Given my previous blog post I feel in the past few weeks I have truly learnt a lot but one thing sticks out in my mind more than anything else. Even though it's related to the posts below- I feel it has more impact on it's own:
If it isn't difficult in the first place, it wouldn't be worth it in the end.
When things get tough, like they have done in the past few weeks, it's important to remind yourself that it's life and life happens. If things weren't so difficult you wouldn't feel the happiness of the end result. It's a learning curve, everyone is learning all the time; keep pushing and you will get there.
Monday 25 November 2013
The beginning of the end... or is it?
Wow, I didn't realise it had been so long since I last blogged on here!
Well quickly to catch you guys up this is what has happened so far:
- I've been working hard over the summer on my dissertation research
- I started third year of university
- I got a first for my dissertation proposal
- I got a first for my presentation skills exam
- I've submitted two additional assignments in the last two weeks which I will hopefully get the results from soon.
- I have no more assignments in now for 2013!
- I'm currently just working on my dissertation literature review and methodology and also other assignments for additional modules.
-I've also been working on the Bucks First PR team and have helped to organise two conferences (Oct & Nov) at the university for PR, Ads and Marketing students.
- Also, I started my one day a week internship at the beginning of November at Eyes Wide Open, where I interned this summer just gone and summer last year too.
So firstly, I'll start with my internship. I love it! If I'm honest I'm actually a little disappointed every Tuesday morning when I have to go into university rather than back into the EWO office! It's great working on a variety of small projects during my one day a week there, getting to know what sorts of things the clients require, how the work is carried out and even sitting in on meetings and team discussions is all great experience and I feel is helping me to form a more rounded opinion of what my working life could potentially entail! Bottom line= best decision ever and I appreciate the opportunity so so much! My favourite thing at the minute is writing blogs; I love to write as I'm sure I've mentioned in previous posts but I feel like it's such a great thing I have, to be able to write and capture people's attention with my words.
University is also going well- albeit slightly scared I literally have 6-7 months left! With so much work to do I am questioning if 6-7 months is long enough, but feel because I acted upon a very wise person's advise to start my dissertation over the summer, I'm on top of things and it feels great! I won't name and shame that person but if they're reading this, they will know who they are- thank you! I'm on a first streak at the minute with two under my belt for this year- not wanting to jinx it but desperately hoping and trying to keep this trend up!
With regards to my dissertation without giving too much away at this moment, I'm basing it upon the High Street/ shopping destinations and how PR and Marketing can be utilised to help this sector of retail. It's exciting with so much material available it's difficult to know where to draw the line! But I'm confident I will get there! Just must keep on top of it all and that's my primary number one goal this year- plan, plan, plan!!!
Along with all the exciting university/ career news going on, it's my 21st birthday in less than a month now and also Christmas is fast approaching. With the submission of my last 2013 assignment I feel I can finally start to get in the festive mood and start buying Christmas presents!
Watch this space for more updates and news!
Remember- I value your opinion on topics I may blog about within the Marketing & Business sector so feel free to comment on the posts or tweet me @CFlitney. Alternatively you can also find me on LinkedIn!
Well quickly to catch you guys up this is what has happened so far:
- I've been working hard over the summer on my dissertation research
- I started third year of university
- I got a first for my dissertation proposal
- I got a first for my presentation skills exam
- I've submitted two additional assignments in the last two weeks which I will hopefully get the results from soon.
- I have no more assignments in now for 2013!
- I'm currently just working on my dissertation literature review and methodology and also other assignments for additional modules.
-I've also been working on the Bucks First PR team and have helped to organise two conferences (Oct & Nov) at the university for PR, Ads and Marketing students.
- Also, I started my one day a week internship at the beginning of November at Eyes Wide Open, where I interned this summer just gone and summer last year too.
So firstly, I'll start with my internship. I love it! If I'm honest I'm actually a little disappointed every Tuesday morning when I have to go into university rather than back into the EWO office! It's great working on a variety of small projects during my one day a week there, getting to know what sorts of things the clients require, how the work is carried out and even sitting in on meetings and team discussions is all great experience and I feel is helping me to form a more rounded opinion of what my working life could potentially entail! Bottom line= best decision ever and I appreciate the opportunity so so much! My favourite thing at the minute is writing blogs; I love to write as I'm sure I've mentioned in previous posts but I feel like it's such a great thing I have, to be able to write and capture people's attention with my words.
University is also going well- albeit slightly scared I literally have 6-7 months left! With so much work to do I am questioning if 6-7 months is long enough, but feel because I acted upon a very wise person's advise to start my dissertation over the summer, I'm on top of things and it feels great! I won't name and shame that person but if they're reading this, they will know who they are- thank you! I'm on a first streak at the minute with two under my belt for this year- not wanting to jinx it but desperately hoping and trying to keep this trend up!
With regards to my dissertation without giving too much away at this moment, I'm basing it upon the High Street/ shopping destinations and how PR and Marketing can be utilised to help this sector of retail. It's exciting with so much material available it's difficult to know where to draw the line! But I'm confident I will get there! Just must keep on top of it all and that's my primary number one goal this year- plan, plan, plan!!!
Along with all the exciting university/ career news going on, it's my 21st birthday in less than a month now and also Christmas is fast approaching. With the submission of my last 2013 assignment I feel I can finally start to get in the festive mood and start buying Christmas presents!
Watch this space for more updates and news!
Remember- I value your opinion on topics I may blog about within the Marketing & Business sector so feel free to comment on the posts or tweet me @CFlitney. Alternatively you can also find me on LinkedIn!
Thursday 12 September 2013
Cheese!
Whilst at my placement at Eyes Wide Open Marketing Consultancy in Bucks this week, there was a team discussion on the book 'Who moved my cheese?' by Dr Spencer Johnson. I'd heard this phrase being thrown around the office a few times since starting and thought it a bit strange... new client?... new business technique?... inside joke I was unaware of?
All was explained when the meeting begun in the new EWO office's board room. EWO have recently moved and the Managing Director gave everyone a 'Who Moved My Cheese?' book to read for this meeting and be able to discuss it. I'm assuming because the EWO team have moved to new offices and are obviously expanding their company the book is to help everyone prioritise how they see these work changes. Sitting in on the meeting, not having read the book, it was intriguing as I was getting the gist of the story from different people's perspectives. Later that day, an EWO team member let me borrow their book and I was quite eager to read it and to be able to join in the conversation!
It's very easy to read and can be read in under an hour! The book is very insightful. It simplifies what a lot of human beings complicate in their minds. The basic gist of the story is that there are two mice, Sniff and Scurry, and two little people (like humans only the size of mice) called Hem and Haw (an American way of saying Umm and Err apparently?!). They all live in a maze and have to find the cheese stashes within the maze in order to survive. At one point all four of the characters find a large stock of cheese. Sniff and Scurry stay very proactive and begin to realise when the cheese is running low. So they look to the future and set about finding more cheese to secure their future (having to change and move away from the cheese station they originally found). Hem and Haw, however, get comfortable and do not see the cheese starting to run out, until one day, it is just gone. Hem (being the very stubborn character) decides that the cheese will come back to him, he should not have to go looking for it. Haw, on the other hand, waits around for a while with Hem, but eventually decides that he must be more proactive and find more cheese. He eventually leaves behind Hem and goes on an adventure to find more cheese in order to be able to survive. His cheese finding journey turns into a self discovery journey and he learns a lot of things about life in general, that any reader can apply to their own life.
I haven't really done the story justice, you need to read it to see what I mean. But the basic moral I took from the story (my favourite pages are 47 & 48) is that humans always imagine a change to be worse than it is, whether it's because we over think it or we get too stuck in our ways (like Hem). But we need to recognise that changes are always occurring- businesses need to change and evolve in order to survive, people change and so do relationships, work situations can change also, like moving or expanding. We need to realise and anticipate these changes and be prepared to deal with them as positively as we can otherwise we don't go anywhere or achieve anything. On pages 47 & 48 it basically illustrates that we need to 'feel the fear but still do it anyway'. My favourite cheese illustration is "What would you do if you weren't afraid?" (Read the book and you'll see what I mean!)
I actually stopped reading and asked myself that question. There is so so much I would do or would have done in the past if I didn't always over-analyse everything all the time; I wind myself up to the point my thoughts and my fears aren't even rational! I'm so guilty of getting a little too comfortable in my ways too, particularly in my home-life and I often repel home changes because it seems like such a big upheaval and unnecessary! When in reality nine times out of ten the change that has occurred has led to better things- just like the book says!
The book is definitely worth a read, I highly recommend it and have ordered myself a copy (see link below- it's not even that expensive!). It's a book that you can read again and again and take different morals from it depending upon your current situation. Coming into my last year of uni, this year is going to be all about change and I need to learn to 'move with the cheese' otherwise I will end up being left behind and not getting anywhere in my career and subsequently my life. In my opinion I need to aspire to have a combination of Sniff (proactive, ahead of the game and don't be afraid to take the plunge) and Haw (considers actions, looks for ways to improve and realise things are never as bad as they seem) in my personality in order to do this effectively.
Who Moved My Cheese? from Amazon
Read the book and want to discuss or want to know more? Tweet me @cflitney or comment below or on LinkedIn. Always appreciate feedback!
All was explained when the meeting begun in the new EWO office's board room. EWO have recently moved and the Managing Director gave everyone a 'Who Moved My Cheese?' book to read for this meeting and be able to discuss it. I'm assuming because the EWO team have moved to new offices and are obviously expanding their company the book is to help everyone prioritise how they see these work changes. Sitting in on the meeting, not having read the book, it was intriguing as I was getting the gist of the story from different people's perspectives. Later that day, an EWO team member let me borrow their book and I was quite eager to read it and to be able to join in the conversation!
It's very easy to read and can be read in under an hour! The book is very insightful. It simplifies what a lot of human beings complicate in their minds. The basic gist of the story is that there are two mice, Sniff and Scurry, and two little people (like humans only the size of mice) called Hem and Haw (an American way of saying Umm and Err apparently?!). They all live in a maze and have to find the cheese stashes within the maze in order to survive. At one point all four of the characters find a large stock of cheese. Sniff and Scurry stay very proactive and begin to realise when the cheese is running low. So they look to the future and set about finding more cheese to secure their future (having to change and move away from the cheese station they originally found). Hem and Haw, however, get comfortable and do not see the cheese starting to run out, until one day, it is just gone. Hem (being the very stubborn character) decides that the cheese will come back to him, he should not have to go looking for it. Haw, on the other hand, waits around for a while with Hem, but eventually decides that he must be more proactive and find more cheese. He eventually leaves behind Hem and goes on an adventure to find more cheese in order to be able to survive. His cheese finding journey turns into a self discovery journey and he learns a lot of things about life in general, that any reader can apply to their own life.
I haven't really done the story justice, you need to read it to see what I mean. But the basic moral I took from the story (my favourite pages are 47 & 48) is that humans always imagine a change to be worse than it is, whether it's because we over think it or we get too stuck in our ways (like Hem). But we need to recognise that changes are always occurring- businesses need to change and evolve in order to survive, people change and so do relationships, work situations can change also, like moving or expanding. We need to realise and anticipate these changes and be prepared to deal with them as positively as we can otherwise we don't go anywhere or achieve anything. On pages 47 & 48 it basically illustrates that we need to 'feel the fear but still do it anyway'. My favourite cheese illustration is "What would you do if you weren't afraid?" (Read the book and you'll see what I mean!)
I actually stopped reading and asked myself that question. There is so so much I would do or would have done in the past if I didn't always over-analyse everything all the time; I wind myself up to the point my thoughts and my fears aren't even rational! I'm so guilty of getting a little too comfortable in my ways too, particularly in my home-life and I often repel home changes because it seems like such a big upheaval and unnecessary! When in reality nine times out of ten the change that has occurred has led to better things- just like the book says!
The book is definitely worth a read, I highly recommend it and have ordered myself a copy (see link below- it's not even that expensive!). It's a book that you can read again and again and take different morals from it depending upon your current situation. Coming into my last year of uni, this year is going to be all about change and I need to learn to 'move with the cheese' otherwise I will end up being left behind and not getting anywhere in my career and subsequently my life. In my opinion I need to aspire to have a combination of Sniff (proactive, ahead of the game and don't be afraid to take the plunge) and Haw (considers actions, looks for ways to improve and realise things are never as bad as they seem) in my personality in order to do this effectively.
Who Moved My Cheese? from Amazon
Read the book and want to discuss or want to know more? Tweet me @cflitney or comment below or on LinkedIn. Always appreciate feedback!
Monday 9 September 2013
Back in Business!
Apologies for it being so long since my last blog posts (the past three months have flown by)!
So what's new?
- Passed second year of university with a 2:1
- Been on a lovely two week holiday to Tennerife
- Started a four week placement at a company I also interned for last year, feels great to be back!
- Started my dissertation already to get ahead of the game
- Signed up to become part of the Bucks' PR Student conference and event team, so exciting extra curricular activity there.
- Had a lovely break but my final year of university starts in roughly two weeks!
It's full steam ahead right now, with lots of exciting stuff to look forward to and and more blog posts to document the year ahead!
Currently my placement is my time filler. I've been there three weeks now and I'm absolutely loving being back in the office, everyone is so lovely there. Although I'm working on a database project, which isn't the most exciting, I'm loving the experience of being within a company and learning something new everyday about how the company works and being a part of it right now! This week is my last week and I really don't want to leave, I'm enjoying myself too much!
My dissertation research has taken a slight back seat since starting my placement but I'm feeling confident my research is taking shape, I'm getting my contacts together and know what I need to do next!
I got briefed properly today on my task being a part of the newly formed Bucks' PR Student conference team. It's exciting and great real-life practice. Our first conference is coming up on the 2nd October and the team is starting to take shape!
