Half way there with no signs of a holiday!

So, I'm 2 weeks into my placement at the Imdex  PR department and finding myself drowning in work and clutter, however as unattractive as this may sound its not all bad! I'm starting to really enjoy my experiences working with a whole team of new people (some familiar and some not so much) and planning the events and liaising with my supervisors to achieve what they are expecting of me.

Once of the main challenges I am facing at the moment is working with event organizers! In my case most of the events that Imdex goes at are trade shows, these are specialized events specifically designed for the trade or market in which the company runs business within. The challenge I am facing is trying to get these people to return my phone calls! After 3 phone calls to find out some simple information (like expected numbers to this show) I was almost about ready to give up and hand this one over to my supervisor, however finally yesterday I rang again and go through to someone that was able to help me.

I guess the lesson I learn from that one, was that when someone is not answering your emails and phone calls, KEEP TRYING! You will eventually catch them, or ask to be put through to someone else that may be able to help.

One new thing I have been doing this week is assisting with new copy write for a new website that is been developed. This has been a interesting experience for me as I have found the traditional PR that I have learnt through uni is very different. My supervisor requires much more detail that the traditional sentences written. In saying this though our brand is one of a high tech product which requires a lot of detail and is often read by people with PhD's in geology.

One of the other project I was previously working on before moving into this department and one which I have carried over with me to my placement include the development of the companies YouTube accounts and channels.
I have particularly enjoyed this as it has allowed me to be creative but also have that PR flare.

Samples of my work can be found here:

AMC: http://www.youtube.com/user/AMCDrillingFluid

Reflex: http://www.youtube.com/user/ReflexInstruments

Overall, I am very much enjoying my placement at the Imdex PR department!

The Hectic Period...

Hello again fellow PR393 students,

Thus far, my internship with angelhands Inc is starting to get hectic! Since I am basically managing the whole 50K in 50 Days 2012 campaign, there are lots of things I need to get done before the event launches.

For example, some duties would be:

·      Complying a list of potential corporate clients

·      A generic email & thank-you letters for these corporate clients

·      Online media (i.e. facebook updates, youtube promotional video, twitter updates)

·      Include news about campaign in newsletter for angelhands members

·      Press releases

And many other tasks included in a timeline & a campaign brief that I have typed up myself and reviewed by the board members.

Most of all these tasks have to be accomplish before the launch date : November 5, 2012.

As for now, things seem to be going slow but smoothly and there are still lots to do. I hope with the task/timeline list that I have compiled, the backbone of setting up the campaign, will help me along the way to achieving the goal of the launch date that have been set.

On another note, about 2 weeks ago, as angelhands Inc have just recently moved into their new office, the community news reporters came to talk to my supervisor about how things were getting along since they moved. This let to a photo taking session to be included in the paper and me plus a few other 2 other volunteers on that day was asked to joined in the picture. Well I wasn’t really hoping to actually catch a glimpse of that article but my friends did and here it is! How exciting! I’m actually in the paper. :D

Thought I share that with all of you hehe.

Thanks for reading & I hope by the last blog entry, I could say I have completed quite a few tasks from above because it has been the biggest responsibility I’ve had at a work place and it would be quite satisfying if I do a good job; as this would also be good on my resume.

Till next time!

Deanna C.

13884271

Saying Goodbye to my Invaluable Experience in London!

My internship has quickly come to an end at Chivas Brothers in London and it is very hard to believe I won’t be working with the team in PR again. After working every day for four weeks straight, I feel so comfortable and involved with the team. I learned so much, made some great contacts and have had heaps of laughs working in the office.  I am definitely sad to be leaving London and Chivas Brothers but I will certainly be back to visit! The PR team which is made up of 10 people, including roles such as; the head of PR, international PR managers and internal communications manager were all so welcoming and I had so much fun with them every day!

Here is a photo of most of the team and myself in the middle on my last day at the office, I’m going to miss them all lots!

Over my time at Chivas Brothers it has allowed me to reflect on what I want to do in the future, I absolutely loved working and observing the in-house side to PR but I also am much more open to the idea of trying PR consultancy. This is because I was lucky enough to sit in at meetings with different PR consultancies that were pitching ideas to Chivas Brothers and I loved the creativity and idea of being a part of a consultancy which work with a range of different clients.

