Benchmarking is fast becoming a key factor setting public relations leaders ahead of their competition, enabling them to improve their performance and boost their offerings to clients. The PRISM Awards offer an unrivalled opportunity for companies and agencies alike to benchmark public relations campaigns against the best of the best. Open to all public relations practitioners, consultants, corporations and government departments, the deadline for entries for this year’s PRISMs is Friday, January 20.
According to Bridget von Holdt, Convenor of the PRISM awards, there is a growing emphasis on benchmarking in public relations, both locally and internationally. “Benchmarking is an excellent way of measuring your campaigns and strategies, as it offers specific measures rather than general concepts” she says. “As benchmarks are constantly changing, it provides a basis for continuous improvement.” Von Holdt adds that, more importantly, benchmarking is also a way for the public relations profession to build and share the body of professional knowledge.
The PRISMS is in its 15th year and attracts on average 150 entries. Each year gold, silver and bronze awards are made in more than 30 categories, singling out the cream of the crop when it comes to public relations campaigns and adding stature to the profession locally. Internationally, the growing stature of public relations is supported by recent reports from PR News (USA) on a PRSA study which says that, “with faith in business and government institutions waning and the reputations of even the most venerable brands at risk, corporate communications has emerged as an essential skill set for C-level executives.” In the same PRSA/MWW Group study released in December 2011, it also showed that 93% of business leaders of 204 companies polled believe public relations is just as important to their companies as other forms of communication, including advertising and marketing.
Retroviral Digital Communications uses the PRISMs to benchmark its campaigns. The company won a 2011 PRISM Gold Award in the category e-Public Relations/Social Media for their ‘Nando’s: Introducing our CEO (Chicken Excellence Officer)’ campaign. They have entered the PRISM awards twice, have received awards previously and will be entering again this year.
Mike Sharman, owner of Retroviral Digital Communications, says that they used their award to benchmark their campaigns and raised the bar last year with their gold winning Nando’s campaign. “100,000 YouTube views in less than five days was something that we believed would be difficult to eclipse,” he said. “It forced us to push even harder at the end of 2011 with the seeding of the ‘Nando’s Last Dictator Standing’ campaign.”He adds that the 100 000 views for the Nando’s campaign are now minuscule, compared to the one million views they received last month.
More benefits for PRISM participants:
Industry recognition, exposure and networking are just some of the benefits PRISM winners enjoy.
Last year was the first time On Course Communication entered the PRISM Awards and it scooped a Gold Award for the Best NGO Campaign for Cape Mental Health’s Annual Kite Festival. Owner Cathy Williams said that the award “has meant a great deal to us and had several positive spin-offs. There was some great media exposure and good networking opportunities.”
Williams believes that both On Course Communication and their client, Cape Mental Health, have benefitted from winning this award. “It was a real boost to us at On Course Communication as we’re a very small team and specialise in working with not-for-profit organisations; it was fantastic to see that our work could compare favourably with that of leading public relations agencies.” The award also succeeded in profiling the Cape Town International Kite Festival as an excellent sponsorship vehicle and one of South Africa’s leading events.
For Retroviral Digital Communication, winning an award has also had many positive spin-offs. Says Sharman: “We secured additional business from the publicity we received from last year’s award, enhanced the trust of our existing client base to invest in additional campaigns with Retroviral, and raised the profile of the business as a recognised competitor in the digital communications space.”
The PRISM Awards
There are 37 categories for the 2012 PRISM Awards which include a category for Community Relations (not conducted by government or local authorities), Media Relations and Non-Governmental Organisations Campaigns.
Make 2012 work for you and your company and enter the PRISM Awards. The closing date for entries is January 20, 2012. For more information on entering the PRISM Awards, contact Susan Richardson from PRISA on 011 326-1262 or email [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . Website: www.prisa.co.za <http://www.prisa.co.za>
No comments yet.