What is it that I'm doing?
My friends, and admittedly parents, keep asking me what PR really is and what my job as an Assistant Account Executive will really mean?
I would not say I’m totally clueless about either questions but it is a bit tricky. Some basic stats suggest that PR is a top three graduate profession, about 35.000 people in the UK currently work in the sector and that generally more women work in PR although they are less seen in management positions (which is all about to change) and according to IPA it is a young industry with just about half of the employees being under thirty.
When I first realised I wanted to work in PR I was both excited and a bit apprehensive, both really for the same reason- the competition. There is a certain attraction about wanting something that some many other people think they are equally entitled to, or even better at. Certainly, at no other place than at assessment centres you meet people who are intelligent, on the ball and stimulating to talk to… much like yourself.
I was endlessly browsing the internet and googling “PR”, different definitions, graduate schemes, agencies and what not, trying to find out what it was all really about.
I found that essentially the characteristics needed where being able to multitask, have the gift of speech, being able to write and have great social skills. PR is in some ways like a Christmas present - you expect it to be something it’s not half the time. When I did my first work experience I was so excited to even be able to say “oh I work in PR” and then after just a few days saw its non-glamorous dark side. This was fine though and what made me go on, because I still loved all the hard work that came into it. Which is probably the trick.
Going back to answering everyone’s question, “what is PR”, being the third side of the advertising and marketing triangle, it’s basically about supervising brands reputations and generating money, something most companies have much picked up on during the last decade as the PR and marketing budgets have steadily increased.
PR is what smoothes over a disaster and what stresses success, affluence and change through influencing behaviour and opinions.
Now, what will I be doing? Lucky as I am to be starting work at the UK’s largest independent PR agency, what I do know is that I will be doing about a month at each practice they have, notably Bioscience, Corporate, Digital, Financial, Healthcare, JCPR (consumer), Public Affairs, StrategyOne (corporate target market research) and Technology. The benefit of this is to gain skills, ideas, methods and be influenced by the people you work with and of course develop your own edge. Additionally, you achieve a total understanding of what the agency is all about and where you ultimately want to end up.
At the end of the day, with just about everything else in life it is up to your own ambition and will to progress.
PR seems to be a fluff job because of its exterior. But scratch the surface and what you will find is clear and simple, hard work and people who are extremely goal oriented for themselves and for their clients. I hope to be one of them very soon.
When one reads about people who have experienced tremendous amounts of success, they all tend to have some things in common. Usually, one of these things is that they all have some kind of rebellious streak in them. Quite simply, they are their own person, and have always been.
Lisa Love, the west coast editor of Teen Vogue USA ran away from home when she was 15 to go to Paris because she wanted to change her life. Nuclear Wintour is rumoured to have gone missing for a week whilst having a sizzling romance with Bob Marley and Kelly Cutrone (the creator of People’s Revolution) was the fashion producer who in 2002 on September 11th had more shows on than anyone else at New York Fashion Week as she wanted to celebrate life and beauty instead of mourning.
Katie Grand, the editor of Pop Magazine, who also styles for Loewe, Louis Vuitton and who was responsible for Bottega Vennetta’s newly acquired edge some years ago, just simply decided as an 11-year old she wanted to be “cool” and Karla Otto, the woman behind the PR of a large number of big fashion names used to be a supermodel in her early days.
There just is not any wonder that fashion can be celebrated as it was meant to when there is a world of high powered and passionate people behind the scenes who truly understand designers, how fashion and art is inspired by society and people and how much this is appreciated by mere mortals too.
Watching the Hills has currently become my new tv obsession and I’m not going to rave about the actual show but I just watched an episode from the second season when Lauren and Whitney get a visit from the super intern Emily from New York.
This girl really amazed me, she goes to NYU 2 days a week, works at Teen Vogue 2 days a week and at Chanel for 1 day per week! How incredible is that! When I interned at Agent Provocateur’s press office we started off with just me and then two other girls came to work as well. Both of them were fired within a week from starting. I had to work so hard to convince them to even offer me the placement because I didn’t do marketing or fashion for a degree and those girls who did precisely that couldn’t even hack it.
