Post #3 (ii) Case Study: "Get on the Sauce" - Launching Beerenberg Coopers Ale Barbeque Sauce

The following is a reflection of the case study on the PR campaign for Beerenberg Coopers Ale Barbecue Sauce, nominated for the Golden Target Awards, which is an Australian award recognising "excellence, best practice and professionalism in public relations" (Public Relations Institute of Australia, 2010). This case study can be obtained from: http://www.lib.uts.edu.au/gta/?page=show&id=808


Goals of public relations campaign:
1. To establish Beerenberg Coopers Ale Barbecue Sauce (a product made through the cooperation of Coopers Brewery and Berenberg Farm) as the one and only Australian barbecue sauce.

2. Targeted average sales of 6 bottles/week in Coles supermarket, which already stocks the product.

3. To raise the product's profile so other retailers will also want to sell it.

4. Through this, enhance the reputation of Coopers Brewery and Beerenberg Farm as producers of excellent product.

5. Beerenberg is popular in South Australia; this campaign was to raise its profile so it would become widely accepted throughout the country.

*related to objectives 4 and 5 was a thrust in emphasising upon Beerenberg's heritage and company values.

Insight (gained from research)

An insight gained by Hughes Public Relations, the company contracted for the campaign, was that there were many barbecue sauces on the market, but none used beer as the main ingredient. This was therefore the main differentiating point for Beerenberg Coopers Ale Barbecue Sauce and the strategy for the campaign focused on it and the values of both producers as mentioned above.

Strategy

A few target audiences were selected, and the campaign primed to reach out to these groups:
- Food journalists
- Highly-educated, reasonably wealthy females who are the main grocery buyers

- Male consumers aged 30 and above (likely to use the barbecue sauce at barbecues, with beer)

- Retailers 

(1) Food journalists were the initial target audience of the campaign, whose strategy was to get them to become more aware of the Beerenberg brand, thus accomplishing objective 5. This would pave the way for the launch of the Barbecue Sauce later.

 

(2) To achieve objective 3 and 5, the Barbecue Sauce was launched at the Fine Foods event in Sydney. This was an event for businesses in the food and hospitality industry to gain attention, network and to launch new products.

(3) Beerenberg also set up a stall at the Tasting Australia event in Adelaide. This bi-annual event, open to the public, showcases what Australia has to offer in F&B.  Apart from the food and hospitality industry, local and international media and the public could also participate in this. By participating in Tasting Australia, objectives 1, 2 and 4 were met.

(4) Finally, to cover all objectives and outreach to the media, the Barbecue Sauce had a media launch in three cities (Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide). Many food journalists were based in Melbourne and Sydney so the choice of those two cities was logical. Adelaide was chosen also because both Coopers and Beerenberg had been well-established there, this was to maintain their image in home base.

Tactics

In the two months leading to the launch of the Barbecue Sauce (1), a Beerenberg product and a letter were delivered to the targeted food journalists so as to familiarise them with the brand.

At the Fine Foods event (2), a barbecue was held with food samples served with the Barbecue Sauce. This sampling allowed other industry participants to find out what the new product was like and to decide (for retailers) whether to put this product on their shelves. The Managing Director, Anthony Paech, was personally involved in this event which showed how important this product was to the companies involved.

Being at the Tasting Australia event (3), which over 20000 people visited, was good publicity for the Beerenberg brand and the Barbecue Sauce. It was a great chance for them to reach out to the public regarding this new product. Also, Hughes Public Relations liaised with the Tasting Australia organisers to increase Beerenberg's visibility, through promoting the brand and the Barbecue Sauce at events linked to Tasting Australia, allowing Beerenberg jams to be used at the Hyatt Hotel in Adelaide where members of the media were staying during Tasting Australia and including Beerenberg publicity material as well as a bottle of the Baebecue Sauce in the media packs.

The tactic used for strategy (4) was to have the media launches over a gourmet barbecue lunch where influential food journalists were served with food and the Barbecue Sauce. Guests were thus able to sample the sauce over lunch and even bring home a bottle.  Also, a news release was written for distribution along with CDs containing images of the Coopers Ale Barbeque Sauce.  Media packs, were also sent to those who were unable to attend. In addition, interviews with financial papers such as the Australian Financial Review were provided for; this generated articles with a corporate viewpoint which attracted the interest of retailers.

Evaluation

As a succesful PR campaign nominated for the Golden Target Awards, all objectives were successfully met as can be seen from the case study. More sales were recorded, and Woolsworths, another supermarket chain, has decided to carry the product. The national media coverage generated a lot of positive stories and lifted the profile of Beerenberg (and Cooper) nation-wide. Export discussions were also under way with distributors in America.

