Placement Year Report: University of Huddersfield Elizabeth Fisher U1258143
Introduction. Before starting my placement year I had a clear idea of how I thought it would turn out. I went into the year planning on doing multiple short-term placements. Instead I only did two; one at Woodthorpe Comms and another at Markus Lupfer.
Woodthorpe Comms. Woodthorpe Comms is a lifestyle PR agency with clients such as; Quba & Co., Meat Porter & Slice Urban Fitness. The team was very small with only Adele; the owner and two other PR agents. Due to being part of such a small company, it made it easier to see how a PR team works and allowed me to truly become part of the team.
Client Base. With such varied clients, I gained a unique insight as to how different lifestyle sectors varied within PR, and which forms of advertising would be most effective. Whilst there I focused on “Quba & Co.�; a British Nautical Heritage clothing brand. I created an image-based send-out to demonstrate and inform magazines on their collaboration with Aigle Shoes and Liberty of London. I then conducted ring rounds to fashion and lifestyle magazines, to find any stories that could include the collaboration.
Social Media. My main responsibility however, was to run the social media accounts. They needed to incorporate business related content, but not overload followers. On Twitter, and Facebook, I created posts based on clients, but mostly focused on current events; both serious and frivolous. I looked on websites such as TimeOut.com and Cosmopolitan. com to provide a wide range of stories to make followers stop and read.
Social Media. The Instagram account had a different feel to it, and didn’t have much relating to clients, but instead demonstrated what working and living in London is like, intertwined with celebrity news.
Events. I worked an event Woodthorpe Comms had organised titled ‘Triple Exposure’, an exhibition held at the Forman’s Smokehouse Gallery. It showcased three highly acclaimed and celebrated photographers; John Thornton; a surrealist photographer, John Stoddart; a fashion photographer, and Alistair Morrison; a portrait photographer.
I was in charge of documenting the event on social media. I took images of the attendees and a collection of the photographs on show to entice further ticket sales to the exhibition.
From Woodthorpe Comms, I discovered Agency PR wasn’t where I wanted to continue. I looked for placements in other fields such as styling, copy writing, and e-commerce. Since e-commerce would be something brand new I focused my search into this area and found a vacancy at Markus Lupfer, a brand I was already aware of and admired.
Markus Lupfer. My time at Markus Lupfer was more beneficial than I could have imagined. I was given more roles & responsibilities than expected. Instead of just covering e-commerce I was also involved with sample management, shoots, Fashion Week and sales events.
Products. Even though I worked across multiple areas, my main focus was the website, and most importantly making sure the new season went online quickly. For the products to be most beneficial to staff and shoppers, they needed to have the correct internal code, and have accurate and engaging product descriptions. This was the area I felt improved most whilst at Markus Lupfer. As I continued to write they became more concise and informative whilst keeping a relatable personality.
Collections. The most viewed page on the website, is the Collections Page; where you can see the season look books. Once the look book had been shot and approved by Markus, it was my responsibility to make sure the images went online. I had to make sure the images were uploaded in the correct order; as they weren’t always shot that way. I made sure that the Collection Landing Page had Markus’ favourite image, as it gives the first impression of the season. The most difficult element was to make sure the front image had been turned into a hyperlink to take you to the rest of the look book.
Collections.
Studio
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I enjoyed working on the Studio page the most. This is where audiences are kept up-to-date with the press that Markus Lupfer has gotten. I enjoyed this as it showed the celebrity clientele Markus Lupfer has, wearing new season designs and how diverse their demographic is by the range of print media featuring his clothing. I created a new template so that all the images sat central and were constrained to a height and width proportions, creating a more polished and professional look.
Samples
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During my placement, the control and responsibility of the samples moved to the Production team; of which I was a part. This meant I quickly had to make sure I understood how the design team had handled the samples and establish relationships with The Communication Store, the UK PR team.
Since I was in charge of the samples I had to know where they were at any given moment. This was due to The Communication Store requesting samples to be sent to them for VIPs and shoots, and a high number of stores borrowed them before receiving their new season orders. This gave me an interesting insight into how orders varied dependant on the country. I had to make sure the samples were sent out quickly in order to be delivered on time.
I thoroughly enjoyed this role as I got the freedom to amend how they were kept. I altered this by having the sample list; with exactly what had been created, document where each sample was sent out and the date it was received back into the office. I also created a shared calendar so everyone could see when the samples were expected back to help plan future shipments.
Shoots
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Since I was highly involved with the website, I worked on the e-commerce shoots. This started weeks before the actual shoot as it covered a variety of tasks to sort in advance.
