End of Year Reflection & Revision Tips

Firstly, apologies for the complete lack of posts over the last 5 months. My third and final year of university has been completely manic, but thoroughly enjoyable; it's hard to believe that I shall be having my last ever official day at university tomorrow! The past three years have gone so quickly, though they seem to have dragged at times!

My dissertation on how PR and Marketing can be utilised for town centre management has been handed in over a month ago, my last exam is tomorrow and all individual and group assignments have been completed! I have a job at a small local marketing agency confirmed and I start my role as Client Executive in July, following my seven month internship alongside my final year of university and I'm so excited that it's all come together! But before that, time for a well deserved, much needed break (including two weeks on holiday in sunny Greece!!).

I just thought I'd have a break from revision and for any students anywhere revising for their exams, whether it's GCSEs, A Levels, university, post-grad or even a work based/ open university qualification, here are my top revising tips that I thought I would share with you quickly:

- Keep a revision blog: not only is it better than hand writing absolutely everything, if it really comes down to it you can show your lecturers/parents/anyone who needs to know that you really have been revising.

- Take regular breaks: it's easy to cram and think that you should immediately know something after having gone through it. I don't understand the technicalities behind it all, but sometimes sleeping on things really does give your brain time to process and remember properly.

- Practice, yes mock exams are dire and just about as annoying as the real thing... but practice makes perfect and even better if you can get actual feedback from your teacher/ lecturer, it will also point out your weaker areas that you weren't aware of prior to the mock.

- Sometimes having the TV or music on in the background can help you remember things via association- even if you aren't aware of it at the time. You could be sat in your exam and the littlest thing like a line in a song or a TV show can promote memory and help get over mental blocks.

- Mind maps and cue cards. If you have months and months to prepare for an exam (most likely GCSE and A levels than uni, etc), make cue cards of things you need to know, stick them in places you look everyday i.e.: the mirror, the shower door, the wall you first look at when you wake up, etc. Choose a different area for different topics and you'll easily recall what was on the cue cards by locating them visually in your house. Colourful mind maps can also help you remember.

- Create portfolios and then keep condensing until you're down to a page or two. (One of my favourites). Get a ring binder folder and put everything in it that you will need to know for the exam- order/ structure it how you think is best for you. Keep adding to it as you learn more and more, do wider reading, etc. Then when you think you have everything and are down to the 'just revising' stage, condense all the info. Keep re-writing it out, cutting it down more and more gradually. You'll find you start writing things in your own codes which will help you remember in the exam easily or you will feel the need to not write things altogether because you have started to remember them automatically. Then when you're down to a page or two of the stuff you really need reminding of, make these into mind maps or cue cards and follow the above steps with those.

-Work out your exam timings. If you have a three hour exam, how many questions do you have to answer in that time? How long do you want to spend reading and planning and how long writing? Pre-plan this to ensure efficiency and that you get to answer all the questions and finish the exam properly.

- Allow yourself plenty of time. Revising everything the day before won't do you any favours.

- Get at least 8 hours of sleep the night before. Also, chill out the evening before. Put your revision things away before dinner, have dinner and do something relaxing, i.e.: take a bath and watch a favourite film or TV series. Take some time for you; feeling relaxed will help de-worry and de-stress you for the next day! It will also help you get to sleep at a decent hour. Pack your bag the night before too, so you're not rushing around either!

- The morning of your exam, have a good breakfast. My personal favourite is green tea, 2 slices of wholemeal toast and a banana. Then about an hour before the exam, have a coffee (or something with a little sugar in it for a bit of an energy boost). Also, take a bottle of water in with you, as it will help keep you refreshed and hydrate your brain, helping you to think more clearly and stay on track.

- Above all else, if you know you've done everything you possibly could, you should be fine. No one can ask more of you than what you are physically and mentally capable of. Remember that exams are a big deal, but no the end of the world, and things tend to have a way of working themselves out also

Hope this helps any fellow exam-takers out there, either this summer or in the future, if you stumble across this post. Good luck!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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?

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?

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!

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.

YouTube- You Vs Unconditional Love Ad

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.

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!

Good News!

Well it's more good news! Got a 1st as a preliminary mark for a piece of coursework I wasn't too sure about to be honest. But given the good mark it's kind of boosted me that all the worry and stress wasn't for nothing and the next online magazine we have to do for coursework two on traffic building has given us constructive feedback to hopefully get the same grade or better.

To view my online magazine refer to my Portfolio page, where you can also view other pieces of work I have done in the past.

2013 at University!

It's the second day back and we've been given time to work on our personal website (not forgetting this forms part of our assignment); this is good news as my last post was a while ago. More good news also is that my group got 72% (1st) for the Ad Venture assignment I mentioned in a previous post! So far that's a 1st, 2:1 and 2:2 for the coursework I've handed in, just awaiting the last grade now.

We've also been set new assignments now for each module and this hits home that we're already half way through this course and will be going into work very soon! Scary but worth it...

Happy Holidays!

Happy Christmas Everyone and a Happy New Year!

Well it's been a stressful first term but it's been worth it as mentioned in my previous post. Having a bit of time off has allowed me to reflect on things a bit since starting my second year of university. It's reminded me that nothing is more important than family but if I really want this degree and career, I'm going to have to work extremely hard for it.

2012 has been a turning point for me- it's made me realise my potential at this course and career choice, I've also learnt a lot about myself. I turned 20 on Christmas eve this year and that's also been a bit of a shock to my system and my real Gen Y side of me is coming out! Life isn't forever so make of it what you will and don't let anyone or anything stand in your way!

