Monday 7 September 2015

Week 9 Lecture: Public Relations campaigns: Research and the planning process.


The topics discussed in the class were: 

- The roles of research in planning for public relations
- Elements of the planning process 
- Difference between public relations strategy and tactics 

We looked at what campaigns are and how they are useful in public relations. The examples were Earth Hour and my favourite the torch of freedom campaign by Edward Bernays. These two examples were very useful in understanding the effects of what an effective campaign can make a difference and achieve it's goals as well as the parts to a successful campaign. When going through the reading I was confused on how this was relevant to the discussion on Campaigns. I decided that I would use the topic of the reading about the distrust of immigrant’s seeking employment in Canada and how a campaign can be made to better the connection between immigrants and employers. 

When creating a campaign you need to think of the type of campaign you a making there are three types. 

- Awareness;
- Attitude; and 
- Action 

The focus types for the  campaign are Action which is behaviour modification and Attitude which is changing or attempting to change attitudes towards immigrants seeking employment. In the reading it states that in the Canadian context, the rate of unemployment for recent immigrants is nearly 30%, in contrast to 7.1% for those born and raised in Canada. (Kerekes, Chow, Lemak & Perhan 2013). Although for immigrants it can be a struggle in finding employment in another country because of lack of education and language skills, Reitz (2005) argues that ‘the real problem is not so much [immigrants’] skill levels, important as they may be, but rather the extent to which these skills are accepted and effectively utilised in the Canadian workplace’ (p.3). 

The two general models of creating a campaign are RACE and PIE: 

R= research 
A= action 
C= communication 
E= evaluation 

P= planning 
I= implementation 
E= evaluation 

Following these two models I would help create the campaign. In regards to immigrant employment I would begin in researching the struggles of unemployment and the opinion of Canadian employers towards immigrants. With this the research begins. The groups being focused on with the campaign is businesses and the immigrant community. The campaign would include videos of the good ways immigrants have become apart of the Canadian employment community and the beneficial differences they make in the businesses. Having discussions on the willingness of immigrants to work can boost the trust between employers and future employees. 

The two sides of research is Qualitative (discovery-based methods) and Quantitative (verification-based methods). Qualitative research explore the issue which can be used to develop messages based on audiences motivations. Quantitative research methods are surveys using questionnaires which can be used to verify the severity of the situation. 

Research is the key to an effective Campaign, without research the action, communication and evaluation cannot happen properly, how can you communicate with people, when you have not researched what you need to talk about and why. Businesses need to see the willingness immigrants have to work and to make a life for themselves in country they have no connection to personally, culturally or socially. They are willing to try and that needs to be recognised. Campaigns are an important part in sending and receiving information to other people about important notices but also allows to groups using campaigns to see how people react to who they are and what they are going to do and whether they need more support and to keep the relationships they already have strong with the people standing with them. 


References: 

  1. Kerekes, J., Chow, J., Lemak, A., Perhan, Z., 2013, Discourses of trust: Trust or betrayel: immigrant engineers’ employment-seeking expierences in Canada, 16, pp. 269-284
  2. Reitz, J.G. (2005) Tapping immigrants; skills: New directions for Canadian immigration policy in the knowledge economy. choices, 11(1): 1-18. Retrieved from http://www.hireimmigrants.ca/resources/research/files/Reitz_IRPP_TappingImmigrantSkills%5B1%5D.pdf






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