Life After Varsity For the LIONESS

 

I have not necessarily planned, anything yet, but one thing I know is that I need to find a job. I was never ready for this, I wanted it so badly but I never planned for it. It has been a very joyful, tearful, fun journey, and I have had a lot of memorable moments, some that I wish to relive and some that I prefer to forget.

My Pre-degree year was the most awesome with a lot of time on my hands to party and go out really enjoy varisty life, than my second year was filled with a lot of adjustments, as I had to learn how to get serious as I was now in varsity, my second year was a bliss, a few mishaps there and there but it was well.

Now My third year was the hardest, and only because I was lazy, and had the concept that the year was long so I  took my time, relaxed, and missed a lot of deadlines. But I did kind off make it, as most my work is done, and now I just have to prepare for two exams, and My internship.

What I also plan to do next year is to start chasing after my  passion for drama and dance.

PEACE OUT!!!!

#TheMadamHasSpoken

Madam Speaker Productions

One the most assignments I had to do this year was my documentary, it was an experience I will never forget. it was draining, but it was worth it. I’m so proud of my work, thus I’m Sharring it.

The Poor Men’s Coke (CAT)

Treatment

Pictures of the drug while a V/O explains CAT, than a video of a women holding it and talking (no sound), then pictures and gifs of young people partying. Then bobo a user of the drug explains why he loves and uses CAT.

Lesego sitting down, introduces himself, explain his addiction to the CAT drug. (Horizon) playing softly in the background. Psychologist Mercy Chauke is sitting on her couch giving a psychological perspective of the drug.

Lesego explains why he smoked CAT, referring to the night “party” life in the background. Lesego describes the effects that CAT had, on his body.  Lesego continues to talk about how much a gram of CAT cost, and how much he purchases in a week.

Shwii is a CAT dealer who makes a living out of selling the drug. He answers the questions of when he started selling CAT, how and where he gets his merchandise, and whether if he doesn’t feel compassion to the fact that CAT might destroy people’s lives. He continues to explain how much money makes and whether or not he has ever been arrested. Captain Mufamadi answers whether or not the police have made any arrests yet to people who are in possession of this drug.

Captain Mufamadi explains what they are doing to people who are selling and are in possession of this drug. Then he requests the community to report any selling of the drug, than Lesego gives advice against CAT.

1.   Angle

The angle of this documentary is set to focus on how CAT (Methcathinone, drug) is entering and achieving its market in the youth as a party drug, its effects on its users, and also how students use it as an energy booster while studying.

2.   Pitch

A drug that is sophisticated yet cheap, therefore taking over the night life, as it spreads all over the streets of Gauteng.  Where students rely on it as an energy supplement in order to get through the exams and tests, though do not realise how it is deadly. This documentary follows the life of two people, first a student that lost their career as a student; due to CAT, a young man who makes a living out of this drug, while consuming it himself; following on their experiences with this drug, and also seeing its impact in both their lives.

3.   Goal

The goal of this Documentary is to inform people about CAT, make them aware of its dangers, and how it has become a lifestyle for young people. This documentary will enlighten those who take this drug for granted to also see it as a faster route to Schizophrenia.

4.   Objectives

The first objective is to inform people on how CAT is made with dangerous ingredients, mixed to create this substance. Secondly to make people aware of how it is a trend in the lifestyle of the youth of this era, and to inform them on the process of its distribution.

Link to my Documentary, do enjoy.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bxicyf0lWQkNTS1uUjg0WWRHQ2M

Love Your Skin

This video made me sad and proud at the same time, watching this cute kid want to be black with every fiber of her being made me thank God for making me what I am, although I felt very sorry for her, I wonder what made her so determined not to love what she is, it is very tragic that at such a young age she doesn’t accept herself, for what she really is.

Which makes me wonder is this what people like Micheal Jackson and Mshoza did when they were young, was changing the colour of their skins a long life dream? Did they cry like this when they were young saying “I want to be White”, truth is if this is the case, one can understand why as soon as they had the money to afford, they chose to bleach their skins.

It could have also been just a stunt to get attention, or were they following a trend; that lighter skin is more beautiful? In retrospect Micheal Jackson and Mshoza’s predicaments cannot be compared as similar, as Micheal Jackson did this change in an era where; black people were disregarded as humans just because of the colour of their skins. So one can understand the kind of pressure he went through, to want to have a skin colour different than his own.

But with Mshoza, it is a totally different story, when she first came into the music industry she had the reputation of a tom boyish, never mind, confident, and proudly black women. Then she grew up got married, and had no music to get the media’s attention.

So She decided  to follow a trend that definitely, would get the medias attention. Which was to bleach her skin.  After this many more South Africans followed the trend, and unfortunately for some it did not work out well, some ended up with damaged skin, because they used backdoor doctors, instead of real specialist, due to lack of affordability.

But why put yourself through so much only to follow a trend? Why make yourself suffer? the truth is that, if there were no discrimination’s people would not have to hate a part of themselves, we would all love ourselves, and such drastic trends would not exist. Like the video above; it is clear that this child might have heard some kind of discrimination against her ethnicity and that is why now she wants to be black so badly, because she just wants to fit inn, in what is seen as positive, or more “beautiful”, which is similar to Micheal Jackson’s predicament.

The sad thing is that his trying to conform got him killed, and deep down inside, he knew one thing; which is that he was black, a change in his skin colour did not change what he came into this world as. And if the people around him could have seen that not loving what God created you to be is a psychological problem, he could have been saved, just like it is for this child.

