Intro | Examples | PR Concept | The Plan | Effectiveness | Philosophy
Issues & Concerns | Implementation | Communication | Conclusion

Program Effectiveness

To be effective, the PR program must recognize, reinforce and actively promote the objectives of the project. In addition, the PR program must be evident at all levels of the project organization, and it should aim at improving the credibility of the project team and hence their ability to perform. In short, the program must be designed to emphasize the positive influences of the project to counteract the negative attacks.

If the project is privately sponsored, undoubtedly the project sponsors will be the primary beneficiaries. Even so, in all likelihood there will be significant benefits accruing to the local populace in the form of increased employment, increased demand for local goods and services and corresponding increases in primary and secondary contributions to taxes.

If the project is publicly funded, it is worth bearing in mind that even though the "public" is the primary beneficiary, the "public" which stands to gain the most is not necessarily the "public" which is impacted the most. In practice the latter are likely to be the vocal minority, while the former sit on the sidelines as the silent majority! As the same generally holds true for the privately sponsored project, this provides the project manager with a powerful argument for establishing a well devised PR program.

Project #1: LNG

In the case of the LNG project, the economic analysis clearly showed that the project would result in a dramatic increase in economic benefits to the province. These included:

  • A stable export base for natural gas resources for at least 20 years.
     
  • An annual increase in overseas trade of over $1 billion, over a third of which would find its way into government coffers via additional tax revenues.
     
  • Significant economic development of the northern part of the province.
     
  • A permanent increase in employment of over 15,000 as a. result of operating expenditures on natural gas purchases, labor and other materials, when multiplier effects are taken into consideration.

Thus quantified, these benefits were conveyed in simple terms by the public relations firm to the Mayor's Office, the local media, local associations and the Provincial Government.

Project #3: Expo 86

The overall economic impact of Expo 86 is expected to be about $4 billion or roughly 5 times the project budget. As well as the excitement of the fair, this fact has been emphasized in the publicity literature. The highly dispersed impact on the poor local employment conditions has been very evident

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