Last Class..Course review

Wednesday 2nd April, 2008

This was the last class of the PC and PR Issues and everyone was looking much relaxed as most of our assignments were submitted.

Today we had some of ex-students of this course coming in and talking to us about how did they get a break in the industry. they gave us some good tips about what to do after our course and i learnt one thing that they stressed on was an internship.

I feel they were right about an internship it just gives you a more insight about the industry and gives a good experience.

After that session i had my classmates who had participated in a debate on the topic "PR education is irrelevant, success in PR is determined by contacts and building relationships"

It was very interesting as both the opponents had goos and valid points to argue on and the debate was getting very steamy. It was fun to watch the debate.

In my opinion I feel that in todays world to come up you need to have PR education. PR contacts and building relations is equally important but to grow in this industry you need have the qualifications then only you can rise up.

Our last class ended with refreshments arranged by our university and we all said good bye to each other and hope to meet in november during our graduation ceremony.

New Media and Traditional Media

Wednesday 26th March, 2008


This lecture was very interesting, I personally really enjoyed this lecture as it was on new media and traditional media.

There was a presentation on new media done by my classmates of the new media course and i loved their presentation. Everythin was explained soo well from Viral PR, SEO, Social Networking, Blogging to Virtual World.

In today's world new media is really catching up among the younger generation and is growing at a fast pace along with the traditional media.

New media is all about social netwroking, virtual 3D worlds, open discussions, podcast, etc.
I must thank all my classmates doing new media course for giving us the guidelines how to make a podcast. I'm so sure it is definitely going to help us.

Class on Dissertation

Wednesday 19th March, 2008

This was one of the most helpful class as we got think more deep about our dissertation topics.
Everyone in the class is all worried about their dissertation so i guess this class gave us a path towards our individual topics.

We were divided into groups according to our dissertation topics so my dissertation topic was based on corporate social responsibility. We had to come up with another dissertation topic and present it in class. This was one of the most difficult exercise as we had to come up with a topic relaed to CSR in 20mins!!

Finally we came up with a topic "Are the CSR green initiatives as claimed by UK's MNC's actually being carried out in China?"

and the sub questions were:
- how does it compare to green initiatives by local companies?
- do the MNC's have the same standards for all their green initiatives in theor home country?
- does it have any relation to increasing its bottom line?

What do you expect to find?
we had expected to find that it might be window dressing / green washing. The same standards may not apply.

How are you going to find?
through interviews, content analysis , open ended questinnaires.

What is the problem that will occur?
Resistance from the companies/employees we plan to investigate.

These were some of the things we came up with but apparently our topic was too big and we need to have evidence to find our expectations.

But overall we had got a guideline how to go about our topics and how to frame our sub questions and hypothesis. I am very thankful to Pam and Michaela for keeping this lecture as i'm so sure it has helped everyone in some way or the other.

The Rise of Corporate Social Responsibility

Wednesday 12th March, 2008

This is one of the definition from the csr.gov.uk and it say, 'The Government sees CSR as the business contribution to our sustainable development goals. Essentially it is about how business takes account of its economic, social and environmental impacts in the way it operates – maximising the benefits and minimising the downsides.'

CSR activities may be divided into two broad areas:

Proactive – This includes all activities intended to deliver socially-desirable ends. Examples include making charitable contributions, giving work to those usually overlooked by employers and paying better-than-market prices to producers of certain goods.

Defensive – This describes activities that minimise negative social impacts of business activities, going beyond the minimum standards required by law. This could include voluntarily avoiding certain additives, enhanced standards of animal welfare and environment friendly policies such as minimising packaging.

(source: http://www.igd.com/CIR.asp?menuid=99&cirid=1434)


This lecture as you can see reflected on the rise of corporate responsibility and we had a guest lecturer, Adam Garfunkel come and talk about the aspects of CSR. He has 12years experience in this sector and had worked with clients such as adidas, Royal Bank of Scotland, United Nations Environment Programme, etc.


