LECTURE 1

Course Introduction
 Intro to PR and a brief History of PR

READINGS: Johnston & Zawawi (2004) Ch 1 (3-15)

&
Zawawi (2004), Ch 2 (23-38)
 LECTURE 1

 Part I: Course Intro

 Teaching Staff – Stream A
 Dr Danielle Chmielewski‐Raimondo (Subject Coordinator, & Lecturer 
for Stream A, Wednesday 6.15pm ‐ 9.15pm)

 Consultation hour: Wednesday 4pm – 5pm (**please call or email 
first to make an appointment)

 Location: Alan Gilbert‐109, Theatre 2

 E‐mail: dchmi@unimelb.edu.au

 Phone: 8344‐1886

 Please note that there is a Stream B this year on Friday 1.00pm-

4.00pm (which is a repeat of this class. It will be taught by a different
Lecturer but the content, assignment and cases remain the same).
Whilst we prefer you to stay in your enrolled Stream on a regular basis,
you may switch between the Streams if for some reason you cannot 3
attend your regular Stream on the odd occasion.
 Teaching Staff – Stream B

 Ms Elizabeth Logan (Lecturer for Stream B, Friday 1.00pm – 4.00pm)

 Consultation hour: Friday 11.45am – 12.45pm (**please call or 
email first to make an appointment)

 Location: The Spot‐1022, Level 1 Theatre

 E‐mail: e.logan@unimelb.edu.au

4
 Lecture Information

 My Wednesday lectures WILL be audio‐streamed 
and will be used for both streams (you can access 
this from www.lms.unimelb.edu.au)

 Please make sure that you check LMS on Tuesday 
afternoon each week to download copies of that 
week’s Lecture PowerPoint Slides

5
 Course Materials

There is no prescribed Textbook for this subject!

Rather, ALL the material for this subject (the case studies, 
the weekly lecture readings, the PowerPoint slides etc) 
are available for you to download from LMS. Please 
make sure you do this and read them as they are all 
potentially examinable.

6
 Feedback from last year’s 2015 SES

 Incorporating last year’s feedback on the assignment  for this year’s assignment:
The other big modification is to the structure of the in‐class activities: instead of allocating the 10% 
to weekly presentations and critiques (which students found boring and very unengaging), we will 
vary the activities on a weekly basis to encourage interaction and involvement of all students, 
finishing off with informal discussions of the cases. There will not be formalised presentations, 
rather in‐class group work based around the cases and involving different activities each week. This 
will also help students to better prepare for the level of analysis required for both the assignment 
as well as the exam.

 Incorporating last year’s feedback on the lecture content for this year’s lecture 
content:
This subject has incorporated feedback from the 2015 SES surveys by reorganising, updating and 
refining some of the lecture content and structure to focus more heavily on certain topics whilst 
reducing the focus on others (i.e., less on theory, more on objectives, publics, evaluation).

7
 What do we cover in this
Key Topics course?

 Intro to Public Relations and the History of PR
MPR (Marketing   Marketing Public Relations (MPR)
Public Relations)  Using MPR

 MPR Strategic Planning
 Situation Analysis/Research
 Setting Goals, Objectives, Evaluation & Measurement: 
(i) Strategy I (Targets/MPR Publics/Media), 
(ii) Strategy II (PR & Comms Theory) Used for your
Group
(iii) Strategy III (Messages) Assignment
 MPR Strategy & Tactics in Action (the PR Plan)

(MPR Strategic   On‐Line Media Relations & Evaluation
Planning)  Crisis Management
 Ethics & PR
 Employee (Internal) PR
8
 Assessment Overview

There are THREE opportunities for assessment:

(1.) Exam (50%)
 To be discussed in the final lecture in Week 12, but will 
comprise a combination of a case study and essay questions 
and/or short answer questions.

9
 Assessment Overview (Cont.)

(2.) In‐Class participation (10%)

 Engagement in weekly activities and case studies.
 All students need to attend and regularly participate actively in 
these discussions. 
 You will be working in pairs or groups in a range of activities based 
around the cases.
 Available to download from the LMS weekly 
 The aims are to get you involved, help to apply theory to practice 
and to prepare for the assignment and exam. 

10
Assessment Overview (Cont.)
(3.) Group Assignment… (40%)
 Public Relations Plan – “Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) 
Bytes4Health”

 4,000 words

 Due: Week 10 via LMS Assignment Tool online submission by 5.00pm on 
Tuesday 4 October for both streams

Completed in groups of 2‐ 5 people (you choose your own groups and the 

groups can be across both Streams)

In Week 4 (in BOTH Streams) there will be an Assignment Briefing with a 

Guest Speaker from MCRI coming in to talk to you and to give you the 
opportunity to ask some questions

 Stream A: Wednesday 17th August, 6.15pm – 7.15pm

 Stream B: Friday 19th August, 1pm – 2pm

11
 I. Executive Summary (*excluded from word count)
 Contains an overall summary of the PR Plan you set forth below. It is completed
last and should be a concise introduction to your proposal.

