If you read my article titled 'Bringing quality manufacturing home with HOM', you'll know I attended the Stenströms-House of Monatic press event held at the House of Monatic premises. But why was it held there? How were the various speakers on the day selected? What went into choosing who exactly would attend?
If you've ever pondered questions like these while waiting for an event to start, you're in for a treat as I got Rose Hare Public Relations' MD and marketing specialist, Rosemary Hare and Jessica Grant respectively, to exclusively share with us the PR basics of getting a press event just right, based on this event. Hare certainly knows what she's talking about, having been chairperson of PRISA Western Cape, the Public Relations Advisory Committee of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, and ABSA Business Woman of the Year...
Hare and Grant: We identify the appropriate press who would find the press release interesting. We then purchase customised media databases. In this case, the correct media included business news, fashion and lifestyle journalists.
Hare and Grant: While Stenströms is a highly successful brand internationally, we are still in the process of increasing brand awareness in South Africa. In our efforts to achieve this, our objective is to continuously identify and participate in as many media opportunities as possible and send the press as much news as possible. We hope this partnership is of interest to the press but, because journalists receive so many press releases, we will follow up to see if they need more information, images or an interview.
Hare and Grant: The success of the event depends on the number of journalists that attend. In this case, we were very happy to welcome 16 journalists. The success also depends on the media coverage we receive. To establish that, we have a media monitoring company to monitor all online, print and broadcast publicity our clients receive. We then create media overviews for our clients. These indicate the advertising value equivalent of publicity received versus the amount the client has paid for our services.
Hare and Grant: The CEO of Stenströms, Anders Bengtsson, is based in Sweden, so we needed to work around his travel schedule while considering the schedules of the House of Monatic team and the availability of the press we aimed to invite. The House of Monatic premises were ideal for the event as this is where the Stenströms garments will be manufactured in South Africa. It was also important to add interest by showing our guests the shirt-making progress. Our selection of speakers was easy, we simply asked the main role players to address the media briefing. That's because the event was about more than just increasing awareness of a prestige brand: We also wanted to announce the new partnership as one that promotes economic and social development in South Africa.
Hare and Grant: The latter... we hoped that by "spoiling" the media with a fully immersive event and taster of what to expect, we would enable Stenströms to nudge its way onto a few pages in various publications. In addition to the above, we have sent out our main press release to journalists who were unable to attend the event on the day. That said, a consumer launch may be a possibility. Watch this day
Hare and Grant: The main reason these mergers are proving to be so successful is the sharing of knowledge, including trend analyses and skills transfer. In many instances, the reason for an international business transaction falling through is due to misunderstandings, cultural and social differences or insufficient knowledge.
Being in such mergers enables one to benefit from a greater understanding of the foreign market prior to jumping into it, which, in turn, translates into a greater chance of success.
Hare and Grant: Rosemary Hare Public Relations is a truly diverse public relations company in that we specialise in multiple industries within South Africa and offer the full range of public relations services. At present, we have clients in the fashion, lifestyle, real estate, hospitality, medical and construction industries, including Stenströms of Sweden, Fine & Country, Swartz & Umvundla Construction, Wisepill Technologies, Tomahawk Spur in Goodwood and Restaurante Belsol.
For more on Rosemary Hare Public Relations, click here, and here for more on 'The epic impact of global-local acquisitions and mergers'.