He said that companies working in the public interest to promote social and environmental or sustainability objectives (IPPR) and the Core elements of CSR
•voluntary action of business
–beyond compliance, commitment to ethical behaviour, managing processes
•to achieve positive social outcomes
–quality of life improvements for employees, community and society in the long-term
•whilst benefiting its business objectives
–creating wealth

He also touches on the aspect of why is CSR here now and the answers to the questions were

•Globalisation
•The state of the planet
•International agreements, government regulation
•Socially responsible investment
•The information age
•Risk and reputation management
•Consumer demand


Nowadays Social Responsibilty has become a very important tool for the companies.They want their companies to be seen more social resonsible towards society. Examples like Marks and Spencers they had come with a Marks and Spencer Plan A which is their five-year, 100-point plan to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing their business and the world. It will see them working with their customers and their suppliers to combat climate change, reduce waste, safeguard natural resources, trade ethically and build a healthier nation. (Source: http://www.marksandspencer.com/gp/node/n/43451031?ie=UTF8&mnSBrand=core)

Marks and Spencer's approach to CSR is managing CSR well as it will allow them to identify potential risks to the Company and respond to areas of performance where they fall behind. More importantly it also means they can identify opportunities to differentiate themselves from their competitors. CSR can help them to draw shoppers to our stores, attract and retain the best staff, make them a partner of choice with suppliers and create value for their shareholders.

All this benefits the companies as it helps in building strong reputation and beand loyalty towards the customers.

Another example of a company that benefited from CSR programme is the Body Shop where they had a campaign as ' Stop Violence at Home' and they also had a strong hold against animal testing, defend Human Rights and Protect the planet. This helps the company to build up strong and loyal customers.

Later on in the class we had a class exercise on a CSR project. We had to create a positive social/ environmental impact for Transport for London which was also very interesting where everyone had come up wid different CSR projects. Our group had come up with something to do with the employees working for Transport for london. The employees include all drivers, cleaners, operational/ techincal staff, security and the administration staff. We had come up with some of the emotional aspect that could touch upon our target audience and it had turned to be not too bad.

Sources: Adam Garfunkel's presentation

Diversity in Public Relations

Wednesday 5th March, 2008


In this class we had a lecture on Diversity in Public Relations and we had a guest speaker sharing her views about diversity.

The guest speaker was Zena Martin from Acknowledge Communications, who worked in the US industry came to UK to share her muti-cultural communications. She defined Diversity communications as an External and Internal Communications programme that targeted specialist group such as

- Ethic Minorities

- Gays and Lesbians

- Seniors

It differs by industry

She was very passionate about diversity in Public Relations and wanted to change the perceptions of the people in the UK towards these groups.

A lot of companies are being aware about these diverse groups and making huge efforts in planning and creating campaigns fo diverse groups.

The 2001 Census showed that 7.9% of the population classified themselves a non-white. It predicts that by 2010, 30% of the population in metropolitan cities will be from ethnic communities. In his CIPR Guide to Ethnic Marketing and Public Relations, Ardi Kolah FCIPR points out that increasing ethnic and cultural diversity – like other forms of societal change – represents both a threat and an opportunity to marketers. (source: http://www.cipr.co.uk/)

Chris Genasi FCIPR, Chair CIPR Diversity Programme, believes that PR has a crucial role to play: "It makes clear business sense to engage with our changing society - and that means understanding, and being sensitive to, cultural beliefs, disability, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity, gender and so on.
(source: http://www.cipr.co.uk/diversity/resources/news/report_181006.asp)

In the US, there is an abundance of these specialist agencies, including four, award-winning ones, which are part of WPP as well as a separate, Diversity Practice, within Hill & Knowlton. In the UK, there are only a handful of very small, under-resourced specialist agencies. This is partially due to the large amount and variety of diversity media available in the US.

Also in the UK, the argument has been presented that Diversity Marketing is some form of positive discrimination, but is has been proven on both sides of the Atlantic that recognising these communities' significant contribution to the economy shows a respect that leads to unprecedented, brand loyalty. (Source: Zena Martin, in CIPR)

Economic Potential:

The ‘Brown Pound' (Blacks and Asians) currently contributes £32bn to the UK economy, the ‘Pink Pound' (Gays and Lesbians) contributes £5bn and the ‘Grey Pound' (Aged 50+) is worth more than £280bn, comprising 80% of the UK's wealth.

This statistics show that the ethnic groups contribute alot to the UK economy so the cpmanies should not ignore these groups. The UK industry should understand these groups and put in efforts to encourage more ethic minorities into professions.

Being an ethnic minority (asian indian) myself i understand the importance and neccessity of diverse PR in the industry.

Source: Zena Martin's presentation, Acknowledge Communications

Feminisation of PR and its consequences

Wednesday 27th February, 2008

Today's lecture was on feminisation of Public Relations and it was quite interesting as we had a debate on the topic " Women will always work in PR industry, But will never run it" and i had participated in the debate and my group was against the motion.

During my research I found that today women dominate PR industry: according to PR week, in 2007, 63% of PR practitioners were women, and their number increases every year.

Gruing et al said of the research participants for Women in PR - how gender influences practice(2001) "many believed that female practitioners could empower themselves by connecting with other women. One aspect of this empowerment, interviewee mentioned, was mentoring and role modelling other women. Several identified learning from those women who have "gone through the hard knocks".

The Problem is some of the most powerful and successful women in PR - don't always want to speak openly about 'knocks' or 'barriers' they experienced.

In class the debate was quite a success, both the teams had good and arguable points to say. though I was in the team against the motion i neither agree with the statement nor disagree. I just feel it all depends from time to time.

Before the debate Michaela had given us an exercise to do which was to write down some of the attributes of male and female and we concluded that females are refined, committed, adaptable and flexible where as males are competitive, straight forward and egoistic. But then she made us realise that these attributes can be in both males and females it is just the society's expectations about men and women.

She showed us some of the examples of women in advertising in the olden times where women is shown to be stupid and are dependent on men.

Even in terms of salary men get more salary than women, this is also an expectation of the society that women get paid lesser and the role played by women is also a technician role where as men play the managerial role.

I believe the role of women in PR is growing and they have gained a lot of power and recognition in the society.

In the debate some of the points put forth by by group was that we already have women running PR practices such as Jilly Forster and Naomi Dector, the Washington based partner pf Brunswick PR.

In the book Rethinking Public Relations by Kevin Moloney said that there are more women then men working in the PR industry.

Lastly I would just like to mention that in our class of about 31 students only 3 students are men learning public relations.

Sources: Michaela O'Brien's presentation, University of Westminster, Moloney, K. Rethinking Public Relations: The Spin and the Substance, 2000-Gruning and al Women in PR – how gender influences practice, 2001

Theories of Publics, Audiences and Stakeholders

Wednesday 13th February, 2008

'Theories, concepts and models of audiences, stakeholders or publics, public relations and communication are important because they help us understand and explain our public relations campaigns and the situations these campaigns address. They determine how we plan and conduct public relations. Thus the different theories we hold will lead to different ways of planning and practising public relations'. (Source: Exploring Public Relations by Ralph Tench and Liz Yeomans)

In this lecture we learnt the theories of Publics, Audiences and Stakeholders and in a situation it can be done in many ways. Firstly there is 9 ways to segment stakeholders which is a very useful and effective in many situations. They are Demographic, Psychographic, Geographic, Organisational memberships, Convert power, Role in decision making, Influencers, Opinion formers, Decision makers. Secondly there is the theory of Grunigs’ situational theory which includes Dynamics, changing publics, situational theory: non public, latent public, aware public and active public. Lastly there is the social marketing approach in which there is a table of people adapted from social change media: Advocates/sales force, Influencers and Decision makers.

During the lectures we always have an exercise session which helps us to look into the situation in a practical manner and this further helps us to understand the situation in an industry. This time we were given a campaign about healthy success for Manchester festival and we had to apply the theory of social marketing approach. In this kind of a situation this theory does not help too much as it does not apply to the main target groups and we cannot come to conclusions with this kind of method.

