My Week at Coast

So this week has been amazing, I have spent the week at the Coast head office which is based in Shoreditch in London. Drapers, Retail Week, Karen Millen and Oasis- so a fashion hub under one roof. I'm going to give a brief overview of my day-to-day tasks- I arranged the weeks experience back in February to help with the AW14 press launch and event. I feel so privileged to of been able to work on and attend the launch and gain first hand experience from a premium fashion brand.

Monday

Today was my first experience of the tube at rush hour- and wow it was very busy. I travelled in from Clapham South with my friend Abi who has been working at Coast on her placement year also with Nottingham Trent, this of course eased my nerves a little. When I arrived at the very large and very grey building I was a overwhelmed on the size and the amount of people arriving for work (I felt like a child on their first day of school). Once in the building I met the marketing team, who I will be working very closely over the next few days. Emma- Head of Marketing, Sarah- Marketing Co-ordinator and Becky- Assistant PR and marketing (Becky has only been in the roll two weeks but she really is fab). I learnt that today would be spent assisting Becky in the prep of the event, the team quickly briefed me on the theme which in a nutshell is 'the coast girl' throughout different stages in the day, wearing different outfits. The location is at a wonderful Georgian house and in total we have 20 mannequins to dress which were previously used in Dior's show! We got stuck in straight away preparing all of the clothing, this involved liaising with the buying team to ensure all of the samples were ticketed and in the correct order ready to be packed and sent to location tomorrow. This took nearly all day, we spent the majority of the time chasing the samples and ordering as per mannequins. I learnt that at 2pm there is a weekly meeting to run over sales/progression/ PR coverage/bestsellers of the week. I thought that this was great because it brought together all departments from the office and everyone was up-to-date with our objectives for the following week and targets that needed that need to be achieved. Becky presented the PR coverage from last week and there was a lot! Much different from what I am used to at Commotion- they were featured in Look, Daily Mail, The Sun just to name a few! One of the most prominent things that stood out was how all the different departments work together and communicate numerously throughout the day- I think this contributes to the businesses current success. Communication is key.

After the meeting I grabbed a bite to eat and spent the afternoon sorting out the visual props for the event, this consisted of me cutting up leaves for the autumnal mannequin. Let's just say this took a very long time and now my fingers officially hurt! Before I knew it was 5:30pm and time to catch the tube home. Before I left Emma gave me a written copy of the schedule for the next two days. Tomorrow will be mostly preparation at location and Wednesday is D day, which means a very long day. I need to be at location at 7am (meaning I need to wake up at 5:30) and the day doesn't finish until 7pm. Although I know I am in for a tough few days I know it's going to be very rewarding and insightful!

Tuesday
I woke up this morning feeling refreshed, a lovely eight hour sleep was just what I needed, however I didn't realise just how much my toes would be hurting by the end of the day. Today was so so so busy, it was the set up for the press event tomorrow and the plan was to leave the offices at Shoreditch by 12pm to get to the venue by 1pm, to meet the courier and start to get the mass operation under way! The first couple of hours Becky and I spent the day bagging up the clothing for the rails and for mannequins, I also boxed and signed off accessories and handbags. The morning involved lots of running around ensuring that all products were signed off and we had everything ready to dress the venue- I even got to pick a sample dress to wear to the event.

At 12pm promptly we left the head office and ran madly across town, to beat the courier arriving at the venue which is an astounding Georgian mansion around the Warren Street area. However there was a few issues with the courier and ended up being an hour late, this was really frustrating for the team waiting because we couldn't get thing under way. Whilst we were waiting I met a few of the people helping and Coasts PR representatives- they were all really lovely, I loved hearing about their career, many of the girls gave me a few tips on how to progress within the industry. Once the couriers arrived things got under way and we began building 20 of the mannequins, whilst we were busy building the contractors were constructing the rooms- the transformation had begun and it was all due to the genius work of the VM and marketing team.