II. Situation Analysis

 Background and context of the issue (organisational overview including relevant
details e.g. location, history, structure, micro and macro context of the issue,
key competitors)
 Brief SWOT Analysis compared to the leading competitors

III. PR Goals and Objectives

 Goals - What business goals is the PR plan addressing?
 Objectives – What specific outcomes is the PR plan trying to accomplish? (Use
SM
SMARTT p
principle
c ple here:
e e: Reasoning?
easo g? Benefits?
e e ts? Measu
Measurement?
e e t? for
o eac
each object
objective)
ve)

ASSIGNMENT FORMAT 
GUIDE: PR PLAN ‐ IV. Strategy

“Bytes4Health” 
How will the PR Plan achieve the PR objectives?
Target audience – Youar target audience are the individuals, groups,
communities etcthat have influence and decision making power over the
program; these are the ones you are trying to attract with your PR Plan. Discuss
the segments you will target in your PR Plan (taking care to include specifics
such as demographics, lifestyles, geodemographics etc)
 Target media- What media sources will you target to help grow awareness for
the program?
 Messages - What is the PR Program going to say? How is it going to say it? What
are the core messages you want your target audience to hear and to remember?

V. Tactics

 This is the large section of the PR Plan where you will list and detail the specific
strategies and tactics your plan will involve to fulfill your objectives

VI. Evaluation
 Timeline – What is the proposed timeline for each of your above-mentioned
tactics?
 Budget – Include an estimated price/cost for each tactic proposed above.
Remember you must demonstrate that you have stayed within the $50,000 budget 12
 Measurement– What elements or results will be necessary to indicate the success
or failure of your PR Plan (i.e., meeting each of your stated objectives), and how
these will be addressed? What are the KPIs?
 LECTURE 1

Part II: Intro to PR & a History of PR

READINGS (available on LMS):

Johnston & Zawawi (2004) Ch 1 (p. 3-15 only)

&
Grunig & Hunt (1984) Ch 2 (p. 21-25 only)
&
Grunig (1992) Ch 2 (p. 45-49 only) 13
 Crisis, what Crisis??

 Organisations demonstrate huge variety in their ability to 
manage relationships with external and internal stakeholders

 The difference between a quick, positive response to a crisis, 
versus a delayed, “it’s not my fault” response can have a huge 
impact on the brand’s image and reputation and level of trust
customers place in the brand

 Management of relationships between an organisation and its 
stakeholders is largely the domain of Public Relations

14
 Crisis, what Crisis??
(Cont.)

Example I (“Hell hath no fury like angry Glad Wrap consumers”).

 A swarm of customer complaints has forced Glad Australia to backpedal on a product innovation 
to its cling wrap cutter.

 They lost a large number of very loyal customers to competitors’ brands. Finally, in June 2015, 
they announced they were reverting back to their original product packaging, but too late for 
many customers who had ‘gone over to the dark side’ and realised that the competing brands 
were just as good, if not better than Glad Wrap.

Source: https://www.marketingmag.com.au/news-c/new-glad-wrap-cutter-crisis-customer-complaints-spark-reversal-box-
innovation/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The%20Daily%20Brief%20482&utm_content=The%20Daily%20Brief%20482
+CID_5066260063c904f305787888183be06e&utm_source=Email%20Marketing&utm_term=New%20Glad%20wrap%20cutter
%20crisis%20customer%20complaints%20spark%20reversal%20of%20box%20innovation#.VMBW4mSUcWA 15
 Crisis, what
Crisis?? (Cont.)
Negative II
(Essendon AFL Club Supplements 
Scandal 2013‐2015)

 Under the direction of controversial 
sports scientist Stephen Dank, the 
Bombers were found to have been 
operating an experimental – possibly 
illegal – performance supplements 
programme.

 After receiving a 400‐page "interim 
report" from ASADA, AFL general 
counsel announces Essendon, Hird, 
assistant Mark Thompson, football 
manager Danny Corcoran and club 
doctor Bruce Reid have been charged 
with conduct likely to bring the game 
into disrepute or prejudice the 
interests of the AFL. 16
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/essendon-scandal-the-story-so-far/story-fni5f6kv-1226635822954?nk=e2a2f84a09f672259b685ea7c2528ebf
 Defining Public Relations (PR)
 Often misused and misunderstood; and there is no one 
accepted definition.

It is a Management function that focuses on the relationships 

and communications that individuals and organisations
have with other groups and publics for the purposes of 
creating mutual goodwill.

 It involves identifying important ‘publics’ and developing and 
maintaining relationships with them.

