media update’s David Jenkin spoke to managing director Tracy Jones about this achievement. 

So this was actually Positive Dialogue Communication’s fourth consecutive PRISMs Gold – to what would you attribute that run of success?

In short, I would say it comes down to three key factors.

We strive for creativity in all our campaign thinking (either through the PR mechanics and channels used or in the execution); team work and collaboration (ie. everyone on the team has a voice and an opinion); and we hold ourselves very accountable for the delivery of meaningful results (ie. results that have a positive business result for our clients that goes beyond just column inches).  

Please tell us a bit more about the background of the ‘weFix/Shark Spotters’ campaign?

The operational challenge that Shark Spotters faced was that there had been an increase in shark attacks on Muizenberg and Fish Hoek beaches and, given limited budgets, they could only use outdated land-based shark-spotting methods and systems. In short, Shark Spotters lacked the financial resources to introduce technological improvements to beach monitoring.

The conceptualised campaign partnered these organisations by introducing weFix’s DJI drones as a support mechanism into the Shark Spotters safety programme. This enabled early sighting and identified shark threats before an attack occurred.

Could one say that the success of the ‘weFix/Shark Spotters’ campaign was down to inspired match-making?

I would attribute it to one part inspired match making and one part problem solving – the ‘problem’ being a high incidence of shark attacks on Muizenberg and Fish Hoek beaches that often made news headlines.

When we were asked to launch the weFix drones, the idea was to use the drones to better safeguard the beaches and thereby provide a technology support mechanism that could assist an under-resourced organisation in better protecting these communities.

weFix were really glad that they could put their technology to good use in keeping people safe whilst swimming, whilst also enabling a better understanding of shark activity and species identification. It was simply a match made in heaven!

How did the project play out in practice? Were many sharks spotted? Did beach-goers appreciate the added protection?

The incidence of false shark sightings via the red flag system were reduced by 50% over the November/December summer period, and our PR editorial coverage on the collaboration with an increased beach safety message reached a combined audience of over 40 million across radio, print, and TV in the two-month campaign period.

What would you say is the winning recipe behind a successful PR on a Shoestring campaign? What general advice could you offer others in that space?

I think it all comes down to how much business value and PR impact you’re able to create without needing a huge budget. People often assume that award-winning campaigns can only be done if clients have big budgets. But this category goes to show that a strategically creative idea that, in this case, provided a win-win solution to two parties, executed seamlessly, can result in a Gold category win. That’s the main reason we were so proud of this particular win, as it speaks to our level of creative and strategic thinking – a key value of our agency philosophy.

For more information, visit www.positivedialogue.co.za.

Interested in working in public relations? Read more in our article, Five reasons to love working in Public Relations.