PR agency marcusbrewster has launched a fully-fledged media training division, extending its already- service offering even further.
marcusbrewster media training covers a wide range of subjects, from the basics of understanding media to interview techniques, how to handle difficult questioning, and crisis and reputation management.
Training courses will be tailored to meet each particular client’s requirements. For added realism, clients can also opt to receive practical training in a fully operational television studio, accurately recreating a real-life interview situation under lights and before cameras.
Training will primarily be presented by Managing Director San Reddy and Senior Associate Willem Steenkamp, who between them boast almost four decades’ worth of television and print media experience. Their combined skills give marcusbrewster media training the edge over competitors, who tend to focus on either print or electronic media – but not both.
“A solid understanding of media and how it works, and being equipped with the myriad skills required to engage effectively with media, is not a nice-to-have option for a serious business and its leadership – it’s a necessity,” says marcusbrewster Chairman Marcus Brewster.
“Being able to adeptly handle any media-related situation – be it an interview on a company’s financial results or a full-blown crisis – is a hallmark of all successful firms. Without it, a company’s reputation can be destroyed in moments, and its bottom line can be very seriously undermined.”
According to Brewster, the skills and vast journalistic experience of the marcusbrewster media training team set the agency’s offering apart from others.
“Both San and Willem cut their professional teeth in the rough-and-tumble world of journalism, and between them they know intimately how media in all its forms works, how journalists think and what they want in a story”.
On etv, as a senior news anchor, Reddy interviewed some of the most influential people on the planet, such as US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto and the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, among many heads of state.
Reddy’s electronic media experience also includes CNBC Africa for whom, as Lagos bureau chief, he opened the channel’s Nigerian office. Here he analysed and reported on the Nigerian stock market and business news for the West Africa region by developing relationships with key Nigerian political and business contacts. Additionally, he trained novice news teams to write, edit, present and package inserts for international distribution.
As a broadcast journalist he has, over the years, been Weekend Desk Editor and Anchor for 702 Eyewitness News, presenter/journalist on SAFM’s PM Live, news anchor on Good Morning South Africa and presenter on MNET SuperSport.
Steenkamp was a journalist for nearly 20 years, and has worked variously as a sub-editor, reporter, news editor and day editor for publications such as the Cape Times, The Star, the Saturday Star and the Sunday Times.
“San and Willem’s in-the-trenches experience allows them to give our clients the very best grounding in understanding media, and how to engage with its exponents most effectively – no matter whether it’s handling a friendly interview, or navigating a crisis situation. The expertise they offer can, quite literally, mean the difference between success and failure for a company,” says Brewster.
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