Speech - Information Minister Sandrea Falconer at PRSJ General Meeting Aug 2012

Address by
Senator the Honourable Sandrea Falconer
Minister without Portfolio (Information)
Office of the Prime Minister
To the
Meeting of the Public Relations Society of Jamaica

Tuesday, August 28, 2012 at 6:00pm
PCJ Auditorium, Kingston

Theme: The Communicators' Imperative: Capitalizing on the Glory of Jamaica 50

SALUTATIONS
• Mr Christopher Benjamin, President of the Public Relations Society of Jamaica
• The PRSJ executive and members
• Media colleagues
• Members of the media

Thank you for extending the invitation to share in your meeting this evening.
Let me begin by acknowledging and congratulating the members of the Public Relations Society for the work you continue to do in servicing the information needs of your organisations and the public good through professional execution of your responsibilities.

You have asked that I share some perspectives on ‘capitalising on the glory of Jamaica 50' which is very much a concern all of us share, especially given the spectacular décor, the memorable events and the sense of pride which was engendered both at home and abroad, by the staging of these spectacular Golden Jubilee celebrations.

As someone whose work and background is in media communications and public relations, I know the level of work that goes into conceptualization, planning and execution of events such as these.

I know the work is outside of the glare of the limelight which is one of the paradoxes of public relations - if I can term it thus, as the work is not about you - the practitioner and professional, but about bringing that sense of occasion to the event for which you have responsibility.

I regard the communicator as a skilled storyteller, someone with the requisite competencies to not only tell a story, but a professional with the range of experiences and capacities to tell that story beautifully and with impact.

And how beautiful part of the story of Jamaica 50 was told by the various practitioners, designers and artists through the use of our national colours and decorations at such places as our airports, corporate offices and the many public and private spaces around the country.

These wonderfully creative expressions did so much to evoke the spirit of Jamaican nationhood and pride.

Patriotism was also on show at the National Stadium as Jamaicans claimed every available seat to celebrate our 50th year of political independence and to witness an amazing feast of the finest of our cultural expressions.

Thousands of miles away in Diaspora centres in Canada, the United States of America and in the United Kingdom and continental Europe and so many other places where Jamaicans live, a similar story of pride and achievement was being played out as the world watched in admiration.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is no denying that Jamaica is punching well above its weight class in terms of global popularity.

This naturally easy and uniquely Jamaican style and personality remain the qualities that distinguish us as a people and is the bedrock of our world-class tourism industry. It is reflected in our cuisine, our art forms, our music, our expression - we are Jamaica to the world.

We pride ourselves in the fact that Jamaica has more churches per square mile than any other country but Jamaica also boasts the largest number of recording studios per square mile worldwide.

Our irrepressible culture, as expressed through our creative industries in music, film, fashion and sports, especially track and field athletics, continues to capture and dominate global attention.

There are those practitioners among you who would with justification, ask the question: with a product such as Jamaica, why are we not able to capitalise on the tremendous potential and goodwill? Afterall, effective public relations embrace having a good product - one that appeals to an audience.
With this in mind, one of the strategies employed by administration to capitalise on Jamaica 50 was to undertake a joined-up government approach to strategically positioning ‘Brand Jamaica' at the London 2012 Olympics.

Jamaica House at the North Greenwich Arena at the O2 venue in London was the focal point to project all the positive attributes of Jamaica, not only to our Diaspora, but to entrepreneurs, international dealmakers, the travel and tour operators - indeed to anyone on doing business with Jamaica.
JAMAICA HOUSE 2012, conceptualized and created in just over 3 months, stood as a powerful example of what is possible through a ‘joined up' Government approach to showcase the nation's journey over the past 50 years on one a single platform.

Therein too lies an important part of the strategy - that of bringing attributes together into an integrated whole and delivering that across a common platform to a captured and targeted audience.

A powerful part of the strategy was having one collective space for the coming together of Jamaica next great moments and a declaration of direction for the next 50 years!