Right now the fashion industry is booming. Fashion has become so much more accesible through high street chains like TopShop and H&M, internet fashion spots like Asos.com, netaporter.com and so on, whose revenue has just shot straight up during the last few years, the hundreds of fashion blogs that are thriving and of course tv shows like Gossip Girl and the Hills. Its so easy nowadays to be stylish because you can pretty much get anything off the rack and look just right.
But, and Emily makes a perfect example, it takes so much more to make it. Its not just about the fashion anymore and having the right handbag: you need to be so dedicated to your work, even when that includes getting people lunch, stuffing envelopes and talking to snotty press people all day long. Working at AP definitely made me get a clue and not be so naive which is quite useful now when I’m going into actual PR work because I know you have to pay your dues and just get on with it before all the good opportunities open up for you.
New super-agency
WPP is merging Cohn & Wolfe with GCI, headed by Donna Imperato to stiffen the competition amongst other major global agencies like Edelman. No public statement has been released yet but is expected very soon.
This should be very exciting.
A new beginning at Silverback
Now officially Caroline Drewniak LLB (Hons), I look forward to working at Silverback this summer (www.silverback.se) which is an extremely successful and creative Swedish production company led by CEO Anna Bråkenhielm and is behind formats such as Survivor, The Missing Link, West End Star, Where the Hell Is My Band, Apocalypse Now, Office Nightmare, Trucker and more.
They have recently placed their formats in 6 countries and signed a first-look agreement with Disney-ABC Television Group’s Buena Vista Productions in the US.
Silverback also represents JOOST, a new free online tv project by the creators of Skype.
PR beginner
The one thing I have mostly been looking forward to this year has been my much anticipated move to London to start work at Edelman.
Applying for graduate jobs takes some blood, sweat and tears, but applying for PR jobs takes…. well a little bit more.
Firstly, it is insanely competitive. From 500-1000 people apply for schemes that will only take up to 5-8 people if even that many.
Secondly, the skills needed are of a person who in a sense is a social miracle worker, a multi-tasking brilliant middle-man and of course also an excellent and quick writer, speller, bursting with ideas.
Third, despite the stiff competition, the initial (let’s hope) pay is not very stiff itself.
Some people say it is only glamorous, that two days never are the same and that you mingle until you need vaseline inside your mouth to keep your smile from drying. This is why work experience is crucial so someone can burst the bubble for you - PR is also hard work, dedication, if you need to stay past 5 you will stay and you won’t be a moaner but always a teamplayer.
I have no doubt it will be tough but what I am mostly looking forward to is continuing to develop all the skills that are needed to stay in play.
My impression is that PR teaches you to be firm with people, to dazzle them with your passion and interest for their account, to deal with a lot of different people at once and to pretty much always get what you want.
Many people (perhaps mostly men) easily write off Sex and the City as some sort of chick-flick phenomenon which is just about four girls having fun in New York, sleeping around, shopping and talking about men all the time. I don’t remember the precise moment I fell for SATC but when I did, I fell hard! And now when the film has come out I feel like SATC has brought with it, as silly as it may sound, something that is really strong and has impacted a lot of girls and women all over the world.
I think my generation is definitely part of the whole women empowerment movement which we have seen in so many different and colourful ways, from the Spice Girls, to our university education, our mothers, divorce, marriage, boyfriends and contemporary society. If you dig deep you will always find something and perhaps it is a long shot to draw something out of SATC.
But nevertheless, I do believe that behind all of our dreams, expectations, requirements, hopes, fears and pure reality, SATC can teach all of us a little bit about life and love.
Yves Saint Laurent passed away on June 1st, 71 years old after a battle with cancer.
This legendary designer retired in 2002 after YSL was sold and it can be argued the magic of what truly used to constitute Yves Saint Laurent, disappeared never to truly return.