Can PR ever be Ethical?

Wednesday, 6th February, 2008

This lecture was on PR and ethics and it was very interesting as with some practical exercises and debates things got very exciting.
There were some of the theories that we touched upon that were ethical framework and those were some of Bentham and Kant theories. Bentham said, “The greatest good for the greatest number”. Kant said that notions of duty and moral “to do the right thing”.

Cognitive theory: states that objectives moral truths exist and there is one right decision to make. There are 2 branches of this theory: do you choose the right action or the right outcome?

We were made into groups and given practical dilemmas to do and debate on them. It was very interesting as the situation and arguments heated up. I remember one of the situations that we were given and that was ‘you work for a computer manufacturer, you sent some samples of super thin laptops to selected journalists for temporary loan for review. A journalist asks if she could keep the laptop permanently before the review is published’. What do you do?

In such a situation, I feel it’s ok to give the laptop to the journalist and would also give all the journalists the laptop as I feel it would be more ethical to give to all instead of only one.

There is a formula which we discussed in class and that was:
- To get the facts and define the situation
- Identify your values e.g. fairness, honesty, respect for privacy, etc.
- Select your principles e.g. PR code of conduct; ethical framework; legal duty; corporate vision.
- Choose your loyalties: which of the stakeholders affected will you favour?

PR, Propaganda and Persuasion

Wednesday 30th January, 2008

Propaganda has been described as ‘the deliberate and systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions and direct behaviour to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist’ (Jowett and O’Donnell 1992: 4)

In this lecture we had learned about PR and propaganda and our first exercise was that we were paired in groups and our topic was ‘PR for Ministry of Defence of USA, advice them on strategies to deal with USA going to war with a country, baramundi (fictitious). The director should provide strategies and tactics as to how to handle the media during the war.We thought that we should create public support by bogeyman tactic. The exercise was quite helpful and useful as you get to think about the strategies what would you being doing in such situation.

After the break we were shown a film on war spin by BBC (www.bbc.co.uk/correspondant). The film was about events that took place during a war on Iraq and media spin. In the film there was a lot of tactics used to control media like use of embedded journalist was a good tactic as the objectivity was only to a point as military was clothing, feeding and protecting them, it’s a big change. Also it showed a truthful image and weapons of mass destruction.

Source: Exploring Public Relations by Ralph Tench and Liz Yeomans

Crisis Management

Wednesday 23rd January, 2008

This lecture was on crisis management and it was very interesting as we looked upon some of good examples in an organization. We started the lecture with what is crisis management and in mandarin language the symbols comprises of two words Danger and Opportunity.

What is crisis and we said that it a turning point, an events that affects the bottom line or reputation of an organization, and we also said that crisis attracts media attention.

We also said that it’s about the organizations ability to cope with the crisis. Some organizations major crisis maybe another’s everyday dealings. We also learnt about different types of crisis and how to tackle them, i.e. by increasing certainty, taking control, Resist attack and reduce isolation.

Later after a break we did a crisis management exercise which was very interesting and enjoyable. We were divided into teams and was given a situation that there are some children from a particular school in harrow who are falling ill due to a mysterious illness and we are the local education authority and what is our role during the crisis. We said that we would first and foremost empathize with the parents whose children are in the hospital and the best thing to do in such a situation would be to shut down the school for sometime till there is no proper investigation to how the children are falling ill.

I leant that it depends on the nature of the crisis and then the organization reacts accordingly. During the times of crisis the organizations sometimes have to issue a press release or call for a press conference if the crisis is too critical or the crisis demands for it. The organization should not panic, it should take the responsibility immediately for what has happened and this shows that the organization as being caring and wants to maintain its trust of its stakeholders.

