17the Jan (Start of week 2)
I’m writing this first blog entry after completing my 7th day of PR placement at Atlas South Sea pearl. I had intended to write an entry in my first week but became so overly excited about all the PR opportunities for the company that I ended up spending the majority of my free time last week taking my work home. I learnt in the first week that working 8am-5pm and then staying up late doing more is the best recipe for an early burn out! So this week I’m calming down and doing things in a more methodical, grounded and less eager sort of order!
The company I am working for is a fully integrated business who own and operate several pearl farms, manage loose pearl distribution, have in-house jewellery manufacturing capabilities and operate several retail outlets. My work experience is taking place in the Perth head office located in Claremont.
Although the company has in house marketing, they have recently decided to let go of the consultancy that was doing their PR. The fact that there are minimal PR strategies in place is both good and bad for my work experience. It’s good in that I have quite a free reign in terms of putting my university skills into practice. However, sometimes it would be helpful to have someone with more experience in PR telling me the best way to do things. Having said that, it’s challenging as well as exciting to be putting the skills I’ve learnt in theory to use in a real-life organisation!
In my first week I have constructed a PR folder with templates for media releases, a media kit, a PR strategy and an event plan. I also formed an events calendar for the year which will tie in with the Media Strategy I’m currently working on, attended a website management course and constructed a media data base.
The company is hugely conscious of their Corporate Responsibilities in terms of both the environment as well as the societies in which their pearl farms operate. This concept of luxurious products with a sense of meaning behind them sets Atlas apart from other companies in the industry. This point of difference forms an ideal platform from which PR strategies can be built and implemented.
1 comments:
Hi,
It sounds all very exciting and I do know what you mean when you say that you were so excited about starting that you took your work home with you. I too did the same thing. I had a million ideas floating around about what I could do to contribute to the company and enhance their business outlook. I can tell you coming towards the end of my prac that pacing your self is a good idea!
I to am in a similar position when you say its nice to have "free reign in terms of putting our university skills into practice. However, sometimes it would be helpful to have someone with more experience in PR telling me the best way to do things." I'm not sure what advise I would give to a new student in our position? I to like being able to experiment with PR ideas and concepts and being able to put them into action. I think working with a company with a strong PR team would limit those experiences. (I would hate to be making cups of coffee, photocopying, stapling documents and proof reading all the time)However, having someone to check over your work would also be nice. It can be a daunting thought putting a PR concept forward and then worrying about whether it was the right one to implement.
So far though, everyone has been very happy with what I have done. It's nice to know that all this time at uni is finally paying off. I feel confident to say that I am a professional in the field of PR, and I put that confidence down to my experience from my prac.
Constructing a PR template file was a great idea. I'm sure that would of taken a while to do. I too did some templates which since being made I have used. It's a good feeling when you start putting to use all the background work. You mentioned you started an events calendar. I made a time line which accompanied the calendar so that pre planning and organisation before the event gets well under way. I'm not sure what types of events you're doing but maybe this sort of thing might help?
Good luck with the rest of your prac, you sound like your doing a great job! I can't wait to read what comes next..
Lori Black
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