All very exciting stuff, check back here regularly to see updates! Remeber, you always comment on here, Tweet me @CFlitney or find me on Linked In! Always like to hear suggestions and/ or feedback!
So what's new?
- Passed second year of university with a 2:1
- Been on a lovely two week holiday to Tennerife
- Started a four week placement at a company I also interned for last year, feels great to be back!
- Started my dissertation already to get ahead of the game
- Signed up to become part of the Bucks' PR Student conference and event team, so exciting extra curricular activity there.
- Had a lovely break but my final year of university starts in roughly two weeks!
It's full steam ahead right now, with lots of exciting stuff to look forward to and and more blog posts to document the year ahead!
Currently my placement is my time filler. I've been there three weeks now and I'm absolutely loving being back in the office, everyone is so lovely there. Although I'm working on a database project, which isn't the most exciting, I'm loving the experience of being within a company and learning something new everyday about how the company works and being a part of it right now! This week is my last week and I really don't want to leave, I'm enjoying myself too much!
My dissertation research has taken a slight back seat since starting my placement but I'm feeling confident my research is taking shape, I'm getting my contacts together and know what I need to do next!
I got briefed properly today on my task being a part of the newly formed Bucks' PR Student conference team. It's exciting and great real-life practice. Our first conference is coming up on the 2nd October and the team is starting to take shape!
All very exciting stuff, check back here regularly to see updates! Remeber, you always comment on here, Tweet me @CFlitney or find me on Linked In! Always like to hear suggestions and/ or feedback!
Tuesday 4 June 2013
Creative, contemporary or too far?
Sunday 5 May 2013
PR Story #8
So, I haven't done the PR Story in a while, since university has been really busy and the updates on here have been more about my achievements at university. However, since this blog is technically due in on Friday for my lecturer to view, I thought I would do another PR Story but also just take this opportunity to explain how this blog has helped me.
For starters, doing the PR story every week for a time meant another of my lecturers took notice of my blog and complimented me on my developing PR skills. This blog has done wonders for my reading and writing skills that honestly were getting a bit rusty... After my English A levels I steered clear of reading and writing for a very long time, which is a shame as I do believe reading and writing are the most basic and yet most powerful tools anyone can ever have and practising them as I have been has been so beneficial.
I have also put Google Analytics on this blog and it's amazing to see that in such a short time I seemed to have built up somewhat of a regular readership from people I'm not sure I've even met! I think this blog has definitely served it's purpose and I fully intend to keep it running all through the rest of my time at university and beyond.
So on with my PR Story #8... Facebook's dead?!
According to Radio 1 Newsbeat and 1Xtra editor Rob McKenzie it is among the younger generation? So I'm reading this and thinking... does this officially make me old now?! I'm 20 and a daily Facebook user to communicate with my friends and keep up to date with the regular gossip(!). Apparently "no self-respecting young person would be on Facebook" and "Facebook is populated by mums and PR staff." Hmm....
Well, I will have to admit that recently Facebook does seem to be populated more and more by people wanting their 15 minutes posting ridiculous and sometimes downright stupid photos and videos that people feel necessary to share, like or comment on. My news feed is full of shares for companies in order to enter a competition, a technique that lacks complete originality and Facebook it basically becoming cluttered and if I'm honest... annoying.
Someone not too long ago told me they had a bet on that Facebook will have died out and something new will take over in the next five-ish years. In a way, I hope they're right. To think that the world has become so dependant on Facebook is slightly ridiculous but then again is it actually dying out any time soon... I'm not so convinced.
Yes, as mentioned by Mckenzie, Tumblr, Snapchat, Vine and Keek, are all preferred platforms for younger people and the first two have been around for a while now and are starting to become more and more popular, however, I don't think these are the answers to Facebook's defeat.
I believe that the younger generation are more open to trying out new social media platforms, but Facebook is still their fail-safe option, along with other uses of all ages, backgrounds, genders and so on. It appears to be the ultimate platform which is not restricted to a certain media type such as video and Snapchat and is very versatile with well designed mobile sites and smart phone apps.
If anything I'd say Twitter is the one to watch out for. People seem to prefer the to the point status and the access to al types of people seem to cause less arguments among friends and connects different types of people on one platform. Not only is it a social media tool, it is also widely recommended by most employers too for business purposes. It is a form of direct selling and can really help people polish up on their communications skills.
I realise this is all personal opinion, and if there is some big new shiny social media platform out there I appear to be unaware of, please let me know via commenting on this post. Likewise if you have any predictions for the future of social media, please let me know!
For starters, doing the PR story every week for a time meant another of my lecturers took notice of my blog and complimented me on my developing PR skills. This blog has done wonders for my reading and writing skills that honestly were getting a bit rusty... After my English A levels I steered clear of reading and writing for a very long time, which is a shame as I do believe reading and writing are the most basic and yet most powerful tools anyone can ever have and practising them as I have been has been so beneficial.
I have also put Google Analytics on this blog and it's amazing to see that in such a short time I seemed to have built up somewhat of a regular readership from people I'm not sure I've even met! I think this blog has definitely served it's purpose and I fully intend to keep it running all through the rest of my time at university and beyond.
So on with my PR Story #8... Facebook's dead?!
According to Radio 1 Newsbeat and 1Xtra editor Rob McKenzie it is among the younger generation? So I'm reading this and thinking... does this officially make me old now?! I'm 20 and a daily Facebook user to communicate with my friends and keep up to date with the regular gossip(!). Apparently "no self-respecting young person would be on Facebook" and "Facebook is populated by mums and PR staff." Hmm....
Well, I will have to admit that recently Facebook does seem to be populated more and more by people wanting their 15 minutes posting ridiculous and sometimes downright stupid photos and videos that people feel necessary to share, like or comment on. My news feed is full of shares for companies in order to enter a competition, a technique that lacks complete originality and Facebook it basically becoming cluttered and if I'm honest... annoying.
Someone not too long ago told me they had a bet on that Facebook will have died out and something new will take over in the next five-ish years. In a way, I hope they're right. To think that the world has become so dependant on Facebook is slightly ridiculous but then again is it actually dying out any time soon... I'm not so convinced.
Yes, as mentioned by Mckenzie, Tumblr, Snapchat, Vine and Keek, are all preferred platforms for younger people and the first two have been around for a while now and are starting to become more and more popular, however, I don't think these are the answers to Facebook's defeat.
I believe that the younger generation are more open to trying out new social media platforms, but Facebook is still their fail-safe option, along with other uses of all ages, backgrounds, genders and so on. It appears to be the ultimate platform which is not restricted to a certain media type such as video and Snapchat and is very versatile with well designed mobile sites and smart phone apps.
If anything I'd say Twitter is the one to watch out for. People seem to prefer the to the point status and the access to al types of people seem to cause less arguments among friends and connects different types of people on one platform. Not only is it a social media tool, it is also widely recommended by most employers too for business purposes. It is a form of direct selling and can really help people polish up on their communications skills.
I realise this is all personal opinion, and if there is some big new shiny social media platform out there I appear to be unaware of, please let me know via commenting on this post. Likewise if you have any predictions for the future of social media, please let me know!
Monday 29 April 2013
Target Market Research
Please, if you are aged 18-35 and live in the UK permanently could you fill out this quick survey for a live brief project my university group have currently. It is open to males and females but we are looking for more male responses as this is our intended target audience, thanks in advance for your time. If you would like to know the results once the survey is closed, comment on this post and I'd be happy to pass it on.
Target Market Research
Target Market Research
Thursday 18 April 2013
It all seems to happen at once!
This week has certainly been a good first week back from Easter. Firstly we got two more assignment grades back for previously submitted work before Easter. One was a brand report that I did for Thomson holidays and I got first for it. And then another was the traffic building magazine I have previously posted up onto here which our group for a 2:1 for, so it's good results all round.
My university work group also found out on the 17th that the work we submitted to the international Edcom Ad Venture competition was short listed in the final 12 campaigns out of around 80 team applicants across Europe. Also we are the only UK team to be short listed!!
Our team are so excited that we've come even this far and we can't wait for next Wednesday when the names of the final 3 campaigns will be announced! The final 3 get to present their idea to a panel of judges in Portugal next month!!
And if that isn't enough excitement for one week I just got an email saying that there is a potential two week placement for me over the summer at an advertising and digital marketing agency in Buckinghamshire. I'm super excited for this as I've only really done one placement at the same company and even though EWO are amazing and I love going back and working there, I'm excited for something different; different work, different environment, different clients. It just adds to my CV and the wider the range of experiences I have, the better! I'm still on my mission to attend multiple 1-2 week work placements this summer in order to really build up my CV before my final year!
Also next Wednesday our university group are visiting Arena Media to be fully briefed on our last assignment; a live brief! From research they have such a wide variety of clients- but we've been assured it's not Dominos :) I'm secretly hoping it's either haven or a retail store. I'm in the summer mood as it's only 11 weeks until I go on holiday (and did all my shopping for it yesterday). However, we shall see, being able to work on any live brief and have the chance to impress an agency is an amazing opportunity regardless!
The pace of everything university related is really cranking up right now, but it's so exciting and I'm loving it! My aim is to push through these last few weeks left, get these assignments done, get my exam done, organise work placements and enjoy everything else that is going on!
Tuesday 16 April 2013
PR Smith's SOSTAC
This is a theory by PR Smith who co-wrote the textbook for our digital technologies for marketing module.
S- Situation.
O- Objectives.
S- Strategy.
T- Tactics.
A- Actions.
C- Control.
It helps to create a plan for a project that is easy to stick to and to clearly define the tasks and objectives needed to be achieved. To remember for the future!
S- Situation.
O- Objectives.
S- Strategy.
T- Tactics.
A- Actions.
C- Control.
It helps to create a plan for a project that is easy to stick to and to clearly define the tasks and objectives needed to be achieved. To remember for the future!
Monday 15 April 2013
Possibly the best campaign I've seen in a long time!
It's been out a while now and I've heard a lot of people talking about it but I think the new 2013 Race for Life television advertisement is amazing! It so stands out from the crowd- rather than tugging on the heart strings it motivates you to do something. Cancer is such a widespread illness today that everyone knows someone who has had cancer affect their lives in one way or another. This advert reaches out to everyone and makes you want to be a part of a bigger, more powerful force against something that causes so much devastation. I remember the first time I saw the TV ad I thought it was utterly brilliant! It's actually made me think about running a local 5K Race for Life with some friends this summer to show I support the campaign and the cause completely- and if you knew me, you'd know I'm not a particularly keen runner either!
Monday 8 April 2013
University Easter Update
Well it's the third week of the Easter holidays and it's weird to think I only have four more weeks left at university until that's it for another year and only one more year to go until the time comes for me to go out and find a job in the world of PR and Marketing.
I've started to think about dissertation topics but I'm keeping that one quiet until all proposals are submitted. But what I can say is it's very interesting, I'll be learning a whole new meaning to the words PR and Marketing and it's something that's hopefully contemporary enough for employers to consider giving me a job, oh, and it applies to a lot of companies/ agencies if they have retailers as clients.
So I've submitted pieces of coursework before the holidays but as of yet have no feedback from the but I have been spending some time each day going over this blog (as it is still part of an assignment) and also doing some research for another assignment due in May. I should really also crack on with some exam revision... the one thing I do not look forward to... exams! I don't know what it is- whether it's because you have to learn everything and under the immense pressure that I put on myself I tend to miss some things out or the fact that I'm so worked up that I'll not have enough time, or I'll completely miss the point of the questions... I'd take a 10,000 word essay over an exam any day for the record!
A week today I go back to university for the final four weeks (the last push)... it just doesn't feel real honestly. I've got plans for the summer mounting up already it should be amazing. I'm in the throws of arranging a selection of a couple of weeks work experience in multiple places in order to really rack up the places I can say I've been to. Although doing an internship for one company over the summer last year was great experience, I can't say I've had a variety of places I've been to just yet. I would like to go to a selection of PR, Marketing, creative, consultancy agencies and so on with different specialisms and types of clients to be able to say I know how each type of agency works.
In amongst that I have plans with friends, trips to the coast, days out with friends and family, a two week holiday to Tenerife, extra shifts at my part time job and I'm sure much more will be arranged in the coming weeks. Now is absolutely the time when I feel like everything just about falls into place!
I've started to think about dissertation topics but I'm keeping that one quiet until all proposals are submitted. But what I can say is it's very interesting, I'll be learning a whole new meaning to the words PR and Marketing and it's something that's hopefully contemporary enough for employers to consider giving me a job, oh, and it applies to a lot of companies/ agencies if they have retailers as clients.
So I've submitted pieces of coursework before the holidays but as of yet have no feedback from the but I have been spending some time each day going over this blog (as it is still part of an assignment) and also doing some research for another assignment due in May. I should really also crack on with some exam revision... the one thing I do not look forward to... exams! I don't know what it is- whether it's because you have to learn everything and under the immense pressure that I put on myself I tend to miss some things out or the fact that I'm so worked up that I'll not have enough time, or I'll completely miss the point of the questions... I'd take a 10,000 word essay over an exam any day for the record!
A week today I go back to university for the final four weeks (the last push)... it just doesn't feel real honestly. I've got plans for the summer mounting up already it should be amazing. I'm in the throws of arranging a selection of a couple of weeks work experience in multiple places in order to really rack up the places I can say I've been to. Although doing an internship for one company over the summer last year was great experience, I can't say I've had a variety of places I've been to just yet. I would like to go to a selection of PR, Marketing, creative, consultancy agencies and so on with different specialisms and types of clients to be able to say I know how each type of agency works.
In amongst that I have plans with friends, trips to the coast, days out with friends and family, a two week holiday to Tenerife, extra shifts at my part time job and I'm sure much more will be arranged in the coming weeks. Now is absolutely the time when I feel like everything just about falls into place!
