         mass media to interactivity

And many more…My point is we are to create stakeholders, well done! That is what every blogger is aiming for (getting followers), BUT THAT IS NOT ENOUGH. We also need to nourish relationships with these stakeholders in these case, your stakeholders are your followers.

The question is how? If we want to say "I LOVE BLOGGING"

 then we must do the right thing when we are blogging, otherwise you will just create a BlogSpot and end up quitting on it.

 And the answer is…

We need to reply, comment back to your blog post. Let us not focus on our costumers(in this case, costumers are people who comment on your blog) only but even stakeholders(your followers) are important ,who said if they do not buy your product  today they will not buy it in future?(who said if they did not comment today they will never comment in future?).Let us keep the relationship going while creating other relationships. Let there be interactivity (dialogue), feedback and conversations between you and your flowers.

My point is why are we blogging if we are not meeting the simplest rule of blogging which is commeting or called interactivity(dialogue)?

MEDIA ISSUES

RED BULL ADVERTISEMENT: ANTI CHRIST?

red bull advertisement Jesus

According to Chris Moerdyk(coloumnist) Jesus is saving not selling

Chris Moerdyk
Advertising rule #1: Jesus saves not sell
"I have been watching with a mixture of amusement and frustration, public and advertising industry reaction to the Red Bull "Jesus Ad " saga. It's always the same thing - those who have little interest in religion tell Christians to get a life and not take things so seriously. Christians respond with a lot of huffing and puffing."(http://www.news24.com/Columnists/ChrisMoerdyk/Advertising-rule-1-Jesus-saves-not-sells-20120319#.T4gO_CFUsuM.facebook)

Lets then look at The 5 steps of a Good Advertisement

Each step plays a specific role. As a marketer, you must always remember that you are the uninvited guest. People are busy, and don’t spend their time looking for advertisements

The first step is getting attention. This is the job of the headline.  A good headline will cause your target audience to stop and examine the rest of the ad. Think about old western movies with the snake-oil salesman, claiming a miracle tonic that can cure anything. These days people are looking for much more specific goods and services. Thus, the headline must be specific as well as attention-grabbing.

Second, a good ad shows the reader who has graciously allowed you a few moments of their precious time just how they will benefit from the product or service you are peddling. Note that I say show them the benefit, not the features. That comes later. Again, these benefits need to be geared specifically for your target audience.

Third, your ad must prove that these benefits must result from use of your product or service. This would be the time to introduce some key features, and explain how they will allow the user to realize the benefits you claimed possible. When it comes to this section, people like specifics. For example, don’t say “Realize gains of up to 50%!” do not use round “nice” numbers. Go with “Realize gains of up to 49.3%!”

Fourth, reinforce the benefits, and perhaps add some more. Give examples of what they could do with all the money you’re trying to save them, or all the time they’ll save by buying your widget or service.

Fifth, and finally, call for action. This is where your “Call Now" statement goes. Try to add a sense of urgency: “This deal only lasts til noon Friday!”

All good advertisements incorporate these 5 principles in some form or another, and any bad ad is usually bad because it has neglected some part of this pattern.(http://milleronmarketing.com/32/the-5-principles-of-a-good-advertisement/)

BUSINESS REALITY

PUBLIC RELATIONS IS NOT MARKETING: DO NOT GET IT TWISTED

Marketing and public relations sometimes get people to be confused, are you in the same situation? You are about to find out what makes them differ. Even though both work to promote but there are significant differences between the two.

Marketing
Marketing deals mainly with product awareness and promotion. Those involved with marketing work to promote a specific product or service a company or organization offers. Marketing professionals will concern themselves with the products the company provides, the customers and their needs, and are working to look forward to what the next product will be or how to promote it. A marketing approach will work to sell a product rather than an organization by taking into consideration demand, competition, and how to get more people to purchase services or products.(http://sunheecho.blogspot.com/2011/07/what-is-difference-between-advertising.html)

An effective marketing plan will accomplish the following:

·         Define a target market in order to know who to promote the products towards.

·         Identify the customers and competitors. Knowing competitors and their strategies will help a company to stay ahead by remaining competitive.

·         Outline a strategy for attracting and keeping customers as well as identifying change

Public Relations

Public relations deals more with the company itself. A public relations professional is more concerned with the public's view of the company and the company's reputation rather than trying to get the public to purchase the products (although the two often go hand in hand).

A public relations campaign will work to do the following:

• Increase and maintain visibility and public awareness of an organization, company, or event
• Help the public to see the organization as an industry leader
• Increase awareness of the organization's programs, products, and services throughout the community, state, country, or world
• Help enhance and maintain the organization's image
• Support and organize efforts with regards to fundraising
• Act as liaison and support in the event the organization experiences any negative publicity(http://www.businessknowledgesource.com/marketing/the_difference_between_marketing_and_public_relations_026011.html)

EVENTS

WRITING SKILLS: Plan before you start writing

 

What happens if a colleague has just sent you an email relating to a meeting you're having in one hour's time. The email is supposed to contain key information that you need to present, as part of the business case for an important project. But there's a problem: The email is so badly written that you can't find the data you need. There are misspellings and incomplete sentences, and the paragraphs are so long and confusing that it takes you three times more than it should to find the information you want.(www.learninggroup.com)

 

Use these top eight points for your writing and you will never be the same old boring writer again.

