Fashion Week!

The Telstra Perth Fashion Festival is fast approaching, and this year I have a pretty important role!

Each year I look forward to Perths fashion week. I’ve attended the shows, I’ve reported at the festival and have volunteered as part of the PR team – but this year I get to do something even bigger! I’m a PR team member for the WA Born fashion show!

This event is run annually by Colosoul Group, and showcases both established and upcoming talents in the WA fashion industry. This years theme is life, meaning that all the fashion created is environmentally friendly, which is something I personally really align with and am excited to be a part of.

Being part of a PR team for a specialised show as opposed to the entire fashion week, means that I get to have a much more hands on role in the running of a fashion event. I get to contact sponsors, send media releases off to newspapers, and am first to hear about big decisions such as who is featured in the show, who gets to host the show and what kinds of local artists and musicians are the nights entertainment!

Another exciting part about running this event is the cause that it gets behind. Each year Colosoul chooses a charity to highlight and raise funds towards. This year they have chosen the Organ Donation and Transplant Foundation of WA, with a percentage of profits being used by the foundation to spread awareness about organ donation.

Working as part of this team has given me a huge insight into what goes on behind the scenes of an event. There are so many minute details that go into consideration and the team works super hard to see the events success.

I’m really looking forward to this particular project at my time at Colosoul Group, and can’t wait to watch the event unfold before me.

Au revoir to my first internship experience!

My first stint as an intern came to an end two weeks ago. Looking back, time absolutely flew by and I could not be happier with my experience at Magenta, in particular, all of the positive feedback I was given.

As two major client projects that were happening over east wrapped up at the end of my 10 weeks I was involved in media clippings for the creation of tear sheets in the final PR reports! I also did a few social media plans for one of the clients that I really enjoyed as social media is a crucial aspect of marketing and public relations as we all know!

I was talking to a friend of mine who had listened to me rave about how much I loved being at my placement and he asked me to give him some tips on how to succeed as he is currently seeking out a placement for his engineering degree.

My top five tips to being the standout intern:

1. Work extremely hard. There is another university student who would do anything to have your spot so don't do anything in half measures, make the most of the amazing opportunity that you've been given. Working hard will also guarantee that you learn the most you can.
   
2. Take initiative. One of the pieces of feedback I received was that I took initiative instead of bombarding someone with a million questions that I could of answered myself. Just because you are a student with no industry experience and are unpaid doesn't mean you aren't capable. Think really hard and take initiative, you will certainly impress your supervisor.
   
3. Don't wait to be given a job - ask! It will portray that you are the real deal and want to learn. Observe and absorb as much as you can. You can learn so much just by listening to what people say!
   
4. Your attitude is either going to see you succeed of just have a mediocre experience. Employers are always interested in a persons personality and attitude more than there qualifications, so be a positive and interested intern that doesn't complain.
   
5. You've got to start at the bottom. Period. 

I love a good quote and this one resonates with my internship at Magenta. Good luck to everyone who is still at their placement, I hope your having a great time and putting your PR skills into practice. Dream big!

 

Making that first pitch

As I transcend towards the end of my internship, I have been allocated more challenging and PR based tasks to bring together everything I have learnt so far. One of those tasks was pitching over the phone to journalists, editors, content managers etc. Knowing that pitching is one of the main duties of a PR practitioner, it was the scariest and most daunting thing i've had to do over the entire 10 weeks.

I think what I was worried about the most was saying the wrong thing and potentially ruining a relationship with the journalist....this didn't happen thank god! What I did learn was that you will get knocked down more times than you will be successful in attaining someones attention. I was cut off and hung up on many of times - this didn't bother me. These people answer numerous calls everyday and don't have time to listen to a pitch that they are not interested in. So, this didn't phase me, it just further proved to me that in the public relations industry you must be cutting edge, conscious of other peoples time and not take things to heart.

Securing coverage for a client is incredibly important and I really appreciated being given the opportunity to have a go. As this was my first attempt, I pitched to individuals from state newspapers all over Australia, for example, The Advertiser, The Sun Herald and The Age. I also wrote a speech in dot points in case I was nervous and forgot what to say! Overall, I found pitching really exciting. The best tip I was given was that when you are talking on the phone with a smile the person on the other end will sense it!