So anyone that dreams of changing their skin colour to anything either than what it is should get psychological help.

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Proudly African: Heritage Day

This heritage day was the best I had in so many years, actually the last time I enjoyed my Heritage day was in primary school in 2007 when I received a best dressed award. It was an honor I will never forget now.  Now 9 years later I mark another honor on this day.

Well I didn’t have much to do that day, since it was a Saturday, I basically spent it with my mom in the house, what we did was cook a traditional meal that is loved by every one in the family, which is Samp and Mogodu, my brother and his friends just had a mini braai outside on the lawn, which was quite fun, because he was playing Mbaxanga music (Zulu traditional music).

We ate the traditional meal in the afternoon, and the braai meat in the evening for supper with pap and chakalaka. because I had already worn my cultural dress on Friday at the campus Cultural celebration. I really enjoyed myself as we were just having family time, no family politics, just fun and culture.

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The Campus celebration was also a highlight because I was a host of the event, and I had fun doing what I love. On Sunday I went to church in my zulu atire and people kept on telling me how pretty I looked.

 

#Banking On Social Media: Standard Bank& We Chat

Standard bank is being a first in its industry, in using social media to send money, this is a very cool and unique way of banking, never been done before, and has attracted the attention of many. This is one form of marketing that is award winning, and positions standard bank in a way that makes standard bank superior to its competition, in terms of technology.

It creates the reputation that Standard bank is definitely in Cline  with the times and it is going out of its way to ensure that creates the superior benefit it promises to its clients. As a client of standard bank, when I first saw this ad, I though that it was ridiculous, but now that my mom and I are finding it difficult to do the old way of depositing money, we have downloaded we chat and we are now using it to send money to each other.

I must say it is very convenient, especially in the night, because truth is; there are some situations where you need money at night and you can’t wait for the morning, so We Chat now makes it easy and urgent.

This is beneficial for both We Chat and Standard bank because, it brings We Chat more customers, such as my mum and I who downloaded the app because of this new method of banking. And now that banking can be cheaper and effortlesss, more people will want bank with such a forward bank.

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Public Relations Campaign for NGO

Today in order to accomplish any program or to reach any goal, one has to plan. And planning is only successful when there is enough research in order to base the plan, guide the plan in the right direction, and ensure that the result is the intended goal. The four step public relations plan is a public relations scientific strategy that has proven to work and is mainly used in any public relations program implemented today.

Planning a public relations campaign is important because, it focuses effort, it ensures that the unnecessary is excluded, it improves effectiveness, by working on the specific things, defined objectives will be achieved, it encourages the long term review; to plan requires looking forward, it helps demonstrate value for money; being able to present strengths of the organisation, it allows the project to be favored, in terms of budget cuts, as the project has benefits, it minimizes mishap, and it reconciles conflicts (Gregory, 2000: 38).

The first phase in the planning  process  which is to conduct Formative Research, this is  where research is gathered and analysed regarding the current situation of the company (Step 1), the nature of the organisation; internally and externally (Step 2), and analyzing the publics that have an effect on the organisation (Step 3). The second phase is the Strategy; this consists of establishing goals and objectives (Step 4), Formulating action and response strategies (Step 5). , and developing the message strategy (Step 6).

The third phase is Tactics this is where the implementation of the program of action and communication tactics designed to achieve the specific objectives for each of the public’s to accomplish the program goals (Broom & Sha:263).  It involves; choosing the communication tactics (Step 7), and implementing the strategic plan (Step 8), which leads to the final phase which is evaluation research.

This phase involves evaluating the strategic plan (Step 9), this is where assessing the preparation, implementation, and impact of the program is done. And where adjustments are made while the program is being implemented based on evaluation feedback on how it is or not working (Broom & Sha, 2013:263).

1.1 Background of Leratong Hospice

The Organisation that I have chosen to work with using the above mentioned phases in implementing a public Relations program for is called “Leratong Hospice”. Leratong Hospice is an 18 bedded In-Patient facility offering holistic comprehensive care and support- palliative care to all its patients and offering necessary support to their families. The Hospice is situated in Atteridgeville Ext 16, serving the areas of Atteridgeville, Saulsville, the surrounding informal settlements, Lotus Gardens, Pretoria West Laudium, Brits, Hartebeespoort, and neighbouring communities (www.leratong.co.za).

 2. Phase 1: FORMATIVE RESEARCH

The first phase, the focus is on the preliminary work of communication planning, which is seen as the need to gather information and analyse the situation. The planner takes three steps and they are as follows: the planner will have to draw on existing information available to the organization and, at the same time, create a research program to gain additional information needed to drive the decisions that will come later in the planning process (Smith, 2016:1).

            2.1 STEP 1: Analysing the situation

A situation analysis is the foundation of public relations planning- whether for a comprehensive campaign or just one element such as a writing project. It is a key to successful decision making. It is the crucial beginning of the process. It involves that the planner, clients, supervisors, key colleagues, and the ultimate decision makers are in solid agreement about the nature of the opportunity or obstacle to be addressed in this program. A situation analysis is the foundation of public relations planning- whether for a comprehensive campaign or just one element such as a writing project. It is a key to successful decision making (Smith, 2016:1).

A situation Analysis can be structured in a variety of ways, posing a myriad of questions about the current problem, and the background of the organisation (Heath, 2013:825).

 2.1.1 Situational analysis for Leratong Hospice

When evaluating the annual report of Leratong Hospice for 2014, the problem highlighted is that there is a lack of funding and donations for the organisation from the surrounding community, due to the problem that there is not enough activity between the organisation and its Community of Atteridgeville.

