Personal Statement

Program: Integrated Marketing & Management Communication (IMC)

The intention of this Personal Statement is not only to obtain admission into the Master’s program in Integrated Marketing and Management Communication (IMC) at your most prestigious and respected university but also to call your attention to my gifts and aptitudes in Public Relations and Communications. In addition, I would like to make you understand my strong desire to succeed in academic research as well as in practices on the professional level. I maintain that learning, talents and the readiness to face challenges are the necessary conditions for career success of any aspiring individual. I know that my gifts and abilities are my greatest assets and I intend to exploit them to the fullest extent to make my life more meaningful.

I am interested in IMC in the field of Public Relations and this interest is developed primarily out of my two important work experiences. First working as the hostess of a TV show at a provincial TV station and then as an employee at an international commercial firm, I have come to realize the increasing importance of IMC in China’s PR field. I discovered that Chinese enterprises and various organizations are paying an incredible amount of attention to IMC as a new industry. They hope that their PR practitioners are capable of market analysis, advertising conceptualization, sales strategies, and superb communicative techniques and can become part of the product.

My experience as a TV hostess allowed me to have an initial taste of IMC. Instead of reading out the pre-written lines in front of an impersonal camera as most hosts and hostesses do in China, I had to take on the responsibility of looking for the materials for the show and balancing the profits and losses as our station largely operate in a commercialized fashion. Despite the fact that my show was a weekly one-hour entertainment program, I have to participate in the entire complicated process of production—conceiving the overall plan for the show, setting up a task team, collecting and editing the materials of the show by studying the characteristics of the audience, acting as hostess and vice director during the recording session. This was not so much a technical process as a long and patient process of communicating and exchanging ideas with every team member, and a difficult process of coordination.

A better understanding of IMC occurred in 1999 when I discontinued my job at the TV station and joined Cargill Investment (China) Co., Ltd based in Beijing where I have been acting as its chief PR representative and marketing assistant. This change brought me some initial disorientations as I was not too familiar with the company’s business, market development, and the clients. However, my strong adaptability helped me. On one hand I endeavored to update my knowledge and on the other I endeavored to establish sound work relations with my colleagues to fit into the company framework as a member. In 2000, I participated in a nationwide TV anchorperson contest in which I competed against 4000 professional anchorpeople to win the 26th place. My improvised speech during the contest was collected into the standard classroom samples by Beijing Broadcasting Institute, one of the best schools in media communications in China. For this, I was admitted into this school to receive professional trainings in communications. Over the past three years, my work experience and my trainings in communications have helped to develop me into a mature PR professional who has won the trust and the respect from both colleagues and clients.

In 2000, Cargill’s Department of Salt Industry concluded that, with the opening of China’s salt industry after China’s accession into the WTO, there would be tremendous market potential in the salt market. It formulated the strategy of establishing a joint venture with Chinese business partners and providing high-quality table salt for both Chinese and Southeast Asian markets. As chief PR representative and marketing assistant, I participated in the whole process of surveying and negotiating with three salterns, conducting market analysis and drafting business plans. I accompanied the chief engineer from American head company and the president of Asian-Pacific Regions(who is from Australia) to visit important prospective clients, business partners, and government officials. Through a series of PR procedures, I helped Cargill construct a powerful network of relations with government officials in China’s salt industry. Eventually, market analysis, project development and investment plan were completed. In another development, at the founding ceremony of the subsidiary company in Yantan City in Shandong Province by Cargill’s Chemical Fertilizer Department and the subsequent wine reception party, I launched a series of events which brought the company’s representatives, the local government, and the local print and electronic media together. On account of my distinguished performance, I was sent to attend a six-month training program in marketing offered by DongLing (Shanghai) Company. This training program further deepened my understanding of IMC. Those important involvements have enabled me to acquire abundant business experiences, including knowledge of how international enterprises operate in Chinese context, their business techniques and strategies, how their Chinese counterparts react to and interact with them, and how to plan and organize major commercial activities, all of which are of tremendous value to me.

My decision to pursue an advanced degree in IMC by simple but unique reasons. My work experience shows me that during the exchanges and cooperation between Cargill and the relevant functionaries of Chinese government, cultural differences, the particular nature of international business operations, and the lack of international business experiences on the part of Chinese enterprises and government functionaries make it hard for both sides to find common grounds. As a matter of fact, both sides face important difficulties respectively. International enterprises need to deepen their understanding of the Chinese market and perfect their market analysis and negotiations with Chinese partners. Vice versa, Chinese businesses need to increase their trust in international enterprises and to create a good market image for themselves. I feel strongly that both international and domestic enterprises need to have many outstanding native PR specialists sensitive to the “larger market” to serve as a bridge. By “outstanding”, I mean that PR specialists should not only dexterously exercise PR skills but also have a clear understanding of the needs and the objectives of their enterprises. In this regard, despite the fact that I have relatively rich media experience and strong communicative skills, my lack of a systematic education in PR and an in-depth understanding of specifically western business operations as a whole prevents me from a more splendid career development. The United States plays a leading role in PR research and my prospective studies in such a country will not only provide me with a better learning and research environment but also with a rare opportunity to examine China and the world from a unique perspective, which is crucial for every PR professional.

I believe that my passion for Integrated Marketing and Management Communication derives, among many other things, from my long trainings in music and my natural talents in performance. I was born into a family of musicians and as a child I received formal musical trainings. At the university entrance examination I entered Northwest Normal University as the top student of the specialty in my province (the admission rate being 35/800). The Department of Music Education in which I studied offered me a unique opportunity to experience the perfect marriage of two essential elements. “Music” cultivated in me an artistic temperament while “education” improved my most essential quality as a human being—the capacity for effective communications. I am most proud of myself for having published two full-length prize-winning musical works during my undergraduate studies at university (Welcome Spring & Clamshell Picking). As far as I am concerned, IMC and musical composition share at least one essential similarity—both require a high degree of orchestration, coordination and concerted efforts.

PR specialist Fraser P. Seitel asserts that PR is based on human considerations and is the most direct form of interpersonal communications. A truly accomplished PR professional must be committed to genuinely human values and be able to communicate with heart and soul. Therefore, a Master’s degree at the esteemed University of # # # becomes a necessary condition for me to facilitate the fulfillment of the value of my life—to achieve personal development in career while performing my obligations as a member of the larger society.