There is an example of crisis that happened in India with the Cola companies, the pesticide controversy that Cola majors faced in 2003. It describes the New Delhi-based environmental group, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) report that put the entire soft drink industry in a bad light. The report claimed that its laboratory tests had discovered that most soft drinks sold in India were contaminated with large doses of pesticides like Lindane, DDT, Chlorpyrifos, and Malathion. But the Cola majors overcame this crisis through the use of various marketing communication tools.

Source:http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/marketing%20management/CLMM003.htm

Public Communication and PR Issues

Wednesday 16th January, 2008

This was our first class after the christmas break, it was nice to see everyone back with a lot of excitement about the second semester which seems more interesting as we have to take up 2 optional modules of our own choice.

We were given all the handbooks of all our course subjects and was given an introduction about our core module which is Public Communication and PR Issues and we were also given an introduction to dissertation. During class we looked at last semester's assignments on our critical reports and PR pitch documents. There were some suggestions given about the critical report which I found very helpful. The whole assignment of a critical report helped me to learn my mistakes what I had made in my PR pitch document. Reading someone's pitch document and critically analyzing it made me feel that where I had gone wrong in my individual document and this I feel was very useful for me as I can improve on my mistakes.

The lecture on how to improve on the critical report and also on the PR pitch document was very useful and helpful.

Consequences of Celebrity PR propaganda

I was reading Rethinking Public Relations by Kevin Moloney and I just came across the consequences of celebrity PR propaganda it said

“This view of a future, reformed PR both includes and excludes the modern phenomenon of celebrity. The inclusion flows from public relations theorised as a communicative consequences of business, interest and cause group activity. Celebrities are often supporting role players for organizations and groups, offering testimonials of support by associations. In this way they can be seen as human resources available to the PR production of businesses and cause groups, and as being effective because of the links to popular culture and the phenomenon of fame. Sports, people, actors, entertainers and authors are often sponsors of mass-marketing businesses and cause groups, and there is then a transference effect of ‘being famous’ to their corporate brands. Such celebrities can be viewed as the human components of corporate brands. Others, however, are the human components of product brands, and so can be seen as mass-mediated, personal sales agents for goods and services, such as clothes and fashion accessories. This is the distinction between a member of the British royal family being a patron of charitable ‘good causes’, and a comedian promoting a credit card. The latter association is better understood through the social psychology of personality traits, and marketing theories of product endorsement and customer relationship, and is thus a non-PR activity.”

Source: Rethinking Public Relations by Kevin Moloney

Using Celebrities in P.R. Raises Level of Media Interest and Subsequent Coverage

This is an article By David Brimm(PCC Co-President). I got this article from the internet and it really attracted me as its about using celebrities in PR

Scott Farrell, executive vice president of Golin/Harris, building on his experience using celebrities for a number of public relations clients, expertly guided a discussion on celebrities.

The session, entitled “Personality PR: Leveraging Celebrities to Boost Your Event,” featured long-time Chicago meteorologist Harry Volkman, now at WFLD-FOX 32; and Darcy Bouzeos, president of DLB, Ltd, a sports and entertainment marketing firm which specializes in obtaining sports figures, media personalities, prominent business executives and entertainers for public relations and other marketing activities.

Darcy Bouzeos says that celebrities and media are a match made in exposure heaven. “Society loves celebrities, and that opens it up for public relations and advertising. Celebrities draw people to an event or venue and garner interest from media.” She notes that it’s not an accident that when celebrities appear on interview shows they are often there at the behest of a corporate sponsor or cause.

Bouzeos strongly suggests that PR professionals integrate a celebrity into strategic planning with a long look whether the celebrity is really appropriate for the product or cause, and its budget. “People like me are willing to brainstorm with you to identify the best celebrity choices, built around your goals and budget. You might be surprised about the relatively small level of fees required to have a local celebrity represent your organization or client.”

In essence, using celebrities requires a carefully thought out plan, but if used properly, celebrities can greatly enhance an event, or media coverage of a product or cause.

Source: http://www.publicity.org/monthlydec01.htm

Gary Farrow claims celebrities need "grown up" PR advice

This is an article where Gary Farrow claims celebrities need "grown up" PR advice.