BLOG ENTRY FOUR: CHEERS TO WHAT ONLY IS THE VERY BEGINNING

Okay, so I have no idea where the time went! How was that a month? 

I fell into the London routine very quickly and within a blink of an eye, I am on my way back to Australia on a trip that will take me almost 2 days!! I couldn’t have been more grateful for this opportunity. Not only was it life changing, but also I made the most incredible friends and relationships with my work colleagues. Not to mention the international contacts that I made. 

Our last day was a very special day, where our two bosses at The Movement took us out for champagne during our lunch break to celebrate the end of our internship!

I feel so privileged to have worked with the most amazing team and internship partner. I learnt that no matter how organised you are, things can always happen, but as long as you have a well thought-out plan, you will be able to source a solution.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable yet challenging time during his or her experience of a PR placement, it was definitely an experience I will never forget!

Emma

BLOG ENTRY THREE: SHOOT DAY

Our client who operates two bikram yoga studios throughout London, have decided the expand their company into active wear. The idea came from realising their clients were at times not wearing the correct gear when attending bikram yoga classes. This week our task was to set up and organise a photo shoot for the launch of So Hot’s range. Here’s the catch, not only are photo-shoots normally organised weeks or sometimes months in advance, but we have been given a few days to pull together two models, a make up artist, hair stylist, a studio and a photographer. On top of that not only does the client want one photo-shoot to take product shots for the online store, but he wants another photo-shoot to shoot take campaign images, on the exact same day. Talk about stress!

If we were in Perth, I would have been able to pull people from my contacts that I have worked with in previous campaigns. However, in London we don’t know anybody and no one knows us! Lucky for us we were staying in a house full of models that have a long list of contacts within that particular industry. We were then able to source a location on the outskirts of East London that provided a photographer and an editor in the package! Another issue was raised when our client informed us that he wanted models that were able to demonstrate all of the yoga poses, with the correct technical ability. Most models are not yoga professionals, so from there we turned to social media. We decided to use a part time male dancer, model and committed yogi for the shoot, and a female health and yoga blogger.  From then on, my partner and I drew up a time sheet including both shoots, scheduling who was responsible for which task. Our client then informed us he would need a stylist for the shoot, fortunately enough I work for a styling company back in Perth and was able to cut down costs by fulfilling that particular role.

After a very early start and very long day, we were extremely proud and happy with everything we accomplished in such a short period of time. We learnt that its okay to speak up when necessary and to make sure our client was happy with all decisions made by the team on the day.

Emma

BLOG ENTRY TWO: LADY GAGA MY NEW BEST FRIEND? #STARSTRUCK

This week has been a very very good week in particular. 

Two reasons, one: we are in London (duh), two: my partner and I have realised the exclusivity of our client’s business. After researching their current situational analysis and possible opportunities and weaknesses, we came across the list of cliental at So Hot Yoga. This included Lady GaGa, Michelle Rodriguez and Clifford Joseph Price AKA Goldie. This news turns any Monday into a good Monday, however my partner and I were set for new challenges this week.

The client’s main focus and drive this week was for an increased social media presence and following. My partner and I are working in-house representing The Movement, thus our team devised a list of possible strategies and tactics to help achieve this goal. However, this task happened to be slightly difficult when working within the wishes of our client. Despite our client wanting to achieve a goal, he wasn’t fond of the ways in which to achieve the goal, simply due to his lack of knowledge on the subject. This created set back not only in time but in progress, which we found frustrating since my partner and I were only in the UK for a limited period of time. In order to over-come this internal challenge, and in discussion with our team leader, we were able to set up a meeting with the CEO and Creative Director to explain the process with cases, illustrating the process and back up our strategies. This experience taught my partner and I never to assume.

“Don’t build roadblocks out of assumptions.”

― Lorii Myers, Targeting Success, Develop the Right Business Attitude to be Successful in the Workplace

Soon after, the CEO and Creative Director were on board. Our team was now on track and ready to go with their person social media kit that we created. Within 4 days, our client had an increase of 255 followers, with most posts receiving an increase in 150 likes. 

How is everyone else feeling after week two? Half way there!

Emma

 

BLOG ENTRY ONE: LONDON TOWN

My first blog post ever! 

My name is Emma Ferguson; I am Journalism and Public Relations soon to be graduate (fingers crossed) at Curtin University.

Week one into my internship and I am feeling absolutely exhausted. At this stage I am not too sure if it’s the jet lag, the internship or the fact that it doesn’t get dark until 10:30pm over here, either way I love it. My overseas industry placement is with lifestyle and entertainment communications company The Movement. My internship partner and myself had been set the task to work in-house for an exclusive bikram yoga studio, So Hot Yoga based in So-Ho and Victoria.

It took only days for me to realise how fast pace and overwhelming (in a good way) my internship and the next 4 weeks are going to be! Working as a full-time intern doesn’t allow any time for rest or relaxation. I know they call New York the city that never sleeps, but London is close to second best. My partner and I have quickly learnt that preparation is key. After understanding the public transport system and the London way of life with a bit of help from our supervisor we are fitting in quite nicely. If you can already tell, yes I never want to go home. Day one included meeting our client, the owner and creative director of So Hot Bikram Yoga Studios Bill and Elaine. I have to say my partner and I are not complaining about the client. Working with calm vegan yogi’s is probably as calm as it goes, where bare feet are compulsory. 

