By Daniel Henderson For anyone, from either side of the aisle that is interested in politics and anyone who wants a part in shaping the future political messages of candidates for office, this was the session to be at. Anne Hathaway, the CEO and Founder of Hathaway strategies, a grassroots public affairs campaign, along with Jane Jankowski, also from Hathaway Strategies, presented on the keys to success for political campaigning and rules to live by if working in politics. Both have impressive and lengthy resumes, that frankly are worthy of their own blog post, and can be seen on the PRSSA National Conference website. The session started with the audience giving their views on recent quotes from the presidential campaign and whether the lines are good or bad for the candidate. They then moved on to their views on how political PR has been turned on its head. The current election cycle, the news cycle shrinking every day, social media, use of surrogates and grassroots support have changed how political PR pros do their job. It expands messaging opportunities but makes controlling the message in the media harder than it once was. Their “Keys to Success,” included: Know why you’re running, tell the truth, be accurate, pay attention to timing, know when to be disciplined, know when you can have a little fun and know when to say nothing. Some endearing words from the speakers to remember: “Don’t bring me a problem unless you’re also coming with a solution” -Jane Jankowski “[Surrogates] are a very smart, very calculated way to get the message out. It’s a choir instead of a soloist.” –Anne Hathaway “The words ‘no comment’ are still saying something” –Anne Hathaway Daniel Henderson is a senior public relations major and is PRSSA Kent's treasurer. Contact him at dhende21@kent.edu.
0 Comments
Gabrielle Woodard Hearing from the founder of Nebo, Brian Easter, about the importance of internal communications was thought provoking. Nebo is an agency based out of Atlanta, Georgia and focuses on the good things their company can do along with the importance of employees feeling important. Easter says that Nebo is a “human-centered” agency and focuses on the stories within their clients. The session focused heavily on how agencies can transform marketing campaigns into problem-solving campaigns and how to reach the true needs of the audience. Nebo is an amazing agency. They put together a campaign to raise money for a nearby no-kill animal shelter. They even threw a party for the dogs where they went to play with the dogs and brought them toys. Easter says “we spend most of our waking life at work,” why shouldn’t we enjoy it? Easter’s presentation included examples about how the best campaigns only briefly mention the product, and present them in an unexpected way. One example was a Coke ad that used a coke machine to connect people in Pakistan and India. This ad supported Easter’s reoccurring theme that when it all comes down to it, we are all people. Easter even spoke about a time that his agency fired a client because they were draining his employees, making them no longer excited to come to work. “Everything is easier if you care about your employees,” said Easter while he encouraged the students in the room to ask companies about their culture while interviewing. Gabrielle Woodard is a senior public relations major and is PRSSA Kent's immediate past president. Contact her at gwoodard@kent.edu. By Meghan McDonald The session “Get Your Head in the Game” focused on sports PR and was presented by Andrea Farmer, Associate Director of Strategic Initiatives at NCAA. She began her presentation with what the NCAA thinks is the most important goal, to make sure everything you do as an organization leads back to your vision, mission and principles. I believe that this is part of what makes the NCAA such a successful organization, being focused on the college athletes themselves. She continued the presentation with breaking down the different communications departments within the company and what each department is responsible for. Despite there being different departments, all of the decisions taken throughout the company are data driven. Media/web analytics, public perception surveys, focus groups and relationship surveys are all used in decision making. All strategies are based off of this data. So be sure to pay attention during your research classes because an ability to read and interpret data is incredibly useful! One of the main concerns of the NCAA is public perception. Due to the fact that it is such a large, widely-known organization, there are many misconceptions about the company. The main concept that the NCAA wants people to recognize is that 90% of their revenue comes from the television rights from March Madness. Then, the 90% of their revenue goes back out to conferences to fund their sports programs, especially for the less popular or less televised college sports that wouldn’t have as much funding. Overall, I really enjoyed