latest news from the orchard

March 30, 2010

Happy Birthday BAPR!

Filed under: PR — Tags: , , , , , — orchardnews @ 11:01 am

Congratulations go to Bournemouth University’s BA (Hons) Public Relations degree course which celebrated its 21st birthday last week. Two Orchardettes, Brooke and Emily are proud holders of the BAPR qualification and spent four happy years studying the world of PR and the media in the seaside town.

Still considered to be a ‘new profession’ the coming of age of the popular degree course sparks thoughts about the development of the industry as a profession. What used to be a case of few and far between, PR degree courses are now as familiar to universities as business degrees giving undergrads a huge selection of choice. However, BAPR is still regarded as one of the top PR degrees in the country and for us one of its key selling points was a year in industry with the opportunity to work with some of the top agencies in the UK.

Emily’s highlights from her years of study: Live pitch to eBay UK; interviewing key figures in the PR industry as part of my dissertation including the man himself, Mike Regester, this was a star struck moment for me having read and referenced a number of Regester and Larkin books and was set up by my wonderful boss Steve; the burning Firestation and as Brooke already mentioned Mr Kevin Maloney – what he doesn’t know about PR no-one does.

Brooke’s highlights from her years of study: Hoping over the wall from Cranborne House to The Firestation nightclub, my placement year at Pure PR which included tea at Sketch with journalists and attending the InStyle Beauty Awards for Burt’s Bees, writing about Grunig & Grunig more times than you can shake a stick at and of course our colleague Kevin Maloney!

Hope the drinks party in London last week was fun BAPR’s, sorry we couldn’t be there.

Posted by Brooke and Emily.

March 26, 2010

Reality check ahead…

Filed under: PR — Tags: , , , , — orchardnews @ 3:59 pm

This week we have a guest blogger – Harriet Black – who has been with us on work experience. Here, she fills us in on her experience of a real PR agency.

I’ve had a reality check.

Studying a PR degree cannot fully prepare you for working in the PR industry. So, have I just wasted the past three years doing a degree that is of no value? Not at all.

The mixture of theoretical and practical modules on my course had prepared me in a sense. I know about Grunig and Hunt’s four models of PR and the strategies to follow in crisis management. I’ve learnt how to direct a press conference and the process of creating a campaign. However, during my week’s work experience at Orchard PR I’ve had the opportunity to learn things my PR degree could not teach me.

Typing up a pretend news release, for a made-up company who are putting on an imaginary event cannot fully prepare you for the real PR world. Yes, it’s great practice and it’s given me the knowledge of how to write a news release but it’s just not the same!

At Orchard, I’ve done it for real. I’ve written an actual news release, for a real company who have a genuine reason for being published in the media. I’ve also been to photo shoots and met journalists; I’ve heard live radio interviews and been to client meetings. I’ve witnessed the day to day working life of PR professionals and have had hands-on experience in a PR agency and this has made all the difference. I’ve gone from a make-believe PR world to the real one.

(more…)

March 22, 2010

Cabs and prawn sandwiches: What is the acceptable face of political lobbying?

Filed under: PR — Tags: , , , , , — orchardnews @ 4:41 pm

Cab for Hire MP Stephen Byers graced this week’s  Sunday papers after allegedly offering lobbying services to under cover reporters for £5k per day.

Simultaneously, on the BBC Guernsey phone-in, concerns were voiced that Suez Environnement were offering members of the States of Guernsey an invitation to lunch as part of an 11th hour briefing before Wednesday’s latest “incinerator” debate.

With calls in the UK for a statutory register of lobbying activity, it seems that the new row is all set to be a pre-election sequel to MPs expenses.

And there’s clearly a difference between a reported £5k fee to lobby Whitehall Departments, based on knowledge gained while a Cabinet minister, and offering brow-beaten local politicians a prawn sandwich while they give up an hour or so at midday for a briefing.

Both the UK and local scenarios raise some interesting questions for me:

  • How difficult is it for somebody to request a meeting with the appropriate representative of a government department in order to put a case and does the intervention of yesterday’s man really help that much? How do you measure that?
  • Secondly; when is an approach to an elected representative informing and educating and when is it lobbying? And is lobbying (“organised influence”) wrong per se?

Of course it doesn’t look good for somebody who is going to vote on the potential prosperity of a commercial organisation to benefit financially in the process of persuasion – but surely nobody can think well on an empty stomach!

Posted by Steve.

March 2, 2010

The bunker mentality of public sector PR…

Filed under: PR, Training — Tags: , , , , — orchardnews @ 5:06 pm

The use of PR professionals, both in house and agency, by the States of Guernsey has come in for a great deal of scrutiny of late. Today’s Guernsey Press business page adds yet more comment to the debate courtesy of James Falla, ex Treasury and Resources comms director.

Perhaps reading between the lines there is a bit of criticism here for the way Deputies and civil servants have engaged with the media over recent years. It is all too easy for beleaguered Deputies to develop a bunker mentality towards the media: ‘they’re all out to get me’ is a refrain we hear all too often.

Likewise the media sometimes views PR as an unnecessary blockage to getting to the juiciest part of a story.

But, a good PR professional can play a vital role in keeping the public information wheels moving. As James says of his previous role, public sector PR is not about getting in the way of political access, but to facilitate access, and probably more importantly in our opinion, to improve the service to the media.

In our role as media trainers we frequently teach people how to give journalists what they want, in a form that is most useful to them, enabling key messages to be distributed quickly, clearly and simply. It is this skill that James points out is ‘underrated’ in the current assembly and is probably the cause of many politicians  run ins with the various media on our island. Engagement does not necessarily mean compromise, in fact it can and should lead to a win-win situation.

Rather than fighting against journalists, our politicians should work with them to keep the public more informed and educated.

Posted by Chris.

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