PR May Seem Invisible But It's Always There...

Implementing the skills I have learnt in a theoretical based environment into the real world always seemed like a very daunting proposition to me. For many years, I have had the luxury of learning about Public Relations in a very sheltered environment where if a mistake was made it didn't matter too much because it was all make-believe. Now I would be applying what I know into a real organisation where if a mistake was made it is very hard to just backspace your wrong answer from your essay. It is out in the real world for everyone to see.

However, I was very lucky with my placement. For four years, I have worked with Sydney-based marketing company Mesh Marketing. They specialise in representing high-end brands across Australia- some of which include Nespresso, Moet & Hennessy, Movenpick and SKII. I have worked as a sales demonstrator for Nespresso which involved me going to events or into stores to demonstrate their products with the aim of selling.

I had always thought of Mesh as more sales orientated and had never actually thought too much into the PR side. I began to think more about it though and realised that although this organisation is all about marketing, there is definitely PR present. As an employee of the company, I began to think about the PR tools that they have in place and how they affected me.

I realised that PR had seemed almost invisible for me in the organisation for two reasons- 1) They are a very efficient organisation who I have been working with my whole working life so good PR is all I've known a company to achieve, and 2) As I've learnt more, I've noticed some areas have been lacking because they have been struggling to implement strategies across the country without a PR representative based in Perth.

Very excited about the prospect of nurturing and changing my own work environment, I discussed with Managing Director Gayle Clark a few ways that I could use my internship to aid the organisation on a PR level from Perth.

These ideas included:

- Creating a company Intranet for employees based in Western Australia to boost morale and the sense of team environment.
- Helping with the set-up of all commercial events and also internal events such as staff training days.
- Writing a "bible" for staff at Nespresso demonstrations across shopping centres with all information compiled into the one document (sections such as issues management and media guidelines would be added from scratch).
- Creating a social media presence for the Western Australian side of the company.

I am very excited to start as not only will I be gaining invaluable on-the-job experience but I will also be working to create a better work environment for myself and my colleagues.