Start of a new and final placement

So last week was the start of a new placement at my local University. My placement is for one month and my time will be split into two parts, half of my time will be spent at the Students Union communications office and the other half of my time will be at the University's press office. This placement will therefore allow me to see/work for two different organisations. One gaining/creating press coverage on behalf of the students and the other will be press coverage and communication for the university itself. So really it's like doing two placements!!

I have been looking forward to this placement a lot, when I went for my interview they seemed to be very keen for an extra pair of hands as it would be a busy period time for them, they were also keen to have someone 'young' and social media savvy to help them.

Prior to the placement they had sent me a brief overview of what my placement would include, tasks and duties such as press releases, research, strategic planning, events and more.

Over the next month there is ALOT of award evenings that the university is involved in and (have won awards).

Also whilst I am on the placement there is a VIP guest visiting the university (I will update you all next week)...

So far I have been given the project to secure press coverage for a group of students. They are doing a cycle ride for a charity from London to Istanbul and want to raise as much money as possible. In doing so they want as much publicity as possible so I have written a press release, arranged a radio interview and I am now trying to get the team of 14 students together to do a team photo and interview with a local newspaper. With exams, deadlines and of course social lives of students its hard to organise them and around them to make things work but fingers crossed.

I have written other press releases about the awards won by the university which have received great coverage in local news :)

Other projects I have been leading I will have to update you next week its all a bit secret at the moment...

Anyway, this placement is really improving my creativity thinking and writing skills...I look forward to writing my blog next week and telling you all about what I have been doing!

Watch this space!!

P.s. I miss the sunshine and Dubai

Happy blogging

Hannah

Dubai Snaps...

January

So January…

This month was a little quiet…so I took a week off for holiday, I thought I would share with you some pictures from my time here in Dubai J I have been very lucky to have got this placement!

Back to work…

Press samples for 2012! Yay new clothes, new shoes J  This month we received the new collections for 2012 for all brands and they are amazing if only I wasn’t a student and had hundreds to spend on clothes. This also means new products for the beauty brands here in the office so I got a lot of free makeup this month!

With the new samples it was then my job to put together a press sample report for journalists and for us to keep a track on what is in the office and what is out on shoot. Organisation skills were tried and tested here!

With the new samples I attended a photo shoot, the photo shoot was with an Arabic singer who is very famous (platinum selling) concert filling singer! This shoot went on for hours….

The celebrity was so impressed with our samples she is now going to wear the brand for every photo shoot and event she attends across the globe J Great success and coverage for the brand.

With February events and tasks in talk now it was time to put together a budget presentation for an event we have coming up…this event I will be overseeing by myself on the day and on the lead up so a lot of responsibility here! The event is a children’s collection so the theme of the event is a children’s party so we have magicians, balloon benders, puppet show the lot booked. Every last detail has to be approved by the client- and when I say every last detail I’m talking about what sweets are allowed at the event, what shape bowls and what colour balloons.

All is booked for the event so I’m really looking forward to the day it should be a lot of fun J Will post photos next time.

I had the task this month to research external events coming up in Dubai for the next 6 months so they can be added to the calendar for the whole Euro office. This is so our events don’t clash- but to also keep an eye out for any possible sponsorship opportunities for the brands we handle.

Getting coverage for an event

Well this task was a challenging one as the event was in two weeks so I could only contact certain publications…there was an event and I had to ensure 3 pieces of coverage either on radio, in a weekly magazine or online. So I created a media list and got phoning and emailing…I managed to get the 5 pieces of coverage in the end but it was a struggle to get that.

This month was also a busy one for venue searching…Visiting venues- is a must when planning any events so I was given the task of finding a venue for a fragrance launch. I had to compile a list of possible venues that fit the brief of what he client wanted and get phoning and booking visits. Once at the venues it was picture time …the suites/hotels that I looked around were incredible I also got to look around The Atlantis J  WOW....

I would upload some pictures but I was told I would get into trouble by the hotel L sorry about this but the rooms were amazing take my word for it.

There were lots of meetings this month with clients to talk over targets, events, and new magazines and opportunities. This month I held my own meeting with a new magazine, I arranged for the magazine to come in and talk to the Euro office about what the magazine was, its distribution etc so this was helpful for everyone.  

Love is in the air…

Valentine’s Day Eshots, press releases, news flashes were all sent out this month, I had to put my creative hat on to try and make each press release suited to the brands and different so it would stand out. All in all it was helpful as I know I lack confidence in my writing skills.

 Apart from that it was the general PR duties such as press requests, media monitoring and chasing journalists :) So far 2012 has been good to me roll on February...

