PR Rhapsody

We all scream for Windows 7 ice cream

2010-03-22T10:23:00.001+07:00

Window7ice
Originally uploaded by Napacha

On Saturday 20 March 2010, despite there were warnings of the Red Shirt parade aiming paralyse Bangkok's traffic for a political purpose, I managed to go to ComMart, Thailand's biggest consumer event for IT and electronic products, hosted at Queen Sirikitti National Convention Centre.

After two-hours of wandering, I got a Core i3 laptop and Windows 7 package. Microsoft did a great job in branding by putting details into every little thing at the event, especially on premiums and freebies. On the exit, they provided free coconut ice cream to every visitors.

Isn't it a cleaver idea to link the software with something really 'cool'??

No, I don't think this one really communicates

2010-03-18T20:01:00.002+07:00

This piece of outdoor signage is located right at the exit of MRT Pharam IX Station. It is a dull painting of inferno with a text saying something like "Buy Cheap/Buy Top Quality/Buy Best.." and an arrow pointing to the IT mall on the left. There is also another sign to tell how to look at this 'fine arts', saying the best view of this picture is from a resturant on an upper floor.

I guess the artist is trying to say that buying cheap and low quality products would make some one suffered like burning in hell. To avoid this nightmare, go to Fortune IT Arcade right next to the station.

This is a bad pitch. First, Fortune IT Arcade has been known as a big market for IT products with a mixture of branded and unbranded vendors. Apart from Pantip plaza, we know it is a place where we may find piracy softwares hidden among those vendors. It is ridiculous to think that the mall would offer only top-of-the-line products. Second, the painting looks rather like a large smere of paint and a hell-related story isn't likely to bring positive attitude to the concept. Buying cheap products isn't a crime or sin.

No, this ads doesn't work and is rather like a eye-sight pollution.

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

Taken at Fortune IT Arcade,Bangkok by Blackberry

PR on eBay

2010-03-05T04:26:00.005+07:00

When it comes to surfing the Internet, there's nothing can make me feel so relaxing than sipping a cup of hot chocolate while browsing through eBay.I'm not a fan of online shopping but I always find something interesting in that marketplace,especially in the Everything Else category.

Apart from bargain deals, eBay is a place where you can discover amusement and creative writing. Although you can find several popular bids are not made for actual purchase, it's fun to see product presentations for idea's sake.

If you are in the UK, you may find unusual eBay happenings in The Sun frequently. However, online happenings rarely hit the headline of traditional media in Thailand unless it's really worth mentioning like this item, a poster of Thailand's ex-prime minister who's now on an escape of corruption charges. The starting bid for this item was 0.99 USD and got a high bid of 5,800 USD by the time I saw the post this morning. The item description reflected strong opinion of the merchandiser toward the people on the poster. The person noted he/she would like to find someone who could keep the ex-prime minister and his wife in a drawer or coffin. As I am blogging it, the bid had been closed with no transaction.

I don't think the person would like to make a transaction. It's rather an announcement which reached to at least 2,500 viewers from eBay's counter and had been taken on by a local newspaper. Who says eBay is good for online trading only? It's a wicked channel for PR too!

Reference
Manager Newspaper
The item on eBay

Lazy journalist makes heaven for PR ?

2010-02-16T11:29:00.017+07:00

Picture Credit: pritchardpress.com

You wouldn't believe if I say Thai people are not really fond of reading. According to Thailand's National Statistic Office, Thai people aged from 6-60 spend only 39 minutes a day on reading (National Statistics Office,2008). With so many publication popping out every day here, it does not make any sense.

Leaving my curiousity behind, I'm glad I have a long list of print media to choose from. I find it more comfortable to work with journalists from the print for that I used to be one of them and it is possible that my writing would influence theirs too.Writing for public relation is not all about hard-sale press release. We have a softer version called 'feature article' or 'byline'. It is a stage to boast a particular expertise in a cleaver way with our company's logo or name quoted and powerful for brand building with no charge for space. However, there's no free lunch. PR people have to trade this opportunity with their brains to come up with a good piece of article a few press would refuse to publish. Crafting a byline is like cooking; sometimes we have to design a special dish for a special food critique, while we can set a standard ones for general diners.

You may argue that notable press can't be influenced by public relations. To prove this hypothesis, the School of Journalism, Media, and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University, UK, did an experiment and found an evidence that the journalists relied on PR as a news source (Justin Lewis et.al 2008). I assume it is a universal truth with different degrees of PR dependance. For some press in Thailand, I tend to find them putting full article (of mine) with full credit (of the company) and pictures (that I sent them). There are many prints to run but fewer editorial staff to write so several press operate with a common practice -cut PR material into their space. A not-so-good byline or press release can also get a space in print too. Is it because that publication has empty space left or journalists are too lazy to rewrite? Whatever it is, it makes heaven for PR.

Putting a reader's hat on, I loath finding that of all hundreds of magazines a whole lot of them are homogenous with the same content, same interview, and same angle.Perhaps this the reason why Thai people don't do reading so much - because there are not so many worth-reading ones to read.

