"It's not what you know, it's who you know" - True?

It has come to and end. This is my last blogpost about my time at NEUW Denim in Melbourne. To sum it up, it’s been a fantastic experience where I’ve been exposed to everything one can possibly imagine. I’ve learnt a lot about both myself and others in a working environment. The last week mainly consisted of preparations for their up-coming brand conference the following week, which I will be attending.

As I previously mentioned, I have gained plenty of knowledge within a range of different areas. I thought I should share three important lessons I have learnt:

• The actual importance of Return On Investment (ROI)My previous work experience has been from larger businesses and budgets, when ROI sometimes gets lost in the bigger picture. Of course, this is not very efficient. After spending four weeks with a small successful business, the return on investment question always pops up in my mind prior to making work-related decisions.
  
• “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know"
  This is true to a certain extent, or what do you think? Networking is a crucial part of public relations – across industries. At Curtin we are encouraged to attend events and get our name out there, which is something I very much would like to emphasise on. Sometimes you get given an opportunity or position because you know someone or because you have established a positive reputation. Many vacant positions these days never get advertised.
  
• It's all about telling a story 
  NEUW is built upon a great personal story. Throughout my three years at university, we have always been taught about the importance of storytelling when delivering a message. And in real life, this is exactly how it's done. It is all about building up a credible and long-lasting relationship with the public, so they themselves choose your product instead of a competitor's.

I hope you have been enjoying to read about my journey. For those of you who haven’t heard of NEUW make sure you look it up. If you have any questions to me in regards to my internship or anything else - please leave a comment below.

All the best with your placements!

Sara

Market positioning: How to be relevant to Generation Y

Week three is now completed here in Melbourne. It's been filled with office move, promotion-preparations for a huge sample sale and some digital strategic work. Unfortunately we haven’t had very much time for actual marketing work, although I believe being exposed to other areas of the business is as an intern as valuable. I certainly have been lucky to get exposed to every side of this small business. 

This time I would like to discuss brand positioning. This relates to where the brand is positioned in the market place in the context of competitors, and concerns the brand personality, brand promise. As in any industry, in fashion the market and consumer demands are constantly changing. In order to be a successful business being flexible and paying close attention to these changes are key. This means, sometimes it is more important HOW something is being communicated rather than what it is. 

NEUW approaches the market exactly this way. Let me show you an example of their innovation. 

The weekend just gone they held a massive sample sale. This is perfectly normal in retail. The not-so-normal is that NEUW came up with the idea of an ‘All you can wear sale’ together with a ‘Undies Special’ offer. Basically, each customer paid 50 and could walk out with anything they could wear. The ‘Undies Special’ meant if you entered the store in your underwear you got an outfit for free. 

The feedback was fantastic - an enormous amount of half-naked people showed up and the one's who didn't dare came anyway just to check it out just because the idea was brilliant. I'm sure many of you would have done that too? A very good deal especially for students!

Having this spread over social media and through word-of-mouth, the effect was magnificent. How will the consumer's impression of the brand be after this one action, do you think? Innovative, to say the least. By changing a normal sample sale into crazy fun Saturday afternoon, NEUW shows that the brand put more effort into the execution part than what it actually is about. 

(Source: http://facebook.com/neuwdenim)

As I've pointed out before - this internship is providing me with many excellent insights into a small business in a very fast-paced industry. It has made me look at things from a different perspective, and provided me with more life experience relevant for my future career.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Sara

Hands-on practice in-house

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

After having completed my second week at NEUW I feel that I now have a good understanding of the business. With a more hands-on focus this time, most of this week I prepared and edited their winter ’13 look book. What does that mean, some of you may think? Basically, it's everything from shooting flat-lays of the products to edit the layout in InDesign. I would like to recommend everyone wanting to pursue a career in public relations or marketing to learn InDesign and Photoshop. I’m self-taught, and have found it very useful for uni assignments as well as editorial pieces.

My first two weeks at NEUW confirmed what I already knew: PR involves numerous different types of tasks. It could be anything from research, strategy and layout to conferences, brainstorming meetings and events. PR is not a career where you only deal with one type of people – and that is what I like about the profession.

One of the reasons I wanted to complete my PR internship in-house was simply because I have found it fits my personality better. I have always enjoyed the thought of understanding the company you’re communicating for inside out, and that way being able to using all information to either improve/promote or sustain how the business operates. In-house practice is not for everyone though, and there are definitely positive sides with consultancy. Handling several different accounts across sectors might be the most motivating, but also that you usually specialise within a few areas.

NEUW employs both in-house experts and consultants. In other words - you get the best of two worlds, especially when dealing with consumer relations. Because we are living in a hyper modern fast-paced world, a consumer's mind-set and buying patterns change rapidly. In my opinion, behavioural and attitude change are the two most interesting aspects of communication. Does anyone agree (or disagree) with me? 

On my last day before the Christmas break I presented my own business recommendations to my supervisor. Next step, to begin when I’m back in mid-January, is to execute some of my suggestions. My supervisor initiated this structure, as we knew I was only going to be available for a short amount of time. I have to say it makes me feel important and very much more a part of the staff team than 'just' being an intern. It’s also definitely one of the better ways of learning.

Sara

Fashion PR in Melbourne

Hi all, 

My name is Sara, and I’m a third year Bachelor of Arts students, majoring in Public Relations and Journalism. This summer I’ve been given the fantastic opportunity to intern with denim label NEUW Denim, based in Melbourne. The internship is divided into two parts during December, January and February, as I cannot be there during the semester.

NEUW is a modern denim with a traditional approach to detail, fit and workmanship. Threebyone is the business behind the brand. It was founded in 2009 by the three friends Richard Bell, Steve Little and Par Lundqvist. The trio previously worked for major denim brands, and decided to creater their own business together. NEUW specialises in denim jeans made from quality fabrics, and creates modern shapes based on iconic vintage denim. The main inspiration for the brand is Par’s personal vintage collection of about 3,000 pieces.

My first week at NEUW involved getting to know the business’s different areas, including retail, wholesale, PR and digital communication. Before arrival I was asked to do a full analysis of the brand. That way I already, from the start, had a good idea about the brand, its strategy and market positioning. I’m very thankful I did this — I was so much more prepared. 

From my first five days, there are three things I particularly realised the importance of: 

1. The right market positioning. In today’s challenging retail world it is crucial for a brand to have a unique selling point and competitive advantage. It is also essential to know your industry inside out, and to know where your brand fits in. 

2. University teach you tools and theory – however you have to apply these in real life to be able to understand them fully. This is why internships and work experience are crucial in your development within not only PR but every field of studies.

3. The power of PR as a branding tool. NEUW is very creative in their marketing, using an edgy approach that resonates with their audience. In one case, at the launch of the brand in 2012, they placed large iceblocks on the streets in both Sydney and Melbourne (see images below). This was among the top news for months, kicking off the brand in just the right direction. PR and promotion doesn’t always have to be linked to the product — it might even be more credible if it is not associated at all.

Next blog will tell you more about my second week, where I worked more on Winter ’13 look books and got to present my own recommendations for the brand. Have a great Christmas everyone.

Sara 

(Image courtesy of News.com.au)