Happy Blogging

Hannah xx

Happy 2012!

Happy New Year,

These last few weeks have been BUSY!

I have over looked my colleagues brands whilst she was away hence the lack of blogging this month-

So the colleague I had been working with for the past two and a half months was flying to Paris for a press trip that we had pitched a few weeks ago and then she was on vacation. So in her place was me

I overlooked the brands and accounts for the month that she was away, I handled the press kits, press requests, press samples and overall end of year tasks. This month was the busiest but most productive and educational I have had in PR.

I was thrown in the deep end and this is definitely the best way to learn.

My first day by myself was a complete disaster… I had been left to follow up with an advertorial arranged in a magazine. So my first day back I followed up on this thinking that everything would be okay and sorted. Oh how I was so wrong i  phoned the magazine only to find that the information that was sent to the magazine for them to use needed to be in Arabic… Something so small but created so much problems and drama in one day. So after a long afternoon of trying to find someone to translate and get it resolved I had to explain to the client that what he had paid for he might not get. As you can imagine he wasn't happy and neither was i. My colleague was flying this day so i couldn't ask her for information that i needed so i had to turn to one of the girls in the office who was very helpful.

It wouldn't have been so stressful if there wasn't a deadline that day as the magazine was going t print. However after many phone calls to the magazine we came to a agreement and we managed to get the article in the magazine after all!

– Lesson learnt- always expect mistakes, allow time for these mistakes, fix them quickly but most importantly learn from them.

So the world of press samples is a stressful one, for the brand Longchamp and Lanvin they have invested thousands into press samples, so its my job to look after these samples :/

The press samples i was in charge of looking after were expensive dresses, shoes and bags. 
I had to send different samples to photo shoots, and for editors to wear to events.

All was going well until a bag went 'missing' there was panic and mad rushing to find this bag...the studio where it was being shot looked and couldn't find it and couldn't remember receiving it, i had to check with our drivers who had taken it there...i checked in our offices in case it hadn't been sent. So i decided to go and look my self at the studio...within 10 minutes of being there I found the bag...along with it two pairs of shoes that the studio didn't realise they had...so if i hadn't of turned up to look for the bag there would have been a bag and two pairs of shoes missing resulting in well over two thousands pounds worth gone.

- Lesson learnt...always double check yourself

Press Kit dispatch for SS12

With 4  different brands having SS12 press kits to go out in the same week all to different media was a challenge for me considering I had never dispatched a press kit before. Each press kit was different one being very simple burn the CD’s burn the CD labels and send in a cardboard coloured envelope. Where others had 6 press releases to them and needed to be printed in both English and Arabic on headed paper along with two CD’s and all put into folders with gifts. Needless to say the extra 15 hours I put into this week to ensure that they were all dispatched in time was worth it.

-The reality and lesson that week was overtime is a must in PR!

Follow up calls

My new pet hate but a vital part in rounding up the media for an event. I helped the girls out with follow up calls this month for their events…with over 200 press for each event I'm sure they were sick of my voice as much as I was. Not only do you have to follow up but also pitching the event to press who may not have received (or not bothered to open) the email invitation to create hype.

Christmas and new year gifts/competitionsObviously the main point of PR is to gain that all important coverage so again this month I attended photo shoots to overlook our press samples, I carried out a lot of media monitoring in the magazines, but I also came across a great opportunity for one of the brands. The brand doesn't have a huge budget so they focus their PR on products and giveaways as this is what they have a lot of. So when I came across a television competition looking for products for their viewers I immediately got the brand involved. The television show broadcasts to millions as well as being posted on to You tube and other social media benefits….I am waiting for the results/feedback next month.

Event planning for SS12 In 2012 there are a few events sketched into the diary one of which is the children's collection being launched by Lanvin. This happening in February so planning  has begun. We were given an event brief from the client regarding décor, what they wanted from the agency and we then have to deliver a budget presentation to them. So I had to come up with ideas and find entertainers, caterers and get quotes from in house for invitation printing, lighting etc the list really does goes on.

This was a great task as I had done this in lesson before but this time is was for real and for a great event.

Overall this month has taught me how hard you have to work in PR to be successful, it was hard and stressful but I learnt so much and enjoyed seeing the results. I'm sure next month will have more for me to learn.

Happy blogging,

Hannah

Here in Dubai

Hello...I must first apologise for not blogging sooner I was waiting for my first month to be finished here in Dubai before I blogged again...a month had been and gone and I came to blog about my time here so far and found that everything was in Arabic....and I have only just got someone to change it to English.

So my first month in Dubai:

I flew from London Heathrow on October 4th, a said my farewells to friends and family
:( emotional...