Tuesday 2 April 2013
Best practice traffic building?
Here is a link to our coursework two for our recommendations for best practice traffic building loaded onto Issuu.com. This is for our Digital technologies for marketing module:
Enjoy!
Wednesday 13 March 2013
International Guest Speaker
Today in our PR lecture we had a visiting lecturer from Poland talk to us about the polish practice of PR and Marketing. Dr Anna Sobczyk-Kolbuch, from the School of Economics in Katowice, talked us through a general overview of Poland and mainly gave us a case study and asked us to analyse it. She also had a quiz prepared to see if we recognised Polish brands that were actually sold here in the UK and specifically in High Wycombe supermarkets and pubs, which was fun. I also learnt of a cosmetics company that doesn't use TV advertisements... The Body Shop... I've never considered this before but it's actually quite interesting- least to say when Anna asked us who, I thought she was proving a point that you needed advertising but clearly not.
The main case study was focused around the salt mine in Wieliczka.
The aim of the project was to:
- Increase tourists the attraction and to the Grand Sal Hotel, which is often commonly looked up alongside the mine online
- Change the perception that the attraction is 'boring' and 'not modern'
- Create desire to visit outside of holiday periods also.
The campaign consisted of finding casting for a legendary treasurer's wife and children and also a game was created for Facebook and was so successful that it is now on the actual salt mine page and is an app also for mobiles and tablets.
A task Anna set us was were the media relations used enough and how could you target other age groups.
Firstly, clearly the media relations were sufficient because the end result seemed positive on the case study paper, however measurement of financial figures would prove this better. However, there would probably have been no harm in using additional social media resources such as Twitter to drive traffic to the Facebook page for the game and to the actual salt mine page for further information. The Twitter feed would also act as an ongoing tool to help remind customers of the attraction and to run regular competitions and events. They have a regularly updated YouTube channel which is positive as many companies don't utilise or update this properly as a communications tool to their publics.
Another form of media relations could be a potential sponsorship deal. I'm unsure whether they do currently sponsor anyone- from the website there is no mention however, but sponsorship is never really considered often I find. The use of sponsorship for the salt mine could be good as it will act as an endorsement, helping to create a more entertaining brand if the brand in partnership has an uplifting, active and entertaining reputation. If the sponsorship is selected carefully they could see an influx of new customers of all age groups and backgrounds. Having never been to Poland and not knowing much of other brands there, I wouldn't like to suggest who a sponsorship deal could be negotiated with, however, I feel this could be an option waiting to be taken for the brand upon first impressions.
Secondly, another form of campaign to engage older people? Again being that it is in Poland my ideas may not necessarily translate but we can generally assume (although this will need to be proved) that older people will be:
- Looking for more of an adventure/ experience to gain
- They don't shy away from educational value like many younger people
- They potentially have more disposable income than families or younger people
- They have more time on their hands to visit outside of holiday periods
- They are likely to come for themselves or bring the family along for a day out
- They like some peace and quiet in their day but also some excitement- relaxed and at their own pace
- Although numbers are increasing, a form of communication to avoid is social media/ online although some advertisement can be strategically positioned on sites that tend to have visitors of the target group.
Therefore some potential ideas could be to run special packages in the salt mine such as special tours that incorporate different elements such as having a calm specially prepared lunch on site- incorporated in the price and offer group tours to give them a chance to meet other people their own age.
As older people may not be able to climb the stairs or stand on their feet for a long time a special shorter route, incorporating a short educational presentation, could be formulated as part of a weekend package- which includes an overnight stay at the hotel and meals and so on. Much like the Thorpe Park + Hotel deals except they can choose exclusive age group specific features to include in their package and pay for it all up front. The ability to tailor a package would not only appeal to the older target group also but to a wide variety of target groups too.
A competition could also be run but gets imaginations going and into the mood for an adventure. People could send in a photo of themselves (following the previous competition) and on the back write no more than 50 words on what would be their greatest adventure of all time with their name and telephone number also. The address could be free-post and could be advertised at specifically targeted groups for older people, places older people would typically go, even a television advertisement or radio? The prize would obviously be an overnight's stay at the health resort and a day at the mine.
The winner can also be the face of the newly created packages on promotional materials. A special feature in a relevant magazine could also be done detailing the winner's entry and their experience at the salt mine as their prize- acting like an endorsement to other people of similar ages and so on.
Seriously, I think I could go on forever with potential ideas but I'll stop there! Please let me know what you think- I'm always keen to learn, whether you have suggestions to build on my ideas or know of why these may not work in Poland?
The main case study was focused around the salt mine in Wieliczka.
The aim of the project was to:
- Increase tourists the attraction and to the Grand Sal Hotel, which is often commonly looked up alongside the mine online
- Change the perception that the attraction is 'boring' and 'not modern'
- Create desire to visit outside of holiday periods also.
The campaign consisted of finding casting for a legendary treasurer's wife and children and also a game was created for Facebook and was so successful that it is now on the actual salt mine page and is an app also for mobiles and tablets.
A task Anna set us was were the media relations used enough and how could you target other age groups.
Firstly, clearly the media relations were sufficient because the end result seemed positive on the case study paper, however measurement of financial figures would prove this better. However, there would probably have been no harm in using additional social media resources such as Twitter to drive traffic to the Facebook page for the game and to the actual salt mine page for further information. The Twitter feed would also act as an ongoing tool to help remind customers of the attraction and to run regular competitions and events. They have a regularly updated YouTube channel which is positive as many companies don't utilise or update this properly as a communications tool to their publics.
Another form of media relations could be a potential sponsorship deal. I'm unsure whether they do currently sponsor anyone- from the website there is no mention however, but sponsorship is never really considered often I find. The use of sponsorship for the salt mine could be good as it will act as an endorsement, helping to create a more entertaining brand if the brand in partnership has an uplifting, active and entertaining reputation. If the sponsorship is selected carefully they could see an influx of new customers of all age groups and backgrounds. Having never been to Poland and not knowing much of other brands there, I wouldn't like to suggest who a sponsorship deal could be negotiated with, however, I feel this could be an option waiting to be taken for the brand upon first impressions.
Secondly, another form of campaign to engage older people? Again being that it is in Poland my ideas may not necessarily translate but we can generally assume (although this will need to be proved) that older people will be:
- Looking for more of an adventure/ experience to gain
- They don't shy away from educational value like many younger people
- They potentially have more disposable income than families or younger people
- They have more time on their hands to visit outside of holiday periods
- They are likely to come for themselves or bring the family along for a day out
- They like some peace and quiet in their day but also some excitement- relaxed and at their own pace
- Although numbers are increasing, a form of communication to avoid is social media/ online although some advertisement can be strategically positioned on sites that tend to have visitors of the target group.
Therefore some potential ideas could be to run special packages in the salt mine such as special tours that incorporate different elements such as having a calm specially prepared lunch on site- incorporated in the price and offer group tours to give them a chance to meet other people their own age.
As older people may not be able to climb the stairs or stand on their feet for a long time a special shorter route, incorporating a short educational presentation, could be formulated as part of a weekend package- which includes an overnight stay at the hotel and meals and so on. Much like the Thorpe Park + Hotel deals except they can choose exclusive age group specific features to include in their package and pay for it all up front. The ability to tailor a package would not only appeal to the older target group also but to a wide variety of target groups too.
A competition could also be run but gets imaginations going and into the mood for an adventure. People could send in a photo of themselves (following the previous competition) and on the back write no more than 50 words on what would be their greatest adventure of all time with their name and telephone number also. The address could be free-post and could be advertised at specifically targeted groups for older people, places older people would typically go, even a television advertisement or radio? The prize would obviously be an overnight's stay at the health resort and a day at the mine.
The winner can also be the face of the newly created packages on promotional materials. A special feature in a relevant magazine could also be done detailing the winner's entry and their experience at the salt mine as their prize- acting like an endorsement to other people of similar ages and so on.
Seriously, I think I could go on forever with potential ideas but I'll stop there! Please let me know what you think- I'm always keen to learn, whether you have suggestions to build on my ideas or know of why these may not work in Poland?
Tuesday 12 March 2013
Careers Fair at BNU
Today was the careers fair at Bucks New University and our digital module lecturer gave us the opportunity to go down there and have a look and ask potential employers about future options or to also possibly gain primary research for any of our assignment projects.
Fortunately, John Lewis had a stall and myself and another member of my group interviewed them about their marketing for our digital module and also found out about careers in marketing for John Lewis. Unfortunately they don't have a graduate programme but they do offer work experience to anyone who applies through head office. Although currently I'm not too sure about working on the marketing for a retail store, I think any experience in any sector right now is valuable to put on my CV and crucial in getting a career after or even just before graduation.
Another stall that particularly caught my attention was Thorpe Park/ Merlin Entertainment. I'd never considered working for a company such as this, I'd always thought of agencies but then again, why not work there? They have to be as creative as possible in order to renew people's enthusiasm to come back to the park every spring/summer and this implies they would be a fun brand to work for. I think this would be an amazing opportunity but unfortunately rather than offer work experience they offer a graduate scheme. I think after more research into it I would definitely consider applying for it, such a shame I'm not graduating this year, but the time will pass quickly enough I'm sure!
So all in all a very productive day and once again an event to help get me thinking about my future and figure out what I really want to do as graduation approaches.
Fortunately, John Lewis had a stall and myself and another member of my group interviewed them about their marketing for our digital module and also found out about careers in marketing for John Lewis. Unfortunately they don't have a graduate programme but they do offer work experience to anyone who applies through head office. Although currently I'm not too sure about working on the marketing for a retail store, I think any experience in any sector right now is valuable to put on my CV and crucial in getting a career after or even just before graduation.
Another stall that particularly caught my attention was Thorpe Park/ Merlin Entertainment. I'd never considered working for a company such as this, I'd always thought of agencies but then again, why not work there? They have to be as creative as possible in order to renew people's enthusiasm to come back to the park every spring/summer and this implies they would be a fun brand to work for. I think this would be an amazing opportunity but unfortunately rather than offer work experience they offer a graduate scheme. I think after more research into it I would definitely consider applying for it, such a shame I'm not graduating this year, but the time will pass quickly enough I'm sure!
So all in all a very productive day and once again an event to help get me thinking about my future and figure out what I really want to do as graduation approaches.
Monday 11 March 2013
Best Practice Traffic Building?
One of my current university assignments is to find out through primary and secondary research what the best practice traffic building techniques are.
Please could you spend 15 minutes completing the following two short surveys on SurveyMonkey to help myself and my group gain first hand insight into what you think.
If you have any thoughts or comments on the survey or on best practice traffic building techniques please comment on this post. It would be great to be able to include some quotes on genuine thoughts and opinions in our online magazine! Thanks in advance!
Friday 8 March 2013
PR Story #7
This week's PR Story #7 is based around 'CIPR to explain PR in schools'. Naturally you can understand why this caught my attention being a PR student and I think this move by the CIPR is fantastic!!
According to a PR Week study and a ComRes survey 70% of respondents had no idea what PR involved, 9% thought PR revolve mostly around celebrity image management and only 7% were considering a role in PR. Not sure about you but I think these figures are shocking but then again I was once one of the those statistics not too long ago.
Let me take you back to 2009, I just started 6th form and was taking Media, English and Product Design A levels. Media was by far the most interesting of lessons as it touched upon a lot of film theory but also advertising and marketing techniques- but never once did it touch upon PR, but then again why should it? I chose to do an Advertising Management and Digital Comms degree at Bucks but the beauty of it is that all first year marketing, business and marketing, ads and PR modules are the same and so if you decided to tweak your degree specialism at the end of the first year you can- therefore I switched to PR without having to start again! I choose the Ads degree because I thought from my A level experience that was what I wanted to do, but through my university experience I discovered that I would benefit more and gain more from a degree in PR. I think that the information on options for degrees and future careers is very limited within schools and generally universities can only really help you unless you are at the applying stage for university. Therefore, with some schools starting their GCSEs as young as Year 9 shouldn't secondary students be more informed of their decisions earlier on?
With most careers it's fairly obviously what your job will include: doctors, dentists, teachers, bankers and so on but with marketing, PR, advertising (that doesn't involve the creative) it's difficult to fully understand what a university course and career could contain. Plus the thing is, is that it is so much fun- I never anticipated I would be this interested and involved with a university degree. Whether it's the way it's taught with the mix of practical and real world learning at Buck's or whether it's just because the subject itself is of deep interest to me- I have no idea- but I'm thoroughly enjoying it now! I wish I could have been more informed at the time of applying to university however.
The CIPR have identified a gap in their industry that PR is not appealing or attractive to anyone below the age of roughly 17 and that there isn't enough information out there for school children to teach themselves about the basics of PR. Going into schools, I believe, is going to have a massive impact on the numbers that apply for PR courses or even internships in the future.
I also think on reflection it would have been good to have attended a careers fair at secondary school in, say, Year 11 that has stalls set up providing information about all types of careers, not just the obvious ones. I've lost count of how many times I've heard people say "well I wanted to do this, but then I found I couldn't because I didn't have the right subjects/ qualifications" which is quite disheartening to hear and knowing that those people are probably now in a job they wouldn't have necessarily chosen and may potentially not even enjoy. I'm not sure if some schools do run careers fairs, but mine didn't and I've not heard anyone else talk about a careers fair at their school; I think it should become more common practice, especially since trying to get work is only getting harder.
I think other professional bodies can take a leaf out of this book; it would be interesting to see the statistics for marketing/ advertising management/ business courses also and see if they match up. I'd like to know what you think about this- have you heard of anything similar being done within schools/ colleges?
According to a PR Week study and a ComRes survey 70% of respondents had no idea what PR involved, 9% thought PR revolve mostly around celebrity image management and only 7% were considering a role in PR. Not sure about you but I think these figures are shocking but then again I was once one of the those statistics not too long ago.
