Fashion Kicks 2011

One for JCPR... 

So I can’t quite claim to be a football enthusiast, but this was a project I could certainly get excited about – Fashion Meets Football. Lily Cole on the catwalk, Alexandra Burke performing, first team Man City players strutting their stuff, and all in aid of charity – what an event we had in store! If only you would have let me go Jimmy Kay…nope I’m not bitter one bit.

For football lovers who will know who I’m talking about, Shay Given (he’s actually rather famous don’t you know) and his wife Jane, co-hosted Fashion Kicks with sponsorship from Selfridges last Sunday evening. With an awesome turnout, press peeps were jumping at the chance to be a part of the show and boy did we get some great coverage from it.

With Man City winning the FA Cup the day before, spirits were at an all time high. Champagne reception, culinary treats and a VIP guest list – remind me again Jimmy why I couldn’t go? Well at least I had the pictures to look at…

New Look Frappuccino…However-You-Want-It

One from JCPR... 

Fresh from completion of the Edelman graduate scheme I was looking forward to settling back into the exciting and bustling life of JCPR. They say time flies when you’re having fun! Cue all systems go for the new launch of the Starbucks Frappuccino However-You-Want-It range.

Remember the Frappuccino you used to have when you were 15yrs old, having a giggle with your friends, thinking you were the bee’s knees because you were drinking something from Starbucks. Well it’s back and better than before! I’m now 22 and you’ll still be able to find me drinking my Frappuccino, sitting in a Starbucks thinking I’m just so damn cool. However my choice of Frappuccino has changed now (need to think about the calories, obviously!) and luckily for me Starbucks has thought about my opinion! It has brought out The However-You-Want-It range so I can now tailor my Frappuccino to what I want and yes, that means fewer calories and what’s more, over 35,000 different combinations to choose from. What more could you want?

The launch last night completely fitted what Starbucks Frappuccino is all about. A real fun, buzzing atmosphere filled with people from all ages, all just having a natter whilst enjoying their favourite Frappuccino, which had been created by Starbucks Blend Master Kate Lister. Kate is incredible – she’ll gauge exactly what you like in a drink and then concoct the most delicious result. The highlights of the event had to be performances by Dionne Bromfield (did not realise 15yr olds can have voices like that) and dance legends Flawless. I came away wishing I could sing and dance, but alas, at least I had my Frappuccino…

FATE

It seems weird to write this knowing I have now finished the graduate scheme…it feels like only yesterday that I started, dressed to impress in my finest shirt and skirt! Trying to look confident and assertive, when in fact covering up the nerves which were racing round inside me.  I chose the graduate scheme because I wanted to explore all the different avenues PR has to offer, whether it be corporate & financial, healthcare, digital, technology, public affairs or consumer. There were many tricks to learn and accounts to be a part of. It’s an invaluable experience, one I would recommend to anyone who is even remotely interested in this sector. The graduate scheme completely overreached expectations allowing you to find your strengths and loves, but to also grant you the ability to use those skills picked up from previous rotations and further improve them, proving that the brilliant basics of PR are 100% transferable and essential.

When it came to crunch time a couple of weeks ago, I was swinging in roundabouts. One day thinking ‘yes definitely x department’, the next day ‘no that department’, the following day ‘but what about this department’ – you can imagine how this continued. I’m normally a pretty decisive person, but this was ridiculous! The factors I considered were a) client accounts b) future progression and c) the people. The thing with Edelman is that each department has exciting, big name clients. The other thing with Edelman is that each department considers your future and will help you in career decisions. The third thing with Edelman is that each department has amazing people…you can see my problem here! The people I must say are talented, dedicated, intelligent and truly welcoming. As a grad you are lucky enough to learn from some of the crème de la crème in the industry.

So what were the highlights of my eight months?