Thus the community is not aware of how they can help. Therefore the management teams of Leratong Hospice and the public relations practitioner have agreed that the problem to be solved is that of lack of communication and activities between the organisation and its surrounding community.

2.2 STEP 2: Analysing the organization

This step involves a careful an evaluation of the organisations internal and external environment, specifically begins with a thorough and searching review of perceptions and actions of key actors in the organisation, structures and processes of organisational units relevant to the problem, and the history of the organisation’s involvement (Broom & Sha, 2013:269). The focus is on analysing internal factors that deal with organisational policies, procedures, and actions related to the problem situation.

2.2.1 Organisational Analysis of Leratong Hospice

The environmental analysis for Leratong Hospice comes from Appendix A which is the Leratong Hospice profile and some information from Appendix B which is the Annual Report for 2014, if need any further information provided in this text refer to the mentioned appendix. Vision of Leratong hospice is to offer, “Quality Palliative Care for All”. And the mission of Leratong Hospice is that; “Leratong Hospice is a palliative care centre of excellence providing holistic palliative care for patients and support for their families, and actively promoting palliative care, for the community by the community” (Leratong Hospice Profile, 2014:1).

2.    STEP 3: Analysing the publics

In this step a practitioner identifies and analyses their key publics; the various groups of people who interact with their organisation on the issue at hand. Strategic planning is required for Public Relations to provide an objective technique for setting priorities among the various publics identified, thus will help select those most important on the particular issue being dealt with. This step includes a clear analysis of each public in terms of each of its wants, needs, and expectations about the issue (Smith, 2016:1).

This is where a practitioner identifies and defines the public or stakeholders that will be affected by the plan; the influential groups and demographics. Also differentiate the three types of publics, from latent publics: which are publics who are unaware of their connection to that organisation and the problems they face, aware publics, and active publics (Reyneke, 2016:5).

 3.1 Internal and external public analysis of the Hospice

The internal Publics or stakeholders of the campaign are the employees of Leratong Hospice, the managing team and the board of Leratong Hospice. The external publics is the Community of Atteridgeville from Atteridgeville, the department of health, current and other potential funders and donators, hospitals that send patients to Leratong Hospice such as Kalafong Hospital, different churches, business owners, and families.

3.    PHASE 2: STRATEGY

Strategy is the heart of planning for public relations, strategy is the determination of how the organisation decides what is needed to achieve, how it is going to be achieved. Strategy has a dual focus: the action of the organisation (both proactive and responsive), and the content and its messages (Smith, 2013: 93).

This stage deals with the heart of planning – making decisions dealing with the expected impact of the communication, as well as the nature of the communication itself. As soon as the public relations problem or opportunity is defined through research and analysis, a practitioner must determine what is the goal desired by organisational management, whether it is to mitigate the problem or to capitalise on opportunities? Once the goal is set the practitioner must devise a strategy for achieving that goal (Broom & Sha, 2013:288).

4.1 STEP 4: Establishing a goal and objectives

This step focuses on the ultimate position sought for the organization and for the product or service. It helps a practitioner to develop clear, specific, and measurable objectives that will help identify the organisations hoped for impact on the awareness, acceptance, and action of each key public. A good deal of objectives is given to the main objectives dealing with acceptance of the message, because this is the most crucial area for both the public relations and marketing communication strategies (Smith, 2016:2).

Goals are broad, summative statements that spell out the overall outcomes of a program. Goals reflect the problems and opportunities identified in the research step. The broader the organisational goals the more framework provided to the public relations practitioner (Reyneke, 2016:4).There are two types of goals, the long term goal, and the short term goal. Setting a realistic objective is absolutely vital to ensure that the programme or campaign that is being planned has direction and demonstrably achieves something (Gregory, 2000:78).

Objectives are the specific knowledge, opinion, and behavioural outcomes to be achieved for each target public, they provide focus, direction for developing strategies and tactics, and offers guidance and motivation to those implementing the plan (Davis, 2010: 15). The best way to ensure accurate objectives for your plan is to use the SMART method, which helps to determine whether the objectives describe concrete achievements and outcomes that support the stated goal.

4.4 STEP 5: Formulating action and response strategies

This step focuses on the typologies of public relations initiatives and responses a variety of possible actions is available to the organization, and in this step a practitioner may consider what to do in various situations. No strategic campaign would include each and every possible option, but a well-planned campaign will have to consider each in light of its goals and objectives (Smith, 2013:2).

Action focuses on internal organisational change, thus the actions that will be taken by the organisation itself in order to fix the problem at hand or to seize an opportunity (Reyneke 2016:2),. Tactics are what practitioners do and are in the form of media release, lobbying, media kits, news alerts, press conferences etc (Heath, 2005:844).

4.5 The strategy

The strategy is in the form of pamphlets, where pamphlets will be given to individuals in churches, money for printing will be collected from available sponsor that has agreed. And then pamphlets in small business around Atteridgeville who are already donors of Leratong Hospice, as it will be easier to persuade them to distribute, and also to Kalafong hospital, to ensure that the information reaches the masses a news release will be sent to the local newspaper (Tshwane Times) and a short message created for radio that will be read by a presenter. And also visits to Churches in the community, where the members are informed through presentations, in order to reach those who avoid reading flyers and pamphlets in church, and to create a view of the level of importance of this initiative.

