week 2

WHAT IS PUBLIC RELATIONS?

As this picture suggest.

The then senator Obama was promoting his political campaign with the help of

celebrities donning shirts with the word change,

used Kings of Leon's song Be somebody as his campaign song

and even sought the support of the talk show queen Oprah Winfrey!

Precisely, because he knows what perceptive the public have of celebrities.

The public would follow what their idolised celebrities do!!

Besides, not only was he to become what is now the

FIRST BLACK AMERICAN PRESIDENT

but his message

CHANGE

was exactly what Americans wanted at that time.

In summary,he had great PR consultants.

In class our lecturer told us of what PR consultants does for its clients.

To always work in favour in of the client.

To protect their image.

and did i mention to take the blame of their mishaps?

PR does this through MEDIA.
Through its people like advertisers,editors,reporters and through its mediums like Tv,internet,radio,new media and print media.

PR seeks to sell the brand. the person.

according to PR.

HOW TO SELL A BRAND

eg. PR engaged by beauty brands

As magazines offers reviews ranging from fashion merchandise to movies,provides a good platform for the public to be informed of beauty brands.

Such moves is adopted by PR consultants who gives magazines with high percentage of female readers free samples, make up product sponsor for makeovers and events and especially for editorial reviews.

In Singapore for example. the magazine

offer the Cleo awards where they rate the beauty products.

For example. Za's Two-way foundation. Just imagine the amount of followers they have after being voted as the number 1 product for 3 years

Za PR consultants only have to bang on this 'status' in their advertisements! and they really did!

Za advertisements in MRT stations, Za promotions, Za product labels, Za packaging in Singapore all have this "voted by Cleo magazine as the best two way foundation"

HOW TO SELL PEOPLE?

The recently uncovered affair by Tiger Woods have drastically affected his image. It is up to his PR consultants to try and mend this tarnish image of his. They helped him put together the press conference and made sure the media could see that he was apologetic. Reporters and live streaming made it possible for his image while not be as prestigious as before, has surely improved. All because he made the effort to apologise.

This apology video can be found here.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuJ5p2NF35o

Hi everyone. I would like to dedicate the first entry to guerilla marketing. This section will be updated each time i have interesting articles to share.

Guerrilla Marketing

Guerilla marketing is an especially powerful tool for businesses in getting the attentions of the public. The message of the client is often presented in a visual abstract that forms an instant connection with the viewer. Viewers are enticed with bizarre visual effect to know more about the product or the message that the client want to present. Small businesses are often keen to embark on guerilla marketing because it allows for a small budget.

Amnesty International adopted this tactic to discourage human trafficking.

This ad was used to increase awareness against trafficking of woman and girls in particular. Amnesty wanted people to see how trapped the victims felt as the cramp condition in the suitcase suggested. As most suitcase are not transparent, people are put across as ignorant to things that are happening around them such in the case as human trafficking.

Web urbanist dot com. 2009. Guerilla Marketing: 22 Ads from Bizarre to Brilliant. [Online] Available at: http://weburbanist.com/2010/01/13/guerilla-marketing-22-ads-from-bizarre-to-brilliant/
[Accessed at 15 January 2010].

Fox International Channels Asia wanted to promote its second season of the show 'Dexter'.

Youth.sg. 2008. Guerilla Marketing: Trespassing our Comfort zone.[Online] Available at: http://www.youth.sg/content/view/5534/59/
[Accessed 15 January 2010].

If the picture looks familiar to you, it might be due to the Mas Selamat incident that happened two years ago. In 2008, the terrorist escaped from Whitley Road Detention Centre and a massive manhunt followed. The government released similar 'wanted' posters and this could be found all over Singapore.
Fox Crime, a branch of Fox International Channels Asia, saw an opportunity to promote the second season of it's show 'Dexter'. It made spoof posters replacing Mas Selamat picture with the picture of its lead actor and the Singapore Police Force Logo to Fox Crime. People were also hired to carry briefcases with the word 'Dexter' and dressed in bloodied lab coats to show the similarities to the show of a forensic expert with a split personality.