Easter Time! 24/04/2014 Catch up post!

Second Week & Easter

The last two weeks of placement have gone extremely quickly, I think this is due to the Easter Break occurring right in the middle which allowed me to have a couple of days to relax with the family and over-indulge on Easter treats. Despite the fact that time is flying back, over the last two weeks I have really grasped the role and I am now managing my own work-load which is helping me learn the role swiftly. As the brand portfolio we look after at Commotion is heavily beauty based, Sharon though it would be a great idea to attend the annual Natural and Organic Product Show at London Olympia- this was a really exciting opportunity for me and I feel I have benefited in terms of my research for my dissertation. The event consisted of four different elements; The Natural Food Show, Natural Beauty & Spa, Natural Living and Natural Health, there was always the Natural Beauty Awards which Aubrey Organics (one of our brands) won an award! Additionally it was great way for Sharon to pitch to new clients and really get a feel of the general market size for organic products. The event was huge and there was so many innovative/ unique brands offering new angles on beauty and natural foods. Whilst Sharon did her magic talking to potential new brands to work with, I really took in the array of things on offer. I also had the chance to meet two of our existing clients- Aubrey and Archeia, again this is enormously helpful for me as I now can match names to faces whilst speaking via email. All round it was an insightful and very busy day searching for new business, which I realised is a large proportion of the work Sharon does- managing and maintaining existing clients is obviously crucial however it is just as important to pro actively search for new clients to help move the business forward.

Event at London Olympia

Now I feel more comfortable with my role Sharon often has meetings in London and I hold the fort at the Cambridge office with the Media Managers guys. This has given me the opportunity to start using may days to fundamentally promote the brands we have using my knowledge from university and what I have been taught at Commotion. My typical day usually consists of:

• Responding to Response Sources, which is a data base that allows Journalists to request out to PRs for content for their articles- these come through in the form of emails and usually about 4-5 per hour. Some are completely non-relevant and therefore get dismissed instantly, but several provide strong opportunity to get the brand noticed by very busy journalists. I usually spend my morning responding to these, sending samples out to journalists who are interested and press cutting via our press cutting system Precise and then forwarding to the clients
• The afternoon I try to focus on writing press releases relevant to what’s going on in the world.. In PR I have learnt you always need to be one step ahead and know what's going to be occurring in the next few months. Magazines (monthlies/glossies) usually work up to 3 to 4 months in advance so it’s knowing what content/angles they’ll be looking for to ensure you have a wider margin for the product to be featured. Weeklies/nationals and regionals differ and things can usually be sent in real-time. At the moment I am looking for new angles on summer prep for your body and also festival trends which I can work into a compelling press release to plug Aubrey Organics sun care ranges. This is all still very daunting for me as it takes a lot to become comfortable with your own writing style, especially when it’s going to be sent out to hundreds of journalists (which will probably delete it straight from their inboxes!) Sandra and Sharon both explained that it takes time to master the skill of writing press releases and at Commotion they use each other for feedback and to help point out improvements which could be made.
• I tend to delegate time to small tasks which Sharon or Sandra ask me to complete relevant for that day, I speak to Sharon usually twice a day via email or phone to catch up- she also provides me gives me feedback on what I've done & where I can improve. I love having such a great support network around me – it has helped me enjoy and learn my job much quicker.

At the minute I'm also working with Media Managers on one of their new clients The Netherlands Tourist Board social media. Alistair the MD has briefed Sandra and I on the challenge ahead and I have been carrying out some basic research on how social media is used for tourist boards/comparing stats/ looking at travel habits. Alistair also spoke us through how he won the pitch and the presentation he put together- this was brill as it taught me how to use different angles to tell a story to transform the brief and provide context-  a skill hopefully I will be able to interpret into my own presentations. Well that concludes my post for this week- I'm really looking forward to next week as I am attending The House Collection (a boutique chain of hotels in and around Cambridge) first Birthday event! I'll try get some pics and post what I get up to- hopefully eating lots of cake. 

Round Up- First two weeks at Commotion

So the next part of my placement journey continues into the world of Media Managers as a PR executive, but I quickly learnt my role would consist more of account managing. The company I am going to be working with to complete my placement is Commotion Communications which is the PR segment of Media Managers- a fully integrated marketing communications agency. The team I'm working with is relatively small; which is different to what I am used to but definitely creates a sense of intimacy and contributes to me feeling like a valued team member. My manager, Sharon has seventeen years of PR experience and worked as PR and marketing manager at Champneys Spa Resorts, she then decided to set up her own consultancy using her wealth of knowledge to secure new brands remaining under the beauty,spa and luxury travel umbrella.

My first week was spent mirroring the shifts my new team member who I would be job-sharing, this was an integral part of my integration because it helped me learn the ways which Sandra worked and pick up the role quickly and efficiently. During the first couple of days I came to grips with the main business practices, brands and the role. The main responsibilities of the role include; account management of the brands, liaising with journalists, promoting brands through various channels, writing/drafting press releases, providing and proof reading content, generating innovate angles for brand promotion and general administrative tasks.

Commotion Communications currently work with eight brands and Sharon actively looks for new opportunities, with the most recent pitch being Lumie Clear, a light therapy acne treatment owned by Lumie lights. Most of the brands we work with have links with beauty/organic beauty market and luxury travel, I quickly learnt for me to be successful in the role I would need to familiarise myself with the brands ethics and publications/ journalists. I spent a few evenings fundamentally learning the basics- journalists and magazines which would be appropriate for our brand portfolio. The days soon flew by and my first week was drawing to an end- it has involved lots of learning and understanding (for me) a new area of marketing communications which until now not understood the importance. I'm really keen to see what the next few weeks has in-store and ways which I can possibly work on one of the brands for my report- I've already got a few ideas!! Watch this space.

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