Melbourne: PRIA Young Communicators' Publicity Night

Date: Tuesday 19 August 2008
Time: Arrive 6.30pm for 7.00pm start
Venue: The Imperial Hotel, 522 Chapel Street, South Yarra, Victoria
Cost: PRIA Members $20 (inc GST), Non-Members $25 (inc GST)

This is a fantastic opportunity to hear guest speakers share their insights into publicity, promotions, public relations and much more! You'll hear tips and advice on how to break into the industry, kick start you career and other useful information providing plenty of know-how to help young practitioners progress in their current role.



Three guest speakers will be sharing their experiences:

Elizabeth Corcoran from Haystac PR
Belinda Aspinwall from The Reputation Group
Brian M Peck from Positive Positioning - Policies, People, Products

To register, click here. Hope to see you there!

Tracking the media, monitoring the message

Starbucks closed?

Last Tuesday Starbucks closed nearly 7,100 company-operated stores in the U.S. to conduct a nationwide 3 hour education event with it's 135,000 employees. The event was designed to 'energize' staff in an effort to 'transform the customer experience'. Read their press release here.

Howard Schultz, Starbucks chairman, president and ceo said “Our unprecedented level of commitment to and investment in our people will provide them with the tools and resources they need to exceed the expectations of our customers. We believe that this is a bold demonstration of our commitment to our core and a reaffirmation of our coffee leadership.”

The logistics of providing such training and co-ordinating an instore effort for such a large number of stores and employees is mind boggling. We wonder how they made sure the right message was delivered to it's employees, and how it will translate into better coffee and better service - quite a task!

If nothing else, the gesture has received a considerable amount of media coverage. As noted by Catching Flack, this 'event' has translated into a pretty darn good publicity tactic.

Tracking the media, monitoring the message