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Agency Life in Public Relations

During my last semester at Arcadia, I have been interning at Vault Communications, a
Public Relations Agency in Plymouth Meeting. After experiencing various internships, I have
noticed the differences in agency work versus work for one brand. In an agency, you work with
many different clients, all with different goals and tasks. The diversity of this work can be quite
refreshing and allow one to explore different areas of public relations. It can also provide
opportunities to learn more about the individual needs for specific clients.

Since starting in September, I have worked on accounts such as Takis, Subaru, Party
City, Hologic, Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia, and many more. All of these accounts have
different work and goals set for them. For example, Takis partnered with Teracycle, (a recycling
company), and told their fans to recycle their products for a chance to win merchandise. At
Vault, we worked to put together the boxes with different Takis products inside and send them
out to the winners. This helps Takis and Teracycle benefit from each other and create more
marketing opportunities. Another example of work I have done is writing up event descriptions
for Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia. I have been given different events to write out
descriptions for. Once approved, I go down a list of outlets on an excel sheet and submit the
events to these websites. This promotes events hosted by or at Live! and makes them more
popular and seen by others in the area.

Vault Communications has taught me a lot, especially when it comes to media
monitoring and media lists. I have worked on many lists using services such as Critical Mention
and Cision. These platforms allow us to find media outlets, articles, influencers, and more. For
Party City, I have been working on monitoring the media for any mentions they may have. On
Critical Mention, there are specific key words programmed to show any and all mentions of
those words with Party City. Since we are getting close to Halloween, we look for things such as
“Party City, Halloween” and “Party City, Balloon” etc. Any important media clips or articles are
defined every day, put into an excel sheet, and sent out to the Party City account team every
morning.

Looking at Cision, lately I have been compiling a list of media contacts for Harsco
Environmental. These lists consist of outlets that talk about construction, steel, metal,
agriculture, building supplies, environmentally friendly supplies and more. This list is essential
for finding key outlets that Harsco can promote their business to for more publicity. After
defining all the outlets, I will be pulling editorial calendars to show opportunities for Harsco to
pitch their ideas. This makes it easier to understand what outlets fits and which do not for future
use. These lists are constantly growing and changing, and many other accounts have this need as
well.

Overall, I have learned a lot in my short time at Vault. It has officially been one month
since I started, and I have worked on so many different things. Agency life can be fast paced and
change every single day. You never can truly know what the workday will look like, but that’s
what makes it so much fun. I can’t wait to see what other tasks I will complete at Vault and decide of agency work is right for me.

How I Got Into PR as an Acting Major

When I first started my time at Arcadia University, I never thought I’d be involved with the Public Relations programs, let alone be running a Marketing and Public Relations student team for the Theatre department. Back in 2019, when I initiated my academic path as a Knight, I was an Acting major pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts. And although performing is my passion, I was a freshman eager to learn about as many subjects as possible. So I did as much as I could. I signed up for as many clubs as I could fit into my schedule, made plans for studying abroad, and took a lot of classes outside my major. I was so enthusiastic about being in college that I didn’t care about whether or not I would be exhausted. So, applying my recently gained Improv knowledge, I’d say “yes, and…” to as many opportunities I could. From Scene Study and Latin American Art History to coding my own website and learning about event management. My mom used to tell me that as a child, I was a little bit too curious. I would always ask her too many questions about everything as I was excited about understanding the world around me. I guess my college experience proved that story to be true. I was exploring as many areas as Arcadia could offer.

It was during one of these ventures that I found a new area of interest: Public Relations. After a period of taking PR classes, I figured it was something I wanted to do professionally. But the only issue was figuring out how to implement that in my academic plan. It wasn’t easy to be a double major as I was already pursuing a B.F.A. in Acting. After considering many options, I was able to create an individualized major in Public Relation and Acting. During this process of arranging my academic path, I found the internship I work at today.