Let me take you back to 2009, I just started 6th form and was taking Media, English and Product Design A levels. Media was by far the most interesting of lessons as it touched upon a lot of film theory but also advertising and marketing techniques- but never once did it touch upon PR, but then again why should it? I chose to do an Advertising Management and Digital Comms degree at Bucks but the beauty of it is that all first year marketing, business and marketing, ads and PR modules are the same and so if you decided to tweak your degree specialism at the end of the first year you can- therefore I switched to PR without having to start again! I choose the Ads degree because I thought from my A level experience that was what I wanted to do, but through my university experience I discovered that I would benefit more and gain more from a degree in PR. I think that the information on options for degrees and future careers is very limited within schools and generally universities can only really help you unless you are at the applying stage for university. Therefore, with some schools starting their GCSEs as young as Year 9 shouldn't secondary students be more informed of their decisions earlier on?
With most careers it's fairly obviously what your job will include: doctors, dentists, teachers, bankers and so on but with marketing, PR, advertising (that doesn't involve the creative) it's difficult to fully understand what a university course and career could contain. Plus the thing is, is that it is so much fun- I never anticipated I would be this interested and involved with a university degree. Whether it's the way it's taught with the mix of practical and real world learning at Buck's or whether it's just because the subject itself is of deep interest to me- I have no idea- but I'm thoroughly enjoying it now! I wish I could have been more informed at the time of applying to university however.
The CIPR have identified a gap in their industry that PR is not appealing or attractive to anyone below the age of roughly 17 and that there isn't enough information out there for school children to teach themselves about the basics of PR. Going into schools, I believe, is going to have a massive impact on the numbers that apply for PR courses or even internships in the future.
I also think on reflection it would have been good to have attended a careers fair at secondary school in, say, Year 11 that has stalls set up providing information about all types of careers, not just the obvious ones. I've lost count of how many times I've heard people say "well I wanted to do this, but then I found I couldn't because I didn't have the right subjects/ qualifications" which is quite disheartening to hear and knowing that those people are probably now in a job they wouldn't have necessarily chosen and may potentially not even enjoy. I'm not sure if some schools do run careers fairs, but mine didn't and I've not heard anyone else talk about a careers fair at their school; I think it should become more common practice, especially since trying to get work is only getting harder.
I think other professional bodies can take a leaf out of this book; it would be interesting to see the statistics for marketing/ advertising management/ business courses also and see if they match up. I'd like to know what you think about this- have you heard of anything similar being done within schools/ colleges?
World of Student PR Update
Been a long time since posting on here; here's quick update on the world of student PR:
- Unfortunately I didn't get the PR internship due to my timetable not allowing me to commit to two full days at the PR company. Although I could be in for a couple of week's work experience over the summer there which will still be good as I was really attracted to the culture and size of the company.
- I got two 2:1's for my last two assignments so the running count this year currently stands at... 1 x 2:2, 3 x 2:1 and 2 x first. Although in general I'm happy, me being me can't ever be satisfied with anything, and that 2:2 is still niggling at me :( It's also niggling me that I got exactly the same 2:1 grade for both PR assignments and its so close to a first- I WILL get that first in PR before this year is over!!!
- Speaking of which, not including the Easter Break, I have 6 weeks roughly left of university with one exam, this blog assignment (10%) of digital marketing module and 5 more assignments left to do... sounds very daunting but exciting at the same time! It's really hard to believe that this time next year I'll be leaving education after approx 16 years in 6 weeks for good!!!
That's all for now, it's quite quiet at the moment, just working away on two more assignments plus Ad Venture report submission before Easter!
- Unfortunately I didn't get the PR internship due to my timetable not allowing me to commit to two full days at the PR company. Although I could be in for a couple of week's work experience over the summer there which will still be good as I was really attracted to the culture and size of the company.
- I got two 2:1's for my last two assignments so the running count this year currently stands at... 1 x 2:2, 3 x 2:1 and 2 x first. Although in general I'm happy, me being me can't ever be satisfied with anything, and that 2:2 is still niggling at me :( It's also niggling me that I got exactly the same 2:1 grade for both PR assignments and its so close to a first- I WILL get that first in PR before this year is over!!!
- Speaking of which, not including the Easter Break, I have 6 weeks roughly left of university with one exam, this blog assignment (10%) of digital marketing module and 5 more assignments left to do... sounds very daunting but exciting at the same time! It's really hard to believe that this time next year I'll be leaving education after approx 16 years in 6 weeks for good!!!
That's all for now, it's quite quiet at the moment, just working away on two more assignments plus Ad Venture report submission before Easter!
Monday 4 March 2013
The end of gift cards? (PR Story #6)
The blog post written over Reading week for a marketing blog (It's also PR Story #6):
In the past five years gift card and voucher sales have gone
up year on year and currently the sector is estimated to be worth approximately
£4.65 billion in the UK. Despite the healthy growth so far, has the flurry of
brands that have gone into administration last month dented the future
reputation of gift vouchers altogether?
Since the announcement of HMV, Jessops, Blockbuster and
Comet going into administration, seemingly all at once, there has been
increased coverage over the issue of redeeming gift vouchers with these brands.
There is a risk the entire gift voucher sector will be affected by
administrator’s decisions to refuse the sale or redemption of gift cards of
businesses going under.
Due to these decisions consumers have been outraged that
they cannot use their gift cards or vouchers anymore, even though some stores
are still trading, as in the case of HMV. This threatens to bring down other
brands (that are stable) gift card sales because consumers are now less likely
to trust the schemes. Since the high street now feels like a game of ‘which
brand will go under next’, consumer confidence in gift cards is at an all time
low, but does that mean marketers for retailers should scrap the schemes from
their strategy plans completely?
The answer is no! There are many ways around this crisis and
marketers should be careful to ensure they don’t fall into the trap of
promising customers a service and then not being able to deliver. One way to
overcome this is to invest in becoming a part of a multi-retailer gift card,
such as the Post Office’s One4All card, that can be spent at over 17,000
stores. Although this doesn’t guarantee a sale for a particular brand, it’s
important to remember in the long run, consumer confidence needs to be high in
order for the high street to have a chance at surviving as a whole.
Another way to avoid this issue is for brands to choose
partnerships with other companies very carefully. For example, if gift cards
are a part of a reward scheme such as O2 customer rewards (i.e.: save up £10
and convert it into a money off voucher), brands need to ensure that the
company they’re trusting to provide a service can deliver also, as both brand’s
reputations are on the line. Alternatively partnerships can be avoided
altogether during these tough times and rewards can come directly from the
company itself to ensure customer satisfaction and to enhance the relationship between
retailer and consumer.
Whilst Jessop’s customers lost over £800,000 collectively
through unredeemed gift cards, HMV and Blockbuster’s administrators lifted the
decision to ban gift cards as a goodwill gesture. However, should the brands
come out of administration again it would be fair to assume that consumers are
unlikely to invest in their cards again, in case of a repeated incident.
Although officials are hoping this crisis is ‘small blip’
that will pass, advice given to consumers is to invest in a multi-retailer gift
card for the future and spend all gift cards they have sooner rather than later
to avoid disappointment. Until brands can prove themselves to be trust worthy
and be seen to fulfil their promises we can expect consumer purse strings to be
drawn very tightly in the coming months. Brand trust and reputation is very
easy to damage and hard to build back up; companies must remember that a well
reputed brand is a brand worth saving and standards shouldn’t be forgotten at
the first sign of financial trouble.
Wednesday 20 February 2013
Update on the world of student PR
Quick update on the world of student PR:
It's reading week, and my oh my has it been a busy one! Monday consisted of an interview for a three month internship, as mentioned previously, so I won't go into too much detail about it. I can't believe that was only two days ago! I should expect to hear something back by the end of next week... it's going to feel like a long wait!! My fingers are still very much crossed!
Spent the last two days working at Eyes Wide Open (EWO) Communications and it's been very exciting indeed. I love working there, the people are just so nice and the projects are always so varied and nice to work on! I always look forward to it! I'm literally just filling in the blanks for client projects this week and it's been good; bit of database work going on, some competitor research, research and materials sourcing, social media research and not to mention I've just finished writing an EWO blog post, that is yet to be approved, but it will also be a post for this bog as well, so watch this space!!
Oh and as much I dislike to admit it- my lecturers were right! Research and insight are exactly what drives strategy and campaign ideas and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel that one of my modules is completely relevant after all! (I realised this through a day's analysis of survey results!)
It's been a busy but refreshingly exciting week so far and a little sad as it's my last day at EWO tomorrow and then Friday and Saturday it's back to my regular part time job at the garden centre. The company are doing really great and they've got some exciting prospects ahead of them in the near future and I'm very grateful for the opportunities they keep sending my way.
It's amazing how much you can actually learn, even from a few days here and there in companies. It just puts a real life spin on the lecture theory. It also adds variety to my life and I believe when completing assignments it can help input some fresh ideas and innovation. It's also good to practice working culture too, and get a feel for what sort of company you want to go into in the future. It's all about choices and the great thing about internships are you're not tied to them as you would be a job and you can mix it up a lot of the time. It's a great way to make industry contacts and to get some great recommendations for the future. For the first time in a very long time I feel the battle of completing a university degree is finally paying off!
It's reading week, and my oh my has it been a busy one! Monday consisted of an interview for a three month internship, as mentioned previously, so I won't go into too much detail about it. I can't believe that was only two days ago! I should expect to hear something back by the end of next week... it's going to feel like a long wait!! My fingers are still very much crossed!
Spent the last two days working at Eyes Wide Open (EWO) Communications and it's been very exciting indeed. I love working there, the people are just so nice and the projects are always so varied and nice to work on! I always look forward to it! I'm literally just filling in the blanks for client projects this week and it's been good; bit of database work going on, some competitor research, research and materials sourcing, social media research and not to mention I've just finished writing an EWO blog post, that is yet to be approved, but it will also be a post for this bog as well, so watch this space!!
Oh and as much I dislike to admit it- my lecturers were right! Research and insight are exactly what drives strategy and campaign ideas and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel that one of my modules is completely relevant after all! (I realised this through a day's analysis of survey results!)
It's been a busy but refreshingly exciting week so far and a little sad as it's my last day at EWO tomorrow and then Friday and Saturday it's back to my regular part time job at the garden centre. The company are doing really great and they've got some exciting prospects ahead of them in the near future and I'm very grateful for the opportunities they keep sending my way.
It's amazing how much you can actually learn, even from a few days here and there in companies. It just puts a real life spin on the lecture theory. It also adds variety to my life and I believe when completing assignments it can help input some fresh ideas and innovation. It's also good to practice working culture too, and get a feel for what sort of company you want to go into in the future. It's all about choices and the great thing about internships are you're not tied to them as you would be a job and you can mix it up a lot of the time. It's a great way to make industry contacts and to get some great recommendations for the future. For the first time in a very long time I feel the battle of completing a university degree is finally paying off!
Monday 18 February 2013
PR Story #5
This week's instalment of my most interesting story from PR Week is focused on healthcare and in particular the new Change4life TV ad which homes in on alcohol and the health risks involved. I found this interesting because as part of the Edcom competition assignment last year, our group had to look into European binge drinking amongst the 18-24 market and assess what are the influencers and ways of preventing it from happening in future.
Although Britain's obesity 'epidemic' is not just down to drinking, it does play a major part in increasing waist lines. It is reported in this article that obesity costs the NHS around £5 billion a year, including vital surgery and free vouchers to support groups such as Weight Watchers, that often people don't actually use. There are also talks from doctors about putting tax on sugary drinks and not being able to advertise unhealthy foods before the watershed. Are these really all the answers to this problem? The short answer: no. Will these elements even make the slightest change in consumer behaviours? The short answer: unlikely.
Being a member of Weight Watchers myself the first thing they discussed in the new year was that we live in a food overloaded environment and temptation is all around us- VERY true! I feel any agency with this brief of getting across this serious message and trying to change consumer behaviour is going to be one of the toughest challenges they'll ever face! Everyone can be shocked for a few minutes by a television ad or stop and think about it for a second but are they really going to change their behaviours; I would guess very few actually cut down on food/ booze/ smoking and so on due to these and similar advertisements. I also seriously doubt that putting the prices up will change anyone's attitude too- as heard on BBC Radio 1 today, interviews with members of the public all agreed that they would still buy these foods anyway regardless of price, mostly because it still wouldn't be any more expensive than healthier alternatives.
So, what is the actual issue here... that unhealthy food and drink are to blame for Britain's weight problem or is it that healthy food and ways of exercising aren't easily affordable and accessible for everyone in society?
I feel that in order to change someone's behaviour it will take a whole lot more than a couple of TV ads and a higher purchase price. So let's think about it... when do people mostly change their attitudes? Well as a really rough assumption I find the people in my life tend to change their behaviours when they experience something themselves or if someone they know goes through something bad that could have been avoided. But obviously there is the issue of once they experience it, it's too late to be avoided, it still costs the NHS money and sometimes nothing can be done to reverse the damage. So what if people were given a real life negative experience but from a 'safe distance' (the theory behind our Edcom campaign entry).
From my own experience, it takes a whole lot more than reading an interview with a doctor in a newspaper, to change someone's behaviour; as though it were that easy to change habits of a lifetime! To lose weight and live a healthy life and more importantly to want to achieve these things, takes inspiration and motivation. So why not inspire a nation- we had the perfect opportunity with the London 2012 Olympics but the fascination seems to have faded fast for most people.
Why not take a more hands on approach to tackling this problem, for example set up pop up shops in high streets, starting with parts of the UK that have a high obesity rate; go to these area's schools and colleges, and so on and show them physically what unhealthy eating can do to them if they don't change.