4.6 The action

The action to be taken is to create pamphlets, distribute these pamphlets, contact the local newspaper and send a news release, send another news release to the local radio station to communicate to the public. And lastly the action event is a health day at the hospice in September in order to show gratitude from the hospice to all the participating members of the community by teaching the community on how to take care of themselves, and have expert talks from the experts within the hospice. In terms of the event if sponsors do not sponsor what is needed of them, new and other sponsor from the new active public will be contacted and requested to help sponsor.

4.7 STEP 6: Developing the message strategy

Development of the message strategy is done in this step. It deals with the various decisions about the message, such as the person or entity that will present the message to the organization’s key publics, the content of the message, its tone and style, verbal and nonverbal cues, and related issues. Various lessons from the research about persuasive communication and dialogue will be applied for the ultimate purpose of designing a message that will reflect the information gained through Step 3 focusing (Smith, 2013:3).

4.    PHASE 3: TACTICS

5.1 STEP 7: Choosing communication tactics

In this step the selection of communication tactics is acknowledged. It deals with the various communication options. The planner will consider four specific categories: face-to-face communication and opportunities for personal involvement; organizational media (controlled media); news media (uncontrolled media) and lastly advertising and promotional media which is also another form of controlled media. In as much as all these tools can be used by any organization, not every tool is appropriate for each issue (Smith, 2013, 3).

5.2 Communication tactics for Leratong Hospice’s campaign

1) The pamphlet

The pamphlet will be made by the public relations practitioner, and finalised by the general manager, it will state the following information; short description of the hospice; Pictures of the hospice, and its staff, the role of the community towards the hospice, challenges the Hospice is facing, how and why the community can help. And most importantly the banking details of the Hospice.

2) The News Release

The news release will also be done by the public relations practitioner, and finalised by the general manager, and it will have a picture of the Hospice, the banking details of Leratong Hospice, a short description of the hospice, the challenges the hospice face, and how and why the community can help.

3) The Radio Message

Which is also done by the public relations practitioner, it will state a short description of the Hospice, the challenges faced by the Hospice, and why and how the community can help, and banking details of the hospice.

4) Facebook message

Facebook message will be done by the public relations officer, it will communicate the details of the campaign, the description of the hospice, bank details of the hospice, and the website of the hospice.

5.3 STEP 8: Implementing the strategic plan

In step 8 planners turn the raw ingredients identified in the previous step into a recipe for successful public relations and marketing communication. In this step planners also package the tactics identified in the previous step menu review into a well planned communication program. Planners also develop budgets and schedules, and otherwise prepare to implement the communication program. A budget is simply the specific money needed in order to complete the planned activity. The budget is organised by public and strategy, the budget should project the cost of each tactic in very specific terms, and it should also indicate where cost will be offset by donation or sponsorship (Litwin, 2009:227).

Once the plan has been developed the management should have a feedback system in place, where verbal or written reports are communicated on a regular and timely basis throughout the whole program implementation. This allows evaluation to be more effectively conducted. Compiling feedback is an on-going process: returning back to every activity from the programme implementation to the evaluation on a regular and continual basis (Timmreck, 2009:210).  This is the final phase of strategic planning and it deals with evaluation and assessment. It enables one to determine the degree to which the stated objectives have been me and thus to modify or continue the communication activities.
5.    PHASE 4: EVALUATION RESEARCH

6.1 STEP 9: EVALUATING THE STRATEGIC PLAN

Evaluation is a complex process that has to be actively implemented and effectively put into action at all levels and phases of a project or service. It should be conducted on an ongoing and regular basis; the most useful approach to evaluation is through the development of goals, general objectives, and specific objectives. Goals and objectives are looked at to determine if they have been met, if outcomes are realised, to what extent they have been met, and what still needs to be done (Timmreck, 2003:1287).  This is the final step of the planning element, indicating for measuring the effectiveness of each tactic recommended in the meeting the stated objectives

It can also be concluded that most of the work is done in the situation analysis stage where all factors considered ensuring that the objectives are realistic. And lastly evaluation plays a very vital role, since one can never know if they have reached a goal without measuring the outcomes, thus all outcomes have to be measured during and after the implementation in order to see if the goal is reached, the mistakes in the plan, and how the mistakes can be corrected in the future, and the best way to evaluate is to use the clear objectives and see how they have been met.
In conclusion it can be confirmed that any program or goal cannot be reached without proper planning towards it. And if proper research is not conducted it is impossible for a person plan to a proper program or goal execution, since the goal guides the plan in the right direction. It can also be concluded that in order to execute a successful plan one has to ensure that they follow the required steps from conducting, formative research of the organisation, compiling a strategy, planning specific tactics to follow, and evaluating the implementation of the plan.

It can also be concluded that the nine step plan is similar to the 4 step, only the four step plan is broken down into specific factors, that must be considered and performed in detail, in order to ensure the success the of a plan, and also these steps help to highlight the importance of planning a public relations campaign as it helps highlight important information about the organisation that is needed.

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References 

Austin, E, W. Pinkleton, B, E. 2006. Strategic Public Relations Management: planning and managing effective communication programs. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Broom, M. Sha, B. 2013. Effective Public Relations . England: Pearson Education Limited.

Davis, M. 2010. Communication Planning. [Available] http://www.pracademy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Day5-Adv-Cert-170410.pdf (Accessed 12 May 2016).

Glen, M. Broom, M. 2008. Cutlip & Center’s: Effective Public Relations. Engalnd: Pearson.

Gregory, 2000. Planning and Managing Public Relations Campaign. London: Kogan

Heath, R,L. 2013. Encyclopedia of Public relations. United States of America: SAGE Publications.