Once I arrived in Dubai I had a few days to un-pack, get things ready for my first day of work and of course a few days to relax and enjoy myself by the pool :)


On my first day I arrived for an introduction talk, shown around the building which was newly built...complete with a table tennis table, table football and some cool chill out rooms.


There are two PR teams consumer and corporate that made up of over 25 people, a marketing team and a creative team is also present in the offices along with accounting.

The PR agency works for another company who handle luxury lifestyle in the Middle Eastand have done for over 55 years. So brands that the PR agency where I will be working  will include top designers, beauty ranges and gifts.


My first month was a busy one, I was paired up with one of the consumer PR girls where I was thrown in the deep end (as I was warned) she had two big events coming up, one was a new store opening for Hackett in Dubai Mall, the other was an event to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first Paul Smith store opening in the UAE. Both the events had the designers flying in to Dubai and would be present for the events and interviews.




So this month, I had an insight and input into the events:

• Inviting the media and guests to the events
• Learning the processes of planning events
• Knowing the key media
• Knowing how to budget
• How cost sheets work
• Securing coverage in magazines before the event
• Ensuring the magazines have interview questions ready and that they are checked by the client
• Catering processes and contacts
• Venue selection
• Learning about the Arabic media/magazines
• Learning about the company and brands

The list really does go on I have learnt so much by being involved in events which will help me for the next months events...


Working with fashion brands means press samples are sent out so I have had to not only send the very expensive clothes out, but also do the media monitoring in magazines for all the brands to ensure we are getting coverage and most importantly ensuring that the samples come back!!


Press Releases
What PR job wouldn't include a few press releases....of course I have written a few press releases this month both pre- and post event releases. These are then sent out to all the publications, newspapers, online, magazines etc and used which we then monitor using a database and media monitoring team.




E-shots
These are reminders for the press about upcoming events, celebrities in a brand/clothing or new collections; these are sent out weekly via email and include a picture and a small paragraph...I have sent alot of these out to press followed by images or press releases the next few weeks....another way of creating awareness that I didn't even think of before...




Perks of the job...


Not only is being in Dubai amazing but the job has a few perks as well...


People- I have met alot of lovely people this month and have had the honor in meeting some of the worlds best designers


Events- Not only great coverage for the brand, its a good day out and I got o meet a lot of the journalists


Food tasting- Its our job in PR to check what the food is like for events


Venues- I get to visit some of the most luxurious and most expensive hotels and venues in Dubai


Limo- I managed to get a free limo ride home with my colleague after an event


Clothes- Clothes clothes clothes.....for any girl that loves clothes and shopping... this job is amazing!!




My first month of this placement has already taught me so much about PR, I already feel that I have improved and its only the first few weeks into the placement. It has also reminded me of why I wanted to do PR in the first place, not only am I enjoying myself and making friends along the way, I am learning how to be a PR professional.


I will be back soon enough to tell you what else I have been up to :)


Happy blogging




Hannah

16 days to go...

So only 16 days to go until my first day in Dubai. Each day I have different feelings towards going over there, some times I'm nervous and think to myself what if I really don't like it what will I do? Then the other times I'm so excited and can't wait to get over there.

So at the moment I'm trying to get my head around being organised and making sure that I have all I need for over there and things are sorted at this side for when I leave and return. Next weekend is my last here in the UK so I know it will be a busy and emotional one with family and friends :(


Tutor Visit

Yesterday I had my first tutor visit, I spoke to my tutor about what I had been doing and showed him the work I had done which I had printed beforehand. My tutor was impressed with what I had accomplished in the 3 months I had been here. I explained that the Heart team here in Exeter had made me feel very welcome and were always there to help me. I spoke to my tutor for about an hour and a half, then it was my supervisor's turn to talk to my tutor.

So I left my supervisor and tutor to talk about me...which I was a tad nervous about because this would be the first time my supervisor here at Heart would have judged and commented on my performance.

Once my supervisor had spoken to my tutor, I returned to find out what had been said... All was positive feedback from my supervisor with the only improvement I could make would to be more proactive in the work place which I agree I could improve on. I shouldn't wait to be told or ask what to do next I should come up with things to do and get on and do it by myself.

I will take what my supervisor said as a guideline to improve on in Dubai and not as a negative comment because like my tutor said, no-one is perfect.

Once all the formalities had been done, I showed my tutor around the studios and buildings here at Heart.

I hope that your tutor visit will be as supportive and useful to what mine was and use the information to improve on not to put you down.

Happy blogging,

Hannah

Just for fun on this rainy day :D