Orchan & the Pageant Queens
Who ever thought Craig
would be involved with a bunch of Beauty Queens (well, contestants, at
least)? Well, he was ….
Orchan was working
with Miss Universe Malaysia to do a total rebrand of the pageant, and breathe
new life into a brand that was losing the twinkle in its crown.
Not only did we do the 'expected' public relations type stuff (you know, press conferences, winner
stories, photo shoots, etc), we also focused on the rebrand initiative and what
it meant for the future of the pageant, and we delved further into the
operations – being involved in the very first reality TV / webinar series for the contest in Malaysia. Not
only was that a first, but our initiative to train the contestants in public
speaking and media communications had not been done before either in Malaysia, and gave
both Farrell and Craig an opportunity to work with each contestant in a deeper
and more meaningful way for their future. Some of them are still our friends, so we must have gone easy on them!
We were featured in
two episodes for our training initiative (and in a couple of other episodes which you will have to hunt down online) – our training highlighted how to speak with
media and respond to different question styles and approaches, before we brought together a panel of seasoned industry professionals to grill the girls
and give them a taste of what it might be like being in the ‘media eye’ should
they win the pageant.
One of the key learnings to come out of this for participants was to never assume things about the person interviewing
you, or asking you questions.
Our media panellist,
Sheila, a senior newspaper journalist, not only speaks Malay and English
fluently; but two Chinese dialects as well. Stunning one contestant, she asked
a question in fluent Chinese – to see shocked reaction from the other contestants, plus a
jaw-dropping instant response from the one being interviewed.
All for a good
point, and all in a days work!
Craig’s favourite
question of the day: “What do you think of having a minimum wage”? One answer,
humourous but not smart was “Well, I think I can learn to survive if my husband earns
RM3,000 per month, but it will be hard”. Perhaps a bit more learning was needed for that one?
That aside, it was an
opportunity to coach each participant collectively and individually, and to
give them valuable experience and feedback through being interviewed by
journalists and editors.
What it did was kick-start
a trend which lasted several years – providing media training to contestants –
giving them each a valuable resource and edge when it comes to interacting with
judges and media.
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