We finished around 7pm- after four hours of hands on work, the rooms were completely different- all the mannequins had been dressed, the rooms transformed, the clothes on the rails and Kim the head visual merchandiser had carried out a few tweaks on the outfits- everything was in place, all that was left was press gifts and a few minor changes in the morning. The theme works so well and is visually beautiful- I loved seeing the end results of months of planning of a brand that has a healthy marketing budget. I have definitely learnt that events like these take a long time to perfect and still things do go wrong! As long as you have a strong and willing team around you things can get done. The press day begins at 9am tomorrow, I'm so excited to see the reaction. I've posted a few pics from today to give you an idea of the business and the theme. Catch up tomorrow!

Wednesday
Today was the press event at Fitzroy Square, London. I arrived at the venue around 11pm as Sarah kindly let me have a lay in after a week of early gets up and late nights. Outside was a mobile coffee cart serving an array of hot drinks, so I helped my self to an earl grey tea. After arriving I noticed things had been perfected and finishing touches added- it really looked fabulous! We had caterers providing refreshing elderflower water and delicious, beautiful canapés. My duty for the day was to meet and sign-in guests once they arrived at reception, create the press packs and also give out the gift vouchers and goodies. We had a great turn out with over 200 journalists arriving throughout the day from Harpers Bazzar to Elle to Debenhams marketing. At Commotion I speak to a lot of journalists throughout the day and it was great to but a face to some of the names, all of the journalists were lovely- I even met the CEO of Coast. I also saw the PR agency which represent Coast working their magic, the three girls look fabulous dressed head to toe in Coast and knew all of the journalists- they took them around the event explaining the products and logging sample requests. During the day we also had an urgent sample request from the Daily Mail who wanted two necklaces for a piece tomorrow, Poppy from the PR agency Lee Publicity and Becky spent a while sourcing and sending over to the Daily Mail offices. It made me realise how important the journalists are and how hard us PRs work to provide samples and the journalists with content.

By 5pm it was time to de-rig and quickly dissemble the whole set (we needed to be off-site by 7pm). Everyone worked together and as a team ensure the job was done, the kitchen was full of body pieces from the mannequins being packed away. To everyone's relief, we managed to get everything packed away by seven. The marketing team and VMs were so pleased with the turn out, the comments we received from the journalists were positive, they could not praise the collection enough! Many mentioned the shift from occasion wear to wearable separates, Emma and the buyers were particularly pleased as the event was really showcasing the diverse 'Coast Girl' and the fact their is an outfit for every hour of the day. I am so pleased I have experienced a press launch with such a prestigious brand, I'm still buzzing from the day and don't think i'll get much sleep tonight! Tomorrow I'm assisting with VM and hoping to gain more insight on their job role.

Please see pics from today's event.. (we even had Coast branded coffee cups!)

Thursday

The aftermath of the press event created a few weary faces in the office this morning, everyone was really pleased on the outcome. Today I assisted the VM (Visual Merchandising)  team with their duties- today however this required working with Leanne who is in charge of creative VM and the concept for the press day, which meant we had a lot of unpacking to do from the last couple of days. The courier arrived at 10am and we had to unload the small lorry of goods and bring up to the office from the basement to the second floor, all of the buying team came to assist and so we got it all done fairly quickly. However... Leanne and I then had to sort out all sixteen mannequins remove their make-up, sort out props, check everything had arrived back safely and then store in VM cupboard, this all needed to be done by 4pm sharpish Kate (the CEO) was leading a meeting in the room where we was working. As a team we managed to get everything packed away- however I can safely say I never want to work with mannequins for a while, they are very heavy having to lugg around the office (not very glam). It was good to spend the day with Leanne as I found out more about how she got her role as creative VM, her previous career history, her skills and what she did at uni. I feel as though there is a lot I can go into with the degree FMB and i'm not limited to choices once graduated. 

The four pm meeting consisted of Kate updating everyone on the business- she spoke about the new 'House of Coast' and it's current re-brand. I've learnt that here everyone is kept up to speed with all the  different areas be it buying or HR and the teams all work very closely together. It was a lively meeting with music and new Coast advertising being shown and It does feel like a large community and I know I've said it already but communication really proves worthy here and I think it makes a real difference to other places of work. I can't believe that tomorrow is my last day, the week has gone so quickly, I've loved everything I have learnt and the people I met.  

