[MUSIC] Public relations is an important component of the marketing communications mix. It is traditionally defined as management activity that attempts to shape attitudes and opinions held by a company's stakeholders. Public relations provides visibility for the company and it allows it to be properly identified and understood by its stakeholders. Any person that has a vested interest in a company's activities is considered as a stakeholder. It could be employees, customers, channel members, media, special interest groups, or public in general. From an integrated marketing communications point of view, one of the most important activities in public relations is brand publicity. It's the use of non-paid media messages to deliver brand information designed to positively influence existent and potential consumers' attitudes. As publicity is not generated and paid by the brand, its credibility in the eyes of the consumers is higher. Consumers generally tend to be less sceptical toward brand information when it comes from an unbiased source. The public relations industry has gone through an amazing transformation over the last decade. The ever changing nature of the traditional media, emergence of new online media outlets, evolution of social media, and the shift away from traditional media consumption has literally reformed the industry. Channels such as Twitter, Facebook and company blogs offer brands the opportunity to directly establish and strengthen their consumer relationships. Unless we have a groundbreaking product, we may no longer expect to achieve brand publicity through traditional press releases and conferences. That's why it's critical to embrace novel ways of getting news about our offerings. In order to evoke interest for our communications, we should tell our consumers stories that are relevant to them. We need to know our consumers well enough to shape and even customize our content in line with their interests, then we can expect the desired reaction. Of course, our contents should be in line with our company's characteristics, brand essence, and corporate image. We need to take advantage of social media. Brands are spending a significant amount of money to gain the attention of and develop relationship with leading industry influencers who have hundreds of thousands of followers to gain access to these networks and promote their messages. Communications with consumers are in real time. This dynamism helps engage influencers and customers and allows for adjusting tactics even during a campaign. How they rate is also requiring high level of dedication. We may receive a question about our brand on Twitter, or on our Facebook page in the middle of the night during the weekend. We should always be available to deal with things because they might escalate very quickly. Brands engage in a variety of activities to communicate with their target audience and to establish a strong relationship with them. For example, they sponsor events. Sponsoring an event is a very effective approach to gain exposure, enhance brand image, differentiate the brand from competitors, and connect with a specific audience. In choosing sponsorships, we start by determining the objectives. It's important to have a fit among the event, its audience, and the brand's audience. The image of the individual, group, and event being sponsored should match with what we want to present about our brand. The key is to partner with events that will provide a positive experience and increase customer engagement. The premise behind sponsorships is that positive feelings toward the sport, athlete, team, concert, or whatever is being sponsored will be transferred to the brand. An event sponsor competes with all other sponsors for the attention of consumers to be effective. For example, NASCAR attracts a high number of sponsors due to its growing number of fans. So it's important to be one of the major sponsors not to be lost in the sponsorship clutter. Additionally, it's important to support our sponsorship with other marketing communications activities to strengthen their effectiveness. The key is to make every activity to speak with a single voice. The Heineken brand has a long standing sponsorship of the UEFA Champion's League. By associating the Heineken brand with this global sports event, Heineken intends to position itself as world's international premium beer. This sponsorship helps Heineken reach numbers of fans globally and establish a bond with their consumers. AT&T sponsors Tribeca Film Festival since 2011. AT&T presents a variety of public programs during the festival. For example, they host thousands of visitors each year in a day of free screenings of new movies and beloved classics on the Hudson River. President of AT&T's New York division, Marissa Shorenstein, said in 2014 that this initiative was about making films available to everyone, and that the power of mobile technology has been changing the world, and AT&T's goal is to bring the same sense of connectivity and content to the festival and to all New Yorkers. We see that with their additional activities during the festival, they are actually emphasizing the link between their activities and their brand. They bring film loving community of New York together and provide them a specific and special experience which will enhance customer engagement and brand equity. Additionally, their events have news value, and hence are publicized in traditional media channels, as well as the online platforms. Cause-related marketing occurs when a brand is affiliated with a specific cause and forms a strategic relationship with a charity to address this social cause. Brands look for innovative ways to distinguish themselves from competitors, enhance their image and sales, whereas nonprofit organizations and charities obtain revenues to fund their activities. Typically, brands contribute to a designated cause every time customers undertake some action that support the brand. In other words, brands contribution is contingent on the customer performing an action that benefits the brand, such as purchasing a product or redeeming a coupon. Brands of course have philanthropic intentions, but it's not purely philanthropic. Supporting an important and relevant cause has multiple benefits for a brand. Cause-related marketing campaigns enhance brand's image, its awareness, its perceived social consciousness, and additionally, generate incremental sales and broadens brand customer base. Consumers usually have favorable attitudes toward cause-related marketing efforts. And a congruence between the cause and the brand further increases perceived social responsibility of the brand. For example, Pampers teams up with UNICEF to deliver the vaccines that vulnerable women and their children need. With the purchase of 1 pack of Pampers, 1 dose of vaccine is donated. This campaign has created the highest awareness ever for maternal and neonatal tetanus. Since 2006, Pampers funding has helped eliminate neonatal tetanus in 15 countries by donating more than 300 million vaccines to women and their children in countries such as Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda, and many others. We see that the campaign has very concrete results to increase awareness and prevent maternal and neonatal tetanus. These results have news value and are covered by traditional media channels, providing incremental publicity for the brand. In this lecture, we talked about public relations, sponsorships and cause-related marketing. In the next lectures, we will continue with other tools of the marketing communications mix. [MUSIC]