I have also realised that there are certainly some pros and cons about working at such a large global company. I personally loved the excitement and really enjoyed the global aspect of every decision made; it allowed me to understand better what the lecturers say at uni about being conscious of other country cultures when doing any PR or marketing in order to succeed. However there were some areas in which I think working for a smaller organisation could be better. Here are some of my thoughts about the pros and cons of doing my internship in a large global organisation:

The pros:

• I get to see how big budgets are used
• I am starting to understand the process of ensuring all strategies need to be suited to every market around the world, or need to be adjusted slightly for certain markets in order to succeed globally
• It is challenging me to think more creatively and strategically in order to fit into an international company
• I am aware that it is such a great opportunity for future reference and a once in a life-time experience
• Great team work and very exciting to have so many different PR roles in the one team

The cons:

• There are times when I feel everyone is too busy and I’m in the way a bit by asking questions
• I feel like you can’t really put your own ideas into action as easily, there needs to be a lot of discussion and generally has to be suitable on an international basis 
• A lot of employees which can be overwhelming 

As a whole, I enjoyed working in this big company; however, I would definitely like to experience working in a smaller company to truly be able to compare them both and determine which one suits my style the best.
The work I completed over my time at Chivas Brothers allowed me to recognise my area of strength and weakness. This was made evident to me through not only the feedback from my supervisor but also from  the way in which I handled each task, i.e. the amount of time it took me to complete and the amount of help I had to seek to finish it.

I found that my biggest strength which has been formed over my uni degree would be my ability to write in a professional manner. I was given a number of tasks which required me to write professionally as they were documents which would be read across all Chivas Brothers offices worldwide.  This included an article I wrote in the internal ‘Salute’ magazine, emails I sent to all staff members with the weeks press coverage and creation of two different PowerPoint presentations on Chivas Regal and Royal Salute (two major whisky brands) which are to be used for future clients. I found that I was able to effectively use the theory and practice from my university degree in a practical work setting.

The area in which I struggled the most and have identified as my biggest weakness is thinking on a global scale. There were many meetings which I attended that required everyone to put forward ideas for a global campaign; one for example was regarding the Chivas Regal whisky brand, I did give some input, however I struggled to think internationally and about different cultures. I think this type of information will develop over time, as you learn the markets in which the company targets when you work there on a regular basis.

Overall, this internship has been an amazing and invaluable experience. I have learnt that you must always give 110% to every task you are given, ask questions and to enjoy what you are doing. The one thing that I noticed at Chivas Brothers is that although there are 3 levels and different departments within the building, everyone knows each other and always seemed to be enjoying their work- I never saw a dull face. I think this aspect of 'enjoying work' is the most important lesson learnt of all, because work becomes such a huge part of your life (as I have experienced, working everyday for 4 weeks straight) and you have to be passionate about what you are doing in order to succeed!

On my last day, I was taken out for lunch at a nearby English Pub and was given a beautiful card and present. I also gave my supervisor a present and card and gave the rest of the team a card with some cookies to share!

Here are some of the yummy cookies I bought in for the team on my last day! If you ever go to London try some of Millie’s Cookies, there delicious!

Although this work experience has come to an end, I am now looking forward to finding more work experience in order to expand my knowledge and I am so excited for what the future holds. The past 20 days has made me realise how much I love the Marketing and Public Relations industry and I cannot be more excited to finish this chapter in my life and put my skills learnt at university into action in the real work environment.

Thank you for reading my blog and all the best to everyone!

Gemma O’Hart.

Jazzed About the Outcome!

After working with WAYJO for the past three months, my time has come to a sad end.

Throughout my time I was able to undertake a wide variety of tasks, and experience the daily workings of a public relations employee in the not for profit industry. This provided me with a true understanding of the importance of the public relations role and enabled me to develop my PR skills. Some of the main tasks I undertook included: compiling media and other stakeholder contact lists; event organisation, planning and promoting; updating and proofing of the website; supplying an e-newsletter, communicating and liaising with school contacts; and sourcing relevant information regarding possible sponsors and past alumni.

All of the tasks I have completed, even if tedious, have proved to be very beneficial to my studies as I've been able to put all my classroom knowledge into practice. I have also been very lucky to have gained a placement at WAYJO as I've been able to contribute to their inspiring cause and meet an array of people dedicated to the arts. 

After completing my placement what I feel I will miss the most is the staff. The ladies in the office have been there throughout my placement and have each shared with me their experiences and advice about the industry. This has provided me with invaluable information about what the future can hold. I was astounded with how friendly and available they made themselves to me and how they were always there to inspire, listen, and guide me throughout the process. I am internally grateful for their patience and dedication.

Reflecting on my placement I've been able to grow both professionally and personally. I cannot stress how rewarding this experience has been as it has taught me about the PR profession and prepared me for the workplace after graduation. I know I still have a lot to learn and experience but I now feel confident with attacking any task and role given to me head on. I can't wait to see what next year brings for me!

I hope everyone has enjoyed and learnt as much as I have from their placements!