·        Working with some Digital pioneers in Spook. The world of communication is changing with the advancements in technology, and what better place to learn about the importance of social media than in our very own award winning Digital team. Try exciting campaigns such as Levi’s® Shape What’s To Come and Puma’s After Hours Athlete

·        Meeting Boris Johnson at an event I helped organise on behalf of Douglas&Gordon whilst working in Corp&Fin. Actually hilarious! A point to note about Corp&Fin is the variety in work – a dream for any graduate. From issues and crisis management, to CSR platforms, award ceremonies  and of course the all important media liaison

·       My first ever red carpet event at the Xbox Halo: Reach launch, working with some consumer PR gurus to organise a celeb-tastic event and then watching the fantastic pieces of coverage appear

·       Pitching for new business whilst in the Public Affairs team. Understanding the insights which are essential in forming strategy, context and desired outcomes

·       Working in a global hub at Tech was priceless. I was lucky enough to be involved in brainstorming and then implementing campaign ideas both on a central and local level

·        Improving a weakness in Healthcare. I’ve never been a perfectionist and sometimes attention to detail can suffer. To work well in Healthcare you have to study the small print and this was the ideal opportunity to put my weakness to the test and sort it

    

      Any conclusions? Yes….the graduate scheme is truly invaluable. The tools it equips you with, the friends you make and the interests you pick up can only but increase your employment prospects and that’s the whole point, right? 

Final Destination: The Land of Technology

One from the Edelman Graduate Scheme Blog…

After seven months on the graduate scheme, the engines finally begin to slow and nerves rise to the surface as crunch time is fast approaching. I just wanted to fast forward the next six weeks, jumping straight into what would be known as fate. However Tech was probably just what the Doctor ordered. Knowing a couple of people beforehand, Monday wasn’t so daunting being welcomed by some familiar faces. In fact there was no need to be intimidated at all with the team being incredibly friendly and especially patient with a non-Tech savvy grad! I say I’m a fast learner, but for the first week to be asked if I knew about coding, cloud computing and tiered memory, my face was not exactly a pretty picture! Instead a rather confused and are you being serious (?) facial expression! My poor pod had to endure “sorry to ask another stupid question, but can anyone…” But alas, I got there in the end….

Working on clients in sectors as diverse as mobile, entertainment, gaming and enterprise technology, the variety and amount of work was perfect to say the least. Although it is a rather niche area, the experiences encountered were invaluable. Gaining that insight into how a global hub works through watching the team organise the individual markets and even better, being a part of it, was priceless. I was lucky enough to be involved in brainstorming and then implementing campaign ideas both on a central and local level for HP.

Media audits, media pitches, involvement in new business, product launches and speaker platforms were all a given. I was able to utilise skills picked up from previous rotations and further improve them, proving that the brilliant basics of PR are 100% transferable and essential.

Another project I was fortunate to work on was BlogLevel. This was a particularly special opportunity as BlogLevel will constitute as part of Edelman’s IP.  So we already have created TweetLevel, following suit is BlogLevel. The Tech team really understands the importance of social media and how quickly the world of PR is evolving. This seriously cool tool will be able to measure the influence of any blog around the world, beneficial to the millions! What’s more Tech even has their own entertaining blog, filled with interesting articles. Check it out: The Naked Pheasant

So thank you Tech team for the perfect end to an incredibly beneficial graduate scheme. For more info, check out their website and my blog.  

The Suits and Boots of Corporate and Financial (Edelman)

And so in comes rotation number five out of six and boy was this the fastest one yet! They always say time flies when you’re having fun. The team, the variety of work and the level of work all made the five weeks feel like one – qualities a graduate can only wish for in the hope of gaining an informative and true insight into the world of Corporate and Financial.

It seems people always talk about Corporate and Financial as ‘the serious one’ with employees marching about in their suits and boots. ‘Boring’ even, when compared to ‘sexy’ consumer PR. Oh how wrong they are! Professional, yes. Intelligent, yes. Creative, yes. Varied, yes. Boring, er no. Try meeting the Mayor Boris Johnson, award ceremonies, b2b and b2c liaison, issues and crisis management and corporate social responsibility platforms, to name all but a few jobs I was involved in. You can already get a feel for the diversity in tasks.

So what about the people? I must point out you are among some truly talented folk brimming with experience and innovation. Specialists even include former journalists in the Strategic Media Unit, from a former anchor woman to a FT regular. Corporate and Financial further boasts of excellent cross practice relationships with Public Affairs, Digital and Consumer – something which was interesting for me to relate to having already rotated around each of the named departments. I was able to work on Levi’s®, Starbucks, Diageo, Shell and Manchester City FC accounts, all of which I had previous experience in.

The thing which really stood out for me during this rotation was the responsibility I was given. Thanks to the lovely Property team I was able to interview clients for features in the Daily Telegraph and Country Life magazine; create a press pack for the opening of the Winter Garden at Battersea Park by directly liaising with my client Douglas & Gordan and the Mayor’s press office; attend the launch of the Garden whereby meeting good old Boris Johnson; and then watch the coverage I generated appear. A great project to be a part of and see through.

