Work wise I have been given new things to work on, as well as still carrying out daily reports and monitoring. Anna, my line manager even asked if there was anything I thought I wasn’t getting to work on.

The build up to the Christmas party is beginning to get into flow. I have volunteered to be part of the stage management team – this is the chance for me to be involved as much as possible without being on stage (get a bit of stage fright!). On Friday we had a sort of rehearsal party. This was in the theme of Pirates (a not so secret love of one of the Spook team). We got dressed up and took part in a treasure hunt. This I am pleased to say we won – after an extremely loud rendition of ‘What shall we do with the drunken sailor?” I suspect that the image of people racing through the office dressed as pirates searching for items was extremely amusing, as well as a little bit weird!

I am now getting to do more challenging things, using many tools that I will use in the future for research and reports in other practices. I’m getting to dip into the big consumer clients as well as tech and healthcare ones on a daily basis.

Heather, Clare and I have announced that we will be wanting everyone to think pink on 30th October, with more details to follow as we get closer. This is our first separate project so fingers crossed it all goes well.

Last week we got some great feedback out our work in the teams, which has really boosted my confidence, just hope I can keep it up!

Since joining the Technology team, some very exciting things have happened. I went to Barcelona to attend the 3GSM World Congress exhibition and have recently helped organise a St Patrick’s Day drinks event for another client.

Guinness (and others) were flowing all night at Waxy O’Connor starting at around half past six when journalists begin to arrive. We had the pleasure of meeting the lovely ladies from ShinyShiny.tv, MTV interactive and Penthouse magazine, and even our very own Stephen Davies.

You’re probably now guessing on the motive behind the drinks event, as I was too when quizzed by several journalists. To be very honest, there is no sneaky motive. The whole point was not to showcase the latest gadgets and shout about how wonderful our client is, but to provide an informal networking opportunity and help our client build relationships with the media. And that is an important part of PR.

Knowing the media is a very important aspect in our jobs. In this season of PR graduate jobs hunting, applying and going to interviews, do make the effort to get to know some key media for the sectors you’re interest in. Oh, and you may surprise yourself at how much more media savvy you become if you start scanning through a different national newspaper every day.

Last but not least – start drinking Guinness if you don’t already!

A few statistics and information:

- Business is the most trusted source by opinion leaders.

- Religion, which is added to the survey? questions for the first time, is the second highest.

- Government scores lowest in trust.

- Technology, healthcare, entertainment and retail are the top four most trusted sectors.

- Business publications and analysts’ opinions score the highest in trust.

- ‘People like me’ is the most credible source. This year, the research attempts to specify who is ‘people like me’ and it finds that the two key influences are those who ‘share my interest’ and those who ‘look like me’.

- Local and global images vary greatly between different regions and countries. For example, European countries prefer a local approach comparing to China which places more trust in global names.

- The key global issues include global warming, human rights and poverty.

A lot of statistics and information but what does it all mean for the UK?

Firstly, consumers need to be part of the decision making process and they feel the need to be consulted on issues and matters that relate to them. Also interesting from the research, and one that is frequently debated, is that consumers often feel that the many different messages are confusing. This reflects a very important factor (either as a reinforcement or as a change), which the young PR professional must adopt – there must be clear and concise messages when planning a PR strategy. Thereafter the whole campaign must be consistent to ensure that the consumers are receiving and understanding what we’re trying to say.

Secondly, with the emphasis on locality in the UK it is important for businesses to prioritise social responsibility and employee engagement to ensure that they maintain the trust gained by their audiences. This means seriously considering the green issues, working with the community and listening and responding to your staff’s concerns and needs. From a PR perspective, this could translate to building the two way conversation matrix which places more emphasis on the community, employees, and other local relations to ensure that there is a consistent and ongoing communication programme.

Finally, back to the title of Stuart Smith’s speech, is the UK a nation of cynics? Perhaps, but only if we don’t maintain a consistent communication channel and when transparency is not prominent. Recently we see a number of UK-based companies (re)gaining the momentum in the industry, their corporate reputation and building trust with their audiences. Examples including Marks & Spencer, Innocent, and Virgin.