Christina

The power of the intern

I have been doing work experience since the second year, and it something I highly recommend to everyone who is beginning a degree…“start early!”  I have gotten so much out of every experience as it has really consolidated everything I have learnt in university, and in some cases helped me in my degree. On top of the skill and knowledge gained, there are the relationships that are formed that can change the direction of your career. We hear it all the time “network, network, network”, and it is true because the people you work with have connections in the industry and if you can prove your worth then they are more often than not happy to help you move forward in your career.

So for those heading out into internships I would like to pass on some advice from what I have learnt through my experiences. 

• Ask “dumb” questions, people don’t mind answering the easy questions and it shows interest and a want to learn. 
• Always go beyond what is expected, you want to make a good impression, you never know where this opportunity could take you. You will never regret trying hard, but you will always regret if you feel like you didn’t show your best.
•  Push yourself, entering the professional world is scary and you may start out feeling like your not good enough and begin second guessing yourself, but if you don’t try you will never know what you’re capable of. There is no harm in failing, but there is harm if you never tried, and from my experiences it is the times when you pushed yourself outside your comfort zone that end up being the most rewarding. 
• Be organised, it is the key to success. 
• Say ‘yes’ to everything! The beginning is when we really have to make our mark and prove ourselves above the rest and if you take advantage of every opportunity then you will be rewarded.

I hope this helps people heading out in to internships and in to the professional world. Work experience has been the best decisions I have made and has made me even more excited to finish my degree and enter the professional world. 

Working for the Little Guys

My PR placement has been with the small not-for-profit organisation Pro Subi that consists of 2 hard workingwomen who take on all the responsibilities of what is normally handled by an array of different departments within a large organisation.

When I first started with Pro Subi I was concerned that working with such a small organisation my exposure to variety in work and opportunities would be limited, compared with what those doing placement within larger organisations may get. However I feel that the opposite has been true.

In my time with Pro Subi I have been charged with keeping Facebook and the website up to date, writing press releases for various initiates and database entry. These are all things that I have heard all interns’ talk about, but an opportunity that I have been given, that I think is unique to my small organisation placement, is that of developing, organising and executing my own ideas.

Pro Subi has undertaken a series of pop-up performances that utilises vacant retail spaces in Subiaco, providing a variety of performances, galleries, stores and other exciting initiatives. The purpose of these events is to capatilise on the novelty factor, build foot traffic within Subiaco and develop the suburb as a “happening place.”

My job was to think outside the box and develop some events that would work with the Subiaco brand and create buzz. I created a calendar of events that work with what is happening in the economy, within Australia and ties in with other calendar and seasonal events. This has been an unbelievable opportunity that has led to me staying on with the organisation in to execute these events.

From my experiences I have learnt that there are greater opportunities for skill development and professional growth within the smaller organisations, which I believe is due to the limited resources that they have to work with.

I am someone who is looking to going into the resource sector to take advantage of the financial opportunities, as well as the quality training for which the big companies have a reputation. However due to my experiences with Pro Subi, and also attending the Public Relations Student Chapter PR in Mining event where I got to talk with professionals working in my chosen industry I have come to realize that any experience that I gain is worthwhile. I am now not going to just focus on going for the big companies as the smaller ones have a lot to offer and teach me.

A little look into my Professional Placement....

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to my first blog!

New to the blogging scene, a little bit nervous yet excited, so hopefully I provide a good read!

My PR 393 Professional Placement isn't your expected scene for a mid twenty something university student, yet my completed days so far have definitely been interesting. I am completing my professional placement days at the Head Office of Bowls WA.

Bowls WA is an organisation responsible for advancing, promoting and controlling the game of lawn bowls in WA. The organisation is in affiliation with Bowls Australia, who are the national sporting organisation responsible for developing and managing the sport of lawn bowls. While many people still believe the sport is only played by retirees, national census statistics prove that the sport is actually very popular with school children and social corporate bowlers!

Bowls WA is one of the largest sporting organisations in WA, consisting of 18, 965 members from over 200 clubs. The organisation is managed by a board of eight directors and has a small team of seven full time staff members. Bowls WA takes on a variety of tasks including promoting the sport, conducting State championships, conducting pennant competitions, managing interstate teams, training and giving assistance to clubs and members with management issues.

Whilst PR practices vary from business to business, I hope to gain as much experience as possible during my stay. I will be working closely with the Public Relations and Marketing team and I look forward to sharing all my days with you.

I hope you enjoy my blogs!

Kind regards,


Lauren Hannah

Social Media Crisis Management

I can’t believe I’m already a week into my internship!  Its true when people say time fly’s when you’re having fun! I never thought I would have fun at work but I am really enjoying the working life. I am staying in Windsor (45minutes out of central London), even though I have been to London before but I have never experienced the working life in London. It is so hectic, with the amount of people around and the busy tube lines! But it’s so exciting at the same time to be amongst all the buzz and see the true WORKING London lifestyle!  I never thought I would be driving past Windsor castle every day to get to work, or working a few tube stops away from Buckingham palace, Hyde Park and Harrods but I absolutely love it!

