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.

The answer we’re all looking for in PR

Let me introduce myself.

My name is Lucie Marchant and I’m a third year PR and Journalism student. 

It’s been a good three years, full of ups and downs and plenty of opportunities along the way. Most of all, there has been a hell of a lot of learning.

If you’d asked me three years ago what PR was, I would have shrugged my shoulders and said it had something to do with “companies” and “image” and the “media”. Nowadays, I can elaborate a little more but it’s still a burning question with an unsatisfactory answer.

What is PR? Really, what is it? It’s the one question that has remained unanswered throughout this degree.

Each term has got me a little step closer. We were given the opportunity to learn about all the activities and techniques involved in PR, we followed templates and wrote proposals for real and theoretical clients, we learned about PR in an international context, and we gained an understanding of how consultancies operated and how practitioners worked in the corporate setting.

Thinking about it now, it’s true that we learned a whole lot in those three years. But after each term passed - and I don’t think I’m unique in that respect - I feel like I still couldn’t put my finger on what PR really is. What the job actually entails on a day-to-day basis and what it would feel like to be in a PR role. What is this mysterious degree leading to?

The answer to the burning question is what I’m hoping to gain from the PR internship. Surely this one final unit of working experience will explain everything. We’ll find out very soon…