media update’s Adam Wakefield spoke to PRISM Awards chief judge, and head of marketing and communication at the Cancer Association of South Africa, Lucy Balona, about the judging process for this year’s PRISMs and how she recharges after a tough day.   

How has the judging process gone this year for the PRISM Awards? What are your thoughts on the quality of this year’s entries?

While most entries demonstrate an understanding of what issues needed to be addressed on behalf of clients, only a few were outstanding, which were certainly innovative, creative and different. There is definitely a lot of room for more creativity. We found that the general entries lacked measurable objectives, which made it difficult to assess the success of the campaigns. ROI was also referenced in minimal cases. 

However, we saw a marked increase in the standard of entries – lots of great work. While there was some really good, sound PR thinking in the awards, we would be keen to have seen some of the entries just push themselves that much further.

You are one of 11 chief judges that headed up a cluster during this year’s judging process. Which cluster did you head up and what trends in PR did you notice among the entries that you assessed?

In our cluster we covered travel and tourism, public affairs, the public sector, and NGO campaigns as well as crisis management. There are some very solid PR practices taking place with agencies and practitioners delivering good results. However, the really good ones stood out because they really took time to get to know the business of the client. 

The very few that delivered outstanding results were those that ‘married’ a good choice of medium and storytelling that was of relevance to the intended audience, and most importantly, took into account the actual business of what the client wanted to achieve. There is room for improvement in terms of integrating all mediums of communication. Some campaigns only made use of specific channels and mediums when they could have used a lot more and the few that did were spectacular in terms of creativity.  

If you have a tough day at the office, how do you go about mentally recharging so you can be at your very best the following day?

I started cycling and running. If I get my body moving then somehow I get a different perspective. That helps for sure. Being healthy becomes important and this always helps me face a tough day or a challenging client. A good cup of coffee in the morning always helps me.

Also, I have started to work on leveraging my strengths, so I recognise what activities, work or people energise or drains me. Do the ‘draining’ stuff first and get it done, then you can leave the energising stuff for later.

What do you believe is the biggest opportunity public relations professionals have, in the current communications and media environment, to differentiate themselves from other media professionals? What can they do that others can’t?

Get to know what the business or clients really need – what does the client want to achieve from a business perspective? Also, there are new mediums and ways of reaching audiences that have not yet being fully explored or leveraged. 

In the current climate, being ethical, professional and consistent regarding the way you do business certainly is an opportunity. After all, 2018 is The Year of Accountability. Also – how about taking calculated risks with creativity? These are the PRISM entries that created magic and were meaningful and stood out to win. 

For more information, visit prisa.co.za. 

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The addition of younger judges to the PRISM Awards allows those selected to experience first hand how the process works and bring their own perspective on the quality of entries. Read more in our article, PRISM Awards: How engaging the youth puts theory into practise.