The Run-In

Its about this time of year in the Barclays Premier League when everyone's attention suddenly turns to the middle of May. So much is talked about / written / moaned about (Arsene Wenger) for the last few weeks of the season, as games of football come thick and fast (***football cliché siren***), that its almost entirely possible to forget everything else that's happening, and also the potential of forgetting to enjoy it.

Forgetting to enjoy myself is something that I've realised that I'm in danger of doing. For the last couple of weeks I've been feeling the stress of looming deadlines a bit a lot, so if I've come across as being angrier / more 'sweary' and obnoxious than Malcolm Tucker (from BBC's The Thick of It, see 'best of' YouTube vid below) then I can only apologise. Normal service will resume shortly!

Malcolm Tucker - "Best of" video (Contains swearing!)



The three years I've had at uni have been (on the whole) amazing, and I'd like to think that I've made life-long friends (also some life-long enemies, but alas) from the people I've met at Southampton Solent. It does scare me that in mid-May everything will be handed in, and then the next few weeks will be packing up to move home and try and find a job somewhere!

Anyway, here's my 'run-in' for the next few weeks...

April 7th 2011
Graduate Scheme Recruitment / Assessment Day, London (See previous blog)
(The lucrative Champions League knock-out tie)

Mid-April
Charity client - End of pro-bono campaign / Handover of eBay store
(Possibility of an Oracle Communications wrap party?)

Late April
Easter / Royal Wedding
(Try to resist chocolate eggs for the former, acquire an invite for the latter)

May 3rd
Final presentation with Charity client
Persuasive Comms. - Reflective Log
(The presentation is a difficult 'six pointer'. Field a 'weakened' team for the reflective log)

May 5th
Dissertation hand in
(The big one, the equivalent of Manchester United or Chelsea at 'home')

May 10th
Media & Communication project / report hand in
Charity client - final report & evaluation due in
(2 reports due in one day, I think that's true fixture congestion!)

May 16th
PR Strategy Exam
(Last day of the season. Get the Champagne on ice and the "We're going up" signage ready! See image below)

Anyway, enough of the football metaphors. I'm looking for advice from those who've been through the third year, and survived. Let me know your tips and tricks!

Paul

A Job??

This will be a very short entry, as I have a mountain of work still to do...

Today I found out that I have been selected to attend a graduate recruitment day (with 11 other candidates) for a job as an Account Assistant in an amazing PR agency in West London. (Note: I don't think its appropriate for me to name-drop here, so I haven't!)

I've read the email at least twenty times in the last four hours, because it doesn't seem real. (it is!).

Only a few hours prior to finding out I was talking to PR professionals (at the CIPR Wessex's "Meet the PRofessionals" annual meeting) who have made it in the industry, about interns working for free because of the demand for jobs in PR. It sort of made me realise that I would have to graft and grind unpaid just to get on the massive PR ladder, and it scares me that in a matter of weeks I leave the relative comfort of university life to return to the 'normal world'.

The offer of a chance of a paid position in London (something I thought was only a pipe dream when I started uni in 2008) is a really exciting prospect; and I've not stopped thinking about it all night!

Anyway, I'm off to read the email (again!) before cracking on with some more dissertation work...

Paul

Japan

The recent Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan has had a devastating effect on the country, but it seems that the natural disaster is providing various opportunities for brand development.

The first company to have been (rightfully) criticised is Microsoft’s search engine Bing, who sent out this tweet on Saturday.

Now I’m sure the intentions of Bing were perfectly honourable, but when it comes to raising money for the relief effort in countries who have suffered a natural disaster, there are perfectly acceptable ways to do this without seeking to promote your product at the same time.

Twitter is arguably the quickest method to raise awareness of an issue or transmit a message to your followers, but the backlash can be just as quick; many users were not backwards in showing their condemnation at Bing’s opportunism, and noted that $100k is a paltry donation for a company of their size.

Bing later sent out an apology on their Twitter, but apologised not for the content, but that their intentions had been misconstrued, before stating they had donated the $100k to the relief effort.

I also spotted that musician Lady Gaga is planning to sell a charity wristband, which has the wording “We Pray For Japan” written in both English and Japanese, with her ‘monster paw’ symbol in-between the wording. Very tasteful, and not in any way TACKY - I’m sure you’ll agree (picture and tweet below)

Purchasers can also choose to add a donation (of between $5 and $100) to their purchase, but this looks like a rather shameless attempt on the part of Lady Gaga to exploit her massive fan base; by claiming that the wristbands are limited edition, there is more desire attached to the item (especially with her reputation as a "style icon"), consequently more people will want to try and get hold of them.

Note: I’ve recently handed in a report which was based around Robert Cialdini’s Weapons of Influence (of which scarcity was a part). If you wanted to read up on his theories, head to the Wikipedia entry for Persuasion and go from there. Or seek further reading in your local library!

Plus I thought that charity wristbands had gone out of fashion since there was a whole array of them in 2005; I can remember having most of my wrist covered to show support for various causes during my Sixth Form days!

Anyway, to conclude; the best way to improve your reputation as a charitable company with a strong CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) ethos isn’t to sell promotional items and give the proceeds to the cause. Nor is it a good idea to cross-promote your service with an announcement that you intend to donate money.

In terms of PR often the best thing to do is just keep it simple. Donate the money, and then let people know you have done so.

I would be interested to hear any other methods of charitable donation to the Japan relief effort that hasn’t jeopardised a company’s reputation. In the meantime, if you would like to donate, click the link to the UK Red Cross website.

Paul