Press Conference-Case Study
記者會的真相-個案討論 (學生寫作)
A press conference is to deliver messages to the public in a formal way. There are so many kinds of press conferences we have seen via TV channels, newspapers, or other media carriers, such as new product launch, new album release, and corporation image strengthening. Today, I am going to talk about a real case of press conference aimed to promote premium brand image. However, the message wasn’t effectively delivered to the public. As a result, the company didn’t benefit from it.
There were two problems: (a) a serious hard issue that was unfocused; therefore, (b) the media publish things that weren’t the company’s original goals. As a result, this conference ended up a circus show.
Let me describe this press conference from the beginning of planning to give you the background. The press conference was held at the end of Aug this year. The purpose of it is to solidify premium brand position in the intensively competitive dairy market. The host is a leading dairy product supplier recently facing threats from cheaper products with of course lower quality. To make the host itself stand out from the competition, it attempted to use this media conference to call users’ attentions in the upcoming world cup pastry competition in spring 2011 and to lift Taiwan’s bakery products to the International market. The message was to stress that chefs can’t compromise flavor and taste for prices. To achieve this goal, the host invested a great amount of money and time to invite a master chef, a past world cup pastry winner, to demonstrate the most novel, sophisticated pasty techniques and sugar works during the press conference. In addition, the host also invited beautiful models to wear sugar pieces of jewelry. Originally, the press conference was planned to be informing, educating, and entertaining.
PR company was responsible for putting all these elements together and deliver messages clearly to the media. Logically, the more media coverage we gain, the more consumers we can reach. The PR company guaranteed that there will be at least 30 pieces of media coverage. Though the PR company didn’t explain how this could be done, its strong confidence won the host’s nod. Unfortunely, the host fell into the PR company’s trap.
To gain as much media coverage and SNG broadcast as possible, the PR company directed the media to the fancy model show instead of the theme. The media were encouraged to stay to the end to shoot the photos of models. The main course, including the master chef’s demonstration and delicate desserts, became secondary. The media paid only a little attention to them. In other words, the event failed to meet its goals. It turned out that the beautiful models stood out on the media channels, overshadowing brand image and packaged messages. Besides, the guaranteed 30 pieces of media coverage counted repeated broadcastings from the same channel.
Through this case study, we can understand that messages we have received from the media every day might mislead or be misinterpreted. We need to be suspicious or think more about what is the real. Hope you enjoy this story and gain benefit from it.