While on rotation in Technology, I was based at the head office of one of our major clients outside of London, which involved some travelling and living away from home from time to time. (And yes, I did secretly enjoy living out of a suitcase despite my frequent mini disasters when travelling.)

Working in-house is very different to working in an agency. For starter, you are only doing PR for one company instead of working on a range of different accounts at one time. And there are advantages and disadvantages on both sides.

Generally speaking, in-house is more focused in terms of what you communicate to your audiences and knowing the messages for just one company. Agency work often means working across different accounts at the same time so time management skills are essential in order to get all the work done to a high standard and on time. As the saying goes, there is “no rest for the wicked”… or in this case, those who work in PR……

Internal communication is more prominent in-house comparing to agency work. Working with the in-house team, I was pulling together a range of materials including:

• producing presentations on their 2007 campaigns and PR strategies for meetings;
• writing the internal newsletter aimed at top tier senior management and ensuring that the content, language and style are all relevant;
• joining in conference call meetings with their customers in different countries (the customers are other departments in the company such as the sales team, product development team, etc); and
• liaising with other departments to put together the company’s sales call calendar for the year.

In fact, all the tasks I did while based in-house are not what the team at Edelman covers, which makes sense of course. Following on from the presentations, sales call calendar and internal meetings, which outline the PR strategies and campaigns, the Edelman team then ensures the messages are communicated to the target audiences. At the agency we focus on external communications and media relations, while liaising with the in-house team to find spokespeople for interviews, commentaries etc.

There is a lot more to it, of course, but these are what I gathered so far from the two weeks I was working on this.

Working so closely with the client is the best opportunity to get to know the account and getting an insider view on the key issues concerning the company’s PR needs. It is also a very good opportunity to build a relationship with clients. After all, PR is all about building relationships and having a good working relationship with your client is certainly a good starting point!

I have to say though; these two weeks are by far my most challenging part of the grad scheme but I have learnt a lot more about client servicing, time management with improvements to my own way of working, which has to be a good thing!

If you’ve not thought about it yet and have somehow, inexplicably stumbled across this glorious blog, take a look at the graduate scheme website here.

If you’re still not convinced that this is the place for you then find out a bit more about what Edelman is like to work for here.

If you’re still umming and ahhh-ing, perhaps swing by one of our other blogs. Typed (sadly, gone are the days of ‘penning’ things) by the Public Affairs department, despatchblog.com is a regularly updated thinkpiece on everything public-affairs related. From ministerial candidates to public policy, this blog spans the entire gamut.

Further to this, and if you’re really keen to learn more, take a look at the oft-lauded blogging brainiac-cum-techno-geek blog prblogger.com. Run by our very own ‘northern monkey’, Stephen Davies, this eclectic blog is a one-stop shop for new-media and technology talk and lots more besides.
Northern MonkeySouthern Fairy

Tom

That’s about all this ’southern fairy’ has got to say for now – happy browsing!

Fortunately I had already met a few of the Tech team because of a launch. The launch took place while I was in Corporate, however, after a plea for ‘a few extra pairs of hands’, Mark, Tom and I volunteered for what turned out to be a very amusing evening…

My first ever launch of this kind, I was unsure of what to expect, let alone what to wear (a girly, yet important, dilemma). Luckily the LBD (little black dress) saved the day as ever.
The launch took place at a private members club, just around the corner, called the Century club (which seems to be some kind of media mogul hang-out).

I was given the very important task of giving out name badges and ticking people off which turned out to actually be quite fun and I got to meet lots of people. However, we did get lots of lost people looking for the Tana Ramsey book-launch upstairs.
As the evening progressed and we had completed our tasks (not before Tom had saved the day getting a paparazzi photographer to snap the speeches because the hired photographer did not turn up!), the music started pumping and the strawberry shortcake shots began to flow!

It was probably the shots that gave us the confidence to gate-crash the Ramsey book launch and see the F-man himself (and for Tom to blag no less than 4 Space NK candles for me and the Tech girls from Tana’s own PR girls, despite the fact that they were most definitely for close friends only!)

So with a fun-filled night behind me I started in Tech and soon realised that alcohol filled nights were not exactly few and far between.

