Public Relations as a Communications Discipline

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Public Relations as a Communications Discipline

• Presented by
• Ayad Nahas
• Public Relations Consultant, Solidere

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PR as a Discipline

• PR is a Marketing communications discipline that
  is aimed at promoting products and services
  through media relations as its core component

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What is PR about?

• Its about convincing journalists to believe in
  your story and help you generate the media
  coverage that is needed to communicate
  effectively to your target audience.
• Its ultimate goal is to create a positive
  reputation and image in the mind of consumers vis
  a vis a brand, service or product, thus
  influencing public opinion.

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Benefits of PR

• PR helps corporations in shaping a favorable
  perception about their company as a whole as well
  as the products and services they offer.
• Through PR, corporations can build and establish
  their brands based credibility, as well as
  confidence and trust.

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Why?

• Simply because promotion through public relations
  is done by means of PR practitioners introducing
  stories to the media about new products and
  services, and having journalists cover the news
  objectively.
• While the news media is viewed as a credible
  source, extensive coverage results in popular
  endorsement.

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Difference between PR and Advertising

• While PR is perceived today as a highly credible
  tool to promote products and services,
  advertising is viewed as a hard sell, biased
  discipline that is paid for by the client to
  promote his brand.
• A lot of people tend to confuse public relations
  and advertising.

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Difference between PR and Advertising
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Core Disciplines of PR

• Reputation management creating the right
  reputation for your client.
• Crisis management creating a strategic PR
  platform while aiming to minimize the damage
  caused by a crisis.
• Consumer communication building a brand through
  creating awareness on the positive attributes of
  a given product or service.

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Core Disciplines of PR

• Corporate Communication Shaping the image of a
  company through the media.
• Government relations Lobbying the government on
  behalf of a company and convincing journalists to
  write about you in order to sell your cause to
  the public, thus influencing and shaping public
  opinion.
• Convergence Promoting web based companies
  through the media while aiming to encourage
  Internet use

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PR in Lebanon

• Still at an early stage in its development.
• Its position today is similar to the emergence of
  advertising as a communications tool 30 years
  ago. It took sometime for advertising to be taken
  seriously.
• There is a definite lack of awareness on how PR
  can add value for business in Lebanon. People
  still believe that PR practitioners are people
  that entertain guests in restaurants and bars.

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PR as a Management Function

• Public relations needs to be understood and
  perceived as a management function.
• A PR agencys job is to shape and manage a
  companys reputation and image through offering
  advice and counsel, as well as implementing PR
  programs to help grow a business.
• PR should not be understood as simply publishing
  a press release on behalf of a client.

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Exercise
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Consumer Public Relations
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Jumeirah International in Dubai - Burj El Arab

• Our aim was to distinguish Burj El Arab from the
  excessive number of five star hotels existing
  within in the Gulf region
• ? Our strategy was relay through the news
  media the fact that Burj El Arab is a hotel with
  a seven star rating.

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Burj El Arab (contd)

• We Published a number of feature articles
  focusing on Burj El Arabs attributes
• Burj El Arab being the only hotel that is
  situated on an island in the middle of a city in
  the Arab world and architecturally shaped like a
  sail
• Its luxurious suites having ISDN internet
  connection, Plasma TV screens as well as an
  incredibly personalized service
• The fact that its fish restaurant is reached
  through the experience of riding in a virtual
  submarine
• Dinner on the top floor giving customers a high
  because Burj El Arab is the Tallest Hotel in the
  Middle East and the 14th tallest hotel building
  worldwide.

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Result

• This generated great media coverage on Burj El
  Arab, not only in the Pan Arab Press, but
  worldwide, creating a high degree of curiosity
  and interest by Burj El Arabs intended target
  audience as well as Westerners that were
  intrigued by the notion of a hotel shaped like a
  sail and situated on an island in the middle of
  Dubai.

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Convergence
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Islamiq.com

• The worlds first online one-stop shop for
  Islamic financial services, including the
  brokerage of islamically compliant securities
• At the time of launching the website, we had to
  come up with a strategy to generate the right
  media coverage.

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Islamiq.com (contd)

• We Sold this story to the media by telling
  journalists that while the Gulf is a region that
  engages heavily in Islamic banking, such a
  website, the first of its kind worldwide, would
  allow people to trade on-line in islamically
  compliant securities and gather in-depth
  information on what Islamic banking involves as
  well as the advantages of investing through an
  Islamic Bank.

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Result

• Our media relations effort helped in generating
  substantial media coverage throughout the Pan
  Arab region and worldwide, while resulting in a
  large amount of subscriptions to the website.
• We were covered extensively in the Pan Arab
  media. We also convinced journalists to write
  about us in international media organizations
  such as the Financial Times, Herald Tribune, CNN,
  BBC, among others.

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Crisis Management
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Boeing

• The airline industry worldwide took a beating
  after the two Boeing planes crashed into the
  World Trade Center on September 11, 2001
• For Boeing, it meant a potential for tremendous
  loss in revenues. We had to engage in a crisis
  management endeavor to minimize the damage to the
  reputation of Boeing as a manufacturer of
  airplanes.
• Promoting the safety of flying would have been
  wrong strategically because throughout its
  history, the airplane has been publicly perceived
  as a safe flying machine.
• All our messages were to the effect of Business
  as usual".

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Result

• After the September 11th tragedy, Boeings Sales
  did decrease but certainly less than expected.
• While containing the problem through proper media
  relations and one-on-one media interviews with
  Boeing executives telling the world how Boeing
  had concluded deals to sell a number of jets to
  British Airways and Emirates Airlines, among
  others, confidence in Boeing as a company was not
  lost.

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Words of Wisdom
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Quote by Lord Bell

• Lord Bell, chairman of Bell Pottinger
  Communications and the media advisor and campaign
  manager of former Prime Minister Margaret
  Thatcher once said PR can make companies and
  break them

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Bell Pottingers Mission

• Perceptions are real. If youre playing to win
  they have to be favorable. Your ability to
  persuade people to listen to you, understand what
  youre saying, and support you, will determine
  whether you win or loose