I had to get the order for the online store, and cross-reference that against the samples list, as not the entire order would have been sampled. As the shoots happened towards the end of the sales period, the majority of samples weren’t in the office. I sent requests to Tomorrow; the UK based sales team and Silk Relations, the German-based sales and PR team to get the samples back in order to shoot as much as possible.
Shoots
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I organised the clothing, firstly into the most effective looks; whilst resembling the look book and then into the most logical shooting order. When I first did this I was shocked at how complicated it was and how long it took, due to so many looks repeating singular pieces. For example the ‘Black and Red Confetti Matelasse Eloise Top’ needed to logically fit into both shooting sets; the Matelasse Skirt, and the Silver Skirt.
Shoots
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The most memorable element of the shoots was also the most fun. Assisting on the day. Both menswear and womenswear were shot on the same day, so I had the female model to look after. This entailed making sure the clothing was steamed, in the correct order, and helped changing looks; allowing the transitions to be as smooth as possible, and styled to how Markus wanted.
Presentations. I assisted with two Fashion Week Presentations; SS14, and AW15. My role was to collect images for social media. I relished this role as I arrived at the presentations before they began to document the models getting their hair and makeup done. It also gave me an opportunity to meet the sponsors which included CocoVita, Juicemanuk, and CiateLondon.
Presentations.
Presentations. Once I arrived at the shows I was given the hashtags for the day, with a summery of the images required. This gave me the freedom to go off on my own to take the images but keep them relevant, which included images of the models getting their hair, make up and nails done. This was quite difficult at times because I needed to take good images, whilst not getting in the way.
Presentations. I got a preview of the presentation space, to make sure we could tweet images of the space being set up; ensuring we would be the first to show the theme and mood. Across the seasons this ranged from a California beach, to a secret wonderland.
Presentations. I needed strong images of the models in their show positions. From the first presentation I learnt that the best time to take these was during the run-through. This was easier as I had the space mostly to myself, allowing me to photograph the models from multiple angles. Otherwise I had to fit myself around the attendees, who were also taking photographs. Most importantly it made sure that there was at least one image of each model.
Presentations. A number of celebrities and VIP guests were invited to the presentations. It was my responsibility to make sure they were photographed, both individually and with Markus. This meant me introducing myself to get the solo photographs, and keeping a conversation going whilst taking them to Markus for joint images. I had to use the space effectively to make sure I got the best image possible of the set and the VIP.
Sales. During my placement, there were 3 shopping events I helped with; Off The Rails, London Fashion Weekend, and a Sample Sale. All three of these were very different, which gave me the opportunity to understand a wider range of a customers and how they shop. OTR; a high-end menswear event, LFWnd; a womenswear event representing the fashion houses that show during London Fashion Week, and the first ever Markus Lupfer sample sale.
Sales. As with the shoots, the work for these events started before the event itself; with choosing which pieces would be most likely to sell. This was decided by myself, and the head of production; Emma, based on what was selling well on the website and what had sold well within the concessions including Harrods and Harvey Nichols. Whilst pulling the pieces, I made sure to keep an accurate stock list of what was taken so the stock management documents could be altered easily after the weekend. We created a mock-up in the office to get a basic layout of the stand, and get Markus’ input on how the brand would be represented. These events gave me experience in dealing with customers as a retail assistant. I needed to go into the events knowing a great deal about how the pieces were created. Many of the customers during OTR especially, asked about the materials used and the techniques behind the sequin artwork. I needed to be able to answer questions on the silhouettes and sizes of the garments, and advise customers on how to incorporate them into their wardrobes.
As I was in charge of the shopping events, they gave me experience in leading a team within a high-pressured environment. Each of the events was very busy, and required everyone to work well as a complete unit. I was responsible of keeping hold of the money and receipts to hand-over to the account afterwards.
Conclusion. This placement year has been highly beneficial. It helped me narrow down career routes for once I graduate. I know now that I don’t want a career in PR, whereas before it’s where I thought I’d aim to work. I learnt that I would be happiest working within a smaller company, as it would give me the greatest range in tasks and greater responsibility. I loved my time at Markus Lupfer and believe alot of that is due to how varied the role became and how much trust they put in me. It also allowed me to hone skills that I believe will help throughout final year. My time management skills have vastly improved, and will use this to aid my planning throughout the year. I spent a lot of time writing for the Markus Lupfer website, allowing my writing style to develop, which will be especially helpful with writing my case study.