Here’s a peak:

Find the rest in My Shared Files…

By: Ismail Amr

After the farewell offered in the city of Almería, the Play4Africa expedition met with the hustle of vehicles in Egypt, saving them from the inconvenience of passing through Libya. Deliveries of soccer balls and wear were expected to start in the pharonic land , before entering Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and ends in Cape Town with the conclusion of the 2010 World Cup, recently held in South Africa.

 The expedition’s entrance in  Egypt was charged with emotion and many events, visiting different sports centers in Cairo and being received by the Vice-Governor of the city of Giza.

 It seems that Spain knew they wouldl win the finals then. Their project was meant to make unprivileged children happy. In a manner of fact, most of the countries visited had supported this team in world cup, not only in the final, but in all the matches. Most of the Egyptians were supporting Spain.

- Earn the right to speak on your topic by showing the audience that you
are qualified to do so
- Express your message positively and with enthusiasm
- Provide the audience with the action you want them to take
- State the benefits that will be achieved from that action

Comic Strip by Mohammed Hamad

- Dale Carnegie

A special e-mail to all those who want to succeed:
Dear MEAComS:

In approaching a problem in your department, try this method:

 - Call a meeting with those persons who are familiar with this problem. It
should include your own staff, of course, but it may be advantageous to
invite persons from related areas who can contribute their ideas.
 - Let all the participants know the subject to be discussed in advance to
the meeting.
 - Record all ideas, but do not attempt to analyze them at this time.
 - After a period of incubation (anywhere from a half hour to a full day),
call the team together, and run another 15 – 30 minute session. Record these
new ideas.
 - Have the team select three to five of the best ideas.
 - Develop that idea.

Source:
The Leadership Advantage
3 days, 8 hours per day

Vodafone, a telecommunications company that operates in Egypt is offering a business award called the “Vodafone One” award. Basically it is that one tries to accumulate points on ones phone by talking on it, all day long. The more points one accumulates, the higher gifts received which are basically call minutes taken off the payment charge. Click Here to see the list of the Gifts Guide!

Catriona Pollard of CP communications writes in her newsletter that this is not a bad idea. Here is how you can put business awards in public relations, even in a minor day-to-day kind of way:

 Beginning a submission can seem like a daunting process especially when you have a million other tasks on your ‘To Do’ list but in reality, the time and money spent entering business awards is more of an investment than a cost. Even if you don’t take home first prize, being a part of the whole experience can be incredibly rewarding.

Voicing your vision

How often do you sit down and think about what your business has achieved, how you have achieved it and what the plans are for the future? Creating a submission for an award forces you to spend some time looking at what you’re doing and can not only be really satisfying but can enthuse you about future endeavours.

More marketing opportunities

Even as a nominee, your business can receive a mention through a variety of media outlets in conjunction with the awards you have entered. The award organisers will often list nominees on their website, in their social media and in their media releases. You can also capitalise on entering by promoting your involvement through your own social media and on your website.

If you’re lucky enough to become a finalist or even win in a category, there are PR opportunities to take advantage of within your specific industry publications.

Putting you on the map

Everyone is always looking for that edge on their competitors, the key point that makes you stand out from the crowd. If you are named a finalist, or winner of a business award and your major competitor is not, this is a unique stand out factor that could be the difference between whether a customer decides to go with you.

“I don’t really know how to start this but I’d like to mention that my experience at MEAComS was a very unique one which words can’t explain; this was the place where I’ve learnt the basics of professional life as it was my first job. This place made me believe in myself and my abilities to do everything and it was even getting more interesting with the praises I’ve been told by my Manager, Fatma Ahmed, and the clients’ as well. I have a lot to say about MEAComS but to cut it short, I want to add that I really appreciate my manager’s belief in my qualifications and abilities as a fresh grad when she assigned me to do some really hard tasks from my point of view, starting from presenting the company and writing press releases to directly dealing with her clients which I felt as my clients as being one of MEAComS employees.  From my side, I’ve given all the effort and quality I had to the company and I truly enjoyed every task I had there, I even remember my manager telling me “You have to consider a press release as your baby and do all what you can to make it visible”, and at first I thought she was like saying something weird and unreal, but when I tried to think the same way and had to write those releases myself and was totally responsible for them being published, I thought like OMG she was so right when she told me so, I can’t express how I felt when I was about to leaf through a magazine to find if my release was published or not, which was the best part of my job and the thing I really miss most.  Finally I want to thank Fatma my manager, and I would never forget my first eight months of my professional life at MEAComS with all its pros and cons and my last day there as well,  where I felt that my team would really miss me deep from their hearts and I wish them all the best of luck each in his own route”. 