From gardens to oil! Shell is evidently a global giant, forever expanding. My first week saw a jump in at researching speaker platforms for reputable climate change conferences. An opportunity to grasp the importance of such events, and working to a tight deadline with the project being reviewed by a Deputy MD, a challenge to rise to. This learning curve was also experienced when looking into Corporate Social Responsibly platforms for Diageo. CSR being the buzz word, this task gave me the chance to actually understand its significance to a company’s reputation and therefore progression.

Oil to Visit London! With an exciting campaign in the horizon (check out the Evening Standard 1^st April 2011), Visit London roles involved outreaching to the stars of London to help promote our fabulous city internationally. Liaising with agents and sometimes the talent themselves, I was able to really understand how an ambassador can raise the profile of your campaign.

I could go on praising both the work and team, but for fear of babbling I’ll leave it here. There’s only one thing left to say which is thank you. I shall miss the power ballads, the banter and of course the work. Thank you Corp&Fin for giving me a true and inspiring insight into your world. 

For more information check out their website and my blog. 

How important is trust to you?

Trust. A quality imperative to any good relationship, be it business or personal. A quality which can take years to build, but can be lost in a matter of seconds. Once lost, the process of regaining it can sometimes be impossible. Oh the importance of trust.

In terms of business trust, one could talk of brand loyalty. You buy something because you trust the quality and experience of it. But where does this trust come from? A friend or colleague? A magazine? Facebook? A newspaper? This is where PR can come in and help start and then build this trust to gain a market share of voice. But what happens when trust begins to fall?

Bankers. Do we trust bankers? What do we think of BP? The government? Nestle? Primark? The BBC? Well thanks to the recent launch of Edelman’s 2011 Trust Barometer; banks, financial Services and media are all stuck at the bottom of UK Industry Rankings. Are we surprised? Um probably not after the financial crisis and the ever-growing bonuses earned by the tax-payer’s money…cue RBS. Cuts here and cuts there and still graduate unemployment at its all time lowest – god society sounds so miserable! No wonder with the media headlining all things negative. According to the Barometer, in response to “How much do you trust media to do what is right?” The US is down to 27% and the UK 22%. How low can you go? But in contrast, and perhaps surprisingly so, trust in the CEO has significantly increased since last year’s survey.

All things aren’t as doom and gloom as society can sometimes make out. Trust is evidently an important issue because it can be detrimental to a business’s reputation, to a person’s reputation. Therefore transparency and honesty are becoming more widely practiced – that’s a good thing right?

Find out more at http://www.edelman.com/trust/2011/

Making a difference in Healthcare

And so another one bites the dust! Four rotations down, two more to go. The finishing line is in sight. Yet again, it’s been a learning curve five weeks, working in an environment completely separate in terms of specialty and overall culture. For one thing, it is incredibly female dominated. No wonder the Healthcare team is the favourite amongst other departments! Some seemed rather jealous of me working here – I wonder why…

Well it could be due to the all-round personality of the team. They are the most supportive I’ve come across so far – you even have two line managers, and workload has never been a problem. They are an incredibly friendly, intelligent bunch and are always present at the bar on Thursday – now that’s my kind of team! Happy to help with any questions, but what is most striking is that they are always on call to help each other. Teamwork to a Tee.

Maybe it could be due to their clients. Healthcare is the ‘big bucks’! With leading pharmaceutical companies as clients, the revenue this department brings in is phenomenal, especially being run on a global scale. I guess this makes one more diligent and cautious in any task, however routine or new. It heightens the importance of your work. I certainly felt it!

Or it could be down to what this work actually encompasses. How many people can say they make a difference to peoples’ lives through the work they do? Not many. Seeing and understanding the effects of medical treatments created by the Edelman pharma clients makes your work all the more worthwhile. From helping to raise awareness of pneumococcal disease, to the ever-growing concerns of mental health diseases, these are just two examples of the many treatments which Edelman has seen grow successfully.

Or finally it could be due to their Gleedelman performance! For some, maybe this is the case, but personally, work which is challenging, stimulating and potentially life changing – who wouldn’t want to be a part of that!

Find out more at http://www.edelman.co.uk/what-we-do/health-and-medical-education and http://maryfizzy.blogspot.com/

Jumping into a World of Politics: A Must for a Graduate

December saw the end of yet another rotation at Edelman. Here are my thoughts on public affairs...

