PR stunts

Browsing on twitter this morning I found  a tweet from Truffle PR based on 12 outrageous PR stunts. I read the article on www.prdaily.com and I found it very interesting. I was aware of many of them due to my studies in PR and research into the industry. You can see them here:

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/9827.aspx

Which one do you think is the most successful? I personally like Branson’s pick at BA. As the in the article, the lesson is timing. Great use of resources and the timing could not have been more perfect for Branson to grab life by the balls and made use of an opportunity.

We live in a society that reacts well to something a little different, things like flash mobs are becoming more and more popular and grabbing the imagination of many companies and more importantly their audiences. For example the T-mobile flash mob in Liverpool Street Station, London – “Life’s for sharing”

Are there any others that you feel are just as good as these listed or better? Get in touch It would be great to see other examples, why they worked and what the outcome was.

100 words for Save the Children

Sadly I could not attend the Save the Children blogging conference last week. I attended the first one in February and I was truly inspired by what they do. We concentrated on the No Child Born to Die campaign and what we as bloggers can do to make a difference.

Now, my challenge to you is to dedicate 100 words to Save the Children, and it is as simple as that. If you are  moved by what Save the Children do dedicate 100 words to the cause, make 100 words count more than ever before and support Save the Children.
Thank you.

Life since Graduating

So It has been almost two months since I graduated from Sunderland University. I have to say there were times I thought it would never happen. All the hard work was worth it though, having my parents and grandparents there on my graduation day to see me finally gain my degree was simply the best day ever!

I am currently working hard to fill out job application forms hoping my dream job will come up and I will be lucky enough to bag it…No luck just yet. I am also working two days a week at Golley Slater PR and Marketing in Newcastle to build up some experience and I have been here for just over 3 months now. I love it, and if anything it makes me strive for that PR career even more because I now know what I am capable of. Whilst here I have learned so much. I am surrounded by people who know the industry so well, and people who are willing to help and answer any questions I may have. I have been extremely lucky to be given this opportunity and gain this experience, it’s priceless. I know this will give me an advantage over other candidates in applications or interviews because I have practical, real experience. This also means that I am still working a part-time job in a supermarket to pay my bills. Going back to that job after being in the office for two days is heartbreaking every week.  It’s difficult, more difficult and frustrating than I even imagined looking for a job. Many of the jobs available are for managerial positions which I am, of course, not experienced enough for.

PR is such a competitive industry you need to be one step ahead always, that dream job I talked about earlier seems so far away right now. It feels so bitter-sweet, the big graduation day where I was so proud of myself, and now, the almost daily rejection letters or e-mails that are slowly eating away at me.

Any advice would be much appreciated. I am sure that there are many others out there with this same problem.

What is the next step…?

So I am a final year student, I now have about 5 teaching weeks left at uni and it scares me to death! Where do I head next, it is the first time that I have never known my next step. I have to get a ‘real’ job and properly become an adult, paying council tax and all that stuff. I have never been so petrified in my life…I have ta make sure that I actually get through uni first and that is (for me ) a huge task.

I will have spent a total of three years to become what is considered a professional in my chosen field, but I still feel young and totally out of my depth. I can make a list as long as my arm for the things I have been taught at uni, but what of these is really going to prepare me for the real world.

I have the advantage of learning a dynamic profession that is ever-changing to keep up with technology, I am used to change and development, but I don’t think I can undertake such a change in my life. All I have ever known is education and now I come to the end of this path that I have always known. I’m scared.  I like the direction of education, paving out my life, now I must go it alone and I’m scared. 

I have struggled through uni, had the chance again I don’t think that I would choose to go to uni, but I cannot imagine what else I would have done, not enjoyable but I think highly valuable.

So if any of you out there as PR graduates have any tips of where to go next  would be much appreciated, there are so many routes that I can choose with PR and I don’t have a clue!

Top PR’s…women or men..?

I read an interesting article today based on the situation of women involved and employed in the PR industry. I found this hugely interesting, with around 65% of PR’s being women how is it that men still hold the top PR profession jobs. Are women still being treat in equally within the industry of PR…?

In an industry dominated by females how is it that men still carry the top roles and that this is accepted as the norm as it is in many other professions. When I began studying PR I was told that the industry was dominated by female figures, mainly of slim build with blonde hair and women that are very perceptive of their appearance. So if the industry is led by strong, professional and successful women why do men tend to hold the top positions…?

According to ‘Inside PR’ women hold more positions but men are more likely to hold a senior management or director position, or holding a position that has a salary of over £50,000! Even now in the 21st century women are facing discrimination in an industry that is considered relatively new. How is this right…?

