MEAMARKETS / African Excellence Awards 2021 23 , May21523 OnPoint PRwas established in 2011 by three entrepreneurs who had talent, vision and passion to growAfrica. The company’s service offering includes media relations, influencer marketing, digital PR, content creation, event planning, and management and brand reputation. It works in the financial, lifestyle and entertainment, social change, FMCG and sports sectors and has delivered over R5 billion in publicity for its clients over the past nine years. Best PR&MediaRelations Agency2021 - SouthAfrica OnPoint PR first began operating out of a coffee shop in Illovo, Johannesburg. Due to their work ethic and personal reputations, the entrepreneurs quickly established a good client base. One of the company’s first clients was the Swatch Group, followed by Hugo Boss Red. The team rented a small office space in Parkview and employed a few more people as the workload grew. They soon moved out of that office to a bigger space and landed more substantial accounts, such as Nedbank. The company now heads up a fantastic and diverse team that is known for its creative approach to integrated PR campaigns which have included Global Citizen Mandela 100 Festival, American Express, Nedbank, Nedbank Cup, Manchester United, Red Bull Music Festival, National Book Week, the SA Book Fair, the launch of the Gauteng Vision 2055 initiative, the Strongbow Crate Escape, and the COP17 project for Industrial Development Cooperation and the Department of Economic Development, as well as campaigns for clients such as Amex South Africa, Unilever and Makro, plus many more. OnPoint PR is guided by its fundamental commitment to doing business with integrity and its strategy of growing the agency to meet the ever-changing needs of a diverse group of clients, along with dedication to creativity and quality. At OnPoint PR, quality is everything. It is devoted to churning out quality work, which is one of the fundamental strengths of the business. It is this strength that has earned it the respect of the industry and that of its clients and the media. Integrity is the true north of the business. It guides its purpose, i.e. growth. All of OnPoint PR’s work is led and guided by integrity. This also applies to the type of clientele it chooses to go after and those whose business it accepts. It looks at their business practices and establishes whether or not it has any shared values with them. As business partners, the collective conscience doesn’t allow OnPoint PR to work with a client whose business practices are questionable. Creativity lies at the core of what it does as a PR company. With every campaign it works on, it aims to make sure that it is different from the previous one. It thinks of different ways of getting the message out, without being dull. It constantly seeks ways to give the media a compelling reason to run the content it produces and to tell the brand stories it wants the public to know about. In such a saturated environment, in which every brand is fighting for the public’s attention, only a creative execution makes stories heard and brands memorable. Meanwhile, every year, the OnPoint PR office receives a big volume of requests from students who seek work integrated learning opportunities to complete their requirements for their degrees, and also internship opportunities from students who’ve recently graduated and are seeking practical experience before entering the workforce. The majority of these students come from institutions of higher learning such as the University of Johannesburg and Wits University. Given the high volume of requests it receives, it has conceptualised a PR Lab which would accommodate different groups of top performing students in two semesters. These would be a combination of current students as well as recent graduates (interns). The PR Lab would give the students an opportunity to fulfil their requirements and also gain some practical experience in a professional setting. In the PR Lab, students will work very closely with the agency’s PR Account Executives and Account Directors, under the supervision of the Director of Public Relations. This will give them the opportunities to develop campaigns and strategies, create tailored media lists, media monitoring, PR reports, etc. for real clients in an agency environment. Students will leave the PR Lab with a good grasp and understanding of the PR professional landscape, equipped with practical and useful tools of the trade and a professional experience which they can use towards their portfolios. Company: OnPoint PR & Lifestyle Management Contact: Fatima Ouanssaidi Email:
[email protected] Website: www.onpointpr.co.za