International PR is not only an issue for large corporations. This we owe to the increasing globalization. “Many mid-sized hidden champions are facing worldwide competition today”, says Adrian Schroten studying Advertising and Market Communication in the 7th semester at the Media University. “To be able to compete in foreign countries, market-specific and cultural aspects must be taken into account in communication. The question is: How?”
The process of internationalization presents great challenges to many companies, Oliver Hahr can confirm from his own consultant activities. As head of the Stuttgart public relations agency “oha communication”, he has already successfully supported companies such as Trumpf, Schott and Ensinger in international PR projects. He enjoyed passing on his many years of practical experience to students as a lecturer at universities such as the Media University.
“To me it is important to prepare young communicators for the practice in companies,” says Oliver Hahr. “Businesses in the mid-sized sector as potential employers often have the same exciting challenges as large corporations, but due to limited resources they need different concepts. PR and content strategies are to be weighted higher in the international communication mix. Integrated approaches as trained by the students here reflect that.”
In the lecture held in English, the students especially dealt with the development of communication strategies in an international environment: How can I as a public relations manager get informed about foreign countries, cultures and media? How much do I have to differentiate for effective communication, what can I standardize? The 12 students dealt with these and other questions during this semester.
As a final paper, the students developed communication concepts in small groups for a small business of their choice targeting several target markets each. Thereby, the newly learned methods could be applied and internalized directly in practice. At the end of the event, the teams presented their individual concepts and creative ideas in a fictional pitch situation to Mr. Hahr and the fellow students.