Professor Kathryn Petersen was my Theatre designated academic advisor, so she has been watching me grow as a student ever since my first day at Arcadia. As Professor Petersen observed me balance my interest in PR and Theatre, she also noticed the needs the Theatre program had regarding Public Relations and Marketing. As I signed up for classes for my senior year, one of the requirements was an internship. It was then that the opportunity presented itself. Professor Petersen asked me to do something the Theatre department had never done before: A team of students focused on promoting our program through Marketing and PR.

Hence, here I am, running a Marketing and Public Relations team of students for the Theatre department. And as much as the fact that we’re pioneering this team can be scary, it’s just as thrilling. Again, because we’re pioneering this group, there are a lot of introductory steps we need to take. Even though the internship only truly started in the Fall semester, during the summer prior to it, I was able to have multiple meetings with my supervisor, Kathryn Petersen. Our goal for these meetings was to understand what our team needed to do, what our resources were, and how we could achieve our goals.

During these sessions, we were able to set some primary details. Professor Petersen already had an idea of what the Theatre needs were, so we started with that. A lot of Arcadia students aren’t aware of our program, nor of what it has to offer. Taking a moment to promote it a little bit here, the work that the department does is truthfully incredible: Every semester we present two plays for which any Arcadia student can audition for, therefore participate in. And for those productions, the department hires professional theatre artists to be involved with. That way, the students can get a full sense of what is like to be in a show for a Theatre company.

In order to get a rough idea of what we’re dealing with, during one of the first weeks of classes, my team and I created a survey to be sent out to Arcadia’s students. In this, we included questions to comprehend the basic information about the students responding (such as year and major), and questions related to the Theatre program (if they’re familiar with the department, if they know things such as non-theatre majors can audition, tickets are pay what you can and so on). As a conclusion of this survey, we confirmed that Arcadia’s community wasn’t largely aware of our Theatre and its opportunities.

Thus, our goal for the semester was to raise awareness of our Theatre program on campus. Once that was set, we were able to collectively form an action plan. One of the exciting aspects of this group is that we have students from both departments of Media and Communication and Theatre. Our unit is formed by a Marketing and PR Team Supervisor -me-, Advanced Social Media Supervisor, Social Media Assistant, Video Content Creator, Video Content Assistant, and Marketing Assistants. In total, we have nine members collectively working and brainstorming ideas on how to achieve our goal.

For me, one of the highlights of this internship was our first meeting. It took place during the Labor Day weekend, and I remember how nervous I was to run a whole meeting by myself for the first time. Because of that, I spent the weekend prior to the meeting studying all my notes from my previous PR classes. And although stressing over this was a lot, once it was time to host the meeting, I felt prepared and confident about it. Along with my team, we were able to create an action plan for the semester, focusing mainly on Social Media and advertisements around campus. We planned to create different content for each Social Media platform, as each has a distinct reached audience. For example, we found out that our Instagram followers are mainly formed by students, therefore the content there is focused on that audience. On the other hand, Facebook reaches an older audience, so the content produced for these two platforms needs to be approached differently.

Today, after having hosted a couple of group meetings and having more experience in running the Marketing and Public Relations team, I feel extremely proud of the work I’ve done so far. We’ve been following the steps of our action plan and soon is the Opening Night of our first production, Into the Woods directed by Kevin Glaccum. And even as I look back at my freshman year schedule and wonder how did I ever take that many classes, I wouldn’t do anything differently. Exploring different areas of interest allowed me to find how to conciliate the two things I want to do professionally: Public Relations and Acting.

The PR Side of NFL Football

It’s officially football season and that means Sunday’s are typically filled with food and watching football. Football is a great way for family and friends to come together and share their love for this sport. The passion from the fans and the dedication of showing up each weekend to watch their team play is the main reason for why this sport is so widely enjoyed. Public relations contributes tremendously behind the scenes of NFL football and so most people don’t realize the impact of public relations during preseason, throughout the regular season, and postseason.

The image of each football player is all managed by a public relations professional. Having a good social media presence and relationship between the athletes and the public is extremely important because it provides understanding and strong communication. Public relations professionals work hard with athletes and their teams to maintain a good reputation online. They may encourage their clients to attend high-profile goodwill events or volunteer and work with well known companies to promote their image and show that they can give back to communities in need.

