Unit 4b:Public relations
So Eilish,maybe you could begin by telling us about your duties as the PR Manager.
Well,my job is to plan and manage the public relations strategy for the Skoda brand in the UK.
This means I'm responsible for dealing with the press,television and radio,
as well as communications with the public and personnel in our UK dealerships.
How would you describe the role of the PR Department within the company?
Well,the primary role of PR is to create understanding with the public.
My job involves talking and listening to both the press and the public,
providing them with information from the heart of the organisation.
Our objective is to give an accurate picture of the company,its brands and what it believes in.
We have to make sure that the public has a positive image of the company.
So how does this role differ from that of the Marketing Department?
Marketing has more to do with identifying customer needs
and developing the right products to satisfy those needs.
PR,on the other hand,is more concerned with establishing and maintaining goodwillPR,on the other hand,
between the company and its public.
Marketing reaches the public through advertidsing,
wheras we work more with the press and broadcast media.
But how much control do you have over what the press says?
None really.But that's what makes the way we deal with the press so important.
Our job is to make sure that journalists always have a very clear understanding of what the company is trying to do.
Maintaining good relationships with the press is a very important part of the job.
In PR you have to build long-term relationships with journalists
because you work with them on a regular basis and trust is absolutely essential.
Unit 4b:Public relations
Listening 2
When Skoda relaunched its brand here in 1995,
it would be fair to say that the company had a genuine image problem.
How big a challenge was this for the PR Depoartment?
Unfortunately,Skoda was misunderstood by the UK public at the time.
There used to be a lot of boring old jokes about Skoda cars.
But that was because of people's misconceptions about the quality of central European engineering.
The strange thing is that the reality was actually quite different.
In what way?
Well,central Europe had always been a centre of engineering excellence.
However,from the start of the communist era in 1984
it had to develop in its own without the benefit of outside influence and up-to-date technology.
So how did you go about communicating this reality to the public?
When we re-entered the UK marketplace with a new model,the Felicia,in 1995,
we put a huge emphasis on advertising,
everyting from national advertising to point-of-sale material in the showrooms.
This was repeated with the arrival of the Octavia in 1998.
Our overall aim was to communicate the quality of Skoda.
And what role did the PR Department play?
Well,regardless of how successful and effective advertising is,
the public is always aware that the company has complete control over the message and conten of the advert.
However,when the public reads positive things in their favourite magazine or newspaper,
it's the journalist's own comment
and therefore much more powerful because it isn't influenced by the organisation.
So,our job was to communicate the quality of Skoda to the motoring press.
Having seen the very positive press the company now enjoys,
you obviously managed to do that.But how?
One of the first press events we arranged
was a trip to see the manufacturing plant in the Czech Republic.
We took almost 100 journalists with us to show them just how good the facility was.
We organised a similar trip the following year to see the new Octavia plant,
which is one of the most modern in the world.
These trips really changed people's attitudes.
Well,you certainly won over the press.
But what kind of feedback have you had from the poublic?
Well,Skoda recently came top of a major consumer magazine's annual survey of car owners.
It's the biggest customer satisfaction survey of its kind in the UK-
based on over 40,000 car owners.
The results of the survey made the evening news on national TV,
so I guess the public ahs changed its mind about the quality of central European engineering.
But the real indication of our success is the record growth in sales since 1995.
The success you've had in dramatically changing the company's image in the UK must give you a great deal of personal satisfaction.
Yes,it does.I think I'm very lucky at Skoda.
Working with a small team means a lot of personal responsibility.
And that's the real enjoyment for me,seeing my ideas having a clear effect on the forward direction of the brand.
It's down to me to sort out any problems,so when things go well,
I really do feel I'm making an important contribution to the success of the company.
And that's an incredibly satisfying feeling.