Placement Report - Cube PR

An Intern’s Guide to Being an Intern Short Articles

By Hope Harding Blog: outintothebigworld.wordpress.com

Breaking the Fashion Industry 1. A Little Intro

3. The Industry Sector and Forecast

4. A little About Cube

5. Social Media In the Industry

7. Tash’s Perspective - An interview with my Boss

11. Stereotypes In The Industry

13. The Job Role and Forecast

14. Can They Live Without Me?

15. Getting the Job

17. Personal Forecast

19. Presentation Prep

y 21. List of Illustrations

22. Bibliography

Figure 1

At the time of writing this, I have been working at Cube PR for 11 weeks and am writing this ‘How to’ not only because my degree requires it but also because I wish I could have read something similar going into and searching for my own internship.

Now before we get ahead of our selves, lets remember, I am an intern. I am not suggesting in the slightest that anything I say in this booklet is the right way to do things, it’s simply my way!

I will take you though many different sections within the fashion PR industry from my own personal experiences, to where I think the industry is going.

So sit tight and enjoy the fashion memes!

Figure 2

1

A Little Intro

Industry Sector and Forecast 3

A Little About Cube Cube Company was established in 1998 by director Mark Slaney. Cube develops specialised public relations and creative strategies for their clients. Though a small team of people, cube has a hand picked selection of creative and enthusiastic individuals with the priority to deliver a quality, personal, in-house service to all it’s clients. Creative services include special projects, fashion shows, photo shoots, advertising and promotions that inspire the media to embrace the new ideas and products of clients. Cube attracts brands with distinctive identities who wish to evolve organically.

From my personal experience I can see that Cube is an incredibly creative company, with being different and innovative top at their list.

PR is such a fast and fluid industry that is constantly changing, so in terms of where is cube heading in the future? Well its difficult to tell because of the fast pace nature of the industry. In simple terms Cube is a company who strive to give the new and the best to their clients, with our world changing and adapting, what’s ‘Cool’ is changing all the time and so companies like cube change with it.

Social Media in the Industry

Figure 3

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Social media is a very powerful tool in our modern day society, in it’s purest form it is a beautiful way of communicating. In it’s ugliest form it is a way to tear people down and destroying them.

Somewhere in between those harsh extremes is advertising, whether its companies posting a sweet pic on instagram or sending freebies out to the celeb blogger of the moment with the hopes that they might tweet about it.

Advertising is social media’s bitch.

They Forced Me Into Having An Instagram

My advice to you?

Keep up.

Whether its writing your own blog or just subscribing to others, following fashion icons on instagram on instagram or starting your own fashion youtube channel, find a way to have your fashion say but make sure you love it! Don’t start blogging because you think it’s the only way to get noticed, because if you don’t love it you wont have the motivation to carry on!

There is nothing worse than having a blog that is all over the place and you only post once a month!

Personally I enjoy blogging, but not to talk about my latest fashion purchase or your typical fashion things!

In all honesty I don’t get out enough to blog about what is going on in the fashion world, and there is no good writing about what you’ve read.

Blogging is all about experience.

Tash’s Perspective

An interview with my Boss

Natasha Dattani is the woman who hired me, she is only a year older than me and has be working at cube PR for 10 months, 5 of which she was interning. Her journey at cube has been incredibly fast paced as I learnt when she sat down with me for a little chat.

You did an English degree right?

Yeah I did an English degree so I didn’t really know how to get into the fashion industry, and the only way I could think of doing something is by writing, so I wrote for men’s fashion magazine online, I had to submit two articles a week and I had to find stories and one day I got a press release from cube PR and I always tried to find something to do over the summer like internship and so I was just looking for work experience at that time and I just called cube PR, which was at the bottom of their press release and they said send over your CV, I went in for an interview, it was just really luck. We (cube) don’t publicize about internships, I don’t know how you found out but anyway... So yeah that’s how I got in to it. It is extremely difficult, if I could I don’t think I would go into PR but it was the only way I knew how to (get into the fashion industry).

My parents come from a accountant/ mathematical/finance background I don’t have any connections otherwise and I do genuinely believe, you know someone in the industry it is easier that way and you should take that opportunity to use that.

