Week 10: Research and Evaluations

I think the key points to remember from this week's readings were that research and evaluations are one of the most critical components of PR. It allows identification of goals and targets, gives the PR practitioner data to enable him/her to decide the correct strategy to adopt and the correct tactics to deploy.

In one of the case studies from PR News, a PR company, Metlife, did a survey with reporters to find out their needs and how to craft a more informative message. They focused the survey on what information was missing in the news articles. The case study identifies an important point in which before developing strategies, firstly, all factors and context of the industry must be surveyed, researched and evaluated, as a wrong strategy would prove to be ineffective.

All 3 stages of research are interlinked with each other and provides data that supports the next stage of research. It is possible to do each of the stages individually, but it would not be as effective.

Also, the text touches on the ethical considerations of research. The ethical considerations in itself can be a good PR tool as seen in the case of Bodyshop, a company that retails body care products. They are famous for their products due to a non animal testing policy. They demonstrated to the public that they did not harm any animals in their research and testing, and as a result, gained a reputation.


The readings made me think more about public relations theory and practice in that a balance of all factors is present in all faucets of PR. In terms of research, budgeting, scheduling, human resources, are some of the key factors that has to be handled well. A bad handling on any one of the factors would result in delays, ineffectiveness,and possibly insufficient or incorrect data collected.

There is no set rule on how research is to be carried out and that also applies to the other PR aspects we have covered in our studies so far. It all depends on the practitioner to be ethical, efficient, hard working, and critical in his/her work, to achieve a balance between the different working parts of PR. All factors are essential in PR as they are all interdependent.

Week 9: Tactics

I think the key points to remember from this week's readings were that tactics must be chosen carefully to ensure that they are aligned with the corporate goals and PR strategy. Also, a single tactic would not work as well as a few tactics, working in tandem with each other to achieve synergy for PR Strategic goals.

Also, using tactics also involves budgeting as the tactics chosen must be within the budget and it would have an impact on the brand name of the company. The tactics chosen must be congruent with the image of the company.


The readings made me think more about public relations theory and practice in that how tactics is forms a huge part of a PR Campaign, which is part of a bigger PR Plan, which includes Goals, Strategy, Planning, Crisis management, Budgeting, and Media relations.

No one aspect of PR is ever solitary as they all have to work in conjunction with one another to achieve an intended target, be it to push a message, build up reputation and branding, or to create awareness for a new product.

A key concept was the usage of people to create and evoke emotion in the audience. It banks on the "human factor" to generate interests, and is generally more accepted as it is easier to convince the audience when there are public figures who approve. As in Energex example, they used "heroes" and "rescuees" to gather media attention, and also to promote what they are doing as a righteous cause.

In a sense, all tactics are to portray a positive image to the public, to convey a trust and reliability. It is rare to see any company use a negative example as they wish to avoid being associated with negativity.

Week 8: Sponsorships

I think the key points to remember from this week's readings are that when there is a corporate sponsorship, the company that is providing the sponsorship, more often than not, wishes to get something out from the deal.

This can be advertisement, endorsement, boost in reputation, to be seen as charitable, or environmental friendly, civic minded, etc...

PR Practitioners should always keep in mind how to frame a sponsorship request, if the event requires sponsors. In the textbook, it is explained that benefits to the company providing the sponsorship is much more critical than the reasons for the event and how the event would be held.

Also, it brings up points about ambush marketing and how the risk can be minimized. This brings to mind to a New Year event at Downtown East resort Count Down concert, where the DJs who were the hosts for the evening kept repeating about how they wish to thank the sponsors, Meebo, Western Union, etc, etc, to bring about brand awareness of the companies that so "generously" contributed to the concert to bring joy to the community.

With the hosts repeating the legitimate sponsors and with their logos displayed prominently, it is hard for competitors to ambush anyone outside.

The readings made me think more about how as internal PR of a corporate entity, it is crucial for the company to participate in sponsorship programs as promote corporate citizenry. This is quite important as in the global community, as companies that appear only to be profit driven and yet does not contribute back to society, is very much frowned upon.

However, on a negative note, it is also possible for a capitalist company that wishes to disguise its greed for profit, to improve its image by employing sponsorship deals, and treat it like an investment to further market and publicise its name. Although this might seem like deceiving the public, actually, it would also benefit the public as the main point of getting sponsors is still achieved, no matter what the intent of the company.