Coming to public affairs with very little experience in this field, I thought my background in PR would see me through, but it was certainly a jump right in at the deep end. They always say a challenge brings out the best in people, and I guess this is exactly what the graduate programme is all about.

Remember how at school and university you’re always advised to keep up with current affairs. To know which politician is in trouble, which company has caused a national disaster and who won X-factor (maybe the latter is just a consumer conversation, but important nonetheless). Well public affairs was in a way a bit like being back at university in a very good light. I found myself doing ‘extra reading’ inspired by the enormous database of knowledge of the colleagues around me. Their enthusiasm and dedication to the job is second to none which is of course obvious in their work. I’m hardly ever intimated, but at the start with all the serious faces, I must admit, I thought this might be tricky. However after roughly 54.23hours I felt at home thanks to a wonderful pod and two incredibly welcoming MDs.

The public affairs team at Edelman is hardworking, intelligent (of course) and actually hilarious. Out of all my rotations so far I don’t think I’ve laughed as much as I did here. Seriously. They work longer hours that’s for sure, but in a somewhat surprising way, it was a pleasure. I looked forward to the day ahead, what challenges it would bring and what jokes would spread.

So what did all these stimulating challenges encompass? Stakeholder maps, tick. Briefing papers, tick. Daily monitoring, tick. Monitoring of Parliamentary committee meetings, tick. According to the other teams, ‘all very sophisticated sounding tasks’ apparently! Public affairs boasts of big name clients such as the British Virgin Islands, Sainsburys, Starbucks, Network Rail, Microsoft and The Open University, all of which I was lucky enough to work on. The most exciting task to be involved in was pitching for new business. A great opportunity to understand all the behind the scenes work involved in generating new revenue.

Skills learnt during these few weeks are those that I will proudly and happily take away with me. Organisation, rhetoric, diplomacy and above all, attention to detail are imperative to any progression. So thank you PA team for sharing your incredible knowledge and talent with me. A ‘must-do’ five weeks for any graduate seeking to learn and improve.

To find out more, check out their website at http://www.edelman.co.uk/what-we-do/public-affairs and my blog at http://maryfizzy.blogspot.com/.

Aspiring Career Girls

During my time at Digital at Edelman I worked on an incredibly innovative project: Levi’s Shape What’s to Come. A community for all girls seeking advice in many exciting and challenging career paths. With ambassadors from fashion, design, media, film, music and social entrepreneurship, a network has been created to share ideas and experiences. These ambassadors are not celebrities, simply talented human beings like you and me. This makes them both approachable and inspiring. Go and sign up at http://en.shapewhatstocome.com/ to ask them questions and get connected to all those other Levi’s girls who you find interesting and relevant to your career aspirations.

Check out the Traveling journals which take you through a sort of mood board of each fashionista, filmmaker, musician, designer and many more. A great insight into their creative process – worth reading I assure you! The visual is pretty cool too.

At Shape What’s to Come you can build your own profile as it is indeed a social networking platform for us aspiring career girls. Highlight your experiences, your goals, your favourite things to do and connect with those alike. And guess what it’s not UK-centric…it’s international! Excellent point.

Furthermore Shape What’s to Come is always evolving, finding new features for us lot to enjoy. For example, check out this exclusive livecast from the lead singer of the Noisettes http://en.shapewhatstocome.com/live-video/ and download their brand new single at http://en.shapewhatstocome.com/goodies/ - simply awesome. Oh wait, awesome is exactly how I would describe this whole project. 

The Nightmare of finding a graduate job

When leaving university I had always thought I’d have a nice little job lined up.  A dream job that would earn me a mint with great hours, oh and start in September, giving me the whole summer off to go and do the travelling thing. Wrong. Oh how naive I was. How idealistic! In reality I graduated (one box ticked!), but with no job even though I had done all this experience – unpaid internships, working abroad – you name it, I probably did it! Instead I managed to book up all these summer holidays (you can see the priority here) and declare to my parents that I was moving home, but just for a bit. The thought of having to adhere to parent rules was enough to get job applying, and quick! In comes the research, the CV tailoring, the cover letter writing, the interview preparation – wow you already feel like you’re back at uni.

I have to say I was lucky, very lucky. With Edelman it literally happened with the click of a finger. Research 10am, CV and cover letter 12pm, phone call from Edelman HR 6pm, interview set up for the following week. It’s as easy as that. So my piece of advice is to be pro-active. Search for the opportunities and apply speculatively. What have you got to lose?

