爆料王

Assessment 1: Early Feedback Exercise 鈥� Strategic Statement (500 words)

Students must identify and research a real-world public relations scenario involving a specific organisation. The scenario should relate to one of the following:

• Publicity for a new product or service, or a major organisational event (e.g. a restructure, grand opening, new partnership, or appointment of a new CEO).
• Crisis communication (e.g. a strike, industrial dispute, major product failure, white-collar crime, or sexual harassment scandal).
• Issues management or a public lobbying campaign (e.g. a campaign to influence government legislation).
• A social issues campaign led by an activist organisation, government agency, or other advocacy group.
• Internal communication in support of organisational or cultural change.

Drawing on the concept of the rhetorical situation (cf. Ihlen, 2011), students will prepare a strategic statement that scopes the communication challenge and identifies the factors that should shape an appropriate public relations response. The task is intended as a forward-looking planning and brainstorming exercise that could contribute to a more detailed communication plan.

The strategic statement should address the following:

• Key actors: Identify the principal rhetors/actors involved (e.g. the organisation, CEO, third parties, government authorities)
• Publics: Identify the key publics and explain their interests.
• Messages and communication channels: Propose the core messages and overarching narrative that could guide the response.
• Strategic challenges: Identify the main communication constraints, counter arguments, or risks presented by the rhetorical situation.

This early feedback exercise is designed to develop students鈥� strategic thinking and provide a foundation for the more detailed Communications Plan.

Suggested Reading

Ihlen, 脴. (2011). On barnyard scrambles: Toward a rhetoric of public relations. Management Communication Quarterly, 25(3), 455鈥�473.

Assessment 2: Communications Plan (1,500 words)

Students will prepare a professional communications plan that could be successfully implemented within the Australian business, government, or not-for-profit context. Students must identify a corporation or organisation that will act as their client (i.e. the case study) for this assessment. Ideas developed in the Strategic Statement may be expanded and refined for this task or students can use this assessment as an opportunity to change topics.

The communications plan should address one of the following scenarios:

1. Improve the public image of an organisation following a major crisis (e.g. product failure, social scandal, white-collar crime, industrial dispute, or environmental incident).
2. Persuade relevant publics to support a social, environmental, political, or public policy campaign, including Corporate Social Advocacy (CSA), public affairs, or industry advocacy campaigns.
3. Persuade internal stakeholders to support organisational or cultural change.
4. Generate significant public interest in a new product, brand, service, or event.
5. Refresh and reposition an existing product, brand, or service.
6. Assist a controversial organisation to establish and maintain mutual understanding with its strategic publics through community engagement or proactive issues management.
7. Influence legislation or public policy through an internal and/or external lobbying campaign.

Students are expected to conduct appropriate background research into their chosen organisation, including its operating environment, stakeholders, products or services, reputation, and relevant communication issues. Both academic literature and industry sources should be used to support strategic decision-making. Useful sources may include Factiva, annual reports, corporate websites, government documents, industry reports, and, where appropriate, small-scale primary research such as surveys or focus groups.

The Communications Plan should be presented in professional report format and include the following sections:

1. Executive Summary (i.e. introduce the organisation, communication scenario, campaign goal, and measurable communication objectives).
2. Rhetorical and Situational Analysis (i.e. including background to the communication issue or opportunity; relevant primary and/or secondary research findings鈥攆or example, focus group or small-scale survey data developed from classmates; third-party market research or industry reports; analysis of relevant publics and stakeholders; organisational reputational strengths or weaknesses; external opportunities and threats; and an overview of the important aspects of the broader communication environment that might influence the campaign).
3. Strategy and Tactics (i.e. narrative strategy; core messages; proposed communication tactics and their distribution strategy; voices of authority/third-party partnerships where appropriate; ethical considerations; and a campaign budget supported by current publicly available industry pricing).
4. Implementation and Timing (i.e. including project management responsibilities and a campaign timeline presented as a Gantt chart).
5. Evaluation (identify appropriate methods for evaluating campaign effectiveness, including outputs (the communication activities delivered), outtakes (what target publics understood, remembered, or thought about the campaign), and outcomes (changes in awareness, attitudes, intentions, or behaviours resulting from the campaign)).
6. References (APA 7; not included in the word count).

This is a professional assessment and should be written in report format. In the Strategy and Tactics section you only have the room to list what tactics you will do and their strategic features (i.e. don鈥檛 include fully written media releases or other PR tactics here). Bullet points, tables, figures, and Gantt charts may be used where appropriate. Strategic recommendations should be supported by evidence from both academic literature and industry sources using APA 7 referencing. All Communications Plans must be submitted via Turnitin.