This week was another interesting, hectic and exciting week. Throughout university we are constantly taught about ethics and what to do in crisis situations and how to prepare for them. On Monday morning, I started off my second week of work experience by attending a crisis insider club breakfast with two other colleagues at a private members club called The Hospital Club, in Covent Garden (central London). This was a very interesting experience as there were people from all different companies, who came together to listen to the founder and CEO from Seat wave- Joe’s experience in a crisis situation and also heard from a journalists point of view. Here is the link to seat wave website: http://www.seatwave.com/.

The way in which Joe handled the crisis, related back to what is learnt at uni, including having a crisis management team on hand 24/7, acting quickly but calmly and approaching the situation in an honest manner to keep consumers informed. In this situation, Joe used social media (Facebook and Twitter) to help communicate the situation to their audience.  By listening to Joe’s experience and the way in which he effectively used social media, such as Twitter and Facebook made me realise the true effect of social media and its  ability to communicate with thousands and millions of people at once and in such an efficient way. Joe was able to tweet and reply to Facebook posts whilst the crisis was unfolding- responding promptly and honestly. I was very glad to be asked to attend this meeting, as it showed me great insight into handling crisis situations and also allowed me to recognise the importance of preparing for all types of crisis situations, as we are regularly taught during university. At Chivas Brothers, there is a crisis management procedure and they also have constant emails from media databases which prompt the communications and public relations team when any important information on the business or industry is found. This is to keep up dated and well informed of what is happening within the alcohol industry.

This week I also attended many meetings including:

• Meeting with agencies that were pitching their ideas for the brand 'Royal Salute'. I had to take notes and identify in a table format which agencies met the brief best and which agencies had creative strategies which are best suited to the Royal Salute product.
• Meeting with the head of internal communications to get an idea of how internal comms works in the Chivas Brothers office. I was also allocated to write an article on the Cannes Film Festival which Chivas Regal sponsors and this article will be published in their internal magazine.
• Attended key messages meetings, were they were identifying this year’s key messages for Chivas Regal, Beefeater gin and Ballantine’s whisky for marketing and PR purposes.
• Sat in on a conference call with John Doe, discussing ideas for this year’s Ballantine’s golf event.

I found most of these meetings interesting as I know all these brands and is intriguing to see how the marketing and PR works behind the scenes. Sometimes I felt the meetings weren't that relevant for me to listen to as I couldn't contribute much, however it was still useful to see how the meetings and conference calls take place and to hear some very creative and exciting ideas.

Next week I'll be working on my Cannes Film Festival article and evaluation on how the event went in comparison to previous years, which I am looking forward to. Until then! 

Gemma O'Hart

A Toe Tapping Start to Work Experience

Hello!

So I've finally decided to write my first blog about my internship at the one and only Western Australia Jazz Youth Orchestra (WAYJO). WAYJO is a not-for-profit organisation that provides unique opportunities for the top jazz musicians in WA. It's a very tough organisation to get into but once accepted students are rewarded with career-defining experiences including touring, training, recording and performing with world-class guest artists.

As this is my first work experience position I had no idea what to expect! As soon as I walked in I felt very comfortable and ready to get to work! I work in a small office with about four other ladies all of whom are very kind and facilitating.

WAYJO at the moment is very busy as its due to celebrate its 40th anniversary next year! This means gaining sponsor and alumni support is even more important as they plan for the numerous events and programs in the next coming months. This is wonderful for me as there's a lot for me to do!

Due to WAYJO being a not-for-profit organisation I've been given a variety of tasks. These tasks include; creating a media contact list, updating and adding to sponsor and school contact lists, written an editorial on an upcoming jazz artist, designed event flyer's, contributed to the format of the new website, created a list of free web event listing sites, published WAYJO event details to event listing websites, and resolved returned emails.

I'm very much appreciative of my unit coordinators as they've always covered material that is associated with non-for-profit organisations. It is only now I understand the true differences of PR roles in profit and non-for-profit organisations that I've been taught throughout my degree. The skills I've learnt from my PR units have been vital in my role at WAYJO and additionally give me the confidence to attack the new tasks assigned.

So far I have learnt so much and have really enjoyed my placement! I'm looking forward to learning and experiencing more at WAYJO! 

Bye for now,

Christina

A first look at exciting opportunities in events management and promotion.