 Uses various forms of communications (below‐the‐line & 
also some above‐the‐line) to communicate with relevant 
publics and relay information to them.
 Defining Public Relations (PR) (cont.)

Key themes in definitions of PR, (which we will go through in 
more detail now):

1. Developing and maintaining effective relationships

2. Identifying and managing issues

3. Creating or maintaining understanding

4. Communicating

18
 Key PR Themes
1. Developing and maintaining effective relationships

• Organisations exist in relationship with internal and external stakeholders. 

• Relationship management theories are central in PR
eg Systems Theory; Situational Theory

neighbours government
• Relationships between organisations and 
stakeholders have consequences  Organisation

– they can create both problems and  employees

Financial
opportunities** (ie NAB giving employees days off for charity  media institutions
work) for each other.
customers
“The only decision is whether the organisation chooses 
to manage the relationships or let them happen”
(Lattimore, 1997 p.47) Environment
19

Image source: Adapted from Lattimore, Baskin, Heiman, Toth, Van Leuven, (1994)
Who are the Publics?

 All of the audiences that 
the marketing 
communicator targets to 
receive messages about 
the company or who are 
perceived as influencing 
opinions about the firm

 They can be internal as 
well as external
 A Firm’s Publics (i.e., Stakeholders)

Supplier Relationships

Internal Goods Services Lateral

Relationships Suppliers Suppliers Relationships

Business
Competitors
Units

Focal Non-Profit
Employees Organisations
Firm

Functions / Government
Departments

Intermediate Ultimate
Customers Customers

Buyer Relationships 21
 The Importance of Publics (i.e., Stakeholders)

 Employee satisfaction and confidence (i.e., which can also 
negatively impact consumer confidence)

 Positive WOM (Word of Mouth) – creates buzz & publicity

 Governmental motivation to monitor

 Financial market confidence

 Community involvement and perceptions

 Consumer confidence
 1. Developing and maintaining effective relationships
– in class short exercise

• Let’s take three brands operating in diverse industries within 
Australia: Crown Casino, Emporium Melbourne, and thankyou

Identify the stakeholders that each of these companies would be dealing with – 23
which (if any) are more important than the others, and why?
 Key PR Themes
2. Identifying and managing issues

 Issues are significant currents of thought in society***
 e.g. Carbon tax; industry contributions to climate change; governments’ 
response to climate change effect of interest rates on mortgage defaulting; 
national obesity rates; alcohol and youth; same‐sex marriages…

 PR function strives to identify and manage issues to:
 minimise negative impact of threats – e.g. manage the impact of 
issues before they gain momentum (i.e., advertising junk food on TV)

 maximise benefits from opportunities – e.g. taking a socially 
responsible position in response to a topical issue (i.e., carbon off‐set 
programs etc)
24
 Key PR Themes
2. Identifying and managing issues (Cont.)

 Unmanaged issues, whether external or internal, can threaten the 
reputation or even viability of an organisation or its products.  

 Unmanaged or poorly managed issues can:

 Negatively impact on the quality of relationships between an 
organisation and its publics

 Create a hostile climate of opinion which may detract from the 
organisation or product and divert management attention away from a 
strategic focus 

 Impact adversely on employee morale
25
 Key PR Themes
3. Creating or maintaining understanding

• Achieving favourable disposition/approval towards an organisation from all 
stakeholders is rare

• However, organisations can strive to achieve understanding from all 
stakeholders

• Stakeholder understanding of organisations’ objectives, policies, standards, 
practices, services, intentions provides the basis for public goodwill towards 
an organisation

26
 Key PR Themes
3. Creating or maintaining understanding (cont.)

The public relations transfer process

(hopefully moving from right to left side)

Empathy Knowledge/ Hostility

perspective

Sympathy Prejudice
Positive Negative
sentiment sentiment
Acceptance Apathy

Interest Ignorance
Understanding

27
Source: adapted from Jefkins (1994)
 Key PR Themes
4. Communication

 Communication is the key objective and tool of the PR 
practitioner.

 Communication facilitates understanding between 
organisations and stakeholders

 Communication theories are central in PR
eg agenda setting theory; diffusion of information and innovation theory

28
 Key PR Themes
4. Communication (cont.)

PR communication functions are not only directed ‘outward’ from the 
organisation to its publics.  

• Ideally, the PR function 
straddles the boundary between 
the organisation and its publics 

• Channels communication 
‘inward’ from publics to 
management

• Counsels management on the 
impact of organisational‐public 
relationships

29
 PR & its Relationship to Advertising

 Advertising
 Media space is bought so that controlled messages can be transmitted to 
an audience in a controlled way
 Messages received through advertising explicitly linked with the 
organisation buying the space and processed by the recipient accordingly 
– low credibility. Also, usually one‐way communication.