With the student protests of late, the problem of tuition fee increases and continuing graduate unemployment are becoming more and more explosive. It’s not just the public who have noticed, companies have too. So here I’m going to praise our good office friend, can’t live without the computer, MICROSOFT. Microsoft has taken it upon itself to tackle youth unemployment by creating 100,000 opportunities for young people seeking work – brilliant news! Through a range of work experience placements, training vouchers and IT Apprenticeships, Microsoft aims to get 500,000 people into jobs by 2012. I like those sorts of figures!

To find out more visit the Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/britainworks#!/britainworks  and tweet about it at http://twitter.com/britainworks#

Let’s get graduates back into work! 

The World of Digital: Don’t Listen to the Stereotype

I've come to the end of yet another rotation and boy how fast that went. They always say time flies when you're having fun! At the end of each section I am entitled to write a blog post for the Edelman Graduate Website http://www.edelmangraduatescheme.com/2010/11/19/the-world-of-digital-don%E2%80%99t-listen-to-the-stereotype/. Here's what I wrote... 

So I thought I was pretty set after my time at JCPR, but oh how I was proved wrong.  Well I guess that’s the point of the graduate scheme – to explore new departments which you wouldn’t have contemplated on liking, only to find out that you in fact love them. I’ll say it…I’ve been converted to the world of digital. Just in case you’re wondering though, this doesn’t make me a geek. In fact, no one seems to be a geek at Edelman Digital and First and 42^nd, just intelligent, creative and switched on! Don’t listen to the stereotype.

Not only is digital the present, it is the future. With the advancements in technology, internet penetration has significantly increased throughout the world. Never before have we seen such a high percentage of people social networking, video sharing, blogging etc etc. Take the powerful players of Facebook and Twitter as two examples of this progression. If Facebook was a country it would be ranked third behind China and India. That’s proof enough.

So what about the dynamics of the Digital crew? Sitting on a fun pod across from a brilliant line manager, I felt immediately welcome and comfortable. I soon realised I should always keep my Thursday evenings free for a drink or two with the team…they are an incredibly social bunch – now that’s my kind of people!

The work at Digital was not only stimulating and varied, but it was the rotation where I’ve learnt the most. Week one highlights included being introduced to the Levi’s® team concerning their new campaign Shape What’s To Come (http://en.shapewhatstocome.com/). A useful platform for all aspiring career-minded girls to share ideas and experiences. I’ve signed up and so should you! Look out for a livecast with The Noisettes on the 1^st of December which I’ve helped coordinate. I was further able to help with website content, strategy and blogger research – the ideal opportunity to really see who’s writing what and where online.

On the subject of blogs, deciphering the art of blogger outreach is key to modern day PR. It is important to remain transparent at all times and to be personable. I quickly learnt that these two factors are integral to success in outreach when contacting various bloggers and forums for the Save 5p per litre on The Shell V-Power Fuels Promotion. Supporting the Shell Team, we achieved a huge increase in online conversation.

As well as engaging with bloggers, I further gained the opportunity to write myself with a Puma hat on. Check out their website at http://www.puma.com/social to read and converse in fun and exciting topics. Writing your own blog posts is something which can be creative, witty and simply informative. I was inspired by the Digital team so much so that I even created my own blog at http://maryfizzy.blogspot.com/.

Two of the most interesting projects I worked on were creating The Social Media Map for Europe and partaking in training on issues and crisis management. The Social Media Map for Europe was the perfect opportunity to gain an insight into the world of online activity: knowledge which I will be able to translate into future client work from pitches to building strategy. The crisis and issues management project allowed me to witness creativity at its peak and again demonstrate the power of social media in terms of both rumour and truth spreading like fire. It is therefore important to be active, to listen, respond where necessary and engage wherever possible.

So Digital team all that is left to say is a massive thank you…what an awesome and incredibly rewarding five weeks!

For more info, check out:

http://edelmandigital.com

http://www.spookmedia.com/

Social Media Mapping in Europe: Continuing the trend of Facebook (EDELMAN)

Over here in Europe we come across good data all the time about social media use and trends, so we thought it would be interesting topresent the best bits in a map of the region. The first thing to strike us was the growing dominance of Facebook as the most popular social network in thevast majority of countries surveyed.  12 months ago the picture was quite different, but today Russia’s V Kontakte, Poland’s Nasza-klasa and Dutch Hyves are the only remaining local networks to make it on to the map. So why is Facebook so strong? In my view, its versatility is an important factor. People of all ages and backgrounds feel comfortable managing their relationships in Facebook and have a broad range of options available for entertainment and communication, from videos and photos to the humble wall post. It is in a sense fashion for all ages.