Initially struggling to find a placement opportunity that excited me, I came across an opportunity with one of Perth’s most successful and popular promotions and events organisations. Metric Promotions is one of Perth’s leading events promoters, who aside from their highly successful weekly club nights, also run monthly music concerts and events, and have recently begun their own festival in Perth. As well as this, they manage two local Perth bands, Stillwater Giants and Shy Panther.

Luckily, I have been fortunate enough to begin my placement at a highly exciting time for the promotions company. Aside from their music and entertainment events within Metric Promotions, they have developed a highly exciting business opportunity known as Pilerats. Pilerats was partly developed from the opportunities presented through Metric Promotions; constantly being in contact with various Australian and international musicians and artists has provided fantastic business contacts and exciting original content. This collaboration of content, and creative ideas is currently being adapted into a highly interactive iPad and iPhone magazine.

The launch of this iPad magazine provides a great platform for me to contribute ideas for the promotion and launch of the upcoming first, and following issues. To be honest, the idea in itself is highly overwhelming as I have little real-life public relations experience, but at the same time it gives me a great platform to express my ideas, and potentially be successful in my promotional endeavours. 

If you would like to check out the blog for Pilerats head here, there is some great content:

http://pilerats.com/

One of the most interesting things I have found whilst participating in my placement, is that everyone I am working with is self-taught. After initial success in running their events, they were thrown into promotions and events management. Being self-taught, everyone around my is a massive advocate of on-the-job learning, and preaches the benefits of work experience. 

All in all, my first couple of weeks at Metric Promotions and Pilerats has been really exciting.  I have had the benefit of being able to swap between doing completely different tasks for both Metric Promotions and Pilerats. I believe this is giving me the chance to have a vast portfolio of skills and given some more time I will really be able to settle in and find my place. I look forward to keeping you updated on my progress and some of the exciting, (and currently confidential) plans that are in place.

Corporate events.. not so bad

Hi Everyone,


I hope everyone is enjoying their placements and learning lots. I know i am :)

I started my internship beginning of July but I couldn't find the time to make blog entries so here goes for my first one.

I found my placement luckily on Blackboard where Alison posted up the details, I contacted them immediately and just like that I was starting couple days later. CEDA (Committee for Economic Development of Australia) is a not for profit member based organisation that runs economic or corporate themed events. They provide a platform that brings together influential peoples from all sectors of society such as business, academics, government and communities to form debate and discussion about social and economic issues affecting Australia.

As this marked my first ever work experience with a professional organisation I was a nervous wreck my first day. As I stepped into the offices I was overwhelmed with everything I have researched prior to commencing my internship, this was a company that are noted for their honorable reputation and professionalism. However all my anxiety was for nought, from the get go I was warmly welcomed and literally put to work immediately.

Under new management since late last year CEDA has revamped itself, holding more events (up to 50 a year) and gaining more members with organisations both domestic and national. The team of four work so well together like a well efficient machine. It was quite impressive to see them at work. I'm thrilled I could work and learn from them, despite their busy schedules and heavy work load they provide me the time to question them about how their experiences with the events industry has bought to to their current situations.

As I said earlier I was put to work immediately, I was so excited when my supervisor gave me my own project, to plan for a huge series event that will be held in early 2013. The task is enormous but I couldn't be happier. I must develop a regional development series that will be showcased in the nine regions of WA. Researching has taken up most the time but its important to highlight all the relevant industries and the issues affecting the region. Finding the right speakers for the topics held, basically putting together an event program, preparing sponsorships and partnerships proposals, are all apart of the work. Along with this project I help around the office working on entering registrations on a database, media monitoring and other tasks that include event logistics. Couple times I accompanied my colleagues to business meetings and simply soaked up how they dealt with clients and negotiated and planned for events to come.

Some lessons I have learned so far basically centres around being organised, it is imperative, one must be organised and efficient if working in events industry. I always thought I was organised but working these girls has opened my eyes.
I have had the best time interning with the CEDA girls, and I cant wait for the rest of my time with them, CEDA has 2 or more events each week with an impressive number of attendees. I've met people you read about in newspapers and see on TV, policy movers and shakers. It was intimidating but I've been having the best time. One thing i know for sure is that I will most assuredly will be pursuing this career path in the events industry. Corporate events was something that was not in my cards but now its not so bad.

I enjoyed reading about exciting and fantastic experiences on your placements, I hope to read more and I will definitely share with you more of my journey with CEDA. Yay for my first blog entry (It didn't seem so hard as I thought it would be).

Hope to hear from you all.


x
Suleeka

And who said not-for-profits were easy?

Hi everyone

Thought I'd get cracking with my first blog post since we're almost coming up to week 4!