Make it interesting by turning it into an interactive event that doesn't talk down to people but encourages them to educate themselves by having:
- consultants giving free confidential advice,
- a free interactive healthy living quiz and show the results percentages on a large screen for all to see,
- goody bags with recipe cards, exercise regimes, money off a visit to the local gym and freebie healthy alternative foods- everyone loves something for nothing, even if they just take a goody bag from the event and nothing else it's a start!
- have hosts and staff that aren't size 6 or 8's- there is nothing worse than feeling like you don't match up and sometimes people give up before they even try; have real people showcasing realistic options for the public,
- mass dance and exercise classes to disperse that feeling of embarrassment and give the opportunity for local businesses to make their mark on the campaign and attract more customers,
- get a company sponsorship such as Weight Watchers and have their personalities make guest appearances and run Q&A sessions,
- have live cookery classes by television chefs or local restaurants on how to make healthy meals and hand out tasters...
- create games such as swapping unhealthy foods for healthy alternatives and highlight the benefits or get the public to guess which food package has the most calories/ fat content/ sugar content. Have a plastic organ system and swap unhealthy and healthy body parts for the kids and highlight how to make these changes possible....
Literally the possibilities for this are endless!
Also on the same note, I know exercise is free, technically speaking, but at home fitness methods aren't for everyone, sometimes people prefer to swim or do Zumba for example but can't afford it. Local councils could set up free exercise classes within the local community and recruit local community members to keep on running these; these could be a part of the 'Big Society' they are so keen to run and see take off?
From what I'm learning at university and from what I'm experiencing in life people like to be engaged and interactive and it's the best way to learn something important. To influence someone is to take a leaf from your own book and practice what you preach. If there is enough regular local encouragement to be an advocate of these opportunities, it is likely to make a greater impact on behaviours. There will never be a way of stopping the unhealthy food brands, for one there is too many of them and secondly they have to make money as well to survive too and it's unfair to take that away from them.
At the end of the day everyone has a choice, it just depends whether it's one that's a move in the right direction. I don't believe a single advertisement, tax increases or legal changes in advertising will make much of an impact on their own, but when teamed with something interactive and local to the people, it could have a much greater impact.
As always I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, please comment on this post.
Although Britain's obesity 'epidemic' is not just down to drinking, it does play a major part in increasing waist lines. It is reported in this article that obesity costs the NHS around £5 billion a year, including vital surgery and free vouchers to support groups such as Weight Watchers, that often people don't actually use. There are also talks from doctors about putting tax on sugary drinks and not being able to advertise unhealthy foods before the watershed. Are these really all the answers to this problem? The short answer: no. Will these elements even make the slightest change in consumer behaviours? The short answer: unlikely.
Being a member of Weight Watchers myself the first thing they discussed in the new year was that we live in a food overloaded environment and temptation is all around us- VERY true! I feel any agency with this brief of getting across this serious message and trying to change consumer behaviour is going to be one of the toughest challenges they'll ever face! Everyone can be shocked for a few minutes by a television ad or stop and think about it for a second but are they really going to change their behaviours; I would guess very few actually cut down on food/ booze/ smoking and so on due to these and similar advertisements. I also seriously doubt that putting the prices up will change anyone's attitude too- as heard on BBC Radio 1 today, interviews with members of the public all agreed that they would still buy these foods anyway regardless of price, mostly because it still wouldn't be any more expensive than healthier alternatives.
So, what is the actual issue here... that unhealthy food and drink are to blame for Britain's weight problem or is it that healthy food and ways of exercising aren't easily affordable and accessible for everyone in society?
I feel that in order to change someone's behaviour it will take a whole lot more than a couple of TV ads and a higher purchase price. So let's think about it... when do people mostly change their attitudes? Well as a really rough assumption I find the people in my life tend to change their behaviours when they experience something themselves or if someone they know goes through something bad that could have been avoided. But obviously there is the issue of once they experience it, it's too late to be avoided, it still costs the NHS money and sometimes nothing can be done to reverse the damage. So what if people were given a real life negative experience but from a 'safe distance' (the theory behind our Edcom campaign entry).
From my own experience, it takes a whole lot more than reading an interview with a doctor in a newspaper, to change someone's behaviour; as though it were that easy to change habits of a lifetime! To lose weight and live a healthy life and more importantly to want to achieve these things, takes inspiration and motivation. So why not inspire a nation- we had the perfect opportunity with the London 2012 Olympics but the fascination seems to have faded fast for most people.
Why not take a more hands on approach to tackling this problem, for example set up pop up shops in high streets, starting with parts of the UK that have a high obesity rate; go to these area's schools and colleges, and so on and show them physically what unhealthy eating can do to them if they don't change.
Make it interesting by turning it into an interactive event that doesn't talk down to people but encourages them to educate themselves by having:
- consultants giving free confidential advice,
- a free interactive healthy living quiz and show the results percentages on a large screen for all to see,
- goody bags with recipe cards, exercise regimes, money off a visit to the local gym and freebie healthy alternative foods- everyone loves something for nothing, even if they just take a goody bag from the event and nothing else it's a start!
- have hosts and staff that aren't size 6 or 8's- there is nothing worse than feeling like you don't match up and sometimes people give up before they even try; have real people showcasing realistic options for the public,
- mass dance and exercise classes to disperse that feeling of embarrassment and give the opportunity for local businesses to make their mark on the campaign and attract more customers,
- get a company sponsorship such as Weight Watchers and have their personalities make guest appearances and run Q&A sessions,
- have live cookery classes by television chefs or local restaurants on how to make healthy meals and hand out tasters...
- create games such as swapping unhealthy foods for healthy alternatives and highlight the benefits or get the public to guess which food package has the most calories/ fat content/ sugar content. Have a plastic organ system and swap unhealthy and healthy body parts for the kids and highlight how to make these changes possible....
Literally the possibilities for this are endless!
Also on the same note, I know exercise is free, technically speaking, but at home fitness methods aren't for everyone, sometimes people prefer to swim or do Zumba for example but can't afford it. Local councils could set up free exercise classes within the local community and recruit local community members to keep on running these; these could be a part of the 'Big Society' they are so keen to run and see take off?
From what I'm learning at university and from what I'm experiencing in life people like to be engaged and interactive and it's the best way to learn something important. To influence someone is to take a leaf from your own book and practice what you preach. If there is enough regular local encouragement to be an advocate of these opportunities, it is likely to make a greater impact on behaviours. There will never be a way of stopping the unhealthy food brands, for one there is too many of them and secondly they have to make money as well to survive too and it's unfair to take that away from them.
At the end of the day everyone has a choice, it just depends whether it's one that's a move in the right direction. I don't believe a single advertisement, tax increases or legal changes in advertising will make much of an impact on their own, but when teamed with something interactive and local to the people, it could have a much greater impact.
As always I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, please comment on this post.
Weekly Update
Just a quick update on the world of student PR as I'm aware the past couple of weeks I haven' been blogging as much as I normally do due to assignment deadlines and other happenings. So here's the run down of everything that has happened lately in a nutshell:
- I had an interview today for a PR agency internship. I'm hoping it went well (I've not had many interviews, especially for internships, and don't really know what to expect), I'm keeping my fingers crossed as I' really keen to find an internship to follow alongside the rest of my second year in order to get some real hands on experience.
- This week is Employability Week (Reading Week) for my course and although there are some workshops going on at university I've been asked to fill in at Eyes Wide Open Communications where I interned over the summer as they need an extra pair of hands temporarily, so I'm excited to be doing that this week as I loved being there over the summer!
- I've handed in two more assignments which technically means I'm half way through my work load for the second year! (Where has the time gone!!).
-And finally, on a personal note, if you read my 'Happy Holidays' blog post you'll recall I wanted to lose weight as a new year's resolution and set myself the target of losing 2 and a half stone by next Christmas in order to be the appropriate BMI weight for my height. As of today I've lost 11 lbs and am so pleased, more because I've proved to myself I can do it and I can feel the difference already!!
Plenty of exciting times are to come and I can't wait!!
- I had an interview today for a PR agency internship. I'm hoping it went well (I've not had many interviews, especially for internships, and don't really know what to expect), I'm keeping my fingers crossed as I' really keen to find an internship to follow alongside the rest of my second year in order to get some real hands on experience.
- This week is Employability Week (Reading Week) for my course and although there are some workshops going on at university I've been asked to fill in at Eyes Wide Open Communications where I interned over the summer as they need an extra pair of hands temporarily, so I'm excited to be doing that this week as I loved being there over the summer!
- I've handed in two more assignments which technically means I'm half way through my work load for the second year! (Where has the time gone!!).
-And finally, on a personal note, if you read my 'Happy Holidays' blog post you'll recall I wanted to lose weight as a new year's resolution and set myself the target of losing 2 and a half stone by next Christmas in order to be the appropriate BMI weight for my height. As of today I've lost 11 lbs and am so pleased, more because I've proved to myself I can do it and I can feel the difference already!!
Plenty of exciting times are to come and I can't wait!!
Following on from last week...
Following on from last weeks PR Story #4 about Radio 1, I found it fascinating listening to the Matt Edmondson show yesterday morning. He claimed he'd had a meeting with the 'Big Bosses' of Radio 1 and they showed him data and graphs on how they monitor each show and determined what appealed to their target audience via likes, comments, shares, and so on via social media.
So, on the show Matt Edmondson announces that he wants to 'confuse' big bosses at Radio 1 by getting a large amount of coverage on something that is really random. He posted a picture of Ian Beale from EastEnders on to Facebook and asked listeners to like, share and make over the top silly comments such as 'I love Ian Beale, he makes my life complete' and so forth- see here for the post. As of this morning the post got approximately three and a half thousand likes, two thousand comments and nearly one hundred shares! This is an insane amount when compared with their other posts that on average reach around two hundred likes.
This got me thinking (as it always does) this can't be to play an elaborate prank on the BBC bosses, as much as listeners may want to believe they are all in on the joke, I doubt the wool can be that easily pulled over their eyes. My theory is that this was a way of indicating how many viewers are influenced or even engaging with the radio station at that time. Quite clever- but who is really being pranked here? Although I don't quite fully see how this is helping the radio station, I'm sure it is a way of engaging with the viewers and possibly being able to profile who is listening to that show. It will be interesting to see if anything similar comes up in other Radio 1 DJ's shows.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!
Watch this space for PR Story #5 to be posted later on today!
So, on the show Matt Edmondson announces that he wants to 'confuse' big bosses at Radio 1 by getting a large amount of coverage on something that is really random. He posted a picture of Ian Beale from EastEnders on to Facebook and asked listeners to like, share and make over the top silly comments such as 'I love Ian Beale, he makes my life complete' and so forth- see here for the post. As of this morning the post got approximately three and a half thousand likes, two thousand comments and nearly one hundred shares! This is an insane amount when compared with their other posts that on average reach around two hundred likes.
This got me thinking (as it always does) this can't be to play an elaborate prank on the BBC bosses, as much as listeners may want to believe they are all in on the joke, I doubt the wool can be that easily pulled over their eyes. My theory is that this was a way of indicating how many viewers are influenced or even engaging with the radio station at that time. Quite clever- but who is really being pranked here? Although I don't quite fully see how this is helping the radio station, I'm sure it is a way of engaging with the viewers and possibly being able to profile who is listening to that show. It will be interesting to see if anything similar comes up in other Radio 1 DJ's shows.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!
Watch this space for PR Story #5 to be posted later on today!
Monday 11 February 2013
PR Story #4
Fourth instalment is a little late this week- sorry! It's been a crazy busy weekend but it's all starting to settle down again which is good! So let's roll on with last Friday's PR week magazine's most interesting story (in my opinion).
This week's story is focused on Radio 1 loses more listeners. I found this story interesting, even though it only had a small column dedicated to it, because it made me think about the changing world of media formats and platforms. The story outlines that even though Chris Moyles has left the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show the number of listeners is still falling. Moyles and his team were hit with criticism that they attracted an older audience than the radio station wants to target. According to the BBC website, the show aims to target 15-29 year olds and possibly even younger for some programming (BBC).
The show has a weekly listening reach of around 6.69 million, down from 6.73 million since the last quarter and is currently at it's lowest audience level in 7 years. However, this got me thinking... is it just Radio 1 or is this the future of our media landscape? Is it that radio is dying?
It's important to consider that the internet and software such as iTunes makes radio even easier to access than an old stereo player or car radio however, it's not really ever the medium that springs to mind when wanting some entertainment.
I must admit that personally I like Radio 1 but I only ever listen to it when driving in the car because an hour's commute can get boring and it does provide some decent entertainment for the drive. However, I've never and probably won't ever seek it out via the internet or on iTunes or any other radio station for that matter and I'm fairly certain that is the case with most people in the BBC Radio 1's target market (of course with some exceptions because that is a massive generalisation).
The BBC website says it aims to provide Radio 1's programming to bridge the gap for children who are too old for CBBC but too young for other BBC programming. I can see where they are coming from but then again the jump from television to radio doesn't make sense and isn't an entirely logical step. Most teenagers are probably more familiar with an in car iPod dock these days rather than listening to the radio on the way to school. I believe that the media landscape is changing and is beginning to phase out radio.
If listeners are falling then the BBC need to be out there gaining a wider reach of audience as well as trying to maintain the children who have previously watched CBBC. The BBC need something current that will attract their audience's attention and make them think of BBC Radio 1 in a different way; a lot of their strategy outlined in the BBC link above is very heavily based on programming but that will only work on those who do listen already. They have a lot of good content on their shows but the trouble is not many people know about it unless they happen to catch it on the way to work and so on.
BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend is a good move for them and very popular but the issues here is that it is a one off, seasonal event. There needs to be a more consistent outreach to potential audiences via other mediums such as the BBC television programmes itself or through social media.