It was in this spirit of collaboration that three executing agencies of the Government - the Jamaica Tourist Board, JAMPRO and the Jamaica 50 Secretariat - under the tri-ministerial leadership of Tourism and Entertainment, Industry, Investment and Commerce and Youth & Culture, came together to produce JAMAICA HOUSE 2012.

This high level of inter-agency partnership ensured that Jamaica was well established in the heart of the biggest global event of 2012, in a way that was befitting of our 50th anniversary and the historic achievements of our athletes.

The result is we were able to leverage unprecedented and positive international media attention focused on our athletes and things Jamaican and use that platform to promote the attractiveness of Doing Business in Jamaica. That, in my view is effective strategy in capitalizing on Jamaica 50.
Many times, media attention on Jamaica is focused on the ‘less than positive' activities and events, but in this instance, we took centre stage and had captive audiences to which to sell the achievements of Jamaica, laud the successes of international investors and exporters, and promote the business opportunities that exist in multiple sectors.

The media exposure and feedback data are still being tallied, but let me share with you some preliminary information on the USA, Canada and Latin America Markets to point to some amazing media coverage that we just could not begin to quantify in dollar terms.

• Jamaica House O2 Coverage between May to August in terms of Circulation and Audience Reach is estimated at 258 million
• General Olympic Coverage between August 1 and August 13 in terms of Circulation and Audience reach is estimated at over 770 million
• Total overall reach 1.035 billion people worldwide who heard something positive about Jamaica.

We can therefore all agree that August 2012 was a red-letter period for us in terms of international media coverage.

The big question that now faces all of us is how do we capitalize on this net positive publicity to:

1. Build further national goodwill

2. Brand our respective initiatives in our various businesses and organizations to offer better service to our customers and stakeholders

3. Lead the national conversation on how we can establish a permanent, highly coordinated programme of country branding and positive portrayal of the nation to the world; and

4. Build case studies from our experiences of August 2012 to train and prepare upcoming communicators to continue a tradition of positive storytelling that effectively brands the nation to itself, and then to the world.

In one of the recent editions of your excellent newsletter, political scientist, Dr Hume Johnson cited other countries, which regularly develop face-to-face programmes in influential markets to embed positive perceptions of their nation on others. There is nothing stopping us from doing initiatives such as these and I look forward to hearing your own ideas and thoughts as to how we can develop initiatives like this going forward.

I know I am speaking predominantly to communicators with a firm appreciation of the importance of branding, as part of the marketing communications and public relations thrust. Whether we are talking about a country, or a product, effective branding must be part of the national development imperative, if we were to capitalise on Jamaica 50.

I believe there is an important role to be played by the wider cadre of communicators in both the public and private sectors developing functional models and private/ public partnerships (PPP) to secure a solid country reputation.

The truth of the matter is that Jamaica's ambition to be ‘the place of choice for citizens to live, work, raise families and do business' and to achieve developed nation status, must begin with a positive perception of nation-hood and belief in ourselves.

We need the skills and expertise of all the nation's communicators in the public and private sectors alike and the conversation must be broadened with private sector communications professionals with a view to exploring pathways for collaboration as we pursue the national development objective.

My central message to you therefore, as the Public Relations Society, is that there is a seminal role for you to play in Jamaica's journey into its next 50 years and beyond.

I challenge you to become bolder in your expressions. Let your voices and opinions be heard as part and parcel of the process of the development of our society. It is no longer enough for communications people to remain in the background and be the ‘moving hand' in the shadow of your organisation.

Jamaica 50 gives all of us a solid platform to emerge with the ideas and actions that can project our nation on a path of developed nation status and prosperity.

You - our storytellers, must believe that we can do this, and the moment is yours, to use your unique skills and talents to capitalize on the Glory of Jamaica.

Use your pens, your ipads, blogs and all forms of social media to tell the amazing story of Jamaica- a Nation on a Mission with Vision!

Thank you for the opportunity and my best wishes as you continue in your professional endeavours for personal success and that of our beloved nation.

I thank you!

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