Since the beginning of July I've started my work placement with the not-for-profit organisation Relationships Australia (WA). Relationships Australia is mainly interested in building up those human relationships and adding value to the person. They deal in counselling, mediation, professional development, educational courses, employee assistance programs and Aboriginal services. What I do is help out in their marketing/PR department with writing up articles, writing brochures and in the future hopefully starting up some social media.

Honestly even though we were heavily encouraged to always be on the lookout for work experience opportunities and try as much as we could I never bothered to apply for anything until this unit. This was bad for me because it made me so nervous on my first week of placement; I was quiet and hopefully not too unfriendly to the rest of my department.

Well one month later I've definitely improved and gained that confidence to try my best and not let my team down. Relationships Australia is a medium sized organisation and because of that they have their own marketing/PR department. It's more marketing than PR but I'm hoping it'll start evolving into a combination of the two.

Due to the fact that I hadn't completed any work experience before let alone in a not-for-profit sector I wasn’t sure entirely what to expect. I thought definitely that a not-for-profit would be “easier” and less stressful. I have nothing to compare my placement here too so I can’t really say if it is easier or not. There are deadlines that I have to meet and ways of writing that I have to adhere to each week. Due to the “family-ness” of the organisation the pieces that I write have to be wholesome and positive. I’m not sure if it can be compared to working for a corporate PR firm but I do have to say adjusting to new methods of writing is difficult.

Woohoo for the first blog post.

Hope to hear from you all

Angela

My Introduction to Chivas Regal, London Style!

Hi everyone,

I am writing this blog in London as I am doing my PR placement here at the Chivas Brothers office which is part of the parent company of Pernod Ricard. Pernod Ricard is the second largest wine and spirits company in the world, with brands such as Chivas Regal, Malibu and Absolut vodka. However the main brands which the PR and Marketing team work on at the Chivas Brothers office in London is on a global basis across all international  markets, looking after products such as Chivas Regal, Ballantine's, Royal Salute, Beefeater gin, The Glenlivet and Plymouth. The current leader in the market and clearly their major competitor is Diageo who is currently leading with brands such as Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff.

As I imagined, on my first day I was completely nervous and had no idea what to expect, but as soon as I walked into the office all the people were so friendly, warm and genuinely nice. I felt comfortable almost straight away and knew it was going to be a great experience! I am working in the PR team who work across all Chivas brothers’ brands, the team is made up of 10 people, including roles such as: Communications Director, The Head of PR, 2x International PR Managers, Internal Communications manager, Communications Executive, Graphic Designer, The Head of Sponsorship, Events Manager and a Personal Assistant for the Communications Director. However, I mostly work with Jennie who is the Head of PR.

Here are a few pictures- The Chivas Brothers office and view from the building at work!

This first week, mainly revolved around me learning the office facilities, each PR person’s role, collecting media coverage and sitting in on meetings. This was very interesting as I noticed that most tasks discussed in the meetings, could be related back to assignments I had done in the past at uni. For example the creation of key messages and objectives as an initial starting point for any task and the process involved in evaluating a PR campaigns effectiveness. As Chivas Brothers is such a large and global company, many meetings involved briefing PR consultancies such as John Doe about where a brand such as Ballantine’s is now, and where they want to be. Thus, expecting the PR agency to help them come up with creative ideas of how they can get the Ballantine’s brand to the position which they want to be in.

I have been given the task each week to collate all media coverage on Chivas Brothers, Pernod Ricard, any Chivas Brothers products and any competitor coverage. Once I have gathered the relevant and interesting articles, I create a document of them all which gets distributed to staff members working at Chivas Brothers offices in London and Scotland. This document is to be read by all staff in order to keep up to date with what is happening in the media in regards to how their products, company and competitors are doing within in the industry. This week I had help from Alicia, the Communications Director, to collate and forward to all staff; however from next week onwards I will be doing this by myself which is a little bit nerve racking as I will be emailing employees around the world this coverage. (I’m just hoping I remember every step of the process and email it to everyone correctly).

The 'event season' for most of the brands have just taken place and/or are coming up later in the year, so whilst I am here I will not be taking part in any specific events. However, Chivas Regal 25year old whisky has just sponsored the Cannes Film Festival for a fourth year during May. Since this event recently took place, I will be working on the evaluation for the event, and working through the process of evaluating each international market with the communications team and Chivas Regal marketing team!

I’m looking forward to evaluating this huge event over the next few weeks and to see if it was a bigger success than last year and how the PR and marketing aspects contributed to the success. I'll keep you updated!

This week has been a very eye opening experience and has already shown me a great picture of how PR works in real life, including the in-house side and consultancy side, through the meetings with different agencies. I already feel very comfortable and a part of the team, I’m loving the work and I know this is a once in a lifetime experience and I wouldn’t be able to get this global experience in Perth, so I am very grateful for this opportunity and so excited for the next few weeks!