Friday:

So today is my last day at Coast, I have had a wonderful but busy week which has allowed me to gain insight on what it takes to plan and create a successful press launch. Today has really been about tying up several lose ends and ensuring the PR agency has new samples to send to press. I assisted Becky in her role in sending the new stock samples over to Lee Publicity, this required taking photos of the new products, recording the details images and data on a spreadsheet then packaging up to send across to Lee Publicity. Logging the details of products sent is very important the marketing team have separate samples to the buying team and the company must keep track on what is getting sent over- as eventually we will need them back! 

During the rest of the day I was computer based (which was nice change from the busy week before) I completed several tasks which included: sorting out new samples from the tail end of press day, writing personalized gift cards for the journalists who couldn't attend, arranging look books and logging coverage received for file. 

Soon 5pm came around and my time at Coast was complete, I have had such a great week. Sarah, Emma and Becky brought me a present and wonderful card thanking me and inviting me back for next press day, I was pleased because of their appreciated of my work and the help I gave them during a manic time. 

This evening I am going to see Phantom of the Opera tonight to celebrate my week. 

Little update on Placement -- 5/05/2014

So once again I've had a lovely short week- these bank holidays are great (and the weather was fab). I'm looking forward to having a full 'normal' week, sometimes they can make you feel slightly out of sink with everything that's going on. Luckily our team communicates regularly, so I never feel out of the loop!

Overview of my week:

After being here just over a month, I well expected my inbox to be full, so the morning I spent sorting through my response sources and replying to a few major emails. With the bank holidays I hadn't really had chance to catch up with Sharon therefore we had a meeting to go over the main focus for the month. The brand Solaray (which I am writing my report on) is our main emphasis, we will be running a series of press releases to try and raise awareness. The fact that I am doing my report on the brand has helped with research and direction which we can take the brand. Sharon also briefed me fully on Hanbury Manor and we discussed  ideas pitches to journalists. I think its imperative that meetings and conversations are part of a weekly occurring- communication really is vital.

Sharon asked me to attend the monthly networking luncheon in June- which is for ladies in business to meet and discuss their business and ways which they may help each other . This will involve speaking for a minute in-front of the other women (very nerve wrecking). I'm excited to have been asked and can't wait to have the chance to network with others and of course have a slice of cake :).

On Wednesday Sue (my course leader) visited the office for my placement review; which is basically a meeting to check up on my progress. I was really pleased with the feedback I receive from both Sue and Sharon, the comments were very positive and I feel reassured that I'm doing a good job, I also cleared up a few questions regarding my report and now hope to finish in the next week or so!

Friday is always quiet in the office, many of the staff work from home and this week it was me and my colleague Danny. From the meeting Sharon and I had I wanted to dedicate some time to Hanbury manor and begin researching wedding blogs and websites which we could target heavily over the next few months. I began to build up a database of contacts to be used and added to when needed. Sharon has been asked to speak at a health and spa conference about her experience in the business- for this she needs spa trend research, I offered to help source some of the research because of the database access I have through the university- I found out some really interesting stuff about the future of spas and how the industry is changing!

Next week I am changing it up a bit and completing a week at Coast marketing. I arranged it over two months ago and will be assisting with the AW press launch (very excited indeed). I'm staying with my friend for the week and cannot wait to experience working in the big city!

Busy Busy Week - Week of the 28th April

So this is my blog entry for the week- with a glass of Rosé in hand (and boy does it taste good), unwinding after what seems the busiest week yet. To start my week of madness off the family decided to buy a new family pet in the form of a Golden Labrador Pup, his name is Buddy and he is beautiful. However he has been keeping me up all week with his pooch cries during the night.

Meet Buddy

My gorgeous new pup!

Monday:
So I started Monday with very tired eyes as I made my usual commute to Cambridge at 8am. As last week was bank holiday it was the first Monday that everyone was in the office, which was lovely to see everybody. The morning I spent catching up with Sharon and she briefed me further on Hanbury Manor and the Wedding PR which will be starting this Month. As it is the end of the month it calls for the production of the client reports which are generated for the clients. The reports detail all the activity over the month, press releases which have been sent, on-going journalist liaison, meetings, sample send on, featured products and the brief plans for the following month. I completed for two of the clients which took me several hours due to it being my first time of producing the documents (hopefully next time it won't take as long!) Whilst writing the report for Solaray I noted that no E-Blasts had been sent through our press data base Gorkana to appropriate Journalists and Publications- I decided to draft a copy which focused on exercising outside now that it's Spring. I feel that I am getting quicker and gaining confidence when writing my press releases but I always send onto Sharon to ensure she proof-reads before distributing onwards. Sharon gave me great feedback and we agreed to send it tomorrow- watch this space if any press pick it up and feature the two Solaray supplements.