So, is it now a PR job to churn customized stories for press

so that the audience will always find fresh angles?

Nahh, I don't think so

Nathan Oman - a product of unfaithful PR and ignorant media??

2010-02-08T20:30:00.000+07:00

Credit: Thai Rath Online

You cannot call yourself a trendy Thai cyber citizen if you are not a follower of 'Prince of Red Shoe', a series of detective hunt on Nathan Oman. It has taken me 6 months to follow the story (and today,it's not over yet). I'm going to take you on a walk on the case and some traces of Dark PR I have come across. It would be a long story to read, though.

The Story
Back in 2003, Nathan Oman was introduced to the public as a new Thai-Nepalese singer whose personality left an impression of an optimistic person. He was presented as a crafty young man, a traveller, and a skillful linguist who could speak in 5 languages. He had an album released and gradually faded out from media spotlight shortly after. A year later, he regained his place in the local media again as a Tsunami survivor. During the relief, he was seen helping charities. He had another album released and faded out again.

In 2009, he came back with a news about his film career in Hollywood, starring in an epic Arabian fantasy titled Prince of Red Shoe,which would be directed by Wolfgang Peterson. There're some filming photographs sent to local media. He claimed a leading role, co-starring with Bruce Willis and Christina Ricchie. Many Thai movie fans delightedly believed him until one fan started a discussion topic in an online community with a doubt why he couldn't find any detail about this film project on imdb.com. With great curiousity, the Thai online community hunted for evidence but found no clue. The more they dugged up the dirt, the more skeletons found. Soon the cyber buzz was loud enough to catch attention from tradional media, spreading the words out even quicker.

At the same time, Nathan Oman was pressed charges on forgery and cheat. It became clear that he had lied about almost everything - his name, age, family, ethnic, education, the non-existing film Prince of Red Shoe, and his Tsunami suvival. The only true story learnt from him was that he was a criminal who shamelessly scammed his business partners, house maids, friends, and 'Aom' an ill girl suffering from a rare skin disease who was a big fan of Nathan Oman.

Responding to the frenzies, he has churned some PR techniques in hope of swifting away from social pressure axeing upon him. One of his victims finally compromised and withdrew the charge. Many Thais suspected it to be a set-up and just gave up believing anything related to this man , leaving the pending cases to the criminal court.

Unfaithful PR echoed by ignorant media
Nathan Oman appeared in the time when it was fashionable to stage half-blood celebrities for their mix-ethnic beauty. He was bolded out by his Nepalese origin and extraordinary life in Nepal, which was a country only a few Thais knew well. When all lies that he had made revealed, many people blamed for the entertainment company’s PR team for faking the singer’s profile. Personally, I don’t blame them as it is possible that they were tricked by Nathan Oman too.

I think the most obvious illusory PR conjured is Nathan Oman’s news on his role in Prince of Red Shoe. It made a hook with pride of being Thai, names of Hollywood, high figure of payment he would be receiving, and the behind-the-scene pictures he gave to the media. In term of PR, the message was set to ‘wow’ the crowd and left a good imprint. The technique can’t become successful without media spin. Somehow, Nathan made the local media believe him too. His story was taken and echoed by several media channel, many of which were respectable media as well. With all entertainment news flooding, the audience tended to believe it because they were too busy to read between the lines, making this illusion effective.

Lessons learnt
Nathan’s faked stories were full of absurd. In an interview, he mentioned about a movie scene shooting in a dessert, claiming that he had to dive under the ‘Dead Sea’ and the crew had to do make-up and rest in a near-by cave. It is ridiculous and such an ironic reminder how easily we once were deceived. For PR practitioners, it is a lesson why we need to recheck information given before releasing to the media and ethically communicate to the audience so that no one could paint our pride in this profession black.

For media, it is also a responsibility to gate keep information to protect the public from possible abusive threats. That was what my ex-editor taught me on the very first day I was on board. Sadly, I see some journalists nowadays merely chuck false information just for that those captions can sell. Perhaps, that’s why Thailand has so many publications to choose but only a handful can be called high-quality ones.

For Nathan, I pick this for you. It is from an Aesop’s Fable.
“Fine clothes may disguise, but silly words will disclose a fool

When journalists give you lemon...

2010-01-26T15:17:00.007+07:00

Mr. Andrew Batt, a British journalist who is now based in Thailand, responds to my blog about 'Ghost Journalist'. In his blog, he comments " My view is that PR should always be targeted. You're wasting your time (and money) if you have people attending your event or conference who have no intention or interest in writing about what you've got to say.I've been to events already relating to the property sector that are examples of the two extremes. On the one hand I have been to an event were just six of the top property journalists have been invited, but I have also been to events where there have been upwards of 20 members of the press. I would guess all of the six journalists at the first event will be writing something, but I doubt more than 20 per cent of those at the second event will be writing a thing. Having smaller numbers also allows those journalists covering that specific topic more opportunity to get deeper into your story."