One idea could be for the radio station to get their target market's attention on another level of interest such as promoting a trainee/ internship scheme where the target market can get involved in the different departments of the radio station? It would allow individuals to get inside and behind the scenes and feel they can get to know what the station is all about. The target market for the radio station is typically generation Y-ers and I know I keep going back to it but understanding what we're about will go far for a brand! We love being interactive, having those amazing opportunities open to us and we love two way communication. By getting the target market interested in a work scheme it would promote the need to have knowledge of the radio station therefore listening to the shows and getting to know the programming. It would also look pretty good for the BBC's CSR too by helping young people get work experience, encouraging creativity and helping to achieve their aspirations. It's not a massive leap either as I recall a year or two ago they ran a CV workshop when statistics came out about the youth unemployment being at an all time low, if I remember correctly? Why not take it a step further?
The moral of the story here I believe is that for the radio to compete with other forms of media communications and fight to stay alive, they need to go above and beyond for their target audience. Really get inside their heads and find out what really interests them and integrate the insight into a strategy; at the end of the day everyone is interested in celebrities and showbiz one way or another, but is that enough to maintain and grow a radio station's reach?
Comments/ suggestions/ ideas on this topic will be appreciated!
This week's story is focused on Radio 1 loses more listeners. I found this story interesting, even though it only had a small column dedicated to it, because it made me think about the changing world of media formats and platforms. The story outlines that even though Chris Moyles has left the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show the number of listeners is still falling. Moyles and his team were hit with criticism that they attracted an older audience than the radio station wants to target. According to the BBC website, the show aims to target 15-29 year olds and possibly even younger for some programming (BBC).
The show has a weekly listening reach of around 6.69 million, down from 6.73 million since the last quarter and is currently at it's lowest audience level in 7 years. However, this got me thinking... is it just Radio 1 or is this the future of our media landscape? Is it that radio is dying?
It's important to consider that the internet and software such as iTunes makes radio even easier to access than an old stereo player or car radio however, it's not really ever the medium that springs to mind when wanting some entertainment.
I must admit that personally I like Radio 1 but I only ever listen to it when driving in the car because an hour's commute can get boring and it does provide some decent entertainment for the drive. However, I've never and probably won't ever seek it out via the internet or on iTunes or any other radio station for that matter and I'm fairly certain that is the case with most people in the BBC Radio 1's target market (of course with some exceptions because that is a massive generalisation).
The BBC website says it aims to provide Radio 1's programming to bridge the gap for children who are too old for CBBC but too young for other BBC programming. I can see where they are coming from but then again the jump from television to radio doesn't make sense and isn't an entirely logical step. Most teenagers are probably more familiar with an in car iPod dock these days rather than listening to the radio on the way to school. I believe that the media landscape is changing and is beginning to phase out radio.
If listeners are falling then the BBC need to be out there gaining a wider reach of audience as well as trying to maintain the children who have previously watched CBBC. The BBC need something current that will attract their audience's attention and make them think of BBC Radio 1 in a different way; a lot of their strategy outlined in the BBC link above is very heavily based on programming but that will only work on those who do listen already. They have a lot of good content on their shows but the trouble is not many people know about it unless they happen to catch it on the way to work and so on.
BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend is a good move for them and very popular but the issues here is that it is a one off, seasonal event. There needs to be a more consistent outreach to potential audiences via other mediums such as the BBC television programmes itself or through social media.
One idea could be for the radio station to get their target market's attention on another level of interest such as promoting a trainee/ internship scheme where the target market can get involved in the different departments of the radio station? It would allow individuals to get inside and behind the scenes and feel they can get to know what the station is all about. The target market for the radio station is typically generation Y-ers and I know I keep going back to it but understanding what we're about will go far for a brand! We love being interactive, having those amazing opportunities open to us and we love two way communication. By getting the target market interested in a work scheme it would promote the need to have knowledge of the radio station therefore listening to the shows and getting to know the programming. It would also look pretty good for the BBC's CSR too by helping young people get work experience, encouraging creativity and helping to achieve their aspirations. It's not a massive leap either as I recall a year or two ago they ran a CV workshop when statistics came out about the youth unemployment being at an all time low, if I remember correctly? Why not take it a step further?
The moral of the story here I believe is that for the radio to compete with other forms of media communications and fight to stay alive, they need to go above and beyond for their target audience. Really get inside their heads and find out what really interests them and integrate the insight into a strategy; at the end of the day everyone is interested in celebrities and showbiz one way or another, but is that enough to maintain and grow a radio station's reach?
Comments/ suggestions/ ideas on this topic will be appreciated!
Guest Speaker of the week
This week in my PR practice and skillset lecture we had Paul Stallard of Berkeley PR come to talk to us about his experiences, what life is like at his agency and to also gives us a couple of briefs that were previously live for practice.
Firstly we were told that everyday is different- a lot of speakers say this- but that's good because that's what we like to hear and the more people say it the more believable it's becoming. None of us want to be committed to desk tapping away five days a week! We want to be out there and really involved with brands and campaigns and just learning how to become a great PR person!
We also discussed what makes a good story and in Paul's opinion it's bad news, human interest, topical and a great story has all three!I'm going to mentally bookmark that bit of useful information for when I start working! He also told us that to create a great press release and also include the above tips (obviously you don't want to be spending bad news about clients) is that you have to position your client as the solution to a bad situation where possible. So do some research, find out market statistics that aren't so great or are a cause for concern and then bring in your client's company as the hero to the problem- it sounds so simple and actually really straight forward, but I've never of it like that before or heard it in those exact words- it suddenly made a lot of sense to be honest!
The brand that our group got was a shopping centre (not sure if I'm allowed to name names so I won't) and they wanted to get more traffic into the shopping centre and make it attractive to children and families over the summer holidays. Our team came up with the idea of having weekly themes for the shopping centre such as an underwater theme (Finding Nemo), the zoo (Madagascar), a beach theme (Little Mermaid), and so on. Each week there would be an array of activities that matched the week's theme such as face painting, story telling, small rides, a mini beach. Shops would help out too such as Waterstones conducting the story telling and the Disney store have staff dress up as themed characters, and so on. It sounded like a pretty exciting campaign to be honest, we got so carried away with it it was hard to remember that it was all theoretical!
Every time a speaker comes in it really inspires me to go out there and start working already! I've got an internship interview next Monday, keeping my fingers crossed!
Firstly we were told that everyday is different- a lot of speakers say this- but that's good because that's what we like to hear and the more people say it the more believable it's becoming. None of us want to be committed to desk tapping away five days a week! We want to be out there and really involved with brands and campaigns and just learning how to become a great PR person!
We also discussed what makes a good story and in Paul's opinion it's bad news, human interest, topical and a great story has all three!I'm going to mentally bookmark that bit of useful information for when I start working! He also told us that to create a great press release and also include the above tips (obviously you don't want to be spending bad news about clients) is that you have to position your client as the solution to a bad situation where possible. So do some research, find out market statistics that aren't so great or are a cause for concern and then bring in your client's company as the hero to the problem- it sounds so simple and actually really straight forward, but I've never of it like that before or heard it in those exact words- it suddenly made a lot of sense to be honest!
The brand that our group got was a shopping centre (not sure if I'm allowed to name names so I won't) and they wanted to get more traffic into the shopping centre and make it attractive to children and families over the summer holidays. Our team came up with the idea of having weekly themes for the shopping centre such as an underwater theme (Finding Nemo), the zoo (Madagascar), a beach theme (Little Mermaid), and so on. Each week there would be an array of activities that matched the week's theme such as face painting, story telling, small rides, a mini beach. Shops would help out too such as Waterstones conducting the story telling and the Disney store have staff dress up as themed characters, and so on. It sounded like a pretty exciting campaign to be honest, we got so carried away with it it was hard to remember that it was all theoretical!
Every time a speaker comes in it really inspires me to go out there and start working already! I've got an internship interview next Monday, keeping my fingers crossed!
Tuesday 5 February 2013
Event Management Assignment
Update: Well it's been a stressful week in the world of Student PR and university but actually quite enjoyable. Aside from my computer deleting all the work I did on my event management PR assignment last week, I have successfully managed to catch up and more over the past few days; luckily I'm a quick typist and somehow I was able to remember pretty much all of the ideas I brainstormed!
As mentioned previously I really enjoy the buzz of working towards deadlines and trying to make the work the best I've ever produced. The assignment I'm working on at the moment is about content creation, specifically events. We have to theoretically organise a UK smartphone product launch- a follow on from our last assignment. We have to include copies for an internal briefing, press release for all UK media and a storyboard for a video crew. We have to include a budget sheet, schedule and report explaining the overall event. It's a lot of work, and the appendix items are really time consuming but it's quite fun and thinking I could potentially doing things like this everyday as part of my career is an exciting thought and one that I can actually seen myself doing. It makes me think I would really like to go into event management PR. It's something that has always been at the forefront of my mind but I want to keep my options open to other types of PR careers also.
There are still a lot of concepts that I have had to research to do with PR and there are some things that a book just can't teach you, it has to come from experience. I'm really lucky to have a cousin that I'm quite close to already graduate from university and work as a marketing account manager. She's been able to advise me on things from her experiences for this assignment and she's a great source to reference also.
I'm now at the stage of writing my assignment, having done my background research and report outline and I'm already excited to see what grade I get for this assignment. Watch this space!
As mentioned previously I really enjoy the buzz of working towards deadlines and trying to make the work the best I've ever produced. The assignment I'm working on at the moment is about content creation, specifically events. We have to theoretically organise a UK smartphone product launch- a follow on from our last assignment. We have to include copies for an internal briefing, press release for all UK media and a storyboard for a video crew. We have to include a budget sheet, schedule and report explaining the overall event. It's a lot of work, and the appendix items are really time consuming but it's quite fun and thinking I could potentially doing things like this everyday as part of my career is an exciting thought and one that I can actually seen myself doing. It makes me think I would really like to go into event management PR. It's something that has always been at the forefront of my mind but I want to keep my options open to other types of PR careers also.
There are still a lot of concepts that I have had to research to do with PR and there are some things that a book just can't teach you, it has to come from experience. I'm really lucky to have a cousin that I'm quite close to already graduate from university and work as a marketing account manager. She's been able to advise me on things from her experiences for this assignment and she's a great source to reference also.
I'm now at the stage of writing my assignment, having done my background research and report outline and I'm already excited to see what grade I get for this assignment. Watch this space!
Friday 1 February 2013
PR Story #3
Is it that time of week again already? This is the third in the series of (in my opinion) the most interesting story in the PR Week magazine. For the previous posts in this series look through my post history on the right hand side and select 'PR Story #1' and 'PR Story #2'.
This week's focus is on Ryanair's new Head of Communications Director (dubbed worst job in PR by Ryanair itself) and his shock statement on the brand's forth coming communications strategy.
Robin Kiely has been quoted saying that Ryanair would not be using social media as a part of it's communications strategy. Whilst other big name airline companies have utilised social media as a part of their brand, Kiely intends to use traditional media to get Ryanair's message across. One of the ways, he explained, was through the Ryanair website and have a dedicated area where journalists can get more information from Ryanair themselves. This is an attempt to prevent false claims about the airline as The Sunday Times wrote before Christmas that Ryanair had broken safety regulations 1,201 times in Spanish airspace. Kiely added that social media is a 'two way tool' and maintaining a Facebook or Twitter account would mean hiring extra people just to sit at a computer all day.
So, smart move? Being a student, and taking into account everything I have learnt so far, I'm going to say... no! Airlines bigger than Ryanair can manage their social media accounts, and yes they probably do have people on their payroll 'just sitting at a computer all day' but this is how the modern generation communicate!! I feel that Ryanair need to start embracing social media quicker rather than later as they could see a slide in their customers and sales pretty soon as the summer period is coming up!
Social media is a two way tool but it's a good thing. As much as you may get some bad comments, particularly if you're not one of the very top airlines, customers like to feel that they can be interactive with their brands. Sending an email or letter or even phoning up isn't enough any more- customers no longer want that feeling of being pushed from pillar to post, between departments and being put on hold. Social media gives customers the power to make brands react and keep them on their toes; social media allows that instant reaction from the brand, giving customers a solution to their problems. Even if you choose not to be on social media sites... that doesn't stop people from posting or tweeting about the brand. One of the first things I learnt on my course is customer feedback is key to improving and constantly reviewing your business and by having an online presence you can see what people are saying. This was proved yesterday that journalists get their stories just as much from social media and they do from the actual brand itself (HMV Twitter Account Hijacked).
Consumers these days are pretty demanding creatures, especially since the back end of Generation Y is fast approaching 18 years old and believe me if you thought we were difficult children and teenagers, we are going to be nightmare adult consumers!! But the truth of the matter is, if brands don't engage with us now, they're going to find it twice as hard to know how to target us for the future.
I feel Kiely thinks that if he dismisses social media it means that social media dismisses Ryanair and it doesn't work that way. Social media and the web is our future, even if you don't like, it's happening!! Even the fact that being on a university course in PR and Marketing, if you don't have a Twitter account, LinkedIn profile, some sort of personal website or blog and knowledge on how to utilise all of these you're behind in the runnings for a career!! Having a dedicated area on the website may be a good idea but as part of a wider initiative maybe.
Journalists (well everyone really) know that brands are only going to promote the good things about their brand, but good news doesn't always make great news, sometimes a bit of scandal can go a long way. If you're a brand that have an amazing crisis management team and react to negative things in the right way, you can gain more credibility than a brand that simply ignores it or wishes it to stop.
I'll agree I know a lot of people that would laugh at the idea of people being hired just to sit on a social media site all day and get paid for it but you have to think of them as an extension of the marketing team I suppose? But if this is the future, no matter how much Ryanair try to break the mould, they are eventually going to get left behind.