So I’m in PR, did I want to be in there?

Do I enjoy it right now? Yes. Is there a time limit as to when I want to stop doing it? Probably.

What do you think you would do after?

I really would like to work for a publication.

Fashion?

Oh yeah fashion, I’ve always wanted to do fashion. I have learnt in the industry that the people aren’t exactly the nicest, which I always kind of expected that but its allowed me to, you know, have a bit of a thick skin. Where ever you work it is going to be competitive but you just need to learn how to deal with it and its a skill to be able to deal with it and if there’s one thing I’ve learnt is if anyone is being rude to you, kill them with kindness, just be overtly kind and what can they say you know? I’m quite... I think some people would say I’m quite not sassy, but I know what I want but some times you just need to take a step back. Advice, I think the best way into it is to do lots of writing, I don’t know why but you get acknowledged if you do a lot of writing regardless of whether its print or online, even by like having a blog, whatever it just shows you’re interactive with the industry. I actually did youtube videos for a while. Do you remember when youtubers had a thing? I mean youtubers started off doing videos and now they’re publishing books! 100millions followers its actually ridiculous.

What did you make videos about?

Fashion. I did like what to wear, I did an internship at a bank and I was like ‘here are my things of what to wear! Formal and conservative’ and then you have like the shopping hauls where you show all your new stuff but I couldn’t afford to have that channel because I had to keep updating everything and editing videos takes a long time and I didn’t have the patience for it and its really important to be consistent so if you’re doing a blog don’t do it for two months and then just give up, its what I did with the videos, I have started a blog and given up but I don’t know there’s no other way I know other than if you know someone in the industry. Put yourself out there by writing online or what ever you can!

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Would you say is your job title and what do you do day to day Well on fashion monitor, (which is a database the fashion industry uses to find people who work at certain companies, it gives you email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, names if its a magazine company it will give you the circulation and lots of details like that along with social media etc.) I’m press assistant, so I’m basically pa of the office, but I do that kind of stuff but I’m working on accounts so harry Stedman is my account, Matt’s managing me. Gymphlex is my account, Olivia is managing me I think Percival I’m sharing with Shawn, Boneville, I’m working with matt, that’s essentially his account and I’m helping him. Think positive is my account Dan’s just been overseeing it I’ve been doing everything really, so I think like a junior account exec. So my daily activities would be pitching, pitching, pitching. To long lead and short lead. Long lead is monthly magazines, things that take a lot of time to produce, you get bimonthly magazine, quarterly magazines monthly’s like instlyle, harpers bazaar, esquire, GQ so those are long leads. Short leads are your hello, Grazia, and blogs and online.

So I pitch every day to all my clients. I also do events apparently now, organizing events it is, I’m trying to establish relationships with press members because that is what it is and the end of the day.

Do you find it difficult? Do you think they have to know your name or just what company you come from?

Company doesn’t matter, your name does.

That’s why Dan and matt have been like you need to go out for breakfast more, my taking them out for breakfast you take your time to get to know them and essentially you shouldn’t be talking about work, you can just casually ask like what are you working on at the moment but you’re kind of meant to talk about things.

So when I was interning I kind of watched how the team interact with people especially on press day, I learnt a lot.

I tend to be doing proposals all the time now, so when ever new client comes aboard, or who wants to I will put together a proposal to be our client, its difficult because for print magazines you’re more likely to get coverage if you’re paying for an ad in there, none of our clients do any of that. Our clients here are very small, they don’t have that money to be paying for adds otherwise would be doing adverts as oppose to paying for PR. So it is extremely difficult but what you do get a piece of coverage in print it is very rewarding.

So studying English at uni, do you think that helped? I know you mentioned to me a while ago you never wanted to do a fashion degree but you always wanted to be in fashion?

So because of my English degree, Olivia will say I’m too formal, she thinks the way I write is like, not in a bad way but its true in PR you’re meant to be like ‘Oh Hey Babe!’ I’m not that kind of person as well, but I’m really formal and when ever I send you emails I’m always telling you off because of spelling or for the whole thing so for me being meticulous and punctual is really important and you communicate though email and the way you are perceived is through your email 70% of your time so if you look like a wolly by spelling something wrong.