Assessment 3: PR Tactics Presentation

In groups of three, students will deliver a 20-minute presentation (which includes 5 mins for questions from the audience). This presentation听covers some of the points raised in Assignment 2 but focuses on the completion of the communication materials that听would be used in a specific campaign. Specifically, students need to choose one corporation/organisation/client and a scenario and听then prepare a portfolio of public relations tactics and present these to the class as part of a 鈥減itch鈥� presentation.

Student groups should complete any six of the following for their portfolio:

• Media releases (300 words x 3) (NB: only counts as one of the six tactics, all groups must complete, with one media release per student)
• Backgrounder (300 words)
• Fact sheet
• Infographic
• A pitch email to a specific publication for a profile article or features story.
• A profile or features article on a CEO, issue or product for owned media, such as a corporate website or annual report听(500 words)听
• Crisis statement for a media conference (400 words)
• Q&A talking points for a media conference (400 words)
• Newsletter听with images and a messaging strategy (500words)
• 5 original photographs or edited images from third party sources (for distribution with media releases or other tactics)
• Detailed plan for a media event (i.e., a press conference) with speech notes for an opening address (600 words) and biographical statements for each speaker.
• An issues pamphlet (should be created using Adobe InDesign software or equivalent software)
• A direct-mail letter on an issue (300-400 words) (with correct formatting and a specific messaging and distribution听strategy)
• Chief Executive Officer鈥檚 statement for an Annual Report or an investor conference or a townhall meeting with stakeholders (300 words)
• Mission and听Vision statements (200 words)
• Detailed plan for social media campaign, which might include the use influencers, with examples of messages, hashtags, and a distribution strategy (i.e. create the posts using photoshop)
• An AI-generated听influencer.听
• A chatbot for stakeholder engagement.
• 30 second video. This can be a promotional video, an issues ad, or a "Q&A style" video with a spokesperson. Your platforms are TikTok, X (formerly听Twitter), BlueSky,听Instagram, and YouTube, but not television. You can role-play as CEO, create an AI CEO,听or a political candidate as appropriate for a "proof of concept".
• Issues ad for a newspaper, magazine or website (should be created using Adobe InDesign software).
• 30 second radio advocacy advertisement (this needs to be an audio file: can be recorded using a smartphone, computer, or other device)
• Advertorial (should be created using Adobe InDesign or similar software so that its images and text look ready for distribution)
• A small collection of internet memes or gifs (be creative as the aim听is for this tactic is to be shared on social media)
• An issues billboard for a strategic location (use InDesign and/or Photoshop).
• Another PR tactic not listed but discussed with your tutor.

The proposed format of the presentation is as follows:

1. Introduction;
2. Campaign goal/s听and communication objectives (i.e., informational, motivational and measurable);
3. Target publics and stakeholders (including any third-party organisations);
4. Key messages (include a framing strategy on specific issues);
5. Tactics (at least six tactics, with justifications for their use) (this will be the largest segment of the presentation)听(copies of the tactics need to be provided to class members or on slides for peer assessment) (you must explain why you feel each tactic will work);
6. Timeline (use a Gantt chart)
7. Budget (estimates based on public information only; i.e. don't contact industry people for quotations).
8. Evaluation (here you will discuss how you will measure the success of your campaign).

Note: All content presented must be original and produced by the student group, not taken from third parties, such as a company鈥檚 website.听The presentation is group work and involves ALL group members, but the authorship of specific tactics (including the use of AI) should be made clear during the presentation and on the final submission to Canvas. Interpersonal conflicts or other issues regarding group dynamics and听contributions should be brought to the attention of the tutorial instructor. Where group members have not听sufficiently contributed to their group work assessment items, they will be marked on an individual basis.

The presentations will begin in Week 5 and conclude in Week 12 (or Week 13 depending on any potential logistical issues).听The final numerical score for these presentations will reflect both the quality of the presentation (i.e. public speaking skills, professional听use of PowerPoint, Canva or similar software, etc.) and the quality of the PR tactics presented to the class (i.e. creativity, professionalism,听potential effectiveness, etc.). A rubric on Canvas will be provided to explain the weighting given to these two dimensions of this assignment. Additional advice on this assessment will be provided in class.

Assessment 4: Formal Exam听

The final assessment is a formal exam comprising 25 multiple-choice questions and one extended essay selected from a choice of three questions. The multiple-choice section contributes 25% of the exam mark and assesses students' knowledge of key concepts and lecture content. The essay contributes 75% of the exam mark and assesses students' ability to apply theories of public relations, ethics, and best practice to contemporary communication scenarios. The examination is based primarily on lecture content (theories, debates, paradoxes, etc.).

Assessment 5: Tutorial Participation听

Participation is assessed through engagement in tutorial discussions and applied professional exercises, including role plays, communication planning activities, and the development of public relations materials.

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