Women have a right to have a family, yet still have the right to climb the career ladder in the same way as men..surely…? Men will never have to deal with having to leave work for long periods to have a family, why should us women be restricted by something that is only natural?!

Women will most likely go through a period where they have to take time off for family commitments or have to work part-time to balance both family life and their career. I personally don’t think it is fair that women should be restricted or punished for something as natural as having  a family.

What would you do…? Would you put your career at risk in order to make sure you climb the  career ladder quicker and put a family on hold or would you take the time off and jeopardise your work and progress in your chosen profession?

No child is born to die…save the children! #bornto

I have just spent the day down in the big smoke (London), where I attended a Save the Children UK blogging conference. I had a brilliant day I can tell you now, I feel angry, yet inspired, emotional yet excited about the prospect of making a difference.

I meet an array of inspirational people who use the power of their words and their voice to make a difference in the life of a child, here in the Uk and abroad. I learned today that 8m children die needlessly every year. Myself and around 40 other bloggers attended the conference today hoping to make an impact and difference, giving a voice to those who can’t.

No child is born to die, but this unfortunately is not the case as 8m of these children do not make it to the age of 5 years old. This is absolutely tragic, for the developing world and even more still, here in the UK alone over 1.6m children live below the poverty line.

So I hear you ask how you can make a difference, the answer is simple. Create a conversation, get people talking about the issue and make people aware, ask people what they were born to do. All the dreams you have as a small child, may well not have come true just yet but at the very least you have lived to realise that, with a little effort you can make them come true. The reality of 8m children across the world is that they probably will never be old enough to realise their dream and that is tragic.

We with the aid and expertise of the lovely people at Save the Children UK, today realised the dream of making a difference. The difference in being able to campaign for change, campaign to change perceptions and ultimately campaigning to save the lives of innocent children, no child is born to die!

These children deserve a dream just like I have had. I had a childhood. I had an education. I had a good healthcare network behind me. Ultimately,I had a right to life. They deserve it just as much. The only difference is that I was born into a country that had the ability to support me and does so well.

As a child I lived in Lagos, Nigeria. I have seen and experienced extreme poverty at first hand. The image of the small boy above brought back so many memories for me. As a child I remember being confused as to why I had clothes and they didn’t, why these little boys and girls, not that different from me were spending time on the side of the road, and weren’t at school. I found it difficult to understand. I am now more confused but for another reason, why has nothing been done about this situation, why is this still going on, why do these children not have a right to live, a right to dream and a right to grow up to who they want to be?

Should you like to make your voice heard, make your voice count for the children you can find out more by visiting: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/

Digital Revolution and upgrade culture

I recently watched a show with poet Simon Armitage presenting about the upgrade culture and digital revolution that we live in. I got a shock, I remember being 15 years old and studying his poetry for my GCSE English Literature exams. This however got me interested and the show that followed offered an insight into the dynamic ways in which our techno world works. Thank you Simon Armitage, this next blog post is thanks to you!

Society appears to crave all of the latest technology and what the status that this evokes to the world around them. I am also a victim of this, as I clutch one of the latest Ipod models in one hand and a very clever smart phone in the other, whilst carrying a laptop over my shoulder too keeping me well up to date with the world, in the many ways possible to us. I actually am writing this post whilst on a train journey from my home in the North-East of England down to the capital for a blogging conference. This would not have been possible 10 years ago. WiFi is an amazing thing, for me anyway.

As a student studying a PR degree, I am learning a skill and trade that is forever changing and developing with the next stage of technology.  PR is an industry that feeds from the development of communication skills and different ways of doing so. This digital age is asking us as consumers of media to keep up with the developments or lose out. One of the modules that I studied in my second year of my degree was a social media module. This involved a look into different social media platforms and the implications for PR due to the growth in use of them.

I even heard the other day that LG is to launch a 3D phone…WOW! This phone has reportedly restricted content and LG hope that consumers will create their own content for use. Due to the restrictions on content I am struggling to understand how it will take off, other than the fact that the phone has 3D capabilities there is not much too different to other smart phones out on the market today, and if they are relying on consumers to build their own content, is the quality of the services provided going to suffer?

This appears to be the next stage in the upgrade culture that we all are more than likely, like sheep to follow.I will go as far as saying it looks good but I still question the functionality and practicality of it. I have seen a few 3D films and I can tell you that I struggled with that. The headache that followed from concentrating so intensely on the 3D detail was not too much fun. I personally am not too sure that I could manage to look at a small 3D screen for very long periods. But eventually, will this part of the digital evolution drag me in..hmmm we will see!!

What are your thoughts…? Do you think that you will follow like all us ‘sheep’ do and embrace the new trend…?