·         Identify your main theme – If you're having trouble defining the main theme of your message, pretend that you have 15 seconds to explain your position. What do you say? This is likely to be your main theme.

·         Use simple language – Unless you're writing a scholarly article, it's usually best to use simple, direct language. Don't use long words just to impress people.

·         Structure -Your document should be as "reader friendly" as possible. Use headings, subheadings, bullet points, and numbering whenever possible to break up the text.

·         Proof your headings and subheadings – People often skip these and focus on the text alone. Just because headers are big and bold doesn't mean they're error free.

·         Read the document out loud – This forces you to go more slowly, so that you're more likely to catch mistakes.

·         Use your finger or the mouse point to follow text as you read – This is another trick that helps you slow down.

·         Start at the end of your document – Proofread one sentence at a time, working your way from the end to the beginning. This helps you focus on errors, not on content.

·         Kiss (keep it short and simple)  -Avoid long sentences or paragraphs because  u end up loosing the whole content , meaning or sense.  

·         Check out the correct words that you want to use- do not get confused. For example: Company's/companies (and other possessives versus plurals)(www.academicladder.com/toolkit)

 The greater your writing skills are, the better the impression you'll make on the people around you , including your boss, your colleagues, and your clients. You never know how far these good impressions will take you.

You see? That is why we are blogging to keep us on track to avoid issues like getting fired in a corporate world.

EVENTS

PHOTOGRAPHY: IMPORTANCE OF THE BACKGROUND

When taking pictures, we concentrate intently on our subjects  but what about the background? Not taking consideration of the background of the photo, we often find the picture changing a subject or telling another story line not even consistent with the main content of the story. Taking control of the background can help turn a photograph into a beautiful photo.

The first step to improving the backgrounds in our photos is to be conscious of the background's importance to our photos. We must know that the right backgrounds can make our reports stand out. This often means simply paying attention to what is behind out subjects during our photography sessions. (http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Photography-Tips/Backgrounds.aspx).

Figure 1:Oh? So you have three arms?

Beyonce



 This lady looks like she has three arms and whereas there is another lady behind her .If these was an article about how talented the lady is, in singing, it would had introduced another story line of  “ a three arm talented lady”.

Figure 1:what are you? a male in a female's body? This lady looks like she is has male reproductive organ, Whereas there is a stem of a tree behind her and these makes it look like she is a man in a woman's body.

We need to understand and know that, what you capture behind your subject can often make or break your photographs.

  

POLITICS

COSATU STRIKE: Affecting everyone , whether a member or not

On Wednesday, 7 March 2012 Johannesburg streets



COSATU protests looking like sea red

 

Considering the nature of the protest march one always expect some angry faces and disobedient behaviour, but the crowd was well behaved.   Since there were marshals, they divided themselves into smaller groups to control the march and things become very easy without incidents. Even though the crowd well-behaved, but  the COSATU strike still affects every body, whether you are a member or not.

 Many businesses were forced to close their doors before the protesters arrived. It was also reported that four Shoprite super markets where forced by police to close down. “The stores were closed to ensure customer safety because they were in the vicinity of marches and demonstrations” said Shoprite holdings ltd. Accessed from: Moneyweb daily news   by Mike Cohen

The pace was kept intentionally slow, and disrupted the traffic. These means that people who are going to work, schools, interviews, or  having appointments and any other important place, will be late or might even not arrive to that place.“ In the University of Johannesburg, Public Relations students together with their lecture Ms Vanwyk, had to postpone the test that they were supposed to write on the day of the COSATU strike due to some students who may not be able to come and write because of the traffic” said Magagula pebetse, Public Relations student .Although one may ask that why setting an important interview or appointment on the day of strike, this means these people are ignorant to news, but the other one may argue and ask why are pausing our future, our businesses, our time when some organisations are striking but the point is strikes affects everyone

Metrobus in Johannesburg asked that commuters make alternative transport arrangements on Wednesday because it seemed some drivers had joined the strike. “ Fezile Dabi district, with towns like Parys, Sasolburg and Kroonstad experienced major disruptions in schools with more than 90 % of schools shutting down”, said Ndaba.  Johannesburg - The Airports Company of SA (Acsa) asked travellers to arrive early for their flights on Wednesday as the effect of COSATU's nationwide anti-toll and labour broking protests took hold with flight delays in Durban.

Now the question is why do we have to strike when we want or need an increase in salaries, why striking when we don’t like or want something in the parliament? Why don’t we sit down with whoever in charge of our issues and negotiate the problems? This shows us that we do not have good communication skills.