the presentation and I learned so much about sports PR and the NCAA as an organization. I now understand how large of a role research plays in the process of creating strategies and tactics. Nothing can even be started until the research has been taken and interpreted. Andrea Farmer was a great presenter and a wonderful spokesperson for NCAA. Meghan McDonald is a junior public relations major and is PRSSA Kent's secretary. Contact her at mmcdon17@kent.edu. By Alexia Castillo Students gathered in for a session to listen to Myra Borshoff, APR and founder of Borfshoff, and Jen Dial, Global communications manager of Eli Lilly and Company. Borshoff does public relations work and advertising for clients. Eli Lilly and Company is a global pharmaceutical company that is headquartered in downtown Indianapolis. Myra has worked with the Indianapolis Colts, St. Francis Hospital and Eli Lilly and Company. She began her career by starting up her own agency in 1984, representing a law firm in Indianapolis. She spoke about a client that pushed her into wanting to get into crisis communications. Myra said, “One day I received a phone call at 6 a.m. about one of the senior partners at a law firm being killed by a male prostitute. I felt challenged and was interested in that type of communication by how unexpected all this can be.” Myra’s definition of a crisis is when it disrupts the organization to the extent that does not allow them to proceed through their normal work duties. It is something that keeps the CEO awake at night. Her advice on what to do in a crisis as a PR professional: Stay calm, do not get caught up in drama and get the facts. It is vital to do search for the company if there have been any other incidents in which they have been previously involved and make sure there is an official spokesperson that is prepared to be transparent while speaking to the media. Myra said, “Don’t try to divert attention to someone else in crisis, approach the issue with a statement immediately, otherwise it will backfire and another story will pop up.” When talking about employees, she said you, as the insider, are expected to know what’s going on at all times. You need to have an offside destination for the media to come depending on how severe the crisis is. Jen Dial has had a different take on crisis communication. She said when it comes to dealing with patients and the media, you need to keep patients privacy in mind when sharing their status, but also needing to be quick to address the public. Jen said, “The first time you say no comment to the media, the media will stick around longer.” It is important to determine when the appropriate time to say nothing, saying something doesn’t always correct the problem efficiently. Jen has three A’s she lives by in regards to crisis communication: Acknowledge the problem right away, apologize to the public and take action. The way one reacts to a crisis is important because the spokesperson is speaking on behalf of an organization and company. Dial and Borshoff served as mentors for PR students during this session on how to react when a crisis hits. Alexia Castillo is a junior communication studies major at Kent State. Contact her at acastil6@kent.edu. By Holly Disch nänˈpräfit/ adjective: non-profit Not making or conducting primarily to make a profit. As a PR student, you can go into so many career directions: corporate, agency, non-profit or anything else you can dream of.Though, with student loans and cost of living in 2016, it’s hard to imagine not being compensated for all your hard work; this is an assumption by many about working in non-profits. So, what profit is in non-profits? #PRKent was able to learn all about the industry at this past week’s PRSSA National Conference from Shedd Aquarium’s director of communications and public relations, Nicole Minadeo. The Shedd Aquarium is a non-profit organization that is funded by 76% earned revenue, 17% donations and 7% the Chicago Park District. As the director, Nicole’s job is to create a relationship with donors, along with the day-to-day communications duties, including the campaign highlighting the rescue & rehabilitation center at Shedd. Beginning with a baby otter washed up on a west coast shore, the PR team began to tell the story of how Shedd’s rescue and rehabilitation changed the otter’s life. This was one of Nicole’s many examples to show the reward of non-profit communications. She explained how telling the world of a meaningful cause could be the one of most rewarding experiences. Her day in the life of a non-profit was explained in this short list:
If you are the type of person who wants to change the world, and tell a meaningful story, non-profit is the career route to take. Nicole made it clear that the true reward and profit isn’t in the salary, but the experiences you create for the world to see. Holly Disch is a junior public relations major at Kent State. Contact her at hdisch@kent.edu. |
Archives
February 2024
Categories
All
|