That its very important but I think it is, especially if you’re starting out, like they don’t know you. So it helps with press releases but to be honest its not important, if you can write well and you have a wide range of vocab, speak well. You don’t need to have an English lit degree. But then you’ve got Olivia, she’s got a fashion, I think she’s got a fashion PR related degree, so she probably has more of an insight, I learnt on the job but she kind of learnt it at the degree so that’s the difference, and I quite like learning on the job because you’re more interactive as oppose to witting a bloody essay about how to write a press release, not that they probably do that but sounds like it.

Do you think its difficult to move up with out moving on?

I don’t really understand, so I was interning with another girl here, she asked for a job she didn’t get it, I asked for a job and I got it, I don’t really know why, I don’t know what they saw in me. I don’t know what made me different to her. It is really to do with luck and work ethic, in a small company like this it is easy to progress, PR is a very fluid industry, people always move, I don’t know why but they just do. So interns of working at cube, because you’ve been in the company longer they just trust you and its more of an internal thing, id rather promote that person because she’s there and knows how it works.

Do you think there are aspects of your job verses say Matt’s (account exec) that are level or you don’t know how to do?

Almost level, matt is more interactive in regards to sales and stuff, you know what, when you’re working in menswear, I’ve seen a difference. If matt says something about an item, where as if I say something you cant sell it as well as a guy and that is gender because they understand it more, they wear it. I don’t wear men’s clothes, well I try to but... Is really knowledgeable so everyone things he’s a creditable person in regards to like clothing and he understands the industry in regards to sales he recently hooked Chapman bags with a sales agent, I don’t know how to do that, I haven’t met one before, he’s quite interactive in the industry, he doesn’t just do PR you know, he knows people. Its all about knowing people. I would be nervous to go into a meeting with a new client and be like do this and do that. It just comes with time really and initiative.

How long have you been working upstairs?

(A real member of the team as oppose to an intern) November.

When I was applying for PR internships everyone seemed to be like ‘oh my word, don’t do fashion PR!’ Because everybody’s horrible or whatever, but I to this day still come home surprised that here no one is horrible, so do you think it is more of a stereotype that people enjoy and people just like to say fashion is bitchy?

How did you find it moving from an intern to a job within the same company?

Well Alix was down here on her own (as an intern) so I was down here an hour or two a day and just do log ins, but obviously she needed help, one person managing down stairs was incredibly difficult, but I found it so frustrating because I had done my internship and I didn’t want to carry on. I just couldn’t get in to my real job. Was a very long winded transition, it shouldn’t have been that way, it was because we couldn’t find any one to replace me Would you like to go to another PR company?

I love the brands I’m working on at the moment, one thing with cube that no other company will allow you do to is be creative, and that is one side of my brain that I have never be able to explore, I did an English lit degree, you cant be creative, I wasn’t an artsy person, so this is why I like working here, I’m forced to be creative. I realise how uncreative I am - it is bad! I’m more analytical, I’m not creative but I like that I have to be pushed in that direction.

Interview held by Hope Harding With Natasha on April 29th 2015.

I think every industry is a little bitchy, there’s always going to be competitiveness, I think because we work in menswear, it is a lot more easy going, if you’re in women’s wear I don’t even know I haven’t had any experience there but I reckon its triple! I think the industry is completely different, women’s wear is all about aesthetic and trend, menswear, like the people I meet actually understand like where’s its come from, how its made. If I tell some one oh its a Japanese loop back they’ll be like oh cool, if you tell a girl I think they’re like oh that pretty!

Yeah that’s true I think with our clients upstairs, a lot of them are very technical, they’re cool but everything is there because it has to be there and not just because its cute.

Mmm, that’s probably one thing, I think in terms of stereotypes, in the industry PR, not just fashion PR you do get a lot of stereotypes, like clubs, the PR girls, aren’t they notoriously known for being slutty? So fashion PR, bitchy

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Stereotypes In The Industry Starting your first job in the fashion industry can be daunting, even more so when the only things you’ve heard of it, is the bitchy stereotype.