In terms of internet penetration, online activity as predicted has increased with the majority of countries reaching over 75% penetration, again contributing to the growing importance of social media. So what are we doing online? Social networking and video watching continue their rapid growth over the past two years, taking the lead with up to 99% of a population social networking (Portugal) and 91% video watching (Ireland). This corresponds well with the progression of broadband. Never before have we been able to access richer content (video, audio and imagery) as quickly or as easily. Reading and writing blogs are still viable with the map clearly indicating their presence in all countries analysed, but it is video and social networking which are increasingly the focus.

Beyond the map itself, thanks to our primary data source comScore we also investigated the top three social networks for each country featured. This enabled us to identify players on the rise such as Twitter, but also those older, established platforms still attracting a significant audience. Despite Facebook’s leadership, country specific sites, for example the German StudiVZ Sites, HI5 in Poland and Spanish Tuenti continue to have large and active memberships. In many cases Facebook beats them by only a slim margin and right across the region, the Windows Live platform continues to be popular. When it comes to video, YouTube and Daily Motion very much lead the way, but lower profile platforms such as Vimeo are certainly popular and well respected for high quality content.

So what should brands be doing? It would appear at first glance that Facebook is the main platform to master in Europe; but as is so often the case, the devil is in the detail. If you delve beneath the surface there is a wealth of active online communities of a size and scale to rival Facebook. Plus, blogging, microblogging, video and photo sharing all remain popular with distinct variations from country to country. It seems that the virtual Europe is as diverse and varied as the actual one and with a versatile strategy offers plenty of opportunities for companies to connect with their customers.


http://edelmandigital.com/2010/11/22/social-media-mapping-in-europe-continuing-the-trend-of-facebook/

Technology In The After Hours Athletes Armoury (PUMA)

Do you check out who’s checking in? Do you find out on Facebook who is going to be where? Do you become mates on first tweet? Technology is changing the way we communicate and for the after hours athlete, it’s a key part of the armoury. How can tech be used to make the most of a night out?

8am Sunday (oh wait we’re not up that early) sorry, 11am Sunday: Login to Facebook. Accept or reject friend requests from people you met last night – take a look at their profile. Have a scan of the pictures from last night –detag. Check out the late night wall posts and any videos if you've been adventurous enough. But what’s that? An event invitation. Excellent. Another one. You’re just so damn popular.

12pm Sunday: Read through the event. Who’s invited? Where is it? Any hot guys or girls going? Any annoying people invited? How many people are going? Enough for it not to be awkward or too many for it to be far too busy? Moment of thought...attending event, maybe attending, not attending. What to do? Go on attend... we always love a party.

THANK GOD for Facebook events. Finally an application that allows you to know exactly what a night out is going to entail – no hidden surprises. No more dull nights out with people who you quite frankly don’t want to spend the evening with. If you’re popular and have friends, which us Puma lot all do of course, nearly every time you login to Facebook you’ll see a new event invitation (unless you’re one of those addicts who stalk all the time). The Facebook event has become key to the After Hours Athlete’s Armoury. It’s his organiser, his communication tool. His secret to a good night out.

Do you use Facebook events like an After Hours Athlete or do you prefer the element of surprise? Are they a friend or a foe? Tell us your thoughts – go on – let’s get some debate going here. Oooh we love a good debate.  

Public Engagement: I like to talk

With this post I’ve got my Edelman hat on. What can I say; I’ve been inspired so I’ve decided to talk. Let’s have a conversation.

After completing a public engagement bootcamp led by the Edelman UK CEO Robert Phillips, I have come to realise the importance of this global evolution. I understand public engagement as reality, it is good old common sense, therefore a necessity.

Let’s start at the beginning: public engagement and public relations. According to Edelman European CEO David Brain, ‘PR is the ruthless application of common sense’. Already we can see a link: common sense.