From this case study, I have realised that a PR campaign has to be carefully planned and thought out, and works best when as many facets as possible are covered. What Ms. Wilson said about the effects being obtained free/at low cost were particularly evident, because little cost was spent on advertising and the success or failure of the campaign was wholly dependent on the public relations effort. We definitely need more training to be able to succinctly identify the various goals, insights gained, strategies and tactics used in PR campaigns, and must have a good sense of critical thinking to evaluate its effects.

This marks the end of the case study reflection.

Post #3 (i): Reading Response on Chapter Two (Chia and Synnott, 2009).

Chapter 2: Trends and Developments

The reading this week on Chapter Two of our text highlighted the various trends as identified by the authors that are shaping the PR profession (there is even debate about calling it a profession) today. The main focus points come from Harris and Fleisher (2005, as cited in Chia & Synnott, 2009), as well as Report of the Commission on Public Relations Education (2006). 

Harris and Fleisher contend that it is now industry standard for comapnies to be open and transparent when dealing with the public. Due to increasing education and knowledge, we have become better informed and thus demand accountability from all sorts of organisations, such as the corporation, governments, even charities. Two PR disasters, both  results of external efforts to pressure governments and a non-profit organisation to be more accountable, come to mind.

Firstly, the release of diplomatic cables, from routine traffic to highly classified exchanges by whistle-blower website WikiLeaks constituted a major crisis for many governments, especially that of the United States. Singapore was not spared as well, with our Minister Mentor's remarks on Kim Jong-il among those released, prompting our Ministry of Foreign affairs to express concern over the "damaging action" (Channel NewsAsia, 2010). In a bid to force accountability on the United States government, WikiLeaks has likely prompted many diplomats to practice self-censorship in their dealings with other nations, not to mention chilling nation-to-nation ties, in addition to causing the United States government a huge headache.

The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) also suffered a blow to its image back in 2005 when the media exposed its shady dealings at top level. Following that, the profile of NKF reduced significantly for a few years, and only in the recent years has it slowly returned and rebuilt its image, with a housewife recently donating $4.7 million to it (The Straits Times, 2011). PR was likely instrumental in bringing NKF down and also in its return to good graces, as evidenced by the article mentioned (could have been a media release, yes?). Thus, in demanding accountability, we as PR practitioners need to help our organisations become transparent to the public which is also related to ethical practice.

The Commission's report dealt more with issues in educating PR practitioners. The key take-aways from the report's findings (Chia & Synnott, 2009) are that it spans worldwide now and there is a high priority to be culturally sensitive. This reminds me of what we learnt in our module on Managing the Organisation (IRHR1001) in which cultural sensitivity was also mentioned as a key aspect for managers. I suppose then that this is actually a valuable skill that one should have regardless of field.

Apart from this, the report also mentioned the need to look inwards. Internal communication is something I haven't been focusing on much, but it does make sense that it is an integral part of PR that practitioners should be educated on. Each organisation has its own pecularities, its own culture and "rituals", and it is necessary for the PR person to understand them as well so as to assist in managing crises internally, and also in demonstrating transparency and accountability (mentioned before). If even the employee does not know what the organisation's business plans and procedures are, then how would its image in the eyes of the public be? If whatever the senior management did was never made known to the rank and file, would they have faith in their leaders?

This chapter also discusses formal recognition of PR as a profession. I agree with the stand mentioned in the text that accreditation should indicate that the PR practitioner is qualified and has been trained by recognised institutions/authorities/specialists in this field. It should be managed and monitored properly otherwise there would be no meaning and value to it. Proper accreditation is like a mark of trust and Chia and Synnott (2009) have described the fact that an increasing number of employers preferring to employ accredited PR practitioners. This would definitely raise the profile of the field of PR, if not settling the argument that it is a profession outright (the field is getting more in-depth, and has prescribed standards of training and education, overseen by governing bodies, so why is not a profession?).

This ends the first part of the third post.

Post #2: Reading Response on Chapter One (Chia and Synnott, 2009).

Chapter 1: Understanding Twenty-First Century Public Relations

We've been tasked to read Chia and Synnott (2009)'s text, so this post shall be a reflection on the first chapter of said text. Firstly, the chapter covers a historical overview of the field of PR, citing its origins in the empires of Rome and Greece (Edwards, 2006, as cited in Chia & Synnott, 2009). Fast forwarding to the 20th century, modern public relations practice was identified to have started from America. Parallels were drawn between development of PR in America as well as that in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia, although the rate at which it does so in these regions differs from that of America, since the local cultures do have a large influence on its development. The text cites China's strict control of media as an example.

Here's something I found on the challenges of public relations in China: Weber Shandwick Worldwide.

Seems like to actually practice PR in China, an aspiring practitioner must understand exactly how the government works and be able to sidestep media controls in order to get the required message out (the article does not elaborate how). The article mentions guanxi, or the Chinese term for "relations", and I think this concept of relations factor in more greatly in the Chinese rather than in Western markets, thus the onus is on us, the PR practitioners, to build excellent, reciprocal guanxi with the media so as to achieve our objectives (Liu & Wu, n.d.).