When I began to apply for PR internships, anyone I told tried their hardest to warn me away from joining a PR company.

“DON’T! PR is so horrible, my friend did an internship in PR and hated it!” That seemed to be the most common sentence I heard. No one seemed to have any personal experience, it was all friends who experienced these bitchy horrible people.

Well I didn’t really have any other options so I continued down my fashion PR path - and I’m so glad I did!

As mentioned by Tash in our interview (page 12) “I think every industry is a little bitchy, there’s always going to be competitiveness” I don’t disagree at all, you are always going to find the types of people that enjoy bringing you down, making you look stupid or just being overall grumpy, but that is not everyone!

Fashion, I believe, has been unfairly named the ‘bitch’.

During these last 11 weeks I haven’t once come across a rude person, not even in the slightest, in fact the first thing Cube taught me was to kill people with kindness, because you don’t know what situation you will be in with that person in the future. If you are rude to someone they will remember it, regardless if they were rude to you first or not, and that some one could be in between you and your dream job in the future so best not to get on their bad side!

There are articles all over the internet about fashion not being taken seriously, whether its because you’re studying it at university or the nature of your job, it seems people find it easy to give it less than it deserves, but I can assure you, if you want a job in fashion you will have to work the hardest you could imagine for the least amount of money - It’s not for the faint hearted!

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The Job Role and Forecast

Can They Live Without Me? Yes. The truth is you’re not as valuable as you think you are at the company. An Intern is incredibly useful at any company, whether you’re only trusted enough to make the morning coffee and shred some papers or if you’re trusted enough to do ‘real life’ jobs and errands, but the truth is you are very easily replaced.

All though my internship I have been told I, along with another girl I work with, are the best interns they have ever had. Whilst this incredibly comforting to hear, I have come to realise it doesn’t mean all I thought it would.

The girl I work with has recently left, due to not being able to afford life with only a weekly £50 pay check. The team was really sad to see her go and knowing full well it was a money issue toyed with the idea of giving her a job ‘if they could’ Well they could if we were really that important to them and the running of the team, but like I say, Interns are easily replaced and that’s just the harsh reality of the fashion industry, there is always someone willing to do your job for free.

However...

This is not to say you will never get a job from interning, because obviously everyone starts from somewhere. My advice to you would be to stick at it for as long as you can, build trust and relationships and if you’re still there when they have a full time position available most companies will promote within instead of hiring elsewhere.

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This whole booklet is filled with tips and info on securing a fashion internship and info to keep you going through your time as an intern, but to get you started here are a few tips on what is often the most lengthy and annoying process - Getting the job!

Applying: - Spend time researching all of the companies you would LOVE to work for and then the ones you’re less interested in.

- When you have prioritised the companies, apply in batches starting with the companies you most love. People normally take a day or two to reply if they are interested so by applying in batches you’ll have back ups, and wont get as stressed out if no one replies!

- People love to hire interns off of recommendations, so if you know someone who knows someone, take advantage of that!

- Make yourself different, companies will get so many generic emails sent through with cv’s attached so make your self stand out by doing something different. To get myself noticed I sent out copies of a magazine I had made. It’s also a great talking point at interviews.

The Interview: - Be sure to research the company lots beforehand, its not always you don’t want to look stupid. It’s also a great way of impressing attracted you to them.

- If you’re forgetful then make notes and rehearse answers beforeha

- Make sure you know who your favourite fashion designers, stylists you don’t read mags or anything that shows you’re not interested, a

- Don’t be afraid to quiz your interviewer, an interview is as much you! Think about what you want to know before the interview and com

- Be yourself! I know that sounds cliché but there’s no point prete one of the job!

3

Getting The Job brought up in an interview but if you are asked about the company them if you can talk about a quirky fact about their business that

and but don’t read from your notes in the interview.

s, bloggers, magazines and newspapers are. Don’t lie but don’t say after all, fashion is a job but should be a hobby too.

about you getting to know the job as it is the job getting to know me prepared with thought out questions.

ending to be something you’re not, because they’ll find out on day

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Personal Forecast 17

Q: What have I learned?

A: A heck of a lot!