Oh... and my new years resolutions for 2013:
* Yes- I'm jumping on the "losing weight band wagon"- No big surprise there!
* Settle for nothing less than perfect in my coursework and exams, absolutely pull out all the stops these last 18 months of my course
* And finally, grab opportunities with both hands and make a real good go of things! (This applies to my course and life in general). But of course live by the motto if it doesn't work out it wasn't meant to be because at the end of the day- we're human. And I think a lot of people forget that about themselves and others...

So watch this space for a jam packed year full of fun, exciting experiences and opportunities and updates!!

Oh and being such a good marketing student that I am- it meant that I won the trivia game after Christmas dinner (for once and much to my Dad's dismay!). Have fun everyone!!

The Good, the Bad and the Delightful!

Well been a little longer between posts on here than I had hoped but the past two weeks have been so stressful... all four assignments due at the same time, makes me wonder how I would cope with multiple client accounts when I get a job. But the important thing now is that they're all done and dusted and I'm just awaiting some results and should get cracking with the next four assignments!

The bad news is that I got my first ever 2:2, which to tell you the truth I'm gutted about! However, it's all experience and this is just motivation for the group to make sure that the next assignment is better!

The good news is that I got another assignment back (my individual PR product launch piece) and I got a 2:1 for it (yay), which put the smile back on my face. I've got plenty of detailed feedback which hopefully will help me boost my grade next time to a first! I want to put up some parts of my work on here as this blog is designed to be my portfolio also but as I understand it currently I can't yet as at the end of the year my work has to be externally moderated and posting it online before then isn't the best idea.

Plus (yes more good news) for another module's assignment our task was to come up with a solution for the 2012/2013 Edcom competition.

http://www.adventure-competition.eu/pages.asp?pageName=brief

We had to create agency teams and come up with a solution to tackle young adult binge drinking on a European scale. We had to critically analyse the brief set to us and come up with your own campaign able idea and present it to a panel of university judges. The best teams (if there are any) would be put forward to compete in the actual Edcom competition on behalf of the university. If you haven't guessed where this is going by now... yes our team has been put forward!! Plus we all got personally congratulated by the judges on our presenting skills and the amount of time and effort we put into our idea.

Unfortunately again I can't disclose any actual details until after the competition is over but watch this space where throughout the year I will reveal all!

For now though- the delightful news- it's 5 days until my birthday and 6 days until Christmas and spending some quality time with my family and friends is definitely in order! Have a great holiday!

Making it worthwhile

I currently commute to university as I only live about 20 miles away. In rush hour, this takes me an hour and 15 minutes tops. Whilst I'm driving it gives me a lot of time to think about project ideas, presentations, etc. It's actually a very productive time for me because although I'm not able to physically write things down my thought process goes into overdrive and more often than not my ideas for all my first year projects came from this method.

So today, I was driving down my road and realised I needed petrol (I promise there is reasoning behind me telling you this!). The petrol station was packed with angry looking drivers who quite obviously don't have a care for anyone else but themselves by they way they were treating each other.

After filling up my car and standing in the queue to pay, I observed everyone in the forecourt. They're all angry, frustrated, impatient, etc. Not a single person looking positive which is depressing and it got me thinking during my journey into university. This could be a normality for the rest of my life? Commuting into work, encountering these people day in and day out, it's quite draining.

That's when I realised that to go to all this effort and to make having nightmare commutes worthwhile (like people who commute to London on trains also- that must be even worse!!) you must really enjoy your job. My parents keep telling no one enjoys their job, not really. But I really intend to land myself with something that I can wake up and be enthusiastic about every single morning, regardless of any other factor, like commuting.

It's kind of given me fresh motivation to get through this university course so that I can start earning money and thus start living my life and being able to start fulfilling a lot of things I have planned. I guess the great thing about PR is that you can tailor your job to suit your needs and wants. There are so many different types of agencies and in-house that cover such a broad scope you can have a job that is as specific or as varied as you like and this is what I look forward to- really finding my niche through this course and having things finally fitting into place.

Breaking Conventions

Do you remember when you were in secondary school and started getting a serious load of homework; your parents and teachers always told you not to leave things to the last minute, otherwise they wouldn't be a true reflection of your ability?

Well as much as I agree with this statement now, having gone through GCSEs, A Levels and now currently a university course, the worst possible thing you can do is leave things to the night before. However, I'll admit, I left an assignment until a week and a half before it was due in, despite having at least four weeks to complete it... Yes, I know, this looks bad... but let me explain.

I knew I had a tight timeline to work with and I had read the brief and done my background research and reading and made notes, so it wasn't as if I hadn't made some kind of start on it. It was because other projects that appeared to have much more content to do had taken over and suddenly I was faced with this situation of needing to do it in a week and a half.

So I used this amazing online tool where you type in what type of assignment it is (report, presentation, essay) and then enter your deadline date and it helped me to put into perspective what needed doing and it gave me suggested mini deadlines. To cut a long story short, I set aside a few hours everyday and got the assignment done, checked through and what I can only describe as polished up nicely three days before it was due in. Which wasn't bad considering I needed to do some Christmas shopping that weekend too!

My point here is I've learnt something about myself through this experience. Although I would never willingly let myself be in that situation again... I loved the thriving feeling of that I had a deadline to work with, it was what some would call a lot of pressure... but I loved it. It made me think also, both part time jobs I've had, have been in thriving busy environments. Some people may not enjoy living life that is structured and deadline orientated, but I do! It gives me a satisfactory feeling that I've accomplished mini challenges that lead up to a big accomplishment and makes me feel happy that my day has been productive.