Leratong Hospice. 2013. Leratong Hospice Profile. Atteridgeville: Leratong Hospice.

Leratong Hospice. 2014. Annual Report. [Available] http://leratong.co.za/reports/2014.ppdf (Accessed 12 May 2016).

Leratong Hospice. 2015. About Leratong Hospice. [Available] http://Leratong.co.za/about_us. (Accessed 12 May 2016).

Litwin, M, L. 2009. The Public Practitioners Playbook. United States of America: Author House.

Narzuko, L. 2004. Managing a Quality Service. United Kingdom: Bath press Ltd

Reyneke, A.  2016.  Planning and Programming-Goals and Objectives. [Available] http://mylms.cti.ac.za/mod/resource/view.phd?id=20874 (Accessed) 5 May 2016).

Smith, R, D. 2013. Strategic Planning For Public Relations. United Kingdom: Routledge

Smith, R, D. 2016. Strategic Planning For Public Relations: Four phases, Nine Steps. [Available] http://www.ron-smith.com/#!strategic-planning-for-public-relations/l4229 (Accessed 5 August 2016).

Timmreck, T, C. 2002. Planning, program Development, and Evaluation. Canada: Jones and Bartlet Publishers.

Merchanistic VS Interactional Communication

Communication is seen as the glue that binds an organisation together. It enables people working within an organisation to co-operate and by doing so, to achieve more than they would if they worked alone. It also makes it easier for people within an organisation to interact with important people and groups outside the organisation; the organisations clients, agents, legislators, and the broader public. Communication exists in and around organisations in different forms, activities and functions, including, planned communication such as management communication, public relations, advertising or personal selling, corporate culture, relationships between staff, relationships between the people within the organisation and those outside it (Angelopulo & Barker, 2013: 3).

In communication it is possible to identify two broad theoretical streams that offer insight into the communication of organisations, in the first stream communication is defined as a mechanistic phenomenon that approaches conveniently and simply identify important components and properties of communication where as the second stream;  interactional approaches give a broader and more nuanced view of communication and its role in the lives of people acting as social beings in the context of the organisation (Angelopulo & Barker, 2013:7).  Looking at these two streams; the event that is going to be discussed is the SAB Miller Quarterly Marketing Seminar. This seminar will be discussed as a phenomenon of mechanistic communication than also discussed as a phenomenon of Interactional communication, these two communications will be compared, and their benefits will be discussed looking at their significance and effects.

The SAB Miller Marketing Seminar consists of the company’s CEO the group marketing director, the managing director of Poland and the managing director of Panama, this is where they meet to discuss the following issues; the company’s financial position, business strategy, plans and objectives of management for future operations (including development plans and objectives relating to the Company’s products and services), known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future results,  numerous assumptions regarding the Company’s present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future. All references in this presentation refer to earnings before interest, tax, amortization of intangible assets (excluding software) and exceptional items. Also includes the Group’s share of associates’ and joint ventures’ EBITA on the same basis (Leibowitz, 2014:3).

In the mechanistic perspective, communication becomes a transmission process. This perspective is suitable to capture a communication episode empirically because various elements of the communication process are identified, and given a concrete substance so that they can be measured. It is rooted in information theory, the origin of which is attributed to Shannon and Weaver. The theory originally dealt with the problem of transmitting signals from an origination to a destination with a minimum of “noise”. The theory had a very narrow scope because it was not concerned with the issues such as meaning and interpretation of messages. In mechanistic view of communication, a sender transmits a message through a medium to a receiver, who may provide a feedback. A comprehensive measurement of communication process should capture all the elements of communication, including sender, receiver, message, medium, and feedback (Sindhav & Adidam, 2005:79).

The SAB Miller Marketing seminar in a mechanistic perspective the sender who is the marketing director transmits a message which is the information about the company’s financial position, business strategy, plans, and objectives of management for future operations etc, through a medium which is a projector that displays the information to the receivers who is the two managing directors of Poland and Panama and the Chief Executive officer. Therefore the model in this situation would be presented like this; (Sender) Group Marketing Director – (medium) projector-(message) Company’s financial position-(receiver) the CEO, and the managing directors of Poland and Panama. The sender assesses if the information sent was correctly received and interpreted; by monitoring feedback from the reciever.

Two-way communication occurs when there is feedback, feedback is transmission in the reverse order of the initial communication, and the receiver encodes the feedback from thought to words or symbols that can be transmitted via air through which sound travels, to the communicator who decodes the message. The message whether in the form of feedback or in the form of initiated communication it has no meaning during transmission, it only has meaning prior encoding and after the decoding (Angelopulo & Barker, 2013:9).

Therefore when the group marketing director of SAB Miller is done with his presentation the CEO and the two managing directors of Poland and Panama receive the information, they analyse (decode) it and then encode a message that they transmit verbally to the group marketing director which he decodes. The medium used for the feedback is the air through which sound travels. Examples of feedback could be questions regarding the information they have received, or their opinions on the progress or financial position of SAB Miller, concerning what the group marketing director has said.

The second stream of communication is interactive communication; it explains communication as a social phenomenon that cannot be analysed as a sum of constituent parts Angelopulo & Barker, 2013:9). Communication is seen as a purely human activity, to exist only as interaction between human beings this is the process by which meaning becomes shared and common understandings emerge in the formation of            groups and cultures, and the process through which interpersonal transaction, social position, action, status and power are created, altered and in some cases, diminished (Angelopulo & Barker, 2013:10).  This in this stream the sender is not communicating to the audience but rather communicating with the audience interaction gives the sender an opportunity to work through issues that its audience might have (Porter, 2012).