Bye for now,

Gemma O’Hart

And So The Journey Begins!

On Monday July 2, 2012 I began my PR placement at Linc Integrated. Linc is a marketing and communications consultancy in Perth, that is quite well known for their work and focus on achieving results for their clients. I was very excited for my first day as I knew I would be able to be a part of something really big that week.

After arriving at Linc in the morning (and after having trained it for the first time in about five years - it was an experience, I’ll leave it at that) I met my supervisor and the rest of the PR team. My supervisor Rebecca introduced me to the Linc team (which includes the dog 'Poppy') and took me for a tour around the office. Although Bec would be my supervisor I would be supported by the rest of the Linc PR team, which included a few full-time and part-time members as well as other employees from different disciplines who help to support the work done for their clients.

We started off with a briefing between the team, and I got the low-down on why this week was to be one of the biggest and busiest of their year. I was to spend my first week of work experience assisting them to carry out Bankwest’s Six Days of Happy. Essentially the point of Six Days of Happy is to celebrate the opening of the clients’ new flagship store in the city. The fact it ran for six days was to relate it to the feature of the store being open six days a week, which differentiates the client from their competitors. Each of the days would have a distinct event at the flagship store in the city as part of their celebrations.

The events are listed here in a media release.

In order to familiarise myself for the first day "Main Event Monday" I took a good read of the running sheets, media releases, spokesperson briefs and speech notes. It was then time to set out and manage the event!

 

 

When we headed to the store I got to meet the clients’ team. After helping to set up outside and ensuring appropriate brand coverage, our special guests began to arrive. Main Event Monday was to feature the Western Force going head-to-head in a fitness challenge against the WA Ballet and Nathan Pocock from the Force would also be doing a book signing in the store.

I'll admit I was pretty excited about this, mainly because I have a background in ballet and I frequently have the argument of "dancers are the fittest" with my boyfriend who is a sports fanatic! Main Event Monday was going to finally set the argument straight once and for all!

Overall the event went really well, the WA Ballet smashed the Force boys in the five fitness exercises (as I knew they would) and we managed to get quite a few people down to watch. It turned out to be a crowd-pleaser but Monday was only the beginning!

On Tuesday we headed down for another big event. We were going to have Andrew Embley and Josh Kennedy from the West Coast Eagles (WCE) come down for a handball competition and some merchandise signing for "Tackle Tuesday". When we arrived it was really noticeable that the Eagles’ appearance would be a key driver for public attendance. Die-hard fans were already waiting for them to arrive before we got there. It was also essential that branding was in the appropriate places, particularly for the signing inside the store where photos would be taken of the players. I had the very fun job of coordinating the mascots which included Rick “The Rock” from West Coast and the clients own Gary the Squirrel. It was quite fun being put in charge of making sure they were in the right places at the right time to ensure photo opportunities.

  

In comparison to Monday, Channel 9 came down to the event to film and the footage ended up on their news report that evening, which was a great result. I also ended up appearing in a shot, which gave my mum a good laugh when we watched the news and managed to get my own signed autograph and photo with the boys (I must learn to not blink in photographs!).

When I returned to Linc on Wednesday everyone was buzzing! It was "Wi-Fi Wednesday", which would showcase the first Tweetathon in Australia! Every tweet between 8am and 6pm which included @Bankwest @Telethon7 with the hashtag #tweetforkids would result in the client donating $1 per person to the charity. I was really impressed with this idea when I heard about it as it’s good to see social media being put to use for a great cause. I also knew I was going to be facing a very big day that would be incredible to be a part of. Of course, as the event was on Twitter we all spent most of the day with our eyes literally glued to the computer screen. Every few minutes one of us would announce one of the high profile tweets we saw to the others, and there were a lot! My job was to ensure I screen captured all the high profile tweets. I ensured I got everyone who was well known and had a lot of followers. There were some big, BIG names including, Johnny Ruffo, Mel, Kochie and Mark Barretta (from Sunrise), Jen Hawkins, Megan Gale, Matthew Pavlich, Danny Green, Mick Malthouse, I mean the list just went on and on and on. I must have compiled about 25 pages of tweets just from high profile people.

Check out some of the coverage online by following this link.

We also headed down to the flagship store where the client had arranged staff to wear special shirts whilst tweeting outside the store in the plaza (again, note the branding placements). Channel 7 had come down to film as it was the first event of its kind to happen. The Telethon Director and Fat Cat also came down and tweeted in the shots which helped to display the clients’ partnership.

