A week in PR

Want to know what it’s like to intern at Velvet? Here’s what the lovely @fergusausten had to say about his week at Velvet.

My week’s work experience at Velvet PR came to an end on Friday. I was welcomed with many smiling faces and handshakes, all the staff were very relaxed and welcoming. With one client attending Davos, a number of days were taken up with Davos fever. Davos – the pronunciation of which has taken multiple forms in the Velvet office – is an annual meeting of the global political and business elite. Guests include the usual line-up of political, business and economic heavyweights, with Tony Blair, Al Gore, Angela Merkel and George Osborne all making an appearance. Perhaps the biggest shock was the attendance of music moguls Pharrell Williams and Will.i.am who are apparently now considered political and business influencers – hmm.

Davos certainly isn’t for the cash-strapped: a curry will set you back 100 Euros and a return flight can cost you up to £18,500, although many of the attendees are expected to fly in on private jets.

If you’ve never eaten a €100 curry before, here’s what one looks like:

100 Euro curry

One thing that played a huge role in my week at Velvet was research – of all sorts. From tracking down journalists covering Davos in countries such as India, Hong Kong and Australia to finding interesting OOH campaigns. On the latter, here are two of my personal favourites:

Pepsi Max’s ‘Unbelievable Bus Shelter’ because of the shock factor, and Misereor’s ‘The Social Swipe’ because of the innovative technology involved in the billboard.

My week also consisted of navigating through Gorkana – a media database – and I can now safely say there are a lot of publications I’d never heard
of that I’m now pretty familiar with. From magazines dedicated to car parks and cranes, to my personal favourite: Sign World – a magazine for sign makers.

Overall I have thoroughly enjoyed my week at Velvet and have gained an insight into the vibrant industry that is PR, with thanks to all the smiley friendly staff!