Keeping the public and fans engaged in the content of their favorite team or athlete is also another important task for a public relations professional. Without fans, football wouldn’t be possible so making sure the fans are happy is a big priority. Social media is a beneficial tool where PR can publish game highlights or specific key plays from the game and interact with the fans in the comment section of posts by liking and commenting back. Upcoming game predictions, wins, and short player interview videos are all great ways for PR to get the team’s fan base invested and excited about game days. The team’s website is where a majority of the news tends to be located. PR professionals are most likely the first to pitch and publish news articles to these websites daily to keep the public well informed on injuries, trades, etc.

Besides social media, external events are also important in creating this excitement for football. There are two main opportunities for fans to go and see their team play during preseason. The football training camps and preseason games are both great opportunities and smart tactics by PR to build up the anticipation for the start of the season. Media day is another event that typically includes a large press conference managed by the PR staff. PR professionals have the ability to create that merge between reports and players/coaches for a day and allow players an opportunity for their voices to be heard. When you take a step back and think about everything that goes into football, it’s a lot. I think sometimes we don’t acknowledge all the work that PR does to make football so successful for the teams involved and the public watching. Next time you watch a sports game, acknowledge all the minor details that probably went into pulling off that event and I bet you will be surprised at how many details are usually overlooked.

Fall is Here!

When we think of fall, we all often think of the leaves changing colors, pumpkin spice and the weather getting cooler. It seems that as soon as September hits all the Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holiday items hit the shelves. The fall season gives people in public relations a great opportunity to focus in on all the things that people love about fall. Fall is just the beginning of the holidays to come!

Pumpkin spice has turned into a phenomenon that everyone seems to be a fan of. Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks release their pumpkin spice and fall flavored drinks as early as August 17^th. These yummy fall flavors are fan favorites and make for a great add into PR. This can be added into your regularly scheduled content, incorporated into social media captions, etc.

Food is a huge part of the fall/ holiday season and is the favorite part of the season for many people. Tailgating, cookouts, Thanksgiving, etc. are all huge selling points of fall. Food is something that PR professionals can easily work into their clients’ events, services or content. This could be as simple as posting an employees’ favorite tailgate recipe or adding in host/entertaining tips. Social media is largely filled with food pics that people eat up, literally!

When fall begins, so do many of our favorite sports. Sports are a huge market and loved by many. Linking sports to the brand or content can be very appealing through a sports fans’ eyes. Football and hockey both begin in the end of summer/beginning of fall. These are two sports with huge followings that would make for a good attention grabber.

Overall, I think there is something for everyone that takes place in Fall, whether that is the food, the drinks or the sports. Fall has so many fun activities and holidays that work into the public relations world very well.

What to Consider Before Graduating with a Public Relations Degree

Public Relations is a super exciting field in high demand of recent graduates. This career is
seen as attractive and exciting (which it is) but often there’s challenges.
Here’s what to consider before starting a career in PR:

Studying communications is an advantage, not a golden ticket!
There is a common misconception that just because you study communications, you are
immediately ready for the work field of public relations. This couldn’t be any more wrong! You
need the ability to cleanly write and communicate, stay on top of news, think on your feet, and
adapt to changes in situations and environments. The best way to get real hands-on experience
prior to graduation is internships! Internships are a great way to dip your toes in the water, as
long as you are applying to the right ones! Remember, this is your time to gain experience
before graduation, not go on coffee runs for account executives. Be picky about where you
apply. They need to value and treat you like a PR professional, not a secretary!

Being tech savvy
Since the pandemic, many firms are adapting a hybrid approach. PR professionals can be
expected to be tech savvy, to an extent. The ability to navigate new softwares and adapt quickly
is required in this new work environment!

The ability to influence people
The power of persuasion is your best friend! You may have wonderful ideas, but if you can’t
persuade a client to love it just as much as you do, this isn’t the business for you. Pitching is a
regular task in public relation firms. Whether it is to your boss, your client, or colleague,
bouncing ideas around to find a perfect pitch is a part of this job. A little confidence can go a
long way!

