Leveraging Public Relations to grow the Kenya Rugby brand.

Every so often, I get opportunities to shed light about PR as a profession and the opportunities that this practice can provide to many organizations. For the longest time, my presentations were always for aspiring PR practitioners in schools thank to the Public Relations Society of Kenya that has been spearheading this initiative of knowledge sharing with upcoming practitioners.

However, one week ago, I got a totally different assignment. The Kenya Rugby Union, which is the governing body for Rugby in Kenya, was hosting their second National Rugby Conference.   This is an annual conference that brings together all the rugby stakeholders across the country. Essentially, this delegation meets to deliberate on issues that revolve around the growth of Rugby in Kenya. This year’s conference came at a time when Kenya is preparing to make the maiden appearance into the Olympics with our Rugby Sevens team. This team has been awesome all through the season bashing many renowned nations in the World Series before walloping other African teams (apart from South Africa) to book a slot in the cherished competition.

Alot has been said about this team that is yet to become a professional team but has overcome many hurdles to stand on the same medal podium with other great rugby nations.

Yet, as a nation we have not optimized our efforts in building this Rugby bran. All people think when they see Kenyans is a group of long legged athletes ready to conquer another marathon.  From a PR perspective, the Kenya Rugby Union has an opportunity to profile this sport as a Kenyan brand.  That’s all I was tasked to talk about at the Rugby Conference. Feel free to share your views too. 

With digital migration, market segmentation has moved a notch higher in Kenya

We live in interesting times. In today’s world of crisis and scandal, all we look up to is an avenue to unleash our positive or negative energy.

We have evolved as a species. But so has the media we consume. Forget about the chariot-led armies that ruled the world. We now live in or are part of the strong-fingered, yet faceless online army.

Once upon a time, all you needed as an adman was to feature a product with a short description of its uses. For the platforms, all you needed was to plug the commercial onto any television channel.

In Kenya, digital migration gave birth to tens of new television channels, from a nation that thrived on very structured news segment that was dominated by political, business and sports news to targeted channels that are sector-specific in terms of content. 

In 2015, Elimu TV became the first channel to deliver digitized educative programs that are aligned to the country’s curriculum. The launch of Farmers TV, which is purely an agriculture-based station, has opened up a direct forum for engaging farmers in the East African region.

As we migrated Kenyan eyeballs to segment-specific television channels, the ever rigid print publications were also on a revolutionary trend, moving from the typical full page adverts to customized special covers with defined numbers of issues set for delivery to certain towns.  Furthermore, publishers have taken it a notch higher by mapping databases that can deliver the specific publications to the relevant target. How about running a cough syrup advert in a daily that will be delivered to all the new mothers in all the leading hospitals in Nairobi and Mombasa? Clearly, market segmentation has moved a notch higher.

What we are experiencing in Kenya is an evolution of communication channels. With digital embedded into more traditional channels where most radio, TV, print channels now have an active social media page, always competing to broadcast their content online while engaging their consumers.

Programs on radio and TV are keen to push their Twitter and Facebook assets as the points of engagement rather than the usual call-in sessions that we were accustomed to.

With over 70 per cent of the county’s population being youthful, the entreprenual nature of Kenyans will drive media consumption to another level, whether you either target your communication to the right audience or your brand will perish. Truly, the combo of a devolved government and a fully digital television platform riding on our high internet connectivity is poised to drive this youthful economy. 

Social Media : The New friend of Public Relations

Barely a week after discussing  with a friend , Michael Owora on the challenges I was having with regular blogging, he sent me an email notifying me that I was to make a presentation on the role of social media in fostering  Public Relation. 

Basically, my role was to define what PR 2.0 was, its impact on our profession and how one could use it to enhance the organisation’s communications strategy.

You can follow the presentation below.

                                   

Well, despite the negative comments that have been mentioned in various boardrooms about social media, I firmly believe that Social Media is a friend to PR. All you need to do is to figure out how you can leverage on this platform

All said and done, I picked a few examples of success stories(both local & international) on the brands that have leveraged on social media

Next time, think deeply about your Giveaways

After collecting so many T-shirts in a couple of events over the years, I decided to audit what each and every giveaway I have and what value they are giving to the brands engraved /printed on them. Well, the ugly truth is that 80% of the T-shirts are specialized pajamas and the only time the brands are visible is when I wake up from a horror dream.

For a good cause.

While giveaways are one of the best channels to target brand visibility, as PR pros, we miss out on this opportunity by assuming key factors to be considered when choosing any channel of communication.

But what should one consider when choosing giveaways?

The number one element to consider when planning for giveaways is how to tie it into your business so that it generates the most publicity. Anybody can give away a T-shirt, but if your PR client is a roofing company, how exactly does giving away a T-shirt tie into repairing roofs? On the other hand, holding a mini contest during the event and giving away a free roof to the person that sends you the picture of the neediest house, is a great way to generate publicity and content for your brand. Not to mention, your client will provide a much-needed service, and probably garner attention from local media, real estate agents, and contractors who can throw him more work.

If you are responsible for PR for a restaurant, how about holding a contest to let customers name a new menu item? The winner could receive a free lunch for four. Or if you are the PRO representing a telecommunications service provider, instead of that costly diary, you should give the media one of your data products i.e. modem for them to experience your super speeds. Giveaways like that, that tie in with your business, draw attention to your company, engage customers, and get your product into their hands all at the same time.

Finally, as you are dishing out your well branded giveaways, make a point to note the laws governing you on the same; this includes the media houses’ policy regarding gifts, any regulations from the Betting, Licensing & Control Board and even the Public Relations Society of Kenya code of conduct

A well meaning event with lovely giveaways can always easily backfire horribly because the client did not understand all the legal ramifications of that simple raffle they did to give out a high end phone.