30
 PR & its Relationship to Advertising
(Cont.)

Public Relations
 Media space is not bought ‐ reliant on 3rd parties to transmit messages
 Message content and delivery is uncontrolled
 Origin of messages attributed to the media outlet sending the message –
message credibility associated with media source credibility
 Often this is two‐way or multi‐way communication.
 More credible to publics, i.e.,.
 Less precise in reach.
 Often followed by a Corporate Advertising campaign 
to increase effectiveness
 Aims to promote stakeholder understanding.

Jennifer Lawrence with her 
‘Tatum’ Coach handbag

31
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=Coach+Jennifer+Lawrence&biw=1680&bih=935&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMI4uOi7_XrxgIVoqlyCh1eoADt&dpr=1#imgrc=5Kl
Rsp17CXMgEM%3A
PR & its Relationship to Advertising
(Cont.)

Source: Johnston & Zawawi (2007) 32

The Various Roles of Public Relations

 media relations
 corporate public relations
 crisis management
 employee relations
 financial relations
 public affairs
 community relations
 marketing public relations 
(MPR)
 reputation management
 A brief History of &
Background to the PR
Industry now as we
know it
 Modern Roots of PR

FIVE key trends shaping modern PR:

 Growth of big institutions/corporations (necessitating the need to “tell their story” to engender 
public support & rebuild consumers’ trust in organisations; in recent times has been a bit of a backlash 
against large corporations)

 Increasing incidence of societal change, conflict and confrontation (i.e., the growth of 
powerful Interest Groups, such as “Greenpeace”)

 Growing power of global media, public opinion and democracy

 Heightened public awareness and media sophistication

 Internet

→ (and to a certain extent, the rise of The Celebrity)

35
 Journalism Influences on PR

 1950’s ‐ Public Relations expertise increase with larger number of ex‐
journalists taking on public relations roles

 Intimate knowledge of the mechanics of the press enabled ex‐
journalists working in PR to tailor news to the needs of the press

 Greater access to quality press
 Greater perceived professionalism of PR industry

 Journalists’ involvement in PR broadened the scope of PR roles within 
organisations – shift in PR role towards: (1) business advice role as well 
as (2) news management
36
Early models of Public Relations

In 1984, researchers Grunig & Hunt proposed 4 models of PR
(p. 22 of the Grunig and Hunt (1984) reading)
 Mixed Motive Model (Murphy, 1991)

Organisations should pursue communication management using a ‘mixed‐motives’ approach. This 
means that it is important for organisations to attempt to satisfy their own needs and interests, 
while simultaneously trying to help publics to satisfy their best interests. Consequently, the Mixed 
Motive Model is a fifth category of communication management models. This is based on a 
combination of Grunig and Hunt’s (1984) ‘two‐way asymmetrical’ and the ‘two‐way symmetrical’ 
models where the ideal position for both the organisation and the audience/publics is within the 
‘win‐win’ zone.
 Tensions between media and PR

 There is a symbiotic relationship between PR agents & 
journalists: PR agents require publicity and press to promote 
a brand/organisation/celebrity, whilst journalists are 
increasingly relying on the information supplied by PR agents 
as they are placed under more and more pressure

 The ratio of PR agents to pitchable journalists is 4:1

 In fact, around 60‐70% of students in some journalism 
courses now are majoring in Advertising, media or PR, not 
journalisms
39
https://michaelawitmer.wordpress.com/2016/04/16/tensions‐between‐pr‐and‐the‐press/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterhimler/2013/03/14/the‐journalist‐the‐pr‐pro‐a‐broken‐marriage/#20fc958be42e
 Tensions between media and PR (Cont.)

40
https://michaelawitmer.wordpress.com/2016/04/16/tensions‐between‐pr‐and‐the‐press/
 Social Responsibility of the Press

Historical difference between role of print news and other media:

 Print journalism associated with unique role as ‘watchdog’
 Underpinning democracy by watching and reporting on those in power –
allowing the public to make informed decisions

 Entertainment role in newspapers secondary to news function

 Newspapers independent (ideally) of government control

 By contrast, television and radio initially developed as ‘entertainment’ or 
‘light’ media

 Licence‐based control from Government

41
 Social Responsibility of the Press

Social Responsibility Theory

Media should be socially responsible: 
 Free to enlighten the public to safeguard liberties of the individual

 Able to service the economic system

 Furnish ‘good’ entertainment

 Be financially self‐supporting

 Responsible in providing fair and accurate information upon which the public can 
base decision‐making in a complex society

 Seek ‘the truth’ 42
 Social Responsibility of PR

 Line drawn between interests of advertisers and 
distribution of information to inform public decision‐
making

 PR accounts for a significant component of the news 
stories in the news

 Public expectation of social responsibility demands that 
Public Relations activities are based on ethical behaviour

43
44