Loud and CLEAR

I've unfortunately been too busy to post lately, what with exams and uni in general, but now it's all over I finally have some spare time to blog!

I've been wanting to post this for ages now; back in March, my university was lucky enough to have a visit from campaigner and political activist, Des Wilson, giving PR and politics students an insight into his admirable fifty year campaigning career.

To give a bit of background career information:

• Founder/chairman of Friends of the Earth, CITCOM, Parents Against Tobacco, Freedom of Information campaign, CLEAR (won campaign for lead-free petrol)
• Directed communications for Richard Branson lottery bid
• Devised campaign that led to the Sunday Trading Act
• Worldwide Vice Chairman for Public Affairs at Burson Marsteller
• Director of Corporate and Public Affairs for BAA plc.
• Columnist for The Observer
• President of the Liberal Democrats and Campaign Director of the 1987 General Election, resulting in winning PR Week’s award for outstanding individual of 1992

An admirable career to many if not to aspiring PR practitioners!

One of the university's PR lecturers interviewed Wilson, asking him questions about his career, his most memorable campaigns and his approaches to certain issues and crisis management. Whilst reflecting on his fifty year experience in the practice, he offered some inspiring quotes, one of my favourites being:

"Don't ever, ever, ever, ever let people tell you that you can't make a difference; rich, poor, old, young, you can"

He spoke in detail about CLEAR's winning campaign for lead-free petrol in April 1983, saying, "It never crossed my mind that we would lose - never campaign if the issue can be proved wrong. I even told my research team to look for evidence that proved us wrong. The spokesman against lead-free petrol said, 'If you can prove our petrol is affecting children, I'll listen to you' to which I replied, 'If you prove it's not affecting children, the whole world will listen to you'".

Amazing! And after listening to this inspiring man talk about his career and the efforts he has made to change our world, it made me realise how much we as a society take for granted. I think the whole auditorium were grateful to realise a man like Des Wilson has helped change the way we live today. A big thanks to him for sharing his experiences with us.

"You have to communicate from their point of view; how does it affect who you're trying to persuade? Get in the box with them" - Des Wilson

deswilson.com

Mark My Words

Out of all the guest lectures I have attended at university this was one of my favourites. Mark Borkowski - a 'biggie' in the PR world, the UK's leading creative publicist - visited us PR students at Greenwich to talk to us about his notable success and career in public relations.

Borkowski has handled PR for some of the biggest names in the business, including Eddie Izzard, Graham Norton, Joan Rivers, Cliff Richard, Shirley Bassey, Cirque du Soleil and the Jackson trio. If that isn't enough, he is the founder of one of the most reputable PR companies in the UK (Borkowski PR), has written two books on publicity stunts as related to public relations and currently writes a column for The Guardian Online. He is most renowned for his 'Bring Back Wispa' campaign for Cadbury, which he told us all about. The campaign won a PR Week Award for digital innovation and was judged overall as 'Best Campaign of the Year'. It showed the growing power of social media.

We all remember the Wispa chocolate bar - it was mine and my brother's favourite as children. I remember I would wonder what ever happened to it... where had it gone?

I remember seeing Wispa during its comeback when I noticed it stocked on the shelves of my local off-license. The feeling of nostalgia got the better of me and I brought bars of it home for the family (just in case it left us again!). Before the lecture I did a bit of background research on Mark Borkowski before his lecture just to get a better idea of who he was and what he was known for. I couldn't believe it when I read he was the one who brought back Wispa.

"What PR does best is understand the power of the crowd, but social media means the crowd can now express its own views," Borkowski said. "Companies need to learn to love the 'haters' as it sharpens your wit; whilst management may wish to ignore or neutralise 'haters', it is impossible in a social media age."

He also went on to question whether the story is more interesting than the truth; a question I am constantly asking myself when I see certain broadcast stories. He then went on to show us news stories that had made the front page but were false (all red tops of course), but nevertheless sold the newspaper.

An inspiring talk on communicating for the 'now economy'. I hope we can get him to come back to the university for another talk next year.

markborkowski.com

Twitter: @MarkBorkowski

Gervais' Great Traits

You either love or hate Ricky Gervais. Marmite. I must admit I am amongst the group of people who love him.

He is a perfect PR tool; he's opinionated and outspoken, as well as being one of the UK's most prominent comedians. But what I admire him for is his conservation work. He has spoken out against fox hunting and bullfighting, and even wrote to Gordon Brown urging him to stop the use of black bear fur as caps for London's foot guards. He has also expressed his desire to open an animal sanctuary in the future, appearing in adverts and has even began developing a mobile app in order to fund it.

He is constantly tweeting about petitions for the public to sign in order to save animals from all types of cruelty (a subject close to my heart). I retweet and sign as many of the petitions as I can. Just one voice can make a difference! 

He is perfect PR for the organisations creating these petitions - he is not someone you would associate saving animals with. "Ricky Gervais? Animal lover? I have to see this for myself": and there it is, thousands of people on his Twitter page admiring his work, feeling they must sign the petitions if even a controversial character like Ricky Gervais is (but it must be mentioned that his celebrity status already gives him that 'perfect PR' label). 