I have also had the chance to do writing. One of the pieces I have written is for Magenta's blog on their website. You can check it out here: http://magenta.net.au/
My blogs are #LoveWithoutLocks Paris and Supermodel September.

Grace
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By all means move at a glacial pace, you know how that thrills me

I am obsessed with the movie, The Devil Wears Prada. Ever since I was young and had watched the film, I immediately decided that I wanted my career to resemble a slice of Andy Sachs' life; the main character. For those of you who have not watched this movie, it gives a glimpse into the "not so glamourous" fashion industry and brings to life the infamous cut throat and competitive nature of the business. 

The heading I have chosen for my first blog for this unit, "By all means move at a glacial place. You know how that thrills me", is a quote from The Devil Wears Prada, and is an overall synopsis of what I have learned from interning so far. That is, that working hard and working fast is the only option! And something that I have found to be very motivating and fun.

I have landed an internship at Magenta, a boutique public relations consultancy located in Northbridge which specialises in fashion, retail, art and lifestyle, and is lead by PR guru Melissa Lekias. Magenta was established in 1999 by Melissa Lekias and her partner, acclaimed street artist, Stormie Mills. One of my first thoughts when entering the office on my first day was the magnitude of creativity in the office space which is nestled away from any commercial activity and definitely flys under the radar. Together, Melissa and Stormie have transformed Magenta into a contemporary and artistic space  - I knew I was going to enjoy the time I had here just by staring at the walls. 

                    

                                                                    Reception at Magenta

I was aware that Magenta was the leading fashion PR consultancy in Perth, however, in less than an hour of being there I realised that this place was much more of a bigger deal that I thought it was. I was greeted by Shannon, the receptionist and PA to all team members who gave me a tour of the office and introduced me to the design team, accountant and public relations team. My supervisor, Ivona, Shannon and I had a quick meeting in the impressively designed board room (think red walls and carpet, medieval style table and chairs and pendant lights) and then I was onto my tasks for the day - alphabetising magazines, archiving past PR reports, assisting in media clippings for a clients PR report and organising the office for an upcoming event in a few weeks. This gave me the chance to see what a real life client PR report looked like and all of the components to it - something that we aren't taught at university. Reports are created every few months or for a specific event. They are normally formed for retainer clients (clients that pay a annual fee to the consultancy and any requested work is done by Magenta) and display all of the coverage that Magenta has secured for the client, this ranges from print, editorial, radio, TV, social media etc. The PR value of the coverage is also a critical component. I was taught the easiest of value calculations, social media, which was very interesting. 

My first two weeks at Magenta were quite steady, I was able to absorb how the office functioned, how the PR team spoke to journalists over the phone and the importance of making relationships with them, the importance of keeping to a schedule and creating deadlines throughout the day - nothing too fast paced. That was until invitations for an event that Magenta is producing for a client became one of my main tasks. The event is of a large scale and involves 3000 invites to a very important guest list. I was so excited to be helping with the project and knew that this would be the beginning of the fast paced, chaotic and exhilarating experience I had been anticipating. Labelling invites, packaging invites and a daily mad dash to the post office before it closed became my life for the next six days of my internship and I loved it. Even though these were small tasks I still really enjoyed being apart of the bigger picture and knew that this industry was where my passion lies. It was then that I realised I hadn't wasted the past three years of my life studying a degree I wasn't sure I would enjoy working in and I hadn't created unattainable career aspirations.

This task involved me utilising Magenta's master database and databases for this specific event. A database is one of the most vital elements in public relations and is built upon and updated continuously. The master database at Magenta is divided into national, international and state spreadsheets and also includes tags to make the process of sending out a press release or press kit smoother. 

Another task that I carried out was calling different agencies and talent management companies to find out contact information for bloggers and celebrities for the same event. I have discovered that adept phone manner is another significant attribute to have when working in public relations and from being able to seek information over the phone or pitch to a journalist is key. 

I have learnt an overwhelming amount of knowledge in just less than a month of being at Magenta and am so excited to continue to absorb and learn important skills to pivotal to my future career. 

Keep an eye out for my next post! 

Grace Stieger