                                                                                                                                                                           Dina A.Wahab

                                                                                                                                                  Former Account Executive

What looks like a leopard (all yellow with green hair and boxers) in the form of a boy with a soccer ball in his hand did not seem to be much advertised, or communicated as the official mascot to the rest of the world. I wondered why? as it is within the realm of possibility that this mascot act as public relations figure on its own, cashing in ads, news, fame and much more.

Part of the importance of public relations is to get oneself and ones client ‘out there,’ and for that I checked out the “2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa” website to see how far public relations went. To my surprise, our yellow mascot was not featured much on the website, not even on the emblems and posters page, a page that very much should have been designated for the stark emblem of a mascot.

Point taken?! Yet, if the mascot had been featured more often, it would have been covered and thus promoted by the media and even public at least in the first quarter matches.

I took it upon myself to check the Organizing committee for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, and found there to be both a chief communications officer, and marketing and commercial officer. The marketing officer was busy helping in launching a help Africa campaign with a 16000 ticket promotion at his hand. As for the communications officer, the website fails to state his job descriptions or contributions in the organization process. It states this about him:

“A marketing communications, corporate affairs, public relations practitioner and writer of international repute, Mkhondo is a well-rounded communicator with excellent writing and oral communication skills, strong and proven newspaper, broadcasting, news agency, management and editing experience.”

On the other hand, the website does feature a media services section, where press releases are firmly at hand. Also all is not dreamt and passed, for in the page titled Marketing Affiliates, there is an underpin with the words “Fifa partners” (separate from sponsors) such as Emirates, Sony, Visa, Adidas, Coca-Cola, Kia. Maybe, those are the public relations.

-          The market for Public Relation agencies is not widely-adopted by many companies, and a lot of companies tend to confuse advertising with actual public relations work.

-          International companies integrate Public Relations into their organizational system, and even budget. 

-          There aren’t any educationally-sanctioned programs that teach Public Relations skills, and most graduating students that enter the field of Public Relations are either English Literature and Language, or Mass Communication majors.

-          Public Relations isn’t about appearance and glitzy impressions, but requires writing and speaking skills, foreign language learning and fluency, creativity, careful strategizing, and having strong relationships with networks of journalists. 

See interviews full and in Arabic in our file-sharing box…

*Get through to people via e-mail: Put your firm’s e-mail account into use by regularly sending out to those persons interested in your work. That can be realized through sending out a monthly e-newsletter, or simply responding to feedback. Make what you send out consistent, on-topic, thematic, simple, and easy-to-read.

** Setting up a Facebook business page: Through Facebook, businesses can actually prosper. A PR firm can, and will most definitely use Facebook as a PR tool. If one goes to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php, one will find the three options that state:

“

Create a Page for a:

Top of Form

Local business

Local business:

Local BusinessReal EstateParkClubHotel / LodgingMuseum / AttractionConvention Center and Sports ComplexCafeLibrary / Public BuildingReligious CenterAutomotiveGroceryTravel ServiceProfessional ServiceHealth and BeautyRestaurantEvent Planning ServiceBarBanking and Financial ServiceEducationTechnology and Telecommunications ServiceAutomotive Dealer / Vehicle ServiceMedical ServicePetsHome ServiceStore

Brand, product, or organization

Brand, product, or organization:

ProductsPharmaceuticalReligious OrganizationTV ShowRental CarsMovieRetailGameFood and BeverageWebsiteProfessional ServiceHotel / LodgingNon-ProfitAirline / Ship / Train StationCommunicationsTravelTechnology Product / ServiceHome LivingConsumer ProductFinancial ServiceFashionGovernmentSports / AthleticsOnline Store

Artist, band, or public figure

                       “

***The BlackBerry is a very effective and practical way to conduct business, especially to answer your e-mail when Wi-Fi is not within reach, or when in a place where laptops are out of character.  The ‘BlackBerry Business Solution’ illustrates this. Please find in File-sharing on the blog.

****Speaking of File-sharing, it is an easy and effective way of sharing certain public documents and files with other corporations. Blogs also have file-sharing applications.

 *****Google-translator: In non-native English-speaking countries. Google-translator can be of great aid on a daily basis. 

More in-house applications will be posted as soon as they are used and tested by MEAComS…