Some definitions were provided as well as various regional perspectives on PR. Again, government control factored in for the context of PR in Asia as mentioned above. What was interesting, however, was the author's definition of it, which encompasses collaboration with the public, continual research and evaluation to improve on work relations across all sectors of society, and being creative, yet adaptable. It echoes the social responsibility ethos in that the PR practitioner, in order to make a difference, should also include activities that brings about positive benefits to the environment that the client is operating in, killing two birds with one stone.

In the next section, the importance of theory was mentioned, mainly to give us students a basis for application and to know what potential minefields to avoid. It also lays the groundwork for further academic study into this field if we so wish (Chia & Synnott, 2009). It was here that I realised PR theory is quite closely linked to communications theory (which we covered last trimester), because familiar names like Habermas, Foucault and Bourdieu appeared at various points in this chapter. Chia and Synnott (2009) even write about Habermas' idea on framing, reminding me of a simple media framing exercise we did under Introduction to Communication Studies, with news angles and so on.

The final portion of this chapter covered the components of PR practice. From internal communications to external networking, crisis management, research, financial public relations (stakeholder-related) and developing positions, PR is actually a bigger field than I ever imagined, even with the little introduction to it in last week's lecture.

This week we linked marketing and PR, which I believe falls under the networking/relationship building and research components as identified in this reading. Ms. Wilson showed us some case studies of PR campaigns (generating the "free" publicity as opposed to "paid" advertisements, something I mentioned in my previous post), and a major takeaway from the tutorial was that PR campaigns need to have a link to the clients they are being tailored for. For example, a graffiti-themed campaign may not suit G2000 well (better known for its all-business, no-nonsense attires) but may be the perfect way to boost the image of Ecko Unlimited (a more edgy, rebellious brand; also one of the case studies shown to us). In my opinion the "Raffles Place Ghost Sightings" which we examined during tutorial had only a small and weak link to the human resource consultancy group that was the client. Linking ghosts to overwork seems a little far-fetched to me, but that's just my two cents. Despite this, it generated attention, so why not, hmm?

This ends the second post.

Post #1: CMNS1290 Lecture 1

Today was our very first lecture for CMNS1290, the module known as Introduction to Public Relations. We were given an overview of this course as well as a quick brief as to what Public Relations, or PR is about. Jumping directly into the lecture proper, I believe the key points today, as delivered in our lecture, were: 

1. The various definitions of PR from academic as well as institutional sources.

2. The function of PR.

3. The various types of PR.

4. The key difference between PR and advertising.

This particular definition of PR caught my eye, as defined by the Institute of Public Relations Singapore: "Public Relations is a professional discipline that aims to enhance an organisation’s reputation and stakeholder relations, to achieve its objectives through communications and related strategic tools.”

To me, this succinctly states the purpose of Public Relations as I understand it, that is to brand the organisation (or even the individual, as in the case of artistes) and improve or to maintain their positive image in the eyes of the public. This, as explained to us by Ms. Wilson, our lecturer, is done through the use of  communication tools such as media releases (written in such a way as to promote, or as a response to allegations, so as to entice the journalist or magazine writer, for example, to produce an article on said organisation/individual/product in their respective publications, thus achieving an objective of making the target stand out from the rest).

Even so, it was elaborated that PR practitioners perform other functions too, such as to counsel senior management on what to say and action measures to be taken in times of crises. The example of the recall of Mars and Snickers chocolate bars as a major crisis requiring PR intervention was mentioned by Ms. Wilson (personal communication, January 11 , 2011). I also thought back to the training accident in 2006, where a Commando officer of the Singapore Armed Forces  (SAF) died (David Boey's blog, Senang Diri, at http://kementah.blogspot.com/2010/06/court-verdict-on-land-rover-death.html). I suppose the response by the SAF to suspend physical training pending a review of operating procedures and safety standards back then qualifies as a PR response? This also involves the element of ethics in PR and the responsibility to the society at large.

Thus apart from merely serving the purpose of branding (Consumer-Brand PR) and dealing with the public and the press (Corporate PR), there are also other types of PR, such the Business-to-Business PR, which involves getting targeted retailers to carry one's products for sale (Wilson, personal communication, January 11, 2011). 

Lastly, we reflected on some key differences between PR and advertising. Ms Wilson mentioned that PR was approximately 5 times more effective than advertising, the key difference being that advertisements are paid for by the organisation while the effect produced from PR efforts is basically free. She mentioned a hypothetical example of a chef being quoted in an article about KFC's egg tarts being the best - this would be more effective than just an advertisement about KFC's egg tarts in its breakfast set. Perhaps PSB can learn from this as well, and nominate more students for interviews in newspaper features apart from their regular advertisements placed there. 

That summarises my reflections for this lecture and thus ends my post.