The countdown begins...

There are only five days to go until the much anticipated PR Alumni Reunion on Saturday, 26 March 2011. As most of you will already know the event will be taking place at 11h00 at the Atrium, which is situated on the 2nd floor of the Administration Building on the Cape Town Campus.

The event promises to be a highly entertaining one with Siv Ngesi as the MC, who will have guests in stitches and Shen Winberg who will spoil guests with his musical talent. Aside from the great networking platform which this event provides, guests will also be able to gain some insight into the PR industry with talks by e-TV news journalist Lance Witten and Wesley Lynch, founder and CEO of Realmdigital.

There are loads of great prizes up for grabs, so don't forget to bring along your business cards and pop them into our fish bowl for the lucky draw and you could be the winner of an Apple iPad sponsored by Digicape. If you're not as lucky to win one of our stunning prizes, not to worry as there are loads more items in our lovely goodie bags which will have your friends and family drooling with envy.

If you haven't yet RSVP'd, you best get a move on and contact coolsaetl@cput.ac.za asap. Please keep in mind that this event is open to Public Relations Management Alumni only, i.e. individuals who have actually graduated with a degree or diploma in PR. We look forward to welcoming all you fellow alumnus back to your academic home.

Follow us on Twitter  @pr_chatbox and our Public Relations Alumni Reunion Page on Facebook for regular updates.

Some of our great sponsors for the event are:

     

A trip down memory lane at the PR alumni reunion 2011

Take a trip down memory lane! Come and join us at the CPUT Public Relations Management Alumni reunion on Saturday, 26 March 2011. It will take place in the Atrium at the Administration Building, CPUT Cape Town Campus from 11h00 till 13h00.

Siv Ngesi, well known actor/comedian, will be the MC for the day and will have you in hysterics with his antics! Shen Winberg will entertain us with live music, so be sure to put on those dancing shoes and Lance Witten from ETV News will speak about the synergy between Public Relations and the Media.

You can look forward to some good food and wine. Our menu is halaal and vegetarian options are available.

There will be many prizes up for grabs on the day, so be sure to put your business card in our fish bowl and stand a chance to win an Apple iPad, (sponsored by Digicape) and other goodies, such as sunglasses and vouchers.

Kindly email Cindy Coolsaet on coolsaetl@cput.ac.za by 18 March to RSVP. We are still looking for all of your embarrassing and memorable photos from your campus days so please email these to her as well.

This is a huge networking opportunity, so come on down and take advantage of this special day. All you fabulous Public Relations practitioners will also receive a goodie bag filled with all sorts of exciting gifts. Make sure you don't miss out on this spectacular event!

Also be sure to follow us on twitter @pr_chatbox for the latest up-to-date information on the event or visit our Facebook page.

Designer PR

By Marian Pike, Senior Lecturer: Media Studies

“I will have a cup of coffee,” I say waving the menu away. “Just coffee, please.”
The waitress pauses. She looks at me expectantly, with a though of irritation that says “I am busy, please don’t waste my time, just order, half-wit.” She nods, as if prodding further information.
I repeat, “I will have a cup of coffee. Thank you.” I add for good measure, after all I have already said please.
She launches into a monologue that I have some difficulty in understanding, “Latte? Gingerbread Latté? Mocha? Peppermint Mocha Trio? JavaKula? Brewed Coffee? Filter? Expresso? Hand Shaken ColdBrewed Originals? Café Alternatives? FruitKula Blended Beverages? Cappuccino? Milk or cream, nonfat milk, organic milk or soya milk? Sugar, Brown, White, Carmel or Sweeteners, or Syrup – there are 11 including including Valencia, Classic and Sugar-Free Vanilla? Short, Medium, Tall?” She pauses for breathe. “Just take a look at the menu and let me know. “
Whew, I think, blowing out like a whale. Who would have thought that ordering coffee could be so difficult? This is not a Monty Python movie – or is it? I am not that old school, am I? One would think this was a movie scene – with Sandra Bullock ordering 27 coffees en route to the cop meeting of Ms Congeniality. This isn’t even Starbucks. For heaven’s sake, it is Seattle coffee shop attached to the local Exclusive Book Store. Maybe I should have asked for tea, I conclude as I reach for the menu.

Designer coffee is so passé today. Who hasn’t ordered mocha latte tall or whatever? Sure it is all so last year, but what if we apply the same rules to PR. Tailor-made designer PR – wow. Designer PR however is new. This new level of PR puts PR on the same status as marketing, branding and advertising, if not higher. PR is at heart all about conversation and finally there, in that conversation, is the opportunity for PR to own the customer. Everybody knows that only 14% of people still believe in advertising, that marketing is all about sales and that branding is about perceptions – it is about what the customer says it is, not what the company says. Major shift alert – are you ready?
Imagine a world where PR is no longer second cousins to marketing, branding and advertising, PR – after drooling for so long – can now rule. Are you ready? Do you know what is out there – not only on the menu of Starbuck or Seattle coffee shops, but in the PR toolkit of conversation – listening, hearing, replying or initiating. Only four ingredients make coffee after all – coffee beans, water and with or without sweetener or milk.
This is a world of one-to-one marketing (conversations), niche marketing, long tail marketing or personalised marketing based on ‘people like me’, social media, social networks, virtual lifestyles and sharing your every thought, moment, fart and event on facebook, twitter, bebo, blueworld, myspace, Ning networks and so on and so forth. Yes it is a lot to take in. But it is today.

The rather untraditional move, unexpected move, but then ‘not even the wise know all the outcomes’ of moving a business discipline – public relations – from the Faculty of Business, to the Faculty of Informatics and Design has opened many more opportunities than it has closed. Business is so old school, so traditional, so bound up in rules and regulations, so hamstrung by ‘this is the way it has always been done’, that it is unable to acknowledge that the world has changed. Information is not scared, but abundant, it is all there at the click of a button. What hasn’t changed is the ability to use it, to shift it to sort it, to spot trends, to back yourself (Richard Branson would agree) and just go for it anyway. Designer business is a long way off. Designer PR is here.
I am quite pleased to be in a faculty that prizes flexibility, originality, innovation and new ways of doing things, new ways of looking at things, new ways of making my voice heard or new ways of listening to what needs to be done. I am especially pleased that if PR listens, learns and grabs the opportunities offered, PR can finally rule the roost. After all it is all about winning, isn’t it?