4A’s and SLPI train and graduate more PR and Corporate students

Friday, 12 August 2016 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Untitled-1 Second batch of students with the faculty at the Certificate Awards Ceremony

Following a successful inaugural course in Corporate Communications and Public Relations concluded at the end of last year, the Accredited Advertising Agencies Association (4A’s) in partnership with the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) recently graduated their second intake of students.

The course was repeated as it had generated much goodwill, regard and demand from employers, practitioners and students. With the participation of four highly experienced industry CEOs, the course focused on professional hands-on learning with many industry case studies, underpinned by theoretical concepts and methodologies shared with the students and was conducted in an interactive environment.

Students attending the last course benefitted from the insight of top experts in these fields, who were the lecturers this time around as well. The lecture panel included Bates Strategic Alliance Founder Chairman Nimal Gunewardena, OMD and PHD CEO Keith Wijesuriya and Words Advertising Managing Director Rohan Rajaratnam. Course Director Adrian Ferdinands did additional sessions on Personal Branding to help students in their professional careers.

Increasingly, Sri Lanka’s companies large and small and its Boards, CEOs and Marketing and Communications Heads have come to appreciate the value of managing corporate reputation and the evolving role of social media in this regard. Marketers are seeing the value of using PR as a complementary marketing weapon as against the traditional reliance primarily on advertising. Course modules include PR Strategy Development, Media Relations and Release writing, Crisis and Issues Management, Social Media, Corporate Branding and Positioning, Audiences and Content, Internal Communications, CSR and Personal Branding.

Commenting on the changing focus of PR education in the era of social media, Course Director Adrian Ferdinands said, “Social media is playing a pivotal role in creating and changing customer perceptions about brands and companies. It challenges marketers and PR specialists to up their game and be on the ball. Therefore, our course with its up-to-date focus is timely and a must follow for those hoping to excel in this line of work.”

4A’s President and Bates Strategic Alliance COO Sheron Jayasundara who promoted the course jointly with the Sri Lanka Press Institute expressed her view in saying, “The 4A’s is dedicated to fostering creative talent through collaboration. It is with this in mind that we continued our partnership with the SLPI to offer this course for a second time, and it with its growing popularity we are considering a third intake as well.”

SLPI CEO Kumar Lopez spoke of the collaboration saying, “Being a premier institution in the field of communication, SLPI has been working towards professionalising journalism for more than a decade. We feel this proven partnership with 4A’s adds another dimension our role in bringing communications and media programs of this nature, which is not only sought out by the corporate but also by individuals.”