It was really interested going down to see this because you just don't realise how different something is from how it appears on television and how 10 seconds of footage is drawn from 10 minutes of actual film, not to mention hours and hours of preparation. What was even more interesting on Wednesday is that I got to see an on the spot interview. This really showed the importance of briefing your client and preparing Q + A documents, as well as spokesperson briefs.

  

Overall it was a really exciting day to be a part of and follow so closely. It demonstrated not only the power of social media but also how to properly manage it. At the end of the day we ended up with 10,890 tweets and the event ended up getting great coverage on Sunrise in the morning, who promoted it during their show and on Channel 7 news that night (I also made another appearance in a shot which generated more laughs from my family).

Although I didn't help with a lot of the preparation in the lead up to the event, I learnt a lot about event management in those first three days of my internship ,which included:

·        If something can go wrong, it will go wrong!: As prepared as Linc were you can't control the inevitable, one of the Force boys was late and there really isn't anything that could have been done (you can't magically make someone appear as much as you try).

·        You can't control the media: This was probably the eye opener for me. Linc had managed to get into contact with Channel 10 Monday morning for Main Event Monday, who said they would head down to get coverage. But unfortunately as one of the Force boys was a bit late the event was delayed a few minutes and Channel 10 ended up leaving for something more newsworthy. Also you can't control what they are going to actually publish so you have to be sure to provide as many opportunities as you can whilst also ensuring you are happy with what could possibly be covered.

·        Micro management:  It was really good coming along and seeing how an event is managed. I payed close attention to my supervisor, Bec was great! She knew what shots the photographer should go for, where they should set up to get the best coverage of branding and making sure everything ran smoothly. I think that it is key in events not only to be prepared, but also to be able to improvise on the spot and know really well what it is that the client is after in terms of results.

·    The importance of sponsorships: The WCE really demonstrated the benefits of an effective relationship; they drew large crowds and got lots of media attention for the client. Their profile in Perth was definitely a huge advantage for Tackle Tuesday, without them I highly doubt we would have been able to get coverage on the news.

·       The power of social media: It is still an extremely new tool! At one stage we were worried the Tweetathon would blow out too much as some of the people who were tweeting had 100,000's of followers on Twitter. This in turn led to some negativity surrounding the idea as one blogger commented that no one would donate that much money so it was unfair. Of course on the flipside, such an innovative concept would not have been possible without these platforms and it was able to reach such a large amount of people in a short amount of time. We even ended up capturing international tweets and some people were still tweeting about it the next day!

·        Make sure you open your eyes in photos and avoid distinctive scarfs your family can recognise on TV: I think this one pretty much speaks for itself.

Well this blog turned out a lot longer than I anticipated, but I really wanted to cover each of these events in the same post to help everyone get a better understanding of how the week was to work together. I had a really great time those first three days and although I have never had a particular interest in event management, it was fantastic to be able to get this insight and I thank Linc for allowing me to do so. Event management is extremely important but I don't think I would be able to focus my career solely on this type of work; nevertheless I still had an amazing time helping out to make the Six Days of Happy a great week!

Until next time!

Laura Tirli

The Fellowship

Through the sheer luck and coincidence of bumping into an old acquaintance I came across a cry for help. I was presented with a brief for an organisation called the Fellowship of Australian Writers (WA).FAWWA is a not for profit organisation that provides support, advocacy, training and most of all friendship to Western Australia's writing community.

The once popular not for profit was founded in 1938 and at its highest point boasted over 1000 members. The organisation was thriving, constantly holding glamorous events attended by many prestigious writers and creative people. They also were putting out a well written and entertaining monthly magazine.

However for many reasons, over time the Fellowship lost its touch. Currently standing at 150 members, the president Trisha Kotai-Ewers and other members decided the fellowship was in need of young Public Relations students to volunteer and give the organisation a new youthful lease on life. I accepted this challenge and have been volunteering for over a month already, the organisation itself is on the verge of great change and it’s an exciting time to be involved with FAWWA.

The organisation can be found in Tom Collin’s house in Swanbourne. Tom Collins was a man called Joseph Furphy’s pen name. Joseph Furphy was a writer, well known for his novel ‘Such is Life’. He built the house by himself and later on the house was donated to FAWWA for use as their office.

The house is an incredible (and freezing) place to work. At lunch time all the volunteers, current writer’s in residence and anyone else who is hanging around is invited to sit in the dining room and have soup together. At this point everyone comes together and talks, jokes and shares stories which is an awesome way to exchange ideas and thoughts.

I don’t think I could have asked for a better placement, I am given tremendous responsibility and I am treated like a professional Public Relations practitioner not just a student. I am not given tasks or jobs instead I have to look for ways I can help the organisation myself and put those plans into action alone , it already has given me invaluable experience and I am sure there is plenty more to learn and my placement continues.