Stakeholder and Public Relations

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Florence Fields
7 years ago
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1 Stakeholder and Public Relations We provide context and re-assurance STAKEHOLDER RELATIONS In the past six years, we have come to appreciate the robustness of the IMC mandate. We are convinced that the only way Brand South Africa will have international impact is through reach and critical mass. Whereas strategic and smart leveraging may have been regarded as a necessity in the past, the 2010 event makes it an imperative. We took a conscious decision in the past year to invest more in strategic partnerships, leveraging on synergies and collaborating with stakeholders. The following campaigns demonstrate the extent to which leveraging was achieved in the past year: a. Collaboration on Trade and Investment Missions Our key partners on strategic missions are the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), SA Tourism and the SAT/ Provincial investment agencies. Under the leadership of Minister Pahad, we collaborated with Trade and Investment South Africa (TISA), SA Tourism, the departments of Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs as well as provincial investment agencies in facilitating a mission to India. The objective was to strengthen already existing India-South Africa trade relations, but also to pursue fresh opportunities in what we consider to be a largely untapped market. During this mission, we interacted with close to 200 Indian businesses. b. Collaboration on Key 2010 Projects Our key partners during this financial year were the 2010 LOC, the GCIS and host cities. The 2010 event has created an opportunity for South Africa to change the master narrative on the continent and influence how the world writes about us. We identified the need to collaborate with some of our key partners on initiatives geared to put South Africa on Global Agenda.

2 32 c Projects Media Tour The collaboration with Germany: Land of Ideas and the City of Johannesburg coincided with our Youth Day celebrations in June. We benefited from a visit by well-known European football players in an event aimed at displaying solidarity with South Africa s hosting of We used this opportunity to expose the media to tangible evidence about our state of readiness and used endorsements by high-calibre players to boost our PR effort. d Legacy Projects Media Tour After achieving a resounding success with this initiative, the partnership took a decision to sustain our communication effort by repeating these tours quarterly in the period leading up to We took a slightly different approach with the second tour. This time, the focus was on the macro-economic benefit (legacy) of the 2010 event. Through education, we highlighted the impact of the country s investment in the event, by demonstrating in a t a n g i b l e w a y h o w l i v e s w i l l b e changed. e National Communications Conference For the second year, the annual 2010 National Communications Conference drew significant attention from both the media and the communications industries. In collaboration with the 2010 National Communication partnership, we have established a platform to exchange views and ideas. This aims to ensure communication alignment State of Readiness in the next two years leading up to the hosting of the World Cup.

3 f. Strategic Partnerships g. Brand Champion Program We partnered with the Newspaper Association of South Africa and the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) to host an event which was attended by editorial decision-makers, media owners and senior executives from 102 countries representing newspapers. The significance of these partner-ships for us, was in establishing relationships which will guarantee us immediate access to a constituency with a broad global footprint and significant influence. We continued with the campaign to mobilise national pride and patriotism by leveraging the goodwill provided by the 2010 event. This year, we adapted the current business model by integrating an element of sustainability in the program as well as utilising mass media to reach large numbers of people. The training model was revised and we added a broadcast element through which we pick up stories of people making an effort to live and articulate the Brand South Africa values. These are then publicised through the mass media for inspiration. The new training program was piloted at the department of Public Services and Administration with the executive team and front line staff, at Sports and Recreation and at the bank services SETA for executives from the banking industry. The focus for the next two years will be on government departments responsible for client service delivery to enable us to impact behavior at critical points of contact as we prepare for the 2010 event. WAN CONGRESS

4 34 PUBLIC AND MEDIA RELATIONS A recent brand equity study valued Brand South Africa at over R516 billion, up from R379 billion in This figure is a measure of the selling power of the South African brand; that is, its ability to attract foreigners to the country s products, industry and shores. The Minister in the Presidency, Essop Pahad, attributed the rise in the value of Brand South Africa to the work of the International Marketing Council of South Africa. This value can in part be attributed to exceptional public and media relations, the latter generating over R6 million worth of unweighted editorial coverage in the last year alone.

5 a. Kickin it in South Africa Media Function A very successful campaign was the Kickin it in South Africa media tour. The tour aimed to boost confidence in the country s ability to host a successful 2010 FIFA World Cup. The IMC served as host to take advantage of three coinciding events: The launch of its new domestic ad campaign We ve done it before A visit to South Africa by wellknown German football stars on behalf of the Germany: Land of Ideas Campaign (which was responsible for branding Germany during the 2006 FIFA World Cup); and Advertisement to inspire SA Business Day A stadium readiness tour hosted by the City of Johannesburg. The tour, which took place on 16 June, coinciding with Youth Day, began with a press briefing at SAFA House (where the new IMC ad campaign was launched), followed by a tour of Orlando Stadium and surrounding legacy projects, as well as Soccer City. The function was a major success, as evidenced by the almost R1 million of unweighted media German players starry-eyed at thought of kicking off in SA The Star coverage generated and newspaper headlines announcing German players starry-eyed at the thought of kicking off in SA (The Star), Euro stars supporting 2010 effort (The Citizen) and Germany stars back 2010 (Daily Sun). It also placed the IMC squarely in the public eye, and reinforced the close relationship of the IMC with key stakeholders. b. Support for the We ve done it before advertising campaign Glory days are worth remembering Saturday Star All marketing and business media received copies of the IMC s latest domestic advert We ve done it before and will do it again. Media coverage was very positive and included a number of high profile articles in Business Day Advertisement to inspire SA ; Saturday Star Glory days are worth remembering IMC ad awarded an orchid ; and Beeld Advertensie skep vertroue in SA vermoë ; not to mention radio interviews. Advertensie skep vertrour in SA vermoë Beeld

6 36 c. Ad with a Twist International Advertising Campaign A media release entitled Ad with a twist urges global business to invest in South Africa was issued to publicise our latest international advert, which flighted on CNN during the World Economic Forum in Davos in January Media response was very positive, Invest in South Africa ads hit CNN (The Mercury Network) and Advertensie op CNN wil Suid Afrika aan buiteland verkoop (Sake 24). In addition, the commercial was uploaded onto Play24, South Africa s own YouTube. d. Viral Campaign The IMC also launched a viral campaign in September Virals are short, topical and punchy s on positive stories. Since inception, over thirty virals have been distributed by the IMC. At the core of the IMC s work is building confidence nationally and internationally in the possibilities that are alive in South Africa. No better opportunity to do this was presented than the lead-up to the Rugby World Cup final in France, where South Africa was crowned Rugby World Champion. As South Africans across the world united behind our team and celebrated victory, the IMC, through strategic media relations including an interview on SABC s Morning Live, used the energy and optimism surrounding this event to inspire a vision amongst South Africans of what a united and confident South Africa looks like and is able to achieve. Viral 1 Viral 2 The Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa is investing a further R1.5 billion in its local operations despite the current power supply problems facing the country. We got into this investment with eyes wide open and were aware of the power situation, explained Hal Federer, CEO. It s a long-term and strategic investment. We view South Africa as the gateway into Africa with a billion people. You have it all, says Avis Charles, a fashion guru from London. All we hear about is HIV and poverty. We need to change people s perceptions. There is an enormous amount of talent here. I m here, sourcing for trends, some of which are unique to South Africa. This country is sitting on a gold mine of cultural wealth. You have everything here you need to be succesful: the innovation, the landscape, the beading and the culture, says Charles. (Based on The Weekender, January 26, 2008)

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