The PR campaign which is going to be analyzed in this essay is the campaign for GP races on the Gold Coast in Australia.
The public relations campaign is organized by V8 Supercars and A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. The event is also sponsored by Nikon company.
Therefore, the campaign is generally aimed at the public which might be interested in motorsport. Since the event has a rather entertaining character, the contingent interested in it would most possibly consist of young people, who like street racing. This includes teenagers, students and also young men and women of 20-30 years. In addition, the Ferrari sport cars represent the traditional motorsport, which suggests that the men aged 40-50 might also be interested in the event.
In order to access the main features of the campaign and its effectiveness, the SWOT method of analysis will be applied. As it is known, this algorithm for analysis includes the campaign’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (Hill, 47).
Strengths. The major strength of the particular public relations campaign is its design, which is presented in modern urban style. It is perfectly suitable for this kind of material and public. Numerous illustrations, images, photos and animations make people interested in the event and also give its visual description.
Among the other campaign’s strengths is its informative character, which suggests that those who visit the site can find all the information they need about the event. The site is well-organized; the visitors can find information about ticketing, news, sponsors, race program, entertainment etc. In general, the campaign presents the event fully and interestingly. Apparently, in his book, (Hall, 17) was absolutely right claiming the virtual and experimental marketing to be the most effective messengers.
Another strong point is the accent on the minimal ticket price, which is accessible for everyone. In addition, some couples might want to visit the event with their children and the campaign points to the fact that tickets for children are free, which is a successful advertisement for the event.
It is also worth mentioning that the events presented in the campaign are of different character, which gets people of different age and status interested. Thus, the racers and participants can find the information about the racing time and conditions and the supercar challenges; the donators can read about charity organizations; those who look for entertainment can read about the on-track and off-track activities, etc. All the events are of equal importance on the site and are accessible for all the visitors.
Weaknesses. The campaign, however, also has some weaknesses, which may prove an impediment to achieving the main purpose, which is a successful public relation. For example, every information chapter contains nearly ten subchapters. The use of hypertext in such site may be useful; however, it may also be time-consuming for the visitors to slide from one part to another.
In addition, such feature can also be confusing as far as the members of public can barely return to the starting point when they get to some piece of information which is contained in a subchapter of a subchapter of one of a dozen of chapters.
The other weak point of the event presentation is the fast switching of animations. When a client sees some interesting picture and a “click here” button, they actually have no time to click, as the pictures switch very quickly.
Opportunities. The campaign opportunities are very wide, as far as the event is based on cooperation of the world famous motoracing groups which are very popular and need no additional advertising. The World Cup of Motorsport, for example, is a very respected and important event in the world of motoracing, and its authority is hard to overestimate.
Thus, it increases the opportunities of the campaign, suggesting that many people would rely on the reputation of the World Cup of Motorsport. As it was mentioned by (Philip, 2), the PR campaign should be relevant to modern business organizations, and the analyzed campaign meets this requirement.
The other opportunities include the further development of the event, as the involvement of different companies and businessmen can predict promotion of such kinds of show and possible investments in their development. The revolution of Internet for the purpose of public relations practicing, described by (Philip, 42) enables this campaign to be available for anyone.
Threats. The threats of the particular public relations campaign include the external factors which might prove to be harmful for achieving the objective. Such factors include bad weather which may occur in Australia. In addition, not all the members of the target public have access to the internet resources; moreover, the address of the site is not being advertised much.
This fact can decrease the potential quantity of its visitors and cause a failure in the campaign’s full effectiveness. As it was said in (Burke, 8), it is extremely important for the successive company work to consider the strategic evaluation of communications in day-to-day activity and in the long-term vision of the corporation.
Another challenge which may be faced by the campaign is building successful public relationships with increasingly diverse publics. This problem was discussed by (Seib, 22).
The main messages of the campaign which are to be delivered to public are:
– the event is very interesting, full of different activities and thus is worth visiting;
– the event is well-organized and there is still place for volunteers and investors who will to develop it;
– the conditions for tourists are perfect, the people are very hospitable and thus everyone is welcome to visit the event;
– the platinum club guarantees great conditions and opportunities and its membership is worth it.
The campaign was presented using the publics targeting tactics, which means forming every message in a way which is appealing to every member of the public. This can be proved by such sentence as:
“…. Is a powerful opportunity to grow business relationships, get to know new clients and reward stuff”.
In addition, there were a lot of phrases used like “we advise you to obtain…”, “don’t forget to check the…”, and also mottos like “Jumpstart your heart!”, “get pumped!”, “Join the team!” etc. These phrases indisputably influence the public’s consciousness and subjects people to participate and get involved.
The campaign uses the Internet as a major media. This makes it accessible for millions of Internet users from all around the world. In addition, the public has an opportunity to stay online as long as they need and keep reading the information, unlike the TV advertisement and other types of media. In fact, the Internet site is the most informative and comfortable media for a public relations campaign.
In my opinion, the analyzed campaign is rather effective. The author (Nelson, 32) claims the public relations to manipulate media and public, which I find true. Being not interested in events of such sort, I found this site and its information appealing. In addition, its design is very attractive.
As stated by (Leeper, 13), the modern business puts an emphasis on quality and social responsibility, and these two points were presented in the campaign. However, I think that in case of advertising the racing, cars and everything connected to speed it is worth involving some video.
A thirty-second film with bright Ferrari and international flags on TV might be much more effective. The target of such type of campaign is to raise interest in people and make them want to participate, while this site appeared to have a rather informative character. It is worth mentioning, though, that the sentences are built in a way which is appealing to those who read it. It means that besides information the text also expresses a subconscious positive view of the event.
Works Cited
Burke, Edmund M. Corporate Community Relations: The Principle of the Neighbor of Choice. Westport, Conn. Quorum Books, 1999.
Hall, Phil. The New PR. Mount Kisco, N.Y.: Larstan Publishing, 2007
Hill, T., Westbrook, R. “SWOT Analysis: It’s Time for a Product Recall”. Long Range Planning 30 (1): 46–52, 1997.
Leeper, K. Public relations ethics and communitarianism : A preliminary investigation. Elsevier Science Inc., 1996.
Nelson, J. Sultans of Sleaze: Public Relations and the Media. Toronto: Between The Lines, 1989.
Philip, K. Introduction and overview of public relations. International Thompson Business Press, 1997.
Phillips, D. Online Public Relations. London: Kogan Page, 2001.
Seib, P. and Fitzpatrick, K. Public Relations Ethics. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1995. Web.