Public Relation Practice. Communications & Media Case Study

Public Relation Practice
Student’s Name
Institution
 Public Relation Practice
The main focus of any organisation, be it the private sector, public agencies or nonprofit making organisations is the community. A healthy coexistence is established between two parties when there exists a mutual benefit in the setting. To attain this mutually beneficial relationship, organisations employ a strategic communication process commonly referred to as public relations. For an economic society to realise success, freedom of expression and choice, public relations is essential (Morris & Goldsworthy, 2016). Public relations expert, James Grunig proposed four models of public relations; press agentry, public information, two way asymmetric, and two-way symmetric models (Kenny, 2017).  Press agentry and public information model exhibit a one-way communication strategy where information is broadcasted only towards the target audience based on assumption. Two way asymmetric and symmetric models utilize research to gather information from the target audience thus it is colloquial in nature. Quite often, even in modern-day public relations, these models are used independently or interchangeably by public relations professionals because of the inconsistent nature of the public relations process and the effectiveness of their approaches varies accordingly.
BankSA, as revealed in 'Principal Partner of the Adelaide Fringe’  (GTA, 2012) was able to clinch the partnership with Fringe Inc as a result of effective public relations strategy they employed. The partnership was aimed at protecting the integrity of the famous art festival and thus benefiting the general public. The numerous challenges that were anticipated in the public relations campaign were effectively dealt with and eventually, the partnership launch was graced by numerous media coverage signifying a huge success of the campaign. Stakeholder discussions and quantitative research were undertaken in the initial stage of the campaign to brainstorm on the intention and possible outcomes of the partnership. The research findings led to the establishment of a strong communication strategy to address the numerous objectives. Among other things, the key elements of the communication strategy included; readjusting the calendar to fit together with that of Fringe, maintaining the inclusive nature of the event, taking advantage of Fringe relationship with the media. 
The campaign was married with lots of successes during the launch, managing to address quite a number of objectives. The understanding and mutual respect was established throughout the campaign due to honest and direct communication among the stakeholders. In this case, Grunig’s two-way symmetrical model of public relations is portrayed. The initiatives developed by BankSA facilitated health discussion among the stakeholders and the audience; support act, the fun squad, talkfringe.com. The initiatives also ensured that the media are highly involved for the purpose of ensuring maximum coverage and thus reaching multiple targets. Issues that arose were addressed by the clear communication of the purpose of the partnership. The effective communication strategy not only ensured ...