I love PR

Entering university, I was extremely bewildered by the new environment. As a first-year student, I had to study general subjects such as Philosophy, Psychology, Economics, History of Civilization, etc. These subjects were not interesting at all, I wondered: "Will these subjects help me in the future?" Or are they just like "pounding the intestines and rolling sand in the East Sea"? But the more I studied my major, the more I realized the importance of general subjects. That was the foundation of knowledge for me in the future, so I devoured the textbooks to be able to understand the most deeply the lectures of the teachers in class. Thanks to Psychology, I understood more about human psychology through attitudes and gestures, studying History of Civilization helped me learn about many civilizations of humanity, studying Philosophy helped me have a coherent way of thinking about life's problems. These are the first provisions that I am collecting for my career.

Along with studying general subjects, I was exposed to the first knowledge about PR. I understood what internal PR, corporate PR, government PR were, and then planned a PR campaign step by step,... At first, I really found it very difficult and not as interesting, fun, and dynamic as I thought, but the more I studied, the more I loved it. It was the difficulty that motivated me to dive into learning about PR and from there, I discovered the nature of the PR profession, a profession that quietly creates success for brands or organizations without needing a word of praise, that is silent dedication.

We were taught PR by Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen (Vice Dean of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication, University of Social Sciences and Humanities). She is very passionate about her profession, she always finds new teaching methods so that we can absorb the lessons best. In each lesson, she integrates real-life examples and current events into her lectures so that we can have the most correct and comprehensive view of each lesson. I still remember the day we learned about media crisis management, she gave us an example of the Cat Tuong beauty salon incident. She told us: "If your client was the Ministry of Health, how would you advise them to help them overcome this media crisis?" That day, our class discussed very enthusiastically, everyone had their own opinions and then we found a way to handle the crisis that the Ministry of Health was facing. Unfortunately, we were not employees of the Ministry of Health, so our crisis management strategy was not implemented. Through studying, I also understood how the iPhone captured the hearts of customers. In addition to being equipped with leading technologies inside a stylishly designed phone, the iPhone also has an extremely smart PR strategy. That is also the reason why the iPhone does not need to spend a lot of money on advertising but still wins the hearts of consumers. This is clearly shown in the iPhone's sales always ranking number 1 in the smartphone industry. The two PR strategies of the iPhone are: One is to rely on the media to create rumors about the company's products through positive reviews. The other is to arrange for the company's products to appear in TV shows or movies. This is the golden key to the success of the world's number 1 phone brand today.

She let us choose a group to present about the campaigns of the father of modern PR, “Edward Louis Bernays”. In his great career, there were many great campaigns that had a very strong influence not only at that time but also until now, their mark has not faded. He has become an immortal monument of the PR industry all over the world. When mentioning him, we cannot help but mention campaigns such as the PR campaign for the Russian ballet troupe in 1915 when they came to America to perform. At that time, Americans hated ballet, but with his efforts, the ballet troupe sold out all tickets. Ballet became something new and interesting to the American people. Ballet skirts became a fashion trend at that time. In 1929, with his talent, he helped the American tobacco company sell “Lucky strike” cigarettes to women - “helping them dig a big gold mine”. At that time, women smoked not only for entertainment but also as an act of “lighting the fire of freedom”, demonstrating the equality of women in American society. In addition, he also carried out many other major campaigns such as “IVORY” soap, Phico radio station… Each story, each lesson, was truly a unique and new way of learning, moreover, it helped improve the ability to work in groups for classmates, especially presentation skills.

In addition, she also took my class on a field trip to ancient pagodas in Bac Ninh. For the first time, we learned about Dau Pagoda, the birthplace of Buddhism in Vietnam, the mausoleum of Nam Giao Hoc To Sy Nhiep, and the Dong Ho folk painting village. Just like the saying "a day's journey, a basketful of knowledge", through this trip, we learned more about the history of the nation as well as the beauty of folk culture. The trip contributed to enhancing the spirit of solidarity of the whole class, helping us, strangers, to bond more closely together.

But to gain an understanding of PR, I also had to go through many difficulties. While my classmates had many good books about PR, I only had one textbook. I am not good at English, so it took me a lot of time to understand an article in English. In the past, I rarely used the computer, but now I have to use the computer every day to always update information to serve my lessons. I went from someone who did not know what group activities were to now I have to try to adapt to group activities. Because I had no experience, from the first time I presented in a group, I was scolded by Ms. Huyen. She said that my group's presentation was not convincing because the group activities were not effective. At that time, I was extremely discouraged, but knowing that if we were wrong, we had to correct it, so we asked her to let us do it again and this time my group did well. Her reprimand was the motivation for me to try harder.

After 6 months of studying, I went from being a stranger to my classmates to now being able to get along with everyone. I suddenly realized that people live together with “love”, friends are willing to help each other in difficult times, teachers are willing to extend their hands to help students and always give us sincere advice in both studying and life. To us, teachers are not strangers but like senior colleagues, always teaching us on our career path as well as how to behave.

My family is not well off, my mother is the sole breadwinner of the family. For me, owning a computer is a far-fetched dream. I used to think that I would only have the money to buy one in my fourth year of university. Knowing my family’s situation, Ms. Huyen asked Khoa to lend me money to buy a computer without taking any interest. When I received Khoa’s support, my throat felt like it was choking, I was extremely touched. At that moment, I suddenly realized that this was a family, a real family.

PR in me now is completely different from 6 months ago. Before, PR in me was a dynamic, fun and lucrative profession. I would work side by side with politicians traveling all over the world, advising big bosses to help them build their brand image in the hearts of the public, contributing to bringing the image of Vietnam into the hearts of millions of people on this planet. But now I understand the difficulties in the PR profession, how to make a brand stand in the hearts of the public when there are thousands of competing brands out there, how to regain the trust of the public after a crisis? ... I really realize that PR is an art and to master this art, you have to try very hard, make more efforts, and most of all, you have to love it, because when you love it, you will do everything. PR is really a very hot profession now, with great job opportunities. According to statistics, there are about 370,000 businesses in Vietnam, and each business needs at least 1 PR staff, so it will not be too difficult for PR students to get a job after graduation, and the starting salary is from 5 to 10 million VND/month. These are really attractive numbers, proving that PR is gradually asserting its position.

To me, PR is like a magical box of colors with many colors of life. I hope that I will become a PR expert, be as talented as E. Bernays, and assert myself in the PR field. And now, to me, time is really important, I am racing against it, I hope that each day has 24 more hours, then I will learn more, know more about PR.