After learning are tasks and goals for our placement, my partner and I begin drafting up our first task, our social media plan. Our client’s main focus is social media engagement through a variety of streams and platforms. Not only to engage their clients, but staff as well.

I am fitting into my work routine with the added bonus of enjoying the London life. Did I mention we have been given a bikram yoga membership for the time of our placement? Bonus!

Hope you are all enjoying this whirlwind as much as I am?

Emma

All Good Things Come to an End - What I Learnt

Hello again all,

Well I've just finished up my last week at The Communications Store and it has been quite a learning experience. I thought I'd reflect on what I learnt and also my thoughts and feelings on the industry.

I feel as though there are so many minor details I have learnt which are hard to dig out of my memory right now, but were just so important. Little things about how to present yourself, how to talk to your co-workers, and how to talk with the press. I suppose I'll just have to focus on my most 'stand out' learning experiences.

First of all, I feel as though PR is all about dealing with people effectively. If you can do that, you're half way to success. Many of the executives in my team, particularly my supervisor, spent so much of their working hours on the phone building relationships. Once I was putting together a mail out - virtually just putting together bags of clients' products to send out to journalists - and my very busy supervisor took the time out of her day to go over all of them. She was making sure the products were relevant to the journalists' tastes and publications, and was including personalised notes for many of the journalists who demanded a more personal relationship with her.

This is only one example of the importance of dealing with people; I saw this every day. I love this aspect of PR because it's so nice to be social in your workplace, and I much prefer the idea of working with people in tandem with computers.

I learnt about the importance of what I would call 'house style'. I was always tempted to be super creative whenever I got the chance to do something exciting in my internship, but it was a priority that I held up the agency's image and reputation if I wanted to succeed. Every time I was given the opportunity to write something, or put a presentation together, it had to follow a previous example which was provided for me.

I suppose this aspect is a little disappointing; I thought that public relations would be an incredibly creative job. However, maybe the creative side will come into play later in my career - for now I'm at the bottom of the food chain!

I've also learnt a lot about myself and my career. I was so hesitant to step into the PR field, I suppose because I am a creature of habit by nature, and it was an intimidating thought. However I now wish I had started months ago, I loved office life for the month I had it. I always knew what hours to expect from my week, I always had weekends off, get to enjoy bank holidays, and in future when I'm not just an intern I will earn so much more than I ever have before. On top of this I get to spend my working hours using my brain, being creative and developing relationships with co-workers and the press. Why did I stay in hospitality for so long again?!

I wish so much that I could have stayed on at The Communications Store but it always had to end. The team are all adamant about me staying in touch with them, so who knows, maybe one day soon they will need me back!

I hope you all had positive experiences in your internships, and if you didn't, maybe try again somewhere else.

That will be all from me! Can't believe I'm graduating soon!! :D

Jessie x

Communication - all types of it - is key!

Hello all,

How goes the internships? I have to say while I am thoroughly enjoying working office hours in an office environment, I am looking forward to skipping the 2 hours I spend on the underground tube every day. At the moment in London there are tube strikes going on and so many of trains aren’t running. The result is lots of antsy people squashed into a worn and blackened carriage like sardines.

The other evening as a hoard of people got off the carriage and onto the platform alongside me, one lady said “Ah get that fresh air!” I wouldn’t consider the air in the underground particularly fresh; it hasn’t seen sunlight in days, it’s full of emissions from the trains and God knows how many people are down there every day breathing the same air in and out… Urgh. She hasn’t visited Perth clearly!

Enough about that. Working in beauty PR has been a lot of fun – a few free bits here and there and always plenty to get done. A few days ago The Communications Store hosted its biannual Press Day, and it was so amazing. They hired out this big old church, and I mean old, London style, and filled it mostly with fashion collections, and also with a lot of our beauty products and services.

The purpose of Press Day is virtually just an opportunity for the agency to showcase a whole lot of product all at once, and invite as many journalists, bloggers etc as possible to come along. I found Press Day interesting as it helped me understand a bit about the different models of communication that we learnt in University.

Now, I was always under the impression that symmetrical two-way communication was the only way to go, with clients, audiences and the press. I suppose I have an ethic which extends into my everyday life, and that is the motto ‘communication is key’. To me this means having frequent and balanced communication between all parties is the ideal way to build relationships, as it promotes honesty and trust.

For the most part, TCS works on the symmetrical two-way model of communication, as they place an emphasis on listening to the client’s wants and needs and keep them informed on any activity. However I see the Press Day as a prime example where Grunig’s “Public Information model” is used; as information about the client is simply distributed to the public without there being a conversation. This example showed me that two-way communication isn’t always necessary – sometimes it can be more efficient for everyone if the information is pre-packaged, succinct and in large quantities. I found this worked well for the beauty and fashion clients at Press Day, as they simply needed to display the exact same information and products to a large group of people.

So, it appears hands-on learning is all it cracked up to be! My placement continues to open my mind to how public relations operates in the real world and my knowledge on this industry seems to be growing.

That’s all for now folks. I hope nobody has nodded off over their keyboards!

Jessie x