In the interpretive-symbolic perspective, communication becomes a process of interpretation of symbols. The meanings of the symbols are derived through the mutuality of experience. Hence, the subjective view of the communicator becomes important in the communication process. In mechanistic and psychological perspectives, organisational properties affect communication more than they being shaped by communication. Thus, communication is often a passive variable in studies following these perspectives. However, in interpretive-symbolic approach, communication assumes an active role        (Sindhav & Adidam, 2005:81).

At the SAB Miller Marketing Seminar interactive communication would happen after the full presentation has been presented by the Group marketing director, the CEO the managing Directors of Poland and of Panama will than engage in conversations where they ask questions, and ask for clarity where they don’t understand, than the Marketing director will respond answering the questions asked, and giving clarity where needed. This interaction will still be formal therefore the language used will stay formal as it is the culture such events, for example if the Marketing Director wants to address the CEO he will address him as; Sir.

This is where the sender (the Group Marketing director) and the Receiver (the CEO and the two Managing directors) give meaning to the message. They make decisions on the SAB Miller’s financial position and other issues discussed, they conclude what is to be changed and what will remain static in the company through this discussion the group marketing director will be able to conclude whether or not his message was interpreted the way he intended. In this stream the communication process is an alternating exchange of messages as the receivers message is a reaction to the message received, this allows the sender to adapt to the receivers response (Holmes & Handley, 1998).

When comparing these two streams it can be stated that in mechanistic communication everything can be reduced to essential parts that can be understood and measured, every aspect involved in communication is its own separate entity, the Sender, the message, the medium, and the receiver. In Interactive communication; communication is explained as a social phenomenon that cannot be analysed as a sum of separate parts. In mechanistic communication the message has no meaning; it only acquires meaning when it is being encoded and when it is being decoded. Than in Interactive communication meaning is shared and created.

Different from the mechanistic communication where communication exists between machines, interactive communication is a phenomenon that does not exist as separate from people, and therefore does not exist between machines or between man and machine but however it assists communication between people. In a mechanistic phenomenon communication is something that is rigid and exists separate from human beings, whereas interactive communication sees communication as a part of the human beings, therefore communication is not separate from the human beings.

Both the approaches are important; the mechanistic approach offers a structure for planning, timing, and integrating the components of communication, while the interactional approach provides a clear perspective of the interactive, ongoing, relational, and meaning-based nature of communication (Angelopulo & Barker, 2013:12).  In the case of the Seminar the mechanistic approach offered the Group Marketing Director a structure to plan his presentation, the length of his presentation, and the medium which was the projector. Than the interactive approach gave the Chief Executive Officer, the Managing director of Poland and the Managing director of Panama a structure to interact, ask questions and get clarity concerning the information that was shared, and apply meaning to the information.

In mechanistic communication the elements of communication are concrete, and can be measured empirically. For example, content analysis can be used to count frequency of the presentation by the Group Marketing director, and interactive communication implies the use of longitudinal studies, event analysis, or network analysis. The Group Marketing can study whether or not the seminar was successful through feedback from the CEO and the managing director of Poland and the managing director of Panama.

The interactive approach although not a holistic model gives some insight into the wholeness, transience, adaptability, and interactive nature of social phenomena. In contrast the mechanistic approach focuses on the social phenomena as a sum of autonomous parts, actions, and purposes that can be understood in isolation from all related phenomena, frozen in time which can be seen to exist meaningfully as static entities (Angelopulo & Barker, 2013:12).

Therefore in conclusion one could say that event that was discussed is the SAB Miller Quarterly Marketing Seminar. This seminar was discussed as a phenomenon of mechanistic communication than also discussed as a phenomenon of Interactional communication, these two communications have been compared, and their benefits have been discussed looking at their significance and effects.

It can be concluded that mechanistic communication is a transmission process that can be broken down into various elements, the sender, message, medium, and the receiver, whereas interactive communication is seen to be a purely human activity, that exists only as interaction between human beings. The SAB Miller Seminar consisted of both the communication approaches it can also be concluded that it would not have been successful if only one approach was used, therefore both approaches are important.

References

Angelopulo, G. Barker, R. (ed). 2013. Integrated Organisational Communication. Claremont: Juta & Company Ltd.

Leibowitz, G. 2014. SAB Miller Quarterly investor Seminar Series: Marketing Strategy. [Available] http://www.sabmiller.com/investors/divisional-seminars/quarterly-seminar-series-marketing (Accessed 7 April 2015).

Sindhav, B. Adidam, P.T. 2005. Marketing Communication as Organizational Communication: Exploration and Synthesis of the Underlying Theoretical Perspectives.  [Available] http://businessperspectives.org/journals_free/im/2005/IM_2005_02_Sindhav.pdf (Accessed 7 April 2015).

Damstrom, A. 2014. Symbiosis: Rhetorical Triangle theory and the Shannon-Weaver transmission model of communication. [Available] https://web.njit.edu/~acd29/documents/Damstrom_TwoModeIsofCommunicationTheory.pdf (Accessed 7 April 2015).

Porter, J. 2012. Reaction Action Interaction transaction. [Available} http://blog.journalistics.com/2012/action-reaction-interaction-and-transactio/ (Accessed 7 April 2015).

2013. 2013. The Models of Communication. [Available] http://thecommunicationprocess.com/model-of-communication/ (Accessed 7 April 2015).

Holmes, M.E, Handley, H.I. 1998. Communication Models. [Available] http://www.cc.utah.edu/~hlg24660/hwrk3/hwork3.htm (Accessed 7 April 2015).