I’ve experienced so many things since, creating press releases and selling stories to Spanish journalists (using my much out of practice Espanol), inviting people to tonnes of different events, brainstorming, and probably my favourite (just because it was so glam) 1:1 press briefings.

1:1 press briefings may or may not sound glamorous to you, but first let me tell you a bit more. Simon C was kind enough to let me get involved, copying me in on emails and helping me understand just exactly what our client do. Chris, VP of Worldwide Marketing at an internet company was then to spend a day with Simon and I attending 10 (yes 10!) different press briefings.
The first took place with an amusing journalist called Rene, at 8.30 am last Monday morning at the Ritz. No sooner had I finished my eggs Benedict than a car picked us up and whisked us off to Mortimer House for our second interview, then back to Edelman for a telephone interview and broadcast interview with Telecom TV and Melissa Westcott – a lovely, energetic lady!

Never having had any kind of broadcast experience it was interesting to see how much work goes into broadcasts. Luckily, Chris (from Netopia) used to do a stint on breakfast TV in the US, so was as natural on camera as off. It was lights, camera…turn the aircon off(a harder task than you would imagine)…action! What will undoubtedly be a snippet lasting a couple of minutes took over half an hour to film.

Then, there was another car to whisk us off for lunch at the Wolsely (by this point I am loving PR so much). A quick Tuna steak and chocolate soufflé later and we are whisked back to Edelman for yet more telephone interviews. Luckily Chris is well organised and has a telephone interview brief and Simon is a dab-hand at the conference calls (I’m still working the phones out) and they all go really well. A couple of strong coffees later and there is yet another car waiting for us to take us to the Dorchester and I’m excited at the thought of seeing Mrs O (Sharon) and Nicole Kidman (who is staying there according to London Lite). We wait for our final journalist of the day; luckily, she does arrive and turns out to be really amusing and interesting and ends up staying far longer than expected.

Just about to die from exhaustion I manage a glass of (well-earned) Champers and a debrief with Chris and Simon. Luckily Chris seems happy with the day and I feel happy, if not a little full (of PR knowledge and food!)

They say there is no rest for the wicked, so I am convinced I must have done something really bad in my past life, as the very next day I was plunged (still full and happy) into healthcare, which is where I am now. To be honest, I am still trying to make sense of it although I am sure that by the end of my 3 weeks I will be talking in acronyms and drug-names the way the rest of the team are.

Blogging seems to be de rigueur in every line of work and life these days – just another set of restraints strapping us unceremoniously to our PCs and enforcing the symbiosis of man and machine, or a tool to be manipulated by us to our advantage? Perceived wisdom seems to plump for the latter and I have to admit, from the introduction to blogging we were given by the aforementioned techno whiz, its tendrils do seem to extend quite a way into the web and beyond.

Right, that’s the requisite law graduate’s self indulgent particularly polysyllabic waffle done; onto the business of blogging!

I understand the purpose of this blog is to give people an insider’s view of what it means to work at Edelman so I shall do my best to give anyone that reads this page the low-down without getting too bogged down in detail, because as we all know – that’s where the devil resides!

I started here at Edelman 3 weeks ago and whilst I imagine it would be useful to give a summary of how the application process was effected, I didn’t come in via the normal assessment day route so I shall rely on my eminently able fellow graduates to do that for me. Instead, I shall start from the beginning of where it all began.

Edelman do look after you and like a protective mother, they guide you through the early stages of life. To allow all the grads to meet each other and get the tried and tested list of awkward questions out the way, they arranged for a lunch meeting at Strada restaurant; just around the corner from the offices on the Friday immediately preceding our Monday start date.

This was a simple but effective idea and allowed us to segue gently into working life without too much of a jolt to the senses….it was also free and very tasty.

Gratis gustatory gestures aside, the Edelman induction experience is one to be respected and revered. The HR department were amazingly well organized and efficient (just add that £50 to next months pay slip, Rebecca) and took us through the various introductions, explanations and clarifications with aplomb. The first morning was spent learning about the technical bureaucracy that is necessary for the running of a successful business (holidays, pay, security issues…) and just generally settling in.

