First experiences at Devahasdin!

Today I completed my 7^th day at Devahasdin, a boutique consultancy specialising in public relations, marketing, media relations, event management and strategic communications. I can’t believe the amount I’ve learnt in such a short time, the placement really does put to use everything you learn at uni!

I’ve been kept very busy with different tasks, some quick things that may take 30 minutes, other will take a couple of days if there is a lot involved! Some of the clients I’ve been involved with are the Good Food and Wine Show, Qatar Airways, Mundaring Truffle Festival, Meat and Livestock Australia, Submarine Institute of Australia and Bethanie – who are one of Devahasdin’s biggest clients, generating a lot of work.

I’ve already written more media releases than I’ve written in my entire two and a half years at uni! All the releases I’ve written so far have been for Bethanie, who are a large organisation of aged care facilities and community centres. I also found out today that two of the releases I wrote resulted journalists wanting to write articles on the topics! I’m pretty excited to see what they write, and if they use much of what I came up with.

However, it’s not all repetitive release writing. I’ve also been given tasks to do that I would never have though would be involved in PR. Qatar Airways launches its flights from Doha to Perth on 3^rd July, which means a lot of work for Jenny and the team at Devahasdin who are doing the PR for Qatar. I have had to compile a list of VIPs (including government ministers, the Governor of WA etc) and various big name media people with a description, photo and event they are attending (there are a few surrounding the launch) for the CEO of Qatar Airways. I’ve also written a backgrounder of Perth and WA for the CEO, which is only an overview but there was still so much information to include and it ended up being around 6 pages.  This is the kind of work I wouldn’t have initially thought would be involved, but I can now see how important this is to ensure the events surrounding the launch goes smoothly.

Another large and time-consuming task that I’m involved with is for the Submarine Institute of Australia. Jenny is trying to gain a partnership with some household name companies like Subway and Kellogg’s for the SIA. Unlike a sponsorship, we aren’t looking to gain funding from these companies, rather the association and extreme publicity that would be gained if the companies get involved with the SIA. 2014 will mark the centenary of submarines in Australia, which is a significant milestone considering how important they have been in maritime history, as well as currently. The partnership may involve more of a marketing aspect, something that may prove to be a challenge for me, as I have not completed any marketing units in my degree. Luckily it’s not too far from PR, and Jenny and the team are more than happy to help if I have any questions. While coming up with creative marketing ideas is something that may take some time for me, I’m excited to see how the team at Devahasdin come up with these ideas that may eventually become major campaigns.

I can’t wait to see where the rest of my placement takes me!