PR- Learn it, Live it, Love it!!

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Placement, Placement, Placement!

Well, day three, I sound like that Big Brother guy! Ha!

Anyway, back to serious. My third day has been pretty good. Although I have had some fairly tedious tasks to do they were quite therapeutic. I was asked to phone round all the publications on our database for forward feature lists for 2007. What on earth are forward feature lists I hear you say?!

Well, most publications make plans of what subjects their features will cover month by month for the whole year ahead! Obviously this can come in quite handy for an PR & advertising agency. For example, if a publication is doing a feature about life insurance, an agency may have a client involved in that field. They can contact the publication on behalf of their client and ask if they would like them to contribute, thus providing an opportunity for exposure. Good isn't it?!

Equally they could choose that issue to advertise in as it is complimentary to the feature.

Well, get me. I never thought I would being explaining forward features on my blog!

I have also been compiling a list of possible retailers to get on board with an upcoming campaign. That has also got my little brain ticking. It is so easy to miss out an essential contact and as I was very eager to impress, I was determined to think of everything. They seemed to be quite pleased and very grateful so I think I can say 'job done!'

The thing that has become most apparent to me today is that the little tedious jobs are often the most important. So perserverance is key!

Will somebody please leave some comments, nobody has yet, it's almost as if everyone's life doesn't centre around me! :(

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Am I still loving my placement?

Well. Today is my second day and given the week started off so well, I was kind of assuming that it could only get worse. Guess what, it hasn't!

Although today has been a little slower, I have still really enjoyed the tasks I have been given. I have been more involved in the advertising side of things. I was asked to come up with some slogans for an upcoming campaign.

Given that slogans and general creativity is not my strong suit, I was obviously a bit daunted by the task set. However, when I got started and was asking the staff that work here for their advice, I was quite suprised with what I found. Shock horror, people in the industry don't have all the answers either!

Although my ideas weren't exactly earth shattering, I did come up with one particularly good slogan that I am quite proud of. Obviously I cannot share this strictly confidential information on my blog!

I have learnt quite a lot today. Even if my slogans aren't going to rock anybodies world and probably won't get used in the final campaign, I have found out that I do have creativity and I do have lots of ideas. I just needed to do some research to inspire me. Something that I had never thought of before (as a second year student, I think I am quite brave to admit that!)

I have really enjoyed discovering my creative process. Researching previous campaigns and slogans as well as doing some word association really helped me to develop catchier oneliners than I have ever come up with before.

I also got a chance to look at some previous poster designs for campaigns for the same client. This was quite interesting as it helped me visualise how this new campaign would fit with the rest to create a continuous theme. I also had a discussion with one of the designers about possile visuals for the poster. This was a great experience as well, I have never done anything like that before! I really got a feel for the whole process and how things come together.

As you can tell, I am still chuffed with my placement and I am really enjoying finally putting all the theory I have had thrown at me over the last 18 months into practice. Anyway, please leave me some comments, I am keen to hear what you have to say.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Scary Placement!!

Yes ladies and gents, you've guessed it. I've ventured out into the big, bad world and I doing my first work placement at Isle of Man Advertsing in PR Limited. Can anyone guess where that is??




Now, I started my placement today and I can honestly say I love it! I have already written two press releases and the lovely lady at the agency says she really likes my writing style. Apparently I have a flair! Watch out now, my head is inflating!

I am very pleased with my choice of agency. The people are lovely and are doing all they can to make sure I get the most out of the placement, even if it is the week before Christmas!

It seems like I have a very exciting week ahead of me. Lucky me, is getting to sit in on a brainstorming session for one of the Islands biggest ever road safety campaigns with the IOM's elite in PR and advertising!

This agency is also a great choice as they are a PR and advertising agency which is giving me the opportunity to see how the two work together. As I was under the impression the two fields were completely separate, I was quite shocked to see how much they cross over.

I have already learnt a lot and it is only my first day! By the way, any PR students who hate writing press releases, fear not! They are much more interesting when you are writing them for real. Although the basic theory is the same, everything else is totally different. It is also a lot easier to write when you don't have a lecturer looking over your shoulder (no offense Phil and Chris, I think you're both great!).

Right, anyone who has already done a placement and would like to give me advice on how to get the best out of it, please leave me some comments. I am very interested in anything you have to say. Also, if you haven't done one and have any questions please leave them and I will try my best to find the answer during this placement.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Just what is a journalist anyway??

Those of you who take MAC250 will understand just how hard this question is to answer and how frustrating it is for Phil to chuck your ideas out the window just when you think you've cracked it!!

When we were talking about this in class on Friday, it really got my little brain ticking. with increasingly sophisticated technology and the rise of social media, how exactly do u distinguish between a journalist, a blogger and indeed a normal citizen?

Tony Harcup defines a journalist as someone who "informs society about itself and makes public that which otherwise would be kept private."(2005:2).

Under this defintion, surely bloggers would be considered journalists? Fair enough, not every blogger has the sole purpose to inform society about itself and make certain private information public, however, a lot of people do this in their blogs. For example, Jackie Danicki's recent post about her being attacked on the London underground would surely be considered as informing society about itself? And if it weren't for Jackie, nobody would have ever heard about this incident. Does this make her a journalist?

Citizen journalism is another complication to this definition. "Citizen's have been capturing videos of tornado's and other natural disasters for years and cable television caters to voyeurs with a variety of shows featuring citizen-captured police chases, embarrassing moments, and the like." (Gillmor 2004:35)

As well as these events, terroris attacks are usually filmed by the public and this footage is often what appears on the news. Situations like this are rapidly on the rise due to increasingly sophisticated technology. "As cameras become just one more thing we all carry everyday, everyone's becoming a photographer." (Gillmor 2004:34)

Mobile phones are also contributing to this. Phones without cameras virtually don't exist anymore meaning that if anything news worthy did happen, there isn't many people who wouldn't be in a position to capture it on film. For example, the man who recorded the London tude after the bomb on 7/7. This footage would never had been seen if it wasn't for his actions. Does this make him a journalist?

However, Harcup further complicates things by stating that a journalist is someone who get's paid to do these things. Although this takes bloggers out of the equation what about the citizen's who capture event on film and then sell the footage or pictures to TV stations and newspapers. Can someone really be considered a journalist just because they were in the right place at the right time? Or is it the intitive to film the event that makes them worthy of this title? or indeed is it just ridiculous to call someone in this situation a journalist?

See, it's really not very easy to define a journalist at all! Is a journalist just simply somebody who see things through the eyes of the public, writes their stories based on this and gets paid for it?

One final thought, when you think of 9/11, what images do you see in your head? Whatever they are, it is likely that this footage was captured by an average joe, a tourist maybe, if the footage was professional, would it have been different? If so, would it have been better? Maybe the answer to the 'what is a journalist?' brain teaser lies in this very question?

Anyway, I think i have given you plenty to comment on and I might even have the makings of an essay in this post (What do you think Phil?!).

Please leave as many comments as possible, it will help me with my essay for MAC250!