Following this it was onto the business of the first rotation and in my case, this meant getting my hands dirty in the financial department. I have to confess I had no real pre conceptions of what to expect from this rotation but all the guys and girls involved (Jonathon and Tom particularly, who so graciously picked up after my errors) were incredibly welcoming, understanding and keen to set me on the ground running. It is a credit to both this department and Edelman as a whole that they are willing to give you some responsibility so early on in the game and see how you fare. It’s not quite like being thrown in at the deep end; more like letting you float out on a batman buoyancy aid whilst your mum holds the rope from the side of the pool, but it lets you show what you can do. Initially I was charged with the incredibly exciting and vibrant task of media monitoring. Should you ever come to do this, or if you have already; you will of course realize that I am joking and that media monitoring, whilst essential work, is not the most stimulating of tasks.

This aside however, I was also given the opportunity to research and write some copy for a couple of the financial teams’ clients which would eventually and much to my surprise and excitement, end up in the national press. Seeing something you wrote appear in a paper which is read by thousands is a uniquely satisfying and gratifying experience, even if the piece is bereft of your name. I imagine the novelty eventually wears off but it was a great way to start my rotation and this, combined with the attitude of the team made me feel genuinely interested and keen to do more. I think being able to engage directly with the work you are doing and actually foster and nurture a real interest in it is key to job satisfaction and continued success. Apologies for that McGregor – esque social science style blurb but that’s an honest, if slightly textbook opinion.

The 3 weeks with financial progressed really quickly with more responsibility and even the chance to work on preparing materials for an upcoming pitch. I was always kept busy and in the loop about what was happening which really made me feel part of the team and the whole gang did their utmost to ensure I was always doing something so thanks for that everyone. I should also mention the multi – talented SMU/PA/Financial pairing of Jo and Rishi who also gave me things to do and tasks to complete, often Factiva research and excel – based pie charts which Rishi seemed to love (when I got them right!)

It would be quite dry to go into everything I did over the 3 weeks with financial but suffice it to say it was never boring. I was taken out to lunch a few times and well looked after which did a lot to make me keen to possibly go back there at the end of the rotation scheme.

Since I imagine you’re probably getting quite bored of reading this by now, I’ll try and spice it up a bit with a quick account of a couple of the fun things we were given the opportunity to get involved with during this period.

The lovely social team organized a pub quiz during the second week of the rotation with free booze, some typically healthy pub food and questions that would tax even the most gifted mind out there. Most of the office managed to cram their grey matter together, lubricate the cogs with a few frosty beverages and generally have a good bit of banter for the evening which turned into a bit of a ‘session’ for some of the grads (mentioning no names….). It was a really fun evening and yet another good example of Edelman fostering an attitude of fun and interaction and ensuring that people got to know each other.

The second event was one of Absolutely Fabulous proportions. The grads were asked (very kindly!) to help out on the landrush launch of a mobile communications client at the prestigious Century Club in Soho. Here we were to greet guests and help out in whatever way we could whilst also having the opportunity to meet some journalists and maybe, have a couple of free lemonades. The evening went off without a hitch (as far as I’m aware) but also presented me with the opportunity of some celebrity schmoozing. On the roof terrace of the club, Tana Ramsey was having her book launch along with her husband (Gordon) and their pals who included Jeremy ‘sports casual’ Clarkson and Neil ‘Doctor’ Fox….ahhh memories of balmy Sunday afternoons listening to the Pepsi chart show…..Obviously, it would have been rude not to sneak in and have a quick chinwag with as many of them as possible and if at all possible, blag some freebies in the process. About an hour and 5 ‘SpaceNK’ scented candles later the party was continuing downstairs and did so into the wee hours with free champagne and somewhat questionable dancing. All in all – another entertaining evening.

I’m very conscious of the fact that brevity is not my strong suit and that this is turning into somewhat of a marathon read so I’m going to bring this technological treatise to a close.

I’ve now finished my rotation on financial and have moved onto Public Affairs. Unfortunately, most of the team is away at the Labour Party conference in Manchester so I’m a little on my own but have been left with a list of things to do so I’m sure I shan’t be bored.

Right, that’s all for now. The next one will be much shorter and maybe a little sweeter; we shall have to see.

Tom