I am just over half way though my overall time at Cube PR and I have absolutely LOVED it! The first month I spent every evening coming home from worked shocked that I still liked it and the second month spent wishing I didn’t have to leave to go back to university!

This placement has taught me more than I would have ever dreamt I could learn in a couple of months, not only have I learnt particular skills like merchandising and file maker but also life skills like networking and just becoming more confident in myself. I came into this placement knowing nothing about PR, I chose to go into PR because I thought to myself ‘Its only 6 weeks, if I hate it at least I’ll know what I don’t want to do!’ I never thought that I would find something that I can see myself doing in the future.

Being PR, I think it is incredibly difficult to be taught it in any other situation than on the job, Having spent two years at university and just two months on placement I couldn’t be happier that my degree as given me these opportunities the last couple of years to work at some great companies, but in terms of knowledge, do a placement!

Monday morning I have a meeting scheduled to talk to my boss about how things are going, and what projects I am about to start working on to make my time here at Cube more worthwhile for both me and the team, I am so excited that I have found something I love and with out sounding too forward - something that I am good at!!

Presentation Prep Who:

Peers and Tutors

What:

Presentation of my time at Cube PR

Where: When:

Arts University Bournemouth

October 2015

How...

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Like many people my age would say, I am not very good a presenting! I get sweaty palms, butterflies in my tummy, I speak too fast and it all comes out as gobbly goop. So I have tried to think of the best way I know how to avoid presenting with out pulling a sicky.

If you have followed my previous work you will know I enjoy creating videos. So that’s what I’ll do!

Over the last two months I have been filming short clips of daily activities, of course my job is to do my job and not to film so not all of the tasks I do I have been able to film, but this short film will be a fun little insight into my time at Cube PR.

Figure 4

I plan to show the film during the presentation and speak alongside it with more details about what is happening.

Before I show the film I will talk briefly about my daily activities touching on the things that wont be shown in the film.

15 Min Time Plan 5 mins Introduction.

4 Mins film and talking 3 Mins summary 3 Mins Questions.

List of Illustrations Figure 1 - Hilda 101, (2014), @DonaldDrawbertson Grace Anna Hamish [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/112378953175823948/ [Accessed 04 May 15].

Figure 2 - Arno Mayorga, (2014), You Can’t Sit With Us [ONLINE]. Available at: https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3945/15704571741_3bbaef17ee.jpg [Accessed 09 May 15].

Figure 3 - Humans Of New York - Brandon Stanton, (2015), They Forced Me Into Having An Instagram [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.vogue. com/13258982/humans-of-new-york-met-gala-2015/ [Accessed 06 May 15].

Figure 4 - Hope Harding, (2015), Stills from Film Footage

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Blog: outintothebigworld.wordpress.com

Bibliography Vogue. STANTON, B, 2015. Humans of New York Photographs the 2015 Met Gala. Humans of New York Photographs the 2015 Met Gala, [Online]. -, 11.

Available at: http://www.vogue.com/866272/humans-of-new-york-met-galabrandon-stanton/ Cube. 2015. Cube Company. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.cubecompany. com.

Hope Harding. 2015. Out into the big world. [ONLINE] Available at: https://outintothebigworld.wordpress.com.

My job isn’t like that!: Fashion - Inside Job . 2015. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.totaljobs.com/insidejob/my-job-isnt-like-that-fashion/.

I’m Sick of people telling me fashion design isn’t a real degree! 2015.

[ONLINE] Available at: http://northumbria.tab.co.uk/2015/02/25/im-sickof-people-telling-me-fashion-design-isnt-a-real-degree/.

2015. Fashion can be a Real Bitch | Messy Nessy Chic. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.messynessychic.com/2011/02/28/fashion-can-be-a-realbitch/.

Why is it suddenly on-trend for fashionistas to be so bitchy? | Daily Mail Online. 2015. Why is it suddenly on-trend for fashionistas to be so bitchy? | Daily Mail Online. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1314357/Why-suddenly-trend-fashionistas-bitchy.html. [Accessed 17 May 2015].

Blog: outintothebigworld.wordpress.com

Blog: outintothebigworld.wordpress.com