Public Relations: How to Market via direct Mail;”Diggy Mobile”

The Small Business Encyclopedia  (2015) defines Direct Mail Marketing, as a Marketing effort that uses a mail service to deliver a promotional printed piece to your target audience. Direct mail encompasses a wide variety of Marketing materials, including brochures, catalogs, postcards, newsletters, and sales letters. Major corporations know that direct mail advertising is one of the most effective and profitable ways to reach out to new and existing clients (Skinner, Mersham & Benecke, 2013:189).  The older generation still enjoys sending and receiving mail, there is still a sentimental feeling towards receiving a personally written message in the mail. In this essay direct mail Marketing will be discussed as be as a Public relations Marketing tool for Diggy Mobile.

Lets say a company called “Diggy mobile”  that is a new network provider that was established in 2013 in South Africa, it offers its clients with services such as airtime, internet data bundles, and other services. And now Diggy mobile is facing a high competitive market in the telecommunications industry, thus it is failing to attract new clients which results in its revenue decline. Diggy mobile has decided to use direct mail Marketing as a public relations tool to attract new clients. In order for a direct mail Marketing campaign to be effective the following must be implemented:

The Right Objective

The direct mail Marketing campaign for Diggy Mobile must have the right objective, without any objective there will be no yard stick in which to measure the direct mails success.  When the objective of Diggy mobile is clear every element in the direct mail package must lead the recipient towards the action which is for the recipient; to purchase and use Diggy mobile as their mobile network. With the right objective will lead to the next action which, is to have the right mailing package.

The right mailing package

With the right mailing package the envelope is the most important aspect. The envelope increases the chances of getting the reader to open the envelope and read the contents (Skinner, Mersham, and Benecke 2013:180). The more appealing the envelope is to the reader, the more beneficial the result for Diggy mobile. For example Diggy mobile could offer a voucher worth of a substantial amount of air time for every client that joins Diggy mobile, there for the envelope could have smaller sticker written “Free airtime!” this will definitely alarm the reader to want to read the content inside the envelope.

The next item is the letter; the letter delivers the message to the reader (Experian, 2015). This represents who and what Diggy Mobile is, why Diggy mobile is more affordable than its competing providers, special benefits such as  low data bundle rates, longer off-peak hours for clients, the free airtime voucher that is advertised on the envelope and other services that Diggy Mobile offers such as less data rates resulting in more voice call airtime availability.

Having a great design that stands out and also works to reinforce the message of Diggy Mobile is essential for the success of this direct mail. The visual reinforcement of the message must show Diggy mobile’s services in detail and it must expand on the benefits of use of Diggy mobile (Skinner, Mersham & Benecke,2013:190). It will also illustrate the service and value to the reader. It will entail details such as airtime rates for example R1:00, R15:00, R25:00, R80:00 airtime rates and price of bundles, R30:00- 200MB. And state that sim cards are free for a certain period of promotion.

Every Direct mail must have a “call to action” this is to drive the reader of the mail to act on the recipient of the mailing, the more options Diggy Mobile offers the audience;  the better the chances of receiving replies. The response channel will be used as a way to capture information about customers; here Diggy Mobile will include a competition where customers must fill in information about them to enter

(Oliveira, 2014). Here Diggy Mobile’s customer care number will be included with physical and postal address to its various stores, Diggy Mobiles website address (www.diggymobile.com) and an email address. The next factor is the right list of the target.

The Right List

This is where Diggy Mobile will define its target market. This must be done precisely. Precise target Marketing will improve the response rates and the return on investments for Diggy Mobile. Not all customers are the same or in the target market of Diggy mobile rather than sending direct mail to the entire customer base; Diggy Mobile will identify specific customer groups and target accordingly. The right list for Diggy mobile to use will be based on demographics; the Age preferably 13-55 which are people who use cell phones, the occupation of the customer are they employed , scholars, students or unemployed, the income group (who of the target market gets income) and their geographic, where the customers live. This information will be Diggy mobile to know which exact areas to send the direct mail (Oliveira, 2014).

The Right Offer

The offer made by Diggy mobile needs to be carefully thought out, and matched as closely as possible to the interests, needs, and motivation. This is where the value or benefit of using Diggy Mobile is emphasised (Klein, 2010). The right offer that makes Diggy mobile more valuable to its customers are the following; lower data bundle rates, longer Off-Peak hours and monthly competitions where cool prizes like smart phones can be won.

The right Copy

This copy will grab the readers’ attention from the very first glance, it will arouse readers’ interest, than develop that interest into a strong desire, and then that desire will result into the desired action by the reader which is to subscribe to Diggy Mobile. This letter will be written from the readers point of view, the sentences will be short, active words and one-syllable words will be used, and it will be written to achieve its goal, with all the information  needed (Skinner, Mersham, Benecke, 2013:191).

The Right Graphics

Diggy Mobiles direct mail needs to constitute exceptional product design create leading-edge ideas that better engage with the target audiences. This letter will get

Diggy Mobile noticed by being formatted in a innovative and attention-grabbing (Quad Graphics, 2014).Diggy Mobile will hire professional Direct Mail Graphic designers that will ensure that the direct mail will represent Diggy Mobile, from format to colour and other aspects such as logo etc.

The Right Test

This campaign will give Diggy Mobile the opportunity to find out the best audience for Diggy Mobile, and which offers generate the greatest response. The testing will be conducted from the information gathered from responses of readers who entered the Diggy Mobile competition, and also from recording the number of marked sim cards that were activated by the readers (Oliveira, 2014).