I'm looking forward to seeing how this all plans out for Ryanair and if it works then it's a lesson for us all not to be so over obsessed with social media. But currently I just can't see it working, can you?
This week's focus is on Ryanair's new Head of Communications Director (dubbed worst job in PR by Ryanair itself) and his shock statement on the brand's forth coming communications strategy.
Ryanair Airlines
Robin Kiely has been quoted saying that Ryanair would not be using social media as a part of it's communications strategy. Whilst other big name airline companies have utilised social media as a part of their brand, Kiely intends to use traditional media to get Ryanair's message across. One of the ways, he explained, was through the Ryanair website and have a dedicated area where journalists can get more information from Ryanair themselves. This is an attempt to prevent false claims about the airline as The Sunday Times wrote before Christmas that Ryanair had broken safety regulations 1,201 times in Spanish airspace. Kiely added that social media is a 'two way tool' and maintaining a Facebook or Twitter account would mean hiring extra people just to sit at a computer all day.
Robin Kiely- New Head of Comms at Ryanair
So, smart move? Being a student, and taking into account everything I have learnt so far, I'm going to say... no! Airlines bigger than Ryanair can manage their social media accounts, and yes they probably do have people on their payroll 'just sitting at a computer all day' but this is how the modern generation communicate!! I feel that Ryanair need to start embracing social media quicker rather than later as they could see a slide in their customers and sales pretty soon as the summer period is coming up!
Social media is a two way tool but it's a good thing. As much as you may get some bad comments, particularly if you're not one of the very top airlines, customers like to feel that they can be interactive with their brands. Sending an email or letter or even phoning up isn't enough any more- customers no longer want that feeling of being pushed from pillar to post, between departments and being put on hold. Social media gives customers the power to make brands react and keep them on their toes; social media allows that instant reaction from the brand, giving customers a solution to their problems. Even if you choose not to be on social media sites... that doesn't stop people from posting or tweeting about the brand. One of the first things I learnt on my course is customer feedback is key to improving and constantly reviewing your business and by having an online presence you can see what people are saying. This was proved yesterday that journalists get their stories just as much from social media and they do from the actual brand itself (HMV Twitter Account Hijacked).
Examples of the many social media sites available for brands to utilise
Consumers these days are pretty demanding creatures, especially since the back end of Generation Y is fast approaching 18 years old and believe me if you thought we were difficult children and teenagers, we are going to be nightmare adult consumers!! But the truth of the matter is, if brands don't engage with us now, they're going to find it twice as hard to know how to target us for the future.
I feel Kiely thinks that if he dismisses social media it means that social media dismisses Ryanair and it doesn't work that way. Social media and the web is our future, even if you don't like, it's happening!! Even the fact that being on a university course in PR and Marketing, if you don't have a Twitter account, LinkedIn profile, some sort of personal website or blog and knowledge on how to utilise all of these you're behind in the runnings for a career!! Having a dedicated area on the website may be a good idea but as part of a wider initiative maybe.
Journalists (well everyone really) know that brands are only going to promote the good things about their brand, but good news doesn't always make great news, sometimes a bit of scandal can go a long way. If you're a brand that have an amazing crisis management team and react to negative things in the right way, you can gain more credibility than a brand that simply ignores it or wishes it to stop.
I'll agree I know a lot of people that would laugh at the idea of people being hired just to sit on a social media site all day and get paid for it but you have to think of them as an extension of the marketing team I suppose? But if this is the future, no matter how much Ryanair try to break the mould, they are eventually going to get left behind.
I'm looking forward to seeing how this all plans out for Ryanair and if it works then it's a lesson for us all not to be so over obsessed with social media. But currently I just can't see it working, can you?
Thursday 31 January 2013
HMV Twitter account hijacked!
Referring to my last post about HMV closing down (latest high street closure) the HMV Twitter account was today hijacked by some very upset employees. The following tweets, now removed from the Twitter account once control was gained back express some very specific views on the brands management.
This takes some guts on the employees behalf but I guess if they knew they were being let go it didn't matter to them any more. However, the account has now been regained and a few messages have been sent out to apologise for the outbursts on the social networking account.
I can imagine a bit of crisis management came into play here at some point on how to turn this situation into a positive or make it something better than what it sounded, so have they done a good job? Could they have handled it better? Could it even have been staged to draw attention to HMV as other tweets are about the sale the stores are having and people on Twitter searching for these outrageous tweets are likely to come across these also? The reason I ask this is because it mentions about stores still being open and the whole #savehmv in recovering tweet, but was it fair to use others losing their jobs today as part of a publicity stunt? I guess it's something that we will never find the truth about.
With the result being that HMV now have over 72,000 followers and the brand has made national headlines, whether it was real or not, some good has come out of this, that they have reached a very wide audience now in their aim to save the brand. But can it really be saved given the current economic climate?
Would it be a wise move for HMV to sell off stock in stores in sales and set up as a competitor with Amazon and Ebay, for example? I noticed the other day that their site was down and it isn't clear whether they intend to open it up again? Some jobs can be salvaged through warehouses and internet orders and less costs will be involved due to not having to run stores. One thing is for certain though, being able to obtain media such as music, films, games, etc has never been so hard to do on the high street. Which sector of retailers will be next to go down and become largely internet based after the closure of media shops?
Wednesday 30 January 2013
A look into the future
Yesterday I was looking on various sites for Buckinghamshire agencies for a part time PR internship either for summer 2013 or to run alongside my course currently. As I started looking obviously a lot of the jobs that came up were also graduate jobs, so just out of curiosity I looked through the descriptions and was amazed to see how many internships wanted someone who had a place on a Master's degree or further qualification course place confirmed... I remember a speaker that came to see us, Roger Hayes, who mentioned to us that looking into Master's degree or something similar would benefit us greatly. However, a lot of other speakers have said it doesn't make much difference if you have a Master's degree. So which is it?
Now I've heard a lot of different things about Master's degrees. That it's free if you get a first in your undergraduate course, you don't get student finance funding for it otherwise and it can cost you ridiculous amounts of money and that your fees have to be paid in full before the course... surely this can't be right? So, I went to investigate...
I do know for a fact that some companies will send their executives on Master's degrees as a day release set up, but this tends to be only the bigger companies or those that can afford it. According to the Direct Gov website you can get funding for a Masters degree but it's not widely available to anyone. I couldn't find much information about whether if you get a first in your undergraduate degree you get to do a Master's for free, but I did find out that funding is generally only available if you're doing a subject such as Law or Medicine though there are some exceptions but nothing about Marketing or Business. I think this information should be more readily available to students- life choices don't stop when you get to university. There is so much information about which university and which course to apply for or other options after school but it generally stops there. I think a lot of people are misinformed about post graduate study, myself for one and even looking online didn't help too much, in fact I think it confused me even more!
I've always considered post graduate study but I'm not too sure due to circumstances such as funding. It would be great if I got into a job that was willing to send me on a post graduate course but sadly due to the current economy that option also isn't too widely available. Nonetheless, I'm at university now and the wise thing to do would be to make the most of what I have!
If anyone has info on post-grad study, please comment! I'd love to have my facts straight on this topic!
Now I've heard a lot of different things about Master's degrees. That it's free if you get a first in your undergraduate course, you don't get student finance funding for it otherwise and it can cost you ridiculous amounts of money and that your fees have to be paid in full before the course... surely this can't be right? So, I went to investigate...
I do know for a fact that some companies will send their executives on Master's degrees as a day release set up, but this tends to be only the bigger companies or those that can afford it. According to the Direct Gov website you can get funding for a Masters degree but it's not widely available to anyone. I couldn't find much information about whether if you get a first in your undergraduate degree you get to do a Master's for free, but I did find out that funding is generally only available if you're doing a subject such as Law or Medicine though there are some exceptions but nothing about Marketing or Business. I think this information should be more readily available to students- life choices don't stop when you get to university. There is so much information about which university and which course to apply for or other options after school but it generally stops there. I think a lot of people are misinformed about post graduate study, myself for one and even looking online didn't help too much, in fact I think it confused me even more!
I've always considered post graduate study but I'm not too sure due to circumstances such as funding. It would be great if I got into a job that was willing to send me on a post graduate course but sadly due to the current economy that option also isn't too widely available. Nonetheless, I'm at university now and the wise thing to do would be to make the most of what I have!
If anyone has info on post-grad study, please comment! I'd love to have my facts straight on this topic!
Tuesday 29 January 2013
Review of Barclay's latest campaign
I was looking for some news to write about on PR and Marketing Week and this story caught my eye, particularly as the ad in question caught my attention earlier in the month.
The BBH created ad is based around the theme of 'You Vs Unconditional Love' where the ad goes through one man's lifetime bringing up his daughter who has increasing demands for an ice cream, bike, horse, car and a house. The ad ends with his daughter then having to go through the same thing with her own child, whilst the original male character effectively 'kicks back and relaxes.'
Initially when I first watched the advert I understood the exaggerated generalised costs and role of being a parent and enjoyed it for that. However, in lecture recently (and in media studies in year's 12 and 13 at sixth form) we're always told to deconstruct an ad and work out why it is the way it is and who it is being targeted to, etc. Well for starters one thing I didn't understand is the very 'American' looking house and surrounding of the ad. Another thing also is that generally the child in this is also very American in terms of her demands, such as a horse, pink car and pink house. NOTE: When I say American, I mean what you typically see in American films that seems to stereotype American cultures.
I see the playful, albeit very generalised, symbolism of the advert. However, I thought to myself would it still have the same effect or an even better effect if it were to have a typical British Dad who obviously works long hard shifts in an office or doing manual work, whose daughter is much more British in her behaviours and cultures. Such as having driving lessons rather than being given a car, having a birthday party once they hit secondary school age or the mass amounts that need to be bought for the start of secondary school such as uniforms, PE kits, equipment, etc, or even Christmas and birthdays having received an iPod or another expensive gadget. The target audience here is parents who maybe want to help out their children with buying a house, I'm not quite sure how a parent of say 40 or 50 years old, for example, will necessarily connect with the ad. I personally would shave thought this would catch the attention of the children in question and then let their parents know about it.
However, the point of this advert is for the mortgages Barclays are adding and I was going off track, so, instead of an ice cream it would be all the things that are needed as a child such as school uniforms, instead of a bike it would be an expensive gadget, instead of a car it would be driving lessons and tests and instead of a house it could be the child going off to university and then eventually moving in with a partner and then going through the same thing with their own children, etc. I just feel this would be more typically British but let's just say we take the Barclays ad for what it is a symbol of parenting and the costs it involves and how Barclays can help....
The ad has been accused of "encouraging 'parasitic' behaviour" and has received eight complaints that children at home may attempt to copy the child who is demanding materialistic things of her dad. As much as I see this point that the demands are somewhat ridiculous I can see it is meant to be an exaggeration of the truth. I believe that children will try to copy the behaviour, because that's what they do, but then this can't be the only advert/ program/ film that displays this kind of behaviour for children to see. The ASA is currently reviewing the advert but a spokesperson for Barclay has issued a statement saying that generally the ad has had positive feedback for it's creativity.
The BBH created ad is based around the theme of 'You Vs Unconditional Love' where the ad goes through one man's lifetime bringing up his daughter who has increasing demands for an ice cream, bike, horse, car and a house. The ad ends with his daughter then having to go through the same thing with her own child, whilst the original male character effectively 'kicks back and relaxes.'
Initially when I first watched the advert I understood the exaggerated generalised costs and role of being a parent and enjoyed it for that. However, in lecture recently (and in media studies in year's 12 and 13 at sixth form) we're always told to deconstruct an ad and work out why it is the way it is and who it is being targeted to, etc. Well for starters one thing I didn't understand is the very 'American' looking house and surrounding of the ad. Another thing also is that generally the child in this is also very American in terms of her demands, such as a horse, pink car and pink house. NOTE: When I say American, I mean what you typically see in American films that seems to stereotype American cultures.
I see the playful, albeit very generalised, symbolism of the advert. However, I thought to myself would it still have the same effect or an even better effect if it were to have a typical British Dad who obviously works long hard shifts in an office or doing manual work, whose daughter is much more British in her behaviours and cultures. Such as having driving lessons rather than being given a car, having a birthday party once they hit secondary school age or the mass amounts that need to be bought for the start of secondary school such as uniforms, PE kits, equipment, etc, or even Christmas and birthdays having received an iPod or another expensive gadget. The target audience here is parents who maybe want to help out their children with buying a house, I'm not quite sure how a parent of say 40 or 50 years old, for example, will necessarily connect with the ad. I personally would shave thought this would catch the attention of the children in question and then let their parents know about it.
However, the point of this advert is for the mortgages Barclays are adding and I was going off track, so, instead of an ice cream it would be all the things that are needed as a child such as school uniforms, instead of a bike it would be an expensive gadget, instead of a car it would be driving lessons and tests and instead of a house it could be the child going off to university and then eventually moving in with a partner and then going through the same thing with their own children, etc. I just feel this would be more typically British but let's just say we take the Barclays ad for what it is a symbol of parenting and the costs it involves and how Barclays can help....
The ad has been accused of "encouraging 'parasitic' behaviour" and has received eight complaints that children at home may attempt to copy the child who is demanding materialistic things of her dad. As much as I see this point that the demands are somewhat ridiculous I can see it is meant to be an exaggeration of the truth. I believe that children will try to copy the behaviour, because that's what they do, but then this can't be the only advert/ program/ film that displays this kind of behaviour for children to see. The ASA is currently reviewing the advert but a spokesperson for Barclay has issued a statement saying that generally the ad has had positive feedback for it's creativity.