Late on in the afternoon I focused on replying to our Response Source Feed which had filtered throughout the day into my inbox which was screaming for some attention. We had a several which requests festival/summer beauty products and I decided to plug the organic with Aubrey- I had two instant responses from Glamour Mag and Woman to which I sent samples. I was smugly pleased with my response from Glammour, journalists are so busy and have hundreds of PRs contacting them daily so it gave me a buzz to know she liked the concept enough to ask for a sample- hopefully she will love the products and Aubrey will benefit from some great relevant coverage! This ended my busy day and after the hour commute home I was greeted by a very excited pooch!

Wednesday:
Another early start but a long day- all in the name of PR! The morning was the usual daily tasks in the office in the morning but the evening was the first birthday press event for our lovely boutique hotel brand- The House Collection (check out the website). Sharon launched their first hotel Poets House in Ely and they have seen nothing but success since, which led into the second hotel launch of Paddocks in Newmarket last December. It was the first time I visited Poets House and the hotel is truly beautiful, it is everything a luxury boutique hotel should be but en capsules the small 'homely' feeling. I met David and Ian and had a quick catch up with the brand and their plans for expansion. Soon enough an array of red flooded through the cocktail bar- it was the arrival of the choir boys from Ely Cathedral ready to cut the birthday cake. We had arranged for the Ely Weekly News to join us for the news exclusive and take some pictures whilst the boys enjoyed some of the beautiful cake. (see pics below) The evening was a great social experience and allowed me to introduce myself to the driving force behind the brand.

Friday:
Well today has been another busy one. I started the morning with a meeting at our Digital Offices in Bedford, after getting lost because my Sat Nav directed me completely in the wrong direction I finally made in time for the start of the meeting at 10am. I had been asked by the Managing Director of Media Managers to help out with one of their new accounts that they recently pitched for and successfully won. The account is The Netherlands Tourist Board and the task is to raise awareness for Culinary mini breaks to The Netherlands through traditional media and digital- (that's where I come in). Alistair wants to create a team which works on the account managing different aspects and the meeting was really to discuss everyone's social media capabilities, from monitoring to editorial. We also met Abi who will be controlling most of the back systems ensuring that the content is measured and we are delivering against KPIs. I'm chuffed to have been asked to work on the account for several reasons, the first being it will enable me to improve my digital marketing skills including social media monitoring, secondly I feel that it proves I have worked hard over the last month and shown that I am eager to learn and contribute to all elements of the business (not just PR). The discussion illustrated how - as a team- you approach and tackle a brief set by the client, it is key to find out what they want to achieve from the campaign, time limits and KPIs. I realised that it's so important to feed from knowledge and strengths of your team to make sure the task is completed to the highest possible level. From the meeting we have arranged a conference call with the client next week and a potential meeting with the team the following week to begin brainstorming and delegating areas of the campaign- I am delighted to be involved with this side project and I know it will help me heaps and bounds in terms on first hand experience running a social media campaign- (hopefully a successful one!)

After a quick lunch and experiencing my first Costa drive through I made it back to the office for the afternoon. I knew I would have an full inbox which meant I spent a couple of hours replying and cutting press clippings. The last hour or so I concentrated on my continued research on the supplement market for my Placement Report, which is a Marketing Communication plan for the all-natural brand Solaray UK. As I promised my week has been exciting and informative, my brain is buzzing with lots of potential possibilities over the next few months. One thing is for sure, I am so grateful that I have this experience behind me- it really is invaluable and I am acquiring new skills everyday, whether it be how to handle my first formal business meeting or networking at The House Collections' first birthday. That's all for this week- time for me to relax and enjoy the bank holiday.