With the progression of digital, we have effectively entered into a new society and we must adapt, especially as a PR-er. We have a sphere of interdependence  - the tiers of authority have been shaken and the pyramid has fallen – no one is in control. With the powers of social media for example, the world has become the citizen, from a CEO to a teenager, from a teacher to a shop assistant. We all have a voice, we live in a democracy – we converse and we love it. So how does this fit into the concept of public engagement? It means that we need to listen and engage in order to increase trust (brand loyalty), deepen communities, identify and drive behaviour changes. In PR and client terms, these behaviours will lead to commercial success.

For more info, check out http://edelmaneditions.com/category/public-engagement/

What gets you up the morning? (PUMA)

I hate mornings. When the alarm goes off, you’re all wrapped up in bed, warm and cosy. Sleepy, so sleepy. How do you make that almighty, plying yourself from the covers, can’t move it’s too comfy, get out of bed push? Do you have a mum shouting at you from downstairs? Do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend pushing you out of bed (better option)? Or do you have that, yes I’ve got a good day ahead of me, can’t wait feeling? What gets you up in the morning?

Christmas, birthdays and other special occasions always wake us up with a smile. No matter what age, we are up early opening stockings and being English, probably having some sort of alcohol concoction at the same time. Birthdays are exactly the same as is graduation and trips out – anything which is not routine. Ah so maybe routine is key…

How many times has your alarm gone off for school, uni lectures or work and you’ve contemplated skiving the day? But you haven’t. Instead you’ve gotten out of bed, zombied into the shower and shoveled down breakfast, running out the door afraid you’re going to be late. What makes you not skive the day then? Because you’re motivated; motivated by work, motivated by play. The world will always go round.

We say live life to the full – you only live once after all. What does that mean for you then? Progressing at school, uni and work perhaps. A sky dive, a bungee jump, traveling around the world – the list is endless and that is why life is so exciting, and that is why you get up in the morning – you never know what is round the corner…

http://en.shapewhatstocome.com/dashboard/

http://en.shapewhatstocome.com/dashboard/

An unforgettable evening...

So as part of my role at Edelman (http://www.edelmangraduatescheme.com) I write blog posts for Puma http://www.puma.com/social 
Take a look below for some examples... 

Whether you’re at school, university or work, evenings are everything…freedom! Especially the Friday and Saturday nights – the lie in the next day normally guarantees a good night out. That Friday night feeling and Saturday Night Fever are probably two of our favourite past times. The two evenings that make you get up and jump to ‘I gotta feeling…ooo ooo, that tonight’s gonna be a good night’ – ok, well it makes us sing and dance anyway! 

So what is the key to an unforgettable evening? A great house party? A trip to the pub with friends? A dinner party with strangers? A club? Oh the choices! I wonder if you could ever do all four in one night…wow that would be one hell of a night. Epic. Think we’d probably miss out of some good bits though of each shindig, so let’s starts with the house party. Cheap, no curfew (unless you have non-partygoer parents – would be awesome if they did hangout though!), music of your choice, people of your choice. Casual. Awesome. A bit of hassle though if you’re hosting. Try the pub outing then. Simple, convenient, relaxed – the perfect opportunity to chat over a good beer or glass of wine. But where’s the opportunity to dance? We may as well get in a bit of exercise too! Music, shots and just having a good old laugh at each others’ moves and grooves on the dance floor. To really get into the Saturday night fever mode, why not imitate John Travolta’s style… mmmmnn maybe not. Let’s not get too carried away here, we are cool kids after all. Finally the dinner party then. Key ingredients: good company, food and wine. You can’t really go wrong here – seriously we’ve done the leg work, they always seem to be successful and you’re guaranteed several free dinners after! Just make sure you mix the right people, that’s all we can say.

Tell us about your perfect evening then – all of the above or something completely different? It’s about time we try something new so open to suggestions no matter how crazy and wild they are!

PUMA: A Top 25 brand on Facebook!

Ah the wonderful Facebook! The necessity in everyone’s life. The beacon of all knowledge. The temptation which never fades. Facebook. Well guess what, not only do we love Facebook, but Facebook loves us. 2.7 million fans, yes that’s right guys, we’re popular and why shouldn’t we be?! So thank you, thank you for supporting us fans!

So why are we so popular? Is it our wit? Is it our charm? Is it our beauty? Well it must be all three as you fans seem to encompass all these things. We’re social and fun, and we love it.

What’s going on on our Facebook page then? Photo sharing, regular news updates, YouTube vids, events and many more features to get your hands on (probably your eyes too!). Go ahead, go on, upload some pics – we love it when you do! We’ve got a great gallery going on up there thanks to you! Get involved in the discussion boards, comment on our news stories – get your opinion heard!

