Launch Night Reflective Journal
For the event organisation part of the trimester, I was put into the PR team. I researched into what a PR team is and what they do. I came to the conclusion that as a group we have the responsibility of making sure that the public and industry see the Studio 204 brand in the best light possible. As a group we also need to send out emails and messages to the people want at the Launch Night so we need to make sure that we are quick with replies to any questions or queries so that the people we want to attend know what is happening.
First, we had to select roles form the list of KPIs that were laid out in the handbook. My KPIs were Event and Socials, Sponsorships, Promoting the Event and Class of external and the Event and 204.
The first KPI I focused on was sourcing a sponsorship. This is because I wanted to have enough time to source some. To begin with, I created a list of potential sponsors and began emailing them. After receiving feedback, I realised that I had not contacted enough potential sponsors. I started sourcing more contact details. I also realised that I was focusing on bigger brands. I originally thought that using bigger brands would work in our favour as they would be more willing to contribute things to the Launch Night as they are able to afford to. I focused on the L’Oreal group as one of the previous cohorts had got a sponsorship from them before. After receiving my feedback, I began finding emails for smaller, local companies as well as the bigger ones. I feel that I have a wide variety of potential sponsors and was able to email over 25 companies.
After about a week of no responses, I decided to try some small companies in other industries. Although a fashion or lifestyle brand would fit the event better, I was running out of time to find one. I emailed a small air conditioning company called Thermocool Solutions and they agreed to sponsor us £100 for the organisation of the Launch Night in return for a feature in our class Zine. They understand that we are a small course and that most small courses are underfunded, and wanted to help out to make sure Launch Night was everything that we want it to be. I faced a bit of backlash from other teams about the sponsor and how they ‘fit’ with our brand, but I feel that it was a generous thing for them to do and a sponsor is better than no sponsors. I spoke to the Zine team about how the money could be spent as I know that the cost of printing for the zine itself was high.
I think the Project Management team used it in the set up of the event and has been useful in this. I asked for a statement from the brand and their logo and sent this over to the Zine team and the Socials team as I thought it would be nice to feature them on the 204 social media platforms.
If I could do this again, I think I would email as many companies as possible from the first day of the project so that we had more chance of sourcing a more ‘fitting’ sponsor and perhaps being able to have more than just the one that I sourced. However, I am grateful that Thermocool Solutions sent us the money to help us carry out the Launch Night. As things currently are, I am still waiting for responses from the other companies, as highlighted in my sponsor tracking sheets which I created to keep on top of the sponsors and to know who I would need to reply to.
After the disappointment of the lack of sponsorship offers, I decided that I needed to reach out to more people. To promote the event, I needed to contact the press. Helena helped me to create a Press Release to send out to the news outlets in hope of an article being written or a representative attending. I first had to research what a press release is and how to write one. From my research I have understood that the press release needs to look neat and follow the branding of the brand. This was made so much easier after we had access to the branding. I created the press release and asked the Class Of team for some photos that will be in the zine to be able to send out alongside the press release as well as the invitation which was created by the PM team.
I looked at examples of other press releases from brands such as Chanel and used a few TikToks on how to create a Pres Release and followed the new branding intormation which was sent out to us by the Class Of team.
I messed around with the colour scheme and decided that the black background and white text wit h the pink headers made the press release look more polished and this fit the branding better than the white background with black text.
I also created a Target list for who I wanted to send the press release out to. The press release needed to be sent to local news outlets to be able to get the word of the event out and to also get the word out about the fast-track course which is now being taught. I decided to send the press release out to the Cheshire Live, Chester’s Dee Radio and The Cheshire Magazine. Cheshire Live and Chester’s Dee Radio have both featured the Launch Night so thought these would b good. I sent it to Cheshire Magazine as they are a more luxury magazine and I feel that they fit in well with our brand.
I aimed to send the press release out on the 11th however I didn’t have everything ready by then. I wanted to send it the following Monday as sending on the Friday would mean it could get lost amongst the emails sent over the weekend. However, the Monday was the day after England lost the Euros and I thought that the uproar this could cause would affect the news outlets. I sent the press release on Tuesday the 16th.
I had a response from Kat Hannon from Cheshire Magazine. She said she studied a fashion degree herself and taught on the course years ago. She said she wanted to attend.
At this current time, I am still waiting for responses from the other news outlets, which can be seen in the tracker a few pages before.
Throughout this component, speaking with the other teams as well as the team I am in has been crucial to make this work.
I have mainly communicated with the Class Of team. I have been asking them for visuals which they have made for the class Zine so that the visuals are all cohesive with what is being given out and what is being shown. I wish that there was better communication throughout all of the teams throughout the whole component to eliminate the overlap in responsibilities that the PR group and other groups felt.
I interperated my ‘Event and 204’ KPI as making sure everything was cohesive and had a flow to it. From this I gave the other members of my team access to what had been sent to send out so that it would all look similar.
I realised it was imperative that I took a larger role in this and created a new group presentation after the feedback we had recieved about the presentation not following the branding and looking so different to what was being shown and sent out.
I also made a point of messaging the girls in my team asking if their sides of the component were going well and if things were being sent out when they needed to be and offering help when they were struggling.
Content I have been sent by other groups
Collage created by Class Of team
Invite made by the Project Manage ment Team
‘Class Photo’ created by Class Of team
New Logo created by Class Of Team
Reflection
The Skills I have developed
Writing a press release
Creating a relevant target list
Following a schedule
Using the correct language
Communicating with other teams
Working within a team
Becoming more flexible when something has changed
What I would do differently
Asking for sponsorships from more small brands from the beginning. I would’ve liked to send out the Press Release a week or two earlier. Better communication with all of the other groups.
Overall, i feel that i have been successful in the KPIs i chose. Although there are things i wouldv’e done differently looking back i was able to source a sponsorship, I managed to get a representative from the Cheshire Magazine to attend and everything i sent out was cohesive and fit within the branding.
I also feel that I upheld the reputation of Studio 204 whilst contacting brands and industry which i feel is the main role of everyone working within the PR team.
I was quick to respond to queries sent over and made sure that the people I had contacted that had replied to me had the information they needed about Studio 204 as a brand and what we do.