On “day one”, sitting alone in Prospect House in Guernsey – now flattened to make way for the southerly end of the Admiral Park development – I had no clients and no idea how Orchard would develop. But I needn’t have worried. I soon had plenty of work to keep me busy, with Martel Maides and the Bella Luce Hotel being two of the first clients to sign us up.
We like to celebrate anniversaries in the Orchard. Yesterday was consultant, media trainer and resident Aussie Emma Anderson’s ten year Orchard birthday. That’s right, it’s been ten years since she left life as a journalist to join us in PR land.
What better way to celebrate than a ten year old headshot…
Thankfully her obsession with finding a good story, spelling, grammar and the correct use of punctuation has not dimmed even a tiny bit…
Orchard PR is 14 years old today – quite grown-up really! Over that time we’ve pooled some of the best PR talent in the Channel Islands and nurtured entrants into the PR world to go on and do great things. I’ve been reminded by photographer Chris George, who has worked with Orchard since the start, that in 1996 we emailed a picture out for the very first time. Since then the media has changed almost beyond recognition: blogs like this one were virtually unknown, let alone networks like Facebook, Twitter et al with millions of users.
A lot has changed since I cut a lonely figure in my team of one, honing my plate spinning skills, answering the phone, making the tea and buying the toilet rolls! I still sometimes do all of those things because Orchard is a team with little hierarchy and I’m proud of what it’s grown into – a loyal and committed group of professionals who depend on each other to excel for clients. And clients of course are the focus of everything we do. It’s thanks to them that we’re thriving and enjoying challenging and rewarding projects. We owe them the best that we can do and I’m sure we’ll continue to deliver for many years to come.
Posted by Steve.
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.