Talking from my own view, to describe PR's expectation on media pitching/attendance could best best projected by a famous movie quote from Forest Gump - Life is a box of chocolate; you will never know what you're gonna get. Twisting the quote a bit just to be exact, I'd put my version as " Media pitching is opening a pack of Burtie Bott's Every Flavour Beans; and I dread having awful ones too. Therefore, the higher media attendance we have, the more chance we would have something good.

With some complicate issues, I tend to target media that might be interested to cover. I was once working on a story of carbon trading (hoorey, I did not waste my foนr years studying for nothing). It was a hard issue to chew but I managed to get one-whole page feature about the company and carbon trading service published in a top-tier Thai-language newspaper. It involved news monitoring, a bit of economic lecture for the journalist who had been hunting on environmental-related news, and an exclusive executive interview. It took time but the story communicated the idea I wished to leverage.

Nonetheless, targeting media does not guarantee effectiveness. On media briefing session, I invited only two publications - one newspaper and one magazine. The first journalist was a senior business reporter from a top-tier English newspaper. To my surprise, he shot ignorant questions built from his bias toward the industry, no mention he asked me to get him paper and a pencil as he brough none. There was no coverage from the session, naturally. I could not help wondering why he came. Fortunately, the second journalist was great. He was also a senior business reporter from an international business magazine. I was impressed with the way he honoured us by dressing well and shot smart questions from his topic idea flow. Of course, he churned a quality. To me, one good story is enough to communicate with the target reader.

When it comes to press conference or events, we tend to hope for high media turnup for maximum coverage.I also find that number of media attendance does not have a significant relationship with good coverage. One third of the media attending might be 'ghost journalists', while another one third might be none-performing journalists. Those who could report good story might not get their writing published because of space allocation.

It all depends (on what, I do not know)

So when journalists give you lemon..

Squeeze it into their eyes!!

Oh, sorry. I was thinking too loud. I mean ..

Make lemonade for tomorrow

Media Relations in Thailand : New Year's Media Visit

2010-01-18T11:28:00.007+07:00

December to January is ususally the period that drains out my energy most as I have a routine media relation activity to do - the New Year's media visit.

New Year is a special occasion for us to bring gifts and best wishes to our families and good friends.Our media are among them; Each year, PR people are out and about to bring corporate gifts to the media of their field.While it can be considered as a bribe in other counties, this practice has become a neccessity to keep the local media in our friend circles.

Media visit is not a glamourous job at all. The first thing that we, Thai PR people, have to do is making a list of key media involved. I tend to focus on the print media as it is likely to pitch a story to them when there is no advertising buying influenced. Fortunatedly, my organization is in the jewelry industry so I have more room to play - fashion/women, social, science, and business.Of course, I have to know their angles and characters well enough to craft my lines for them - meaning I have to read/review every single page of my target media. Then, I pin whom in the editorial I would like to make contact to.

The next step is to do a media routing to lay out the journey. I group my targets into zones and call them to make an appointment. Leaving a tip here, try to make friends with editorial secretaries or admins. He/She is stationed at the desk but can help forward our news to journalists. When the list is done, we can do the shopping. Gift prepared should be your company's product or relate to your corporate image. Corporate premiums are ideal but cookies and tasty snacks are also lovely.Don't forget to hand a copy of media routing to your driver. With all gifts we have to carry here and there, we can't be expected to handle everything alone, can we?

The last piece of preparation before the journey begins is to plan for dress. What you wear will present your company's identity so smart casual is the best choice.For that Thailand is a hot country, classic dress is already perfect for the occassion. I always pick classic dress in black, dark grey, or navy blue and add a creative flair with corporate colour - if any.However, for those in fashion business, you can be as chic as you want but don't be too sexy.Revealing clothes are not acceptable anywhere in business world.

The most difficult part is with the traveling since it requires full energy and physical endurance. I find it similar to rally which we run to various stations to complete some little tasks.At each media stop, it circles like this - bring a gift basket, contact reception,wait, greet the editor/journalist and chat, and leave. The most important part of this task is at a short chit chat. It is the time for pitching a story or interview. Journalists have deadlines and we can't bother them for long. The pitch has to be relevant to their angle, interesting, and brief. See why I have to draw my line for each target?

Car sick is my personal problem but anyone can be sick with temperature-change exposure. On travel, we are in cool air-conditioned vehicle but we have to be in burning-hot air when walking to building(s). Then we are back in the air con again.Hot-Cold,Hot-Cold, Hot-Cold, all the way throughout the day.No mention heavy traffic in Bangkok. Now you understand why I say physical endurance is needed.

It is not a glomourous job, I repeat. However, a good PR girl has to walk in glamour when meeting with the media.Tired and dizzy I may be, I know it is my job to pull my sweet smile for the media. My recent media visit took 2 days with 25 stops. I was hit by a fever afterward.

It's just another day in the PR office, really.