One petition he tweeted about was to save Tania, a thirty-seven year old elephant living at Tirgu Mures Zoo in Romania - one that really got to me. I signed and am receving email updates on the success of the petition and what changes are being made.

Unfortunately, Tania's exhibit is literally killing her. Most captive elephants die from foot disease as they do not get enough movement to keep their limbs healthy. The wet concrete from water, urine and feces seep into cracks of flattened foot pads and toes nails. It destroys elephant feet and bones, something unheard of amongst wild elephants. 

After thirty-four years in captivity, Tania came to Tirgu Mures Zoo with degenerative joint disease and diseased feet, the left back foot clearly infected as she holds it up constantly. The EAZA has known about Tania’s diseased feet but sent her to this small concrete prison anyway. Romania's long freezing winter months on a cold concrete floor exacerbate her foot problems even with foot care.

So please everyone, sign the petition!
htp://www.thepetitionsite.com/956/417/286/free-tania-the-elephant-from-tirgu-mures-zoo-in-romania/

Twitter: @rickygervais 

#findingMike

Okay, so this is my favourite campaign I've come across so far. 

A few weeks ago I remember scrolling through my Twitter feed and seeing a hopeful and heart-warming campaign ran by a man called Jonny Benjamin. 

The ambassador for Rethink Mental Illness started the campaign after a kind stranger stopped him from jumping from London's Waterloo Bridge in 2008. Benjamin was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and, given the disease's negative media coverage, felt suicide was the only option.

Benjamin was keen to be reunited with the man who saved his life that day eight years ago; not remembering his name or anything about him, he launched a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #findingMike.

The campaign was backed by the likes of Stephen Fry and Boy George and the hashtag trended on Twitter in the UK and as far afield as Canada, South Africa and Australia.

I was astonished to see the campaign worked: Jonny Benjamin was reunited by his stranger saviour, Neil Laybourn.  Benjamin said he didn't expect to succeed and the #findingMike campaign was motivated more by his desire to highlight the issues of mental health.

I particularly liked this campaign because it shows the impact social media has in today's society. It's fair to say that this campaign wouldn't have been as successful without social media's input. 

This campaign has a personal affect on me as unfortunately my Dad is a sufferer of Bipolar Disorder. It's good to see that there is more positive awareness of mental illness in the media today. It's this positive energy that saves people like Jonny Benjamin.

rethink.org
twitter.com/mrjonnybenjamin

The Gentleman Blogger

“Boutonniere are common in the wedding world, but I love wearing them on casual nights out” 

- Matthew Zorpas, The Gentleman Blogger

Last week we were lucky enough to have Matthew Zorpas, aka The Gentleman Blogger, as a guest speaker at uni. Despite making me green with envy, the University of Greenwich alumnus had a lot to say about his ever so aspirational career in fashion PR. 

Just months after creating his blog focusing on men's clothing and gentlemanliness, Zorpas gained a lot of attention from agencies asking him to represent them. He has landed projects with top fashion brands such as Gucci, Tommy Hilfiger and Armani. He has also been mentioned amongst the top five in many 'best dressed' lists including those of Esquire UK and The Coveteur.

He mentioned that the secret to writing a successful blog is to stay relevant. Relevance is key to generating interest".

I knew his lecture would appeal to me. I had previously researched Zorpas' work and loved what I saw. Dapper in his grey, checked suit, he told us all about his work and how keeping content relevant is key to successful blogging. His success has allowed him to mix work with pleasure, travelling to fifty-five countries to do what he does best - a truly inspiring talk!

thegentlemanblogger.com

Hearst Editors' Talk

In November 2013 a few of the uni girls and I visited the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair to attend the Hearst Editors' Talk; an event where editors of some of the UK's leading magazines came together on a panel to talk about their jobs in the magazine industry. The line-up included Company, Cosmopolitan and Red, amongst other aspirational mags. Fashion bloggers and PR people from all over London attended the event. As a student studying PR myself, I found the talk extremely intriguing. Fashion and PR: my two favourite topics laced together in one talk!

What made it even better were the canapés and champagne that guests received on arrival, as well as a goody bag full of girly treats including makeup from my favourite cosmetic brand, Benefit as well as other useful beauty products.

When talking about the importance of social networking to the practice of PR, the editors encouraged the audience to tweet with the hashtag #HearstEditorsTalk, to which I got a nice little retweet from deputy editor of Red magazine, Saska Graville.

A brilliantly insightful evening filled with interesting PR tips and tricks.

A New Beginning

After completing my A-levels, I worked full-time in retail and it was then I knew I needed to do something productive, something I can turn into a career.

So, in September 2013 I started university, studying for a degree in Public Relations & Communications. I still have a long way to go, but I'm so glad I made the decision to study at the University of Greenwich. I have met some lovely people and the campus is beyond beautiful, with views of the River Thames and Canary Wharf; every other week a film is being shot there and it's so amazing to be at the heart of it all. 

I'm excited to start a new journey.

Cheers to this blog!