Why PR Is Not The Job For Me

I have come to a conclusion: after a 6 month internship in a French PR firm that specialises in fine foods and magazines, 2 weeks in a chic London firm that represents top-end hotels and some post-GCSE work experience with my cousin in beauty PR- I have finally decided that Public Relations is not quite right for me.

The world of PR is heavily stereotyped; lots of champagne, a variety of freebies, plenty of glamourous events in high heels and constantly having the opportunity to showcase your creativity. Although some of this may be glitzy, and PRs certainly all have a story to tell of that time they organised an event with a zed-list celebrity in a swanky venue in Paris, the other 99% of their time is spent being frustrated at ignored emails, annoyed at incorrect journalism and having to be overly friendly to an unresponsive client.

The working world demands routine, repetition and admin, but I can’t help thinking that sending hundreds of blankets emails with text book press releases to interns at crumbling magazines is a little demoralising, especially when the majority of those emails end up unread. The rise of influential bloggers has certainly changed this dynamic, there are now a lot more junk mail folders to send your press releases to, but unless your incessant emailing is paired with a creative marketing scheme or an original, and always expensive, advertising campaign, I found it difficult to feel like any impact had been made.

The feeling of seeing one of your clients featured in the press is certainly a thrill. However, even when you are successful in your promotion pursuit, the problem with PR is that it is virtually impossible to measure. The experts suggest that PR value is 3 times the value of advertising (if a half page advert in the magazine costs £1000, a half page editorial piece would therefore be ‘worth’ £3000). Yet, what I find frustrating is that to know if the writing on those pages transfers into the all-important words on the lips of consumers, well that is almost impossible. 

The intangibility of PR certainly contributes in a large way to my decision, but the fundamental turning point is that PR has deteriorated my appreciation of magazines and made me rather cynical about journalism. Journalists can copy and paste a press release straight into their article within minutes without even a full comprehension of the product. This leads to the products represented by the pushiest PRs who happen to be that old-friend-from-school or the most generous PRs (who can offer free trips to the Bahamas) having the largest word count in the press. Even the most inconsistent cynic would point out that this means that there is very little substance behind the statements. 

Even though I am highly dubious about the Public Relations-Journalist partnership, I can admit that PR has taught me a lot about business, networking and events. Although I have decided that it's not the career path for me, certainly at this stage, I won't deny that my experiences have been more than worthwhile.  

Pay For Your Time, Not Your Coffee

Take your pick!

A recent contribution I made to my company's blog about a concept café that has just opened in London... 

In London’s alternative centre, Shoreditch, a new café has just arrived with a new concept in tow. Your coffee and cakes are free, but you must pay 3p for every 60 seconds you spend there.

Ziferblat is a new café to hit the streets of London and has already been praised by Time Out as one of the best cafes to open in 2014. The popular chain hails from Russia where they have opened more than 10 branches in the last 2 years to an incredibly positive response. The café’s name, ‘Zierblat’ means ‘clock face’ in Russian (Zifferblatt in German) and the idea is simple; pick up an alarm clock on your way in and clock out as you leave.

The owner, Ivan Mitin hopes to make a community from the café, with customers having access to the kitchen to prepare their own food and helping themselves to the professional coffee machine as well as a plethora of snacks. The café even provides its coffee-drinkers with a piano, where visitors are encouraged to show off their musical skills. The communal feeling seems to be a success too, with customers lining up to do their washing up and even that of others despite no obligation to do so.

Ziferblat has sparked criticism from some consumers who don’t favour the idea of being guarded by a watchful timer sat on the table in front of them. Although perhaps making your own coffee is a slight disadvantage of the coffee shop, for £1.80 an hour it is arguably fantastic value.

For those who feel guilty about buying just one coffee and nursing it for two hours while they get on with their work, Ziferblat might be the perfect café to be your new local.

☞Ziferblat Facebook

☞Ziferblat Twitter

☞Ziferblat Website

Find the original article on Com by AVM's website here.

Office Antics - Year Abroad #4

My next article for Inter:Mission about the fun of an inappropriate office... 

Upon embarking on a 6 month placement in a French marketing and PR agency in Bordeaux, I was fairly confident of what to expect; lots of coffee-making, plenty of scanning and many embarrassing language-barrier moments. Officially only an intern in the ‘Community Management’ department (my job description in French … really), my expectations of tedious and trivial tasks were quite wrong.

It goes without saying that the communication issues were incredibly prevalent at the beginning of my placement, often leading to hesitant nodding in the affirmative to tasks even if I didn’t have a clue of the instructions. However, the scanning and barista tasks were few and far between. Instead, I was treated like a fully capable employee, reflected in every part of my life at the agency, except rather unfortunately, by my salary (a big thank you to the European tax payers, the Erasmus grant is a wonderful thing when your salary just about covers your rent). This means that although I only earn about 2 euros an hour, doing ‘real’ work means that I am getting to know my colleagues quite well. Perhaps too well.

An eclectic group of personalities, made up of more interns than full-time staff (no, I’m actually not joking), by the end of the first week I realised that formality was not necessary in this office. The telling moments included being added on SnapChat by more than one colleague in week 1, over-hearing someone in the creative department ask someone on the PR team if she was pregnant in front of the boss and a client (she wasn’t) and being offered something quite strong at our first work soirée. Needless to say I am always on my best behaviour, much to their disappointment and often pretend to find understanding French a little harder than it is.

Although my first few weeks were made up of memorable and fantastically inappropriate moments, my most amusing occasion in the office so far has to be the day when I stumbled across the profile of one of my colleagues on an online dating website (I know you’re wondering what I was doing on there myself, well you can read all about my online dating experiencein France in my previous article). Thinking of this as the perfect way to contribute to lunchtime conversation and get a foot on the banter ladder, I prepared to bring it up over a baguette-induced silence the following day. I perfected my speech, ensuring I had the right vocabulary to hand…their response? “Oh, of course we know all about it, our previous intern found him on there too!”

I could not have asked for a better year abroad job, and I’m not just saying that through fear that my boss will read this article. My colleagues are patient with my language gaps and encouraging of initiative and responsibility. Usefully for me they don’t speak any English (except the mandatory Friends quotes) and they are rather keen to teach me both formal and informal French. Although I do make plenty of cups of tea every day, they are mostly for me and, as of yet I have never been asked to photocopy anything. 

A Tea-A-Day Keeps the Doctor Away

During my year abroad, I'm working for Com' by AVM and regularly contribute to their blog. Here's a short article I wrote about Tea-A-Day (find the original article here). 

Tea-A-Day

Ever needed a reminder of the date while enjoying a brew in the morning? Now you can with Tea-A-Day!

The family-run German firm, Hälssen & Lyon with creative agency, Kolle Rebbe have come up with an ingenious way of combining your morning tea with your daily calendar. Beautiful to look at, the idea is wonderfully simple; tear off the page for that day and place in your mug of steaming water. Watch with awe as the tea infuses into the water.

With a different infusion each day that is finely pressed into strips, the innovative idea looks stylish and elegant whilst being fantastically practical. The German company who started in 1879 certainly stick to their slogan, ‘The World of Tea under One Roof’. The 365 different strips are delicately flavoured to ensure that your morning infusion gets you ready for the day ahead.

Unfortunately for us, however, the charming calendar is unavailable for the mass market for the time being. Only created as a prototype for a limited special addiction, extensive development of the product will be undertaken before we can get our hands on it.

Watch the video here: