Only two receive a score of 100%!

Congratulations to our two winners! Scroll to the bottom of this article to see if it is you!

The PR IQ test which we ran in conjunction with our last issue had an overwhelming success rate - in a way! We received over 500 entries, but interestingly, very few of those entries received a score of 100%.

Of the first 200 entries received (we had so many applicants we just couldn’t keep counting!), only two people obtained a perfect score. But, in all fairness many more returned scores of 9/10. Very few people fell into the bottom range of 0-2; these entries tended to be from international applicants, so we can cut them some slack for not knowing the Australian media! The majority of you returned scores at the high end of the “Remember to think before you act” range and from within the “Some room for improvement, but keep up the good work” range.

See the score ranges below:

All correct = You are a PR Genius!
6 - 9 correct = Some room for improvement, but keep up the good work!
3 - 5 correct = Remember to think before you act!
0 - 2 correct = Put down the phone, step away from the keyboard....

The questions most often incorrectly answered were:

Q6: What is the standard evaluation form used to rate the success of a campaign in the Public Relations industry? Many people still claim media monitoring as the standard evaluation form. Let’s hope you meant this as the evaluation method imposed on you by bosses/clients and not your preferred method!

Q10: What is the difference between Share of Ink (SOI) and Share of Voice (SOV)? Understandable as these terms are often confused and some industry members seem to use them interchangeably. For a more in-depth look at Share of Discussion (which incorporates both SOI and SOV) see our article this issue.

See below for the questions and answers (correct answers in bold).

1. Imagine you are at work and a crisis situation has suddenly developed. The media are contacting you, what do you do?
   
   a) Reply with ‘no comment’. If you refuse to give them fuel for their story they will not cover it and you can deal with the situation in private.
   
   b) Take their details and promise to call back within the hour. Immediately begin organising a press statement.
   
   c) Take their details and promise to call back within 24 hours. Immediately begin organising a press statement.
   
   d) Tell them whatever you know even though you have not had time to prepare a statement. You don’t want to make the media wait or they might get impatient and run a story without all of the information.
   
   

2. What is Australia’s highest circulating publication?
   
   a) Weight Watchers magazine
   
   b) The Australian
   
   c) The Daily Telegraph
   
   d) The Australian Women’s Weekly
   

3. You have been given the job of writing a press release for a client’s new food product. The product is aimed at mothers with young children in the C/D demographic. Which of the below groups of publications would you NOT send your release to?
   
   a) Super Food Ideas, Take 5, Family Circle
   
   b) Fresh, Australian Good Taste, Woman’s Day
   
   c) Donna Hay Magazine, Dolly, Men’s Health
   
   d) Better Homes & Gardens, Women’s Weekly, Notebook
   
   
4. What is a blog?
   
   a) A frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and web links on the Internet
   
   b) A marketing strategy whereby direct mail pieces are sent to a wide selection of society, ie: a targeted list is not created
   
   c) An area of earth saturated with water
   
   d) A web site specifically designed to house links to other web sites with the sole purpose being to improve search engine optimisation
   
   
5. On a per capita basis, Australia has one of the highest newspaper and magazine circulations in the world.
   
   True
   
   False
   
   
6. What is the standard evaluation form used to rate the success of a campaign in the Public Relations industry?
   
   a) The number of media clips and amount press coverage received
   
   b) Number of units sold
   
   c) The company’s share price
   
   d) There is no standard evaluation method
   
   
7. Which was the most criticized US company of 2003?
   
   a) McDonald’s
   
   b) Enron
   
   c) Adidas
   
   d) Baskin Robbins
   
   
8. What is the purpose of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs?
   
   a) A thinly-veiled attempt for companies to generate as much publicity as possible by making donations to charities
   
   b) A purely philanthropic gesture where companies give large sums of money to not-for-profit organisations
   
   c) An opportunity for companies to maintain a good corporate reputation and good relationships with stakeholders by positively contributing to the communities in which they operate
   
   d) A tax deduction
   
   
9. How did Masterfoods re-launch Mars and Snickers after a health scare?
   
   a) With a press release only
   
   b) With advertising only
   
   c) Word of Mouth
   
   d) An integrated multimedia communications campaign including a media release, TV, web and outdoor advertising, a purpose-built website, and product give-aways to the media and the public
   
   
10. What is the difference between Share of Ink (SOI) and Share of Voice (SOV)?
    
    a) They both measure an organisation’s media coverage as compared to competitors, however Share of Ink uses ‘column inches’ whereas Share of Voice measures the proportion of media coverage featuring quotes from company spokespeople
    
    b) They both measure an organisation’s media coverage as compared to competitors, however Share of Ink uses number of articles whereas Share of Voice measures the proportion of aggregated circulation figures
    
    c) They both measure an organisation’s media coverage as compared to competitors, however Share of Ink uses proportion of aggregated circulation figures whereas Share of Voice measures the number of articles
    
    d) Nothing, they are different names for the same thing

Congratulations to Karen McKenzie and Felicia Limmer for being chosen as the winners of this competition. They each receive a copy of Jim Macnamara’s Public Relations Handbook (5th ed)*.

^{*You will be contacted shortly via email with information on how to claim your prize. If you have not heard from us by November 21st please check your junk mail inbox and then email editor@prinfluences.com.au from the address you have registered with us.}