Friday 25 January 2013
PR Story #2
Okay folks, it's that time of week again to blog about the most interesting story from PR week (in my opinion). To see the first story in this series follow this link: PR Story #1
This week's story is Alton Towers and its agency Cake's latest campaign ready for summer 2013. Alton Towers' is launching a new ride called The Smiler and in order to promote it a viral campaign was created. The Smiler symbol, as seen below, has been projected onto tourist attractions in and around London, such as Big Ben and train and tube stations. There has been a lot of speculation about what the symbol means or what it is associated with.
More recenly the campaign has taken on somewhat a more organic nature with flocks of sheep having had the symbol sprayed onto their wool. Passersby picked up on the symbol and started tweeting again causing a buzz and more speculation. Newspaper such as The Sun and the Mail Online picked up the trend and ran their own stories on the campaign, helping it to go completely viral.
The campaign was later revealed on Twitter and an exclusive was given to Metro. I personally think this campaign is genius!! I always love reading about campaign such as this one because it allows me to broaden my own ideas when asked for them. Although these campaigns are fun they're also educational. At university you're taught all the theory and logistics and technicalities but when reading up on things like this it allows your creative side to get thinking. I personally am intruied to see what is next for this campaign as it will be launched May 2013, there has to be more!!
Unfortunately though it seems that this story was very much non viral until the papers picked up on it. Jamie Robinson of We Are Social, says that this campaign did not in fact reach many people, at least not through social media. Thus the campaign has been classed as a 'miss'. However, In one way I agree- didn't even know about this campaign until I read about it in PR week, thus it didn't reach me and no one I knew was talking about it. However, the creative idea itself was incredible- it was inventive and obviously got enough attention for the papers to cover it, right?
What could be improved though if it is such a 'miss'? Well in my opinion possibly the campaign could have started a little later... Due to the weather and what not, this has dominated the news entirely for a while now, allowing less coverage for other stories in national news. I would maybe have starrted the campaign mid February when people start to look to the summer and their plans.
Also, it was a nice idea to target London and the areas around the Alton Tower's park but it doesn't target a specific audience type and what about the demographic areas outside of those targeted? In order to overcome this the target market for the resort needs to be reassessed. On their website, Alton Tower's claims to have a core market of families and thrill seekers. So, thrill seekers, who have a bit of disposable income, who like to do crazy, nutty things and enjoy road trips with their mates... uni students maybe? Or even the universities themselves, some run limited place events such as Thorpe Park or Alton Towers day trips. A 'Smiler' tour bus could come to univerisity campuses and do an SU night or something similar. A competition could be run at universities and the winner gets their whole course a free day to Alton Towers for example.
To target families really sales promotions is a good idea although not related directly to PR as every family is looking for a great deal whilst treating their family. Other ideas could include major shopping centre appearances with a tour bus and other places that are stereotypically 'family' orientated.
Anyway just a few suggestions! Always love to deconstruct a campaign and go through all the alternative possibilities!
This week's story is Alton Towers and its agency Cake's latest campaign ready for summer 2013. Alton Towers' is launching a new ride called The Smiler and in order to promote it a viral campaign was created. The Smiler symbol, as seen below, has been projected onto tourist attractions in and around London, such as Big Ben and train and tube stations. There has been a lot of speculation about what the symbol means or what it is associated with.
A few examples of where the symbol has been spotted.
More recenly the campaign has taken on somewhat a more organic nature with flocks of sheep having had the symbol sprayed onto their wool. Passersby picked up on the symbol and started tweeting again causing a buzz and more speculation. Newspaper such as The Sun and the Mail Online picked up the trend and ran their own stories on the campaign, helping it to go completely viral.
Unfortunately though it seems that this story was very much non viral until the papers picked up on it. Jamie Robinson of We Are Social, says that this campaign did not in fact reach many people, at least not through social media. Thus the campaign has been classed as a 'miss'. However, In one way I agree- didn't even know about this campaign until I read about it in PR week, thus it didn't reach me and no one I knew was talking about it. However, the creative idea itself was incredible- it was inventive and obviously got enough attention for the papers to cover it, right?
What could be improved though if it is such a 'miss'? Well in my opinion possibly the campaign could have started a little later... Due to the weather and what not, this has dominated the news entirely for a while now, allowing less coverage for other stories in national news. I would maybe have starrted the campaign mid February when people start to look to the summer and their plans.
Also, it was a nice idea to target London and the areas around the Alton Tower's park but it doesn't target a specific audience type and what about the demographic areas outside of those targeted? In order to overcome this the target market for the resort needs to be reassessed. On their website, Alton Tower's claims to have a core market of families and thrill seekers. So, thrill seekers, who have a bit of disposable income, who like to do crazy, nutty things and enjoy road trips with their mates... uni students maybe? Or even the universities themselves, some run limited place events such as Thorpe Park or Alton Towers day trips. A 'Smiler' tour bus could come to univerisity campuses and do an SU night or something similar. A competition could be run at universities and the winner gets their whole course a free day to Alton Towers for example.
To target families really sales promotions is a good idea although not related directly to PR as every family is looking for a great deal whilst treating their family. Other ideas could include major shopping centre appearances with a tour bus and other places that are stereotypically 'family' orientated.
Anyway just a few suggestions! Always love to deconstruct a campaign and go through all the alternative possibilities!
Guest Speakers and an Agency Visit
Well, it's been a busy one this week! Wednesday in particular with a 9am lecture, 11am guest speakers from Bucks based PR agency, Ranieri, and a 2.30pm agency visit to Cirkle PR in Beaconsfield.
To kick things off we had a two hour lecture on event management. At the moment lecturers have my 200% attention as events is a sector I'm seriously considering going into. I kind of feel this is a natural choice for me, I'm always the organiser within groups and I actually quite enjoy it.
Then at 11am came the guest speakers from Ranieri, a local PR agency in Aylesbury- Ranieri Communications.The two speakers that came to see us gave us a general overview of the company and what their day to day routine is like. Then they gave us a brief to work on for half an hour; just brainstorming ideas really. It was great fun and it's also encouraging that your ideas are approved of, as being a student, you're never too sure whether your train of thought is always along the right lines. Our brief was to think of a UK launch idea for a headphone company that has already established their market in the US and Europe. Ideas that were thought of were silent discos/ headphone parties, product demos at universities and gyms, etc. It was great to bounce ideas from one another and to develop a campaign idea also. I also learnt about press tours. Something I hadn't even thought about or even considered as a possibility. It just goes to show that as much as getting a degree is important, university can't teach you everything.
The afternoon visit to Cirkle PR was amazing to say the very least! The founder of Cirkle PR, Caroline Kinsey, has been a guest speaker as part of our PR lectures in 2012. Even though that experience was great, as we got to interview her and see how a PR person should handle an interview, you don't get a feel for where the person works until you actually step through the doors of the agency. Immediately when we all arrived you could tell what culture was being adopted at Cirkle. Everyone was friendly, obviously it was a mostly female dominated agency, but everyone was so welcoming and lovely.
We were split into three groups and each group spent 20 minutes with a member of the team then rotated and so on. My group saw Cirkle's apprentice first and she showed us what she does on a day to day basis and how she balances her work load with her work at the agency as she is currently doing a foundation degree equivalent qualification. When Caroline first visited us and told us about how she really believes in the PR apprentice scheme it made me think, if only I was a few years younger... An apprenticeship has always appealed to me but at the time of making a decision, PR apprenticeships weren't so widely available or heard of, but I'm glad that times are changing.
The second team member we saw was an Account Executive. She took us through her day and what it is like to work at Cirkle, as she as been there for nearly two years. We also helped her brainstorm some ideas for an upcoming event for one of her client's. Both of these team members work in B2B and that too is something I hadn't really considered until visiting Cirkle. At university the consumer side of PR is more dominant and by visiting Cirkle our class were able to be presented with a more balanced view on B2B PR. Cirkle's account executive also homed in on making sure we get as much experience as possible during our tie at university.
The third team member was an Account Manager and she works on the B2C side of PR. We helped her go through a brand's media coverage book and pick out what coverage we thought would make great highlights/ features to present back to the client. It was amazing to see how much coverage the agency had got for just one client in a year. Cirkle's apprentice also showed us another brand's media coverage book and that too was impressive that so much had been achieved. It clearly shows that the agency is very productive and efficient.
To finish off the visit, Caroline gave us a quick presentation and talk on how to become better PR people and become more attractive to potential employers. Being one herself she knows what she wants in an employee. From this came some extremely useful tips such as making a Twitter account and using it for professional reasons rather than social. I didn't even have a Twitter account until yesterday, but I took on board the advice given to me and started following my course mates and lots of other accounts such as: news, PR professional bodies, etc that could come in handy and give me regularly updated 'need to know' information. My account name is on the 'About Me' page of this blog. She also focused on having employees who are able to completely utilise their initiative and being able to think for themselves and on their feet.
Caroline also explained to us about the culture of her agency. She has put so many strategies in place to make work better for her employees, it's incredible and unlike any other workplace I've ever come across. Some initiatives include hot-desking in the office meaning no one has their own desk, it allows everyone to be around different people and integrate more wholly with all the team members. Another is that anyone that is account manager level or above can work from home on Fridays and they also don't have a holiday limit or have to fill out a holiday form as they're mature enough and responsible enough to take holiday where appropriate. It all sounds amazing and to top it all off, Caroline even got them all an iPad mini for Christmas each!! She sounds like an amazing person to work for and the culture that Cirkle has is definitely somewhere I would love to work once I graduate. All the team members work extremely hard but their hard work pays off and the rewards make it all worth it!!
Cirkle has definitely given me a lot to think about and I would like to thank Caroline and her Cirkle team for giving us the opportunity to visit the agency and spend some time getting to grips with what working in an actual PR agency is like!
To kick things off we had a two hour lecture on event management. At the moment lecturers have my 200% attention as events is a sector I'm seriously considering going into. I kind of feel this is a natural choice for me, I'm always the organiser within groups and I actually quite enjoy it.
Then at 11am came the guest speakers from Ranieri, a local PR agency in Aylesbury- Ranieri Communications.The two speakers that came to see us gave us a general overview of the company and what their day to day routine is like. Then they gave us a brief to work on for half an hour; just brainstorming ideas really. It was great fun and it's also encouraging that your ideas are approved of, as being a student, you're never too sure whether your train of thought is always along the right lines. Our brief was to think of a UK launch idea for a headphone company that has already established their market in the US and Europe. Ideas that were thought of were silent discos/ headphone parties, product demos at universities and gyms, etc. It was great to bounce ideas from one another and to develop a campaign idea also. I also learnt about press tours. Something I hadn't even thought about or even considered as a possibility. It just goes to show that as much as getting a degree is important, university can't teach you everything.
The afternoon visit to Cirkle PR was amazing to say the very least! The founder of Cirkle PR, Caroline Kinsey, has been a guest speaker as part of our PR lectures in 2012. Even though that experience was great, as we got to interview her and see how a PR person should handle an interview, you don't get a feel for where the person works until you actually step through the doors of the agency. Immediately when we all arrived you could tell what culture was being adopted at Cirkle. Everyone was friendly, obviously it was a mostly female dominated agency, but everyone was so welcoming and lovely.
We were split into three groups and each group spent 20 minutes with a member of the team then rotated and so on. My group saw Cirkle's apprentice first and she showed us what she does on a day to day basis and how she balances her work load with her work at the agency as she is currently doing a foundation degree equivalent qualification. When Caroline first visited us and told us about how she really believes in the PR apprentice scheme it made me think, if only I was a few years younger... An apprenticeship has always appealed to me but at the time of making a decision, PR apprenticeships weren't so widely available or heard of, but I'm glad that times are changing.
The second team member we saw was an Account Executive. She took us through her day and what it is like to work at Cirkle, as she as been there for nearly two years. We also helped her brainstorm some ideas for an upcoming event for one of her client's. Both of these team members work in B2B and that too is something I hadn't really considered until visiting Cirkle. At university the consumer side of PR is more dominant and by visiting Cirkle our class were able to be presented with a more balanced view on B2B PR. Cirkle's account executive also homed in on making sure we get as much experience as possible during our tie at university.
The third team member was an Account Manager and she works on the B2C side of PR. We helped her go through a brand's media coverage book and pick out what coverage we thought would make great highlights/ features to present back to the client. It was amazing to see how much coverage the agency had got for just one client in a year. Cirkle's apprentice also showed us another brand's media coverage book and that too was impressive that so much had been achieved. It clearly shows that the agency is very productive and efficient.
To finish off the visit, Caroline gave us a quick presentation and talk on how to become better PR people and become more attractive to potential employers. Being one herself she knows what she wants in an employee. From this came some extremely useful tips such as making a Twitter account and using it for professional reasons rather than social. I didn't even have a Twitter account until yesterday, but I took on board the advice given to me and started following my course mates and lots of other accounts such as: news, PR professional bodies, etc that could come in handy and give me regularly updated 'need to know' information. My account name is on the 'About Me' page of this blog. She also focused on having employees who are able to completely utilise their initiative and being able to think for themselves and on their feet.
Caroline also explained to us about the culture of her agency. She has put so many strategies in place to make work better for her employees, it's incredible and unlike any other workplace I've ever come across. Some initiatives include hot-desking in the office meaning no one has their own desk, it allows everyone to be around different people and integrate more wholly with all the team members. Another is that anyone that is account manager level or above can work from home on Fridays and they also don't have a holiday limit or have to fill out a holiday form as they're mature enough and responsible enough to take holiday where appropriate. It all sounds amazing and to top it all off, Caroline even got them all an iPad mini for Christmas each!! She sounds like an amazing person to work for and the culture that Cirkle has is definitely somewhere I would love to work once I graduate. All the team members work extremely hard but their hard work pays off and the rewards make it all worth it!!
Cirkle has definitely given me a lot to think about and I would like to thank Caroline and her Cirkle team for giving us the opportunity to visit the agency and spend some time getting to grips with what working in an actual PR agency is like!
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