Stretching in at Gymnastics WA

Hello PR people,


Introductions

First of all my name is Kim, I’ll start off by admitted I'm pretty wrapped that I'm finally starting up my blog, it means I survived the first week or two of my Internship! And yes I actually was that scared of the idea of starting this last phase of university learning. I say that because after all this time learning about PR, what it is and how to use it, I was scared that the way I applied my knowledge wouldn’t be of much value to a real organisation.


I’m finding myself pretty fortunate in landing a spot at Gymnastics WA, the main reason for this being it’s an organisation based around sport, something I’m pretty passionate about.


The Office

The state Gymnastics Centre is located in Loftus Sports and Recreation Centre, not too far from home which is wicked. In the office there are about 10-15 people working to keep the Government funded organisation running. Each person has control of an area working in conjunction with a few others in their section, these being; Operations Section, Services and Development and Gymsports Section.


My Role

As Gymnastics WA doesn’t have a PR department as such I am working under the Gymsports Section which manage the events and state teams. My role fits in here as I’m helping with the PR for a new event, an awesome opportunity but daunting too! The people I’m leaning on the most are the Gymsports Manager and the Executive Director. As this is a first time event designed to target outside the gymnastics community, both my mentors are in uncharted waters, so as a PR student I bring valuable knowledge to the situation.


So Far

So far my role has been to write the sponsorship package for this new event, a task I thought would be far beyond my capability, however I’m pretty proud of the document that’s coming together.


Issues

The things I’m finding hard so far pretty much concern the change in work environments, sitting at a desk for 7-8 hours a day is not ideal. The other challenge I’m finding is getting contact time with my mentors to discuss my concerns, theres 10 other people so competing for their time is a task. However I’m being forced to talk to other staff members and borrow their knowledge as well as trust my gut, which I suppose is part of the whole process of becoming a PR Professional.

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