The Right Analysis

This is when Diggy Mobile will measure the success of the campaign (Oliveira, 2014). The analysis that will be used to measure the success of this direct mailing will be the return on investment, the number of new clientele that Diggy Mobile acquired and  the number of clients that were active on the competitions. Also the time frame of the clients that have joined Diggy Mobile due to this Campaign, this will measure the clients loyalty.

The Right Frequency and Priority

Since Diggy Mobile wants to preserve loyalty from their clients and ensure that new clients are attracted frequently, this campaign will have to continue for every 3 months. This will help the customers of Diggy Mobile to feel that they get more value and more free bees when using this mobile network, which will result in customer loyalty. And also it will attract the readers who haven’t joined from the first campaign as they will see that with Diggy Mobile they get more benefits than with their current network provider.

References

Skinner, C. Mersham, G & Benecke, R. 2013. Handbook of Public Relations: 10^th Edition. Cape Town: Oxford University Press Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd.

Oliveira, G. 2014. How to Plan Your Direct Mail Marketing Campaign. [Available] http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140403174053–136393014–how–to–plan–you–directmail–marketing–campaign?trk=pulse–detnav_art (Accessed 10 April 2015).

Kelin, J. 2010.  Marketing strategy. [Available]

http://www.melissadata.com/enews/listadvisor/0708/3.htm (Accessed 10 April 2015)

Experian. 2015. Direct Mail Marketing. [Available] http://www.experian.com/smallbusiness/direct–mail–marketing.jsp (Accessed 10 April 2014).

Quad Graphics, 2014. Direct Mail: Fact Sheet. [Available] http://www.qg.com/capabilities/print–channels/direct–mail (Accessed 11 April

2015).

Small Business Encyclopedia. 2015. Direct Mail. [Available] http://www.entrepeneur.com.encyclopedia/direct–mail (Accessed 9 April 2015).

Parliament is an Entertainment Channel

South African’s have found another channel to find laughter, humor, entertainment and reason for conversation, but no,  I’m not talking about comedy central. Ever since the last elections Parliament has become such a joke, ever since the EFF earned chairs, there has been drama, after drama in Parliament, the kind of drama that has given those who never cared about parliament reason to start watching it.

People don’t watch it only for the matter of just watching, to get a gag out of it. Personally I see this as a good thing as more South African’s will be making more informed decisions in their votes in August. EFF is definitely painting the walls of parliament red, literally and figuratively. There has been a few astonishing firsts for a democratic Parliament of South Africa, such as the fists thrown, having people being asked to leave parliament, before it is adjourned, and the direct disrespect towards the president.

It is a total joke. At first I thought it was irritating, but now I see the change it is bringing, more and more people are focused in the politics, and making well informed decisions regarding the situations of their own country, the EFF’s disruptions, through questions to the presidents, has opened the eyes of many, and is leading people to open up their eyes and see where the country is going.

The DA is also giving the ANC s tough challenge by questioning, commenting on the failures of the current government. To have found myself watching parliament was astonishing, as I never really cared for it, i only depended on the news to see what is happening, but not anymore, now my fellow students and I tune into the Parliament channel to see what’s next, nobody wants to hear from twitter what happened, we all want to see it when it first happens.

Issues of Parliament been shared on twitter has shown that more and more youths, have become interested in the politics of the country. This shows a promising future for the politics of the country. In the end the ridiculous scandals in parliament have not being all bad since a whole lot of positive outcomes have raised from them.

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Smoke N Bubbles

Official Smoke N Bubbles Invite

Smoke N Bubbles is a nightlife event hosted by BlaQwide Liquids, where the main theme is smoke n bubbles creating a cool and fun atmosphere for its attendees. The first Smoke N Bubbles was hosted in 2014 at Musiq N Lights, being an attendee I must say it was #Lit and progressively last year was even better. A sneak peak on how it went down at the very first Smoke N Bubbles.

The very first Smoke N Bubbles

This year the aim is to reach new heights of fun, attract a bigger crowd, a whole new different venue and new partnerships with other youth companies such as YUNG APPAREL. The aim is to create a lifestyle that is modern and unique for all the “nocturnal” humans out there (those who enjoy the night life). The best part about this event is that it is also a great place to socialize, meet old friends, and make new friends while dancing the night away.

#YUNGAPPAREL

WHEN?

Smoke N Bubbles 2016 will be hosted at the Mandebi Chisanyama in Atteridgeville, on the 27th of August.

 

BlaQwide LiQuids is a company that offers mobile bar services, offering a wide range of cocktails, for functions, events and any kind of party. The best part is that it offers an experience of high life style at a very affordable price. And since they offer both virgin and non virgin cocktails, those who don’t drink alcohocan also have fun of their own.

BlaQwide LiQuids

 

This means that anyone can come to Smoke N Bubbles, alcohol friendly, or anti-alcohol, whether you prefer cocktails, beer vodka, cider, it will all be served. And obviously what is Smoke N Bubbles without the smoke, yes I’m talking about Hubbly Bubbly, there are no restictions, one can bring their own or hire one at the event, depending on what conveniences you.

Fun is never complete without food. Founded by four Lifestyle enthusiasts, ‪#‎StreetKitchenWithStunts‬  will be there to serve a delish menu of burgers, platters, folders, wraps, wings, and chips to satisfy your pallet Therefore all u will have to bring is yourself, and money to spend.

Street Kitchen With Stunts

#RoadToSmokeNBubbles