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