Having come in to the sessions a day late and behind schedule, I was first struck by how welcoming Myc was. Any nervousness quickly subsided when I began writing notes on foreign press releases which was the topic that Myc was covering at that point. Due to the way in which Myc explained things, I was quickly able to grasp what he was saying and its import. Britain and America have traditionally been seen as the hubs of the public relations industry, therefore it is easy to assume that the writing style and procedure of the UK and the US is standard to other countries. Myc explained that this was not the case and spoke about how in the “romance” countries it is not acceptable to use the same word twice in a media release, even when talking about the same object. This tallied with my perception of French and Spanish culture.
The next topic of discussion was writing a feature and the different narrative styles that can be used. This was particularly helpful as when I am writing, it is beneficial to have an idea of style and tone. For example, in scientific stories, Myc talked about writing in a “thesis” style which fits the academic background. He then went on to discuss other narrative styles and talked about the fact that features are decided a long time in advance, so it’s important to have an idea of how the story will read. Myc also covered Sunday newspapers and press embargos.
During the break, Myc came and spoke to me about what was covered the previous day. He was very friendly and open and spoke about his vast experience. When I had a question on “astroturfing” in the UK, he was able to answer it comprehensively.
In the afternoon session, Myc spoke about planning a P.R. campaign, pitching to a potential client, and the importance of a pitch document. With his guidance we were able to draw up a comprehensive list of tasks and responsibilities relating to the pitch document. One area of interest that Myc covered was budgeting, telling us that approximately half the campaign fee would be for man hours and half would be for material cost. This gave us perspective on budgeting realistically.
After the main task of pitching for business from a quarry in Flushing, which my group won, I asked Myc about how a campaign’s effectiveness can be evaluated. He talked about how this was currently a “live” issue, as new methods have arisen and the credibility of Advertising Value Equivalents has declined. From his own perspective, with his experience, he could tell whether a campaign was successful or not. This backs up what I have always thought, P.R. is a mixture of art and science: the science of working out what people are thinking and saying and the art of talking to them.
Ends.
Word count 480
No comments:
Post a Comment