Recent highlights include our Cobra-PUMA golfer Lexi Thompson and PUMA Golfer Rickie Fowler making the Top 40 under 40 Influential Golfers according to Sports Illustrated, and our Happy hunting video: watch how our models are hunted for their coats – PUMA style.

To read the full article on PUMA reaching Top 25 brands on Facebook click on the link below:

http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2010/10/25/the-25-largest-brand-facebook-pages-with-most-likes/

I’m sure you’ve got our Facebook page bookmarked *cough cough*, but just in case:

http://www.facebook.com/Puma

What makes a great bar game?

We all love bars, we all love games. What better combo than a bar-game. The type of game that you look forward to that Friday afternoon on the countdown to freedom…well for two days at least! What is the key to a memorable bar game then? No alcohol? Definitely not. Drinking til you can’t stand? God no. Innovation, creativity, laughter and conversation? Hell yes! 

I think the first bar game which springs to mind is the fresher favourite: Ring of Fire. A pack of cards, a set of flexible rules and a group of friends – simple as. I think we could be a little more creative than this though. 

My personal favourite (yes I have made one up myself) is the Monaco game, named after the place it was created in. It became a household name in the whole of my university…ok, maybe not the entire university, but definitely amongst the cool kids! It gets the brain going asking challenging questions, deserves some competitive spirit and can be as fun or as creative as you make it. The ideal ice-breaker.

Key ingredients: paper, pens, small box and a sense of humour! Each player is given 5mins to think of 5 questions/challenges/scenarios. These bits of paper are then scrunched up and put into the box which becomes the lucky, or not so lucky, dip!  Within the first round you can learn a player’s deepest secret, biggest ambition, hidden talent and cheeky creative side!

As we’re in the competitive mood then, I challenge you to create the ultimate bar game. 3-2-1 GO!

JCPR: Now that's what I call Consumer PR

As I write this blog I am approaching my last few days at JCPR so it feels rather fitting to explain to all you new prospective grads what JC is all about and why you’ll enjoy your rotation as much as I have!
Monday the 6th of September began with one rather nervous grad and around 60-70 very confident, competitive and loud JCPR-ers. However, I immediately felt welcome with a great line manager and a lively pod! And I hadn’t even been introduced to the Xbox team!
JCPR boasts a variety of huge and exciting clients, most of which I have been lucky enough to work on. This includes  Xbox, Starbucks, Unilever Dig, Shell, Sporting Bet, Manchester City FC and Johnson&Johnson. With big clients come creative and ambitious teams which JC seems to have in abundance. If you want groundbreaking campaigns which test the safety nets and media contacts which other PR firms would dream of, JCPR is second to none.
As a grad, my role at JC really varies, as does how the different teams function. My first week was definitely one of the most exciting with the Xbox Halo: Reach launch (www.bungie.net). Cue photo call sell ins, celeb invites and working at the VIP launch in the Green Room. Jameela Jamil informing me that I look like Joss Stone wasn’t quite what I was after though!
The second week saw the senior bods at Unilever (www.unilever.co.uk) descend to our offices for a ‘PR 101′ session concerning the ongoing evolution of the world of PR in terms of public engagement and social media – understanding and engaging a community is becoming increasingly imperative whether in the form of twitter or facebook, or forums and bloggers. Gaining the opportunity to listen to Edelman’s David Brain and Jackie Cooper was both inspiring and incredibly informative.
From the suits and boots of Unilever came the sporting action of the JCPR Away Day. All the team were shuffled onto a coach buzzing with excitement as if we were all on a school trip, off to the surprise exotic destination of… Roehampton! Here I was soon to realise just how fun and competitive JCPR are!
So from sports to coffee. Starbucks (www.starbucks.co.uk) gave me my first media meeting with an Editor at Fabulous magazine at a bespoke coffee tasting with a Starbucks coffee ambassador. A great insight into how to really gauge what a journalist is working on/looking for and how your client can match those characteristics. An opportunity to further build a rapport with the journalist and achieve fantastic coverage.
My friends often ask me, what do you actually do Mary and what is PR? To be honest a day in JCPR sums it up – in a nutshell it’s all about creativity and communication, whether with your team, journalists, online communities, clients or even celebrities! 
So all that is left to say is a massive thank you to the JCPR group for making my time here incredibly informative, beneficial and great fun! Roll on Gleedelman!
Find out more at www.jcpr.com