Consuming media like it’s your job!
Sites such as PRDaily turn into “that” friend that sends 15 text messages instead of taking the
time to write their thoughts into one. Notification after notification will come across your phone
everyday and you will take the time to see what’s going on! Consuming media gives PR
professionals a better chance of staying ahead of new trends, crises, and information that could
potentially affect your clientele. This extra effort to stay ahead of the curve will make the
difference between you holding a bachelor in communications and being a true PR professional.

Ethics play a part
The six fundamental values of ethics in public relations are advocacy, honesty, expertise,
independence, loyalty, and fairness. Remember, you are representing companies and
individuals who do not have the same morals as you. There may be times where you don’t
agree with a client’s decision. That is completely normal! This is why you should be picky about who you work for. At the end of the day, you want to work for a company that hears your voice and allows you to pass on a project that makes you uncomfortable.

1853 Communications is a PRSSA Nationally Affiliated Firm

We are extremely excited to announce that we have been certified by PRSSA as a nationally affiliated firm! This means that our firm “represents the most accomplished and successful Student-run Firms operated by PRSSA Chapters“. Thank you to all of our team members throughout the last three years. Your hard work has made this possible. Special thanks to our current Firm Directors, Julia Neff and Beth Mackey and our Firm Vice President, Meaghan Airey for working on our application. We are honored to receive this recognition and we look forward to working with PRSSA. You can read our acceptance letter below.

Day in The Life of a Flyers Intern

I have had the pleasure of being a public relations intern with the Philadelphia Flyers for the 2021-2022 season. After many, many games we have it down to a system and all know what we need to be doing. On a game day we arrive a few hours before the start of the game. For a 7 pm puck drop, we arrive to Wells Fargo Center at 2 pm. Once I arrive, I make my way up to the press box. We start by doing a sweep of the press box; check to see if all the chairs are in the right spots, make sure all the broadcasting booths are unlocked, check for any papers from the last game and throw them away, etc. After that sweep, we start the process of printing all of our packets. We print games notes, clips, recent stats for both teams and lineups. Once these are all printed, they get delivered to our executive’s suite, both the home and away locker rooms, broadcasting booths and visiting team management. Throughout pregame we check in on press meal and credentials. We always have one of us interns at both of these spots leading up to the game. Press meal is available for any media, team staff, NHL scouts, etc. Credentials is located at the employee entrance and is a busy spot. All media, press, NHL scouts and sponsors all have to stop buy and check-in to get their single game credential. Throughout this time, we will help out with random things for the public relations department too! Once warmups start we make our way back up to the press box and make sure all the media/press are in the right seat, check if anyone needs anything, etc. We watch the game from the press box and get to watch the majority of it. When the clock hits 1 minute in the first and second period we grab the official stats sheet from the NHL crew and then make copies to deliver to all those same spots from earlier. When the clock hits 10 minutes in the third period, we make our way downstairs to help prep for the post-game interviews. We sit through all of the interviews and record them on our phones. After all the interviews are complete, we start the process of transcribing all of them. These transcriptions get used for our official website and are sent to media. Once that is complete, it is usually around 10:30-11 pm by the time we make our way out. It is so wild to think that we are down to just one more game this season! I am so thankful for the opportunity I have had this season with the Philadelphia Flyers and am hoping to be back next season.

Why You Should Join 1853Communications

Launched in 2020, 1853 Communications was created by 10 students at Arcadia
University. We are a student-run public relations agency at Arcadia University, currently applying
to be nationally certified. We were built on the inspiration of taking a community-driven, modern
approach to help brands reach their full potential. Our goal is to make connections between
clients and audiences, and to grow our experiences alongside the community. Our agency is
open to students of all majors! Here is why you should take advantage of this opportunity and
join our agency.

Hands On Experience with Clients
Unlike other classroom settings where you are learning how to work with future clients, we
actually have a clientele! Clients come to us in need of our services. You will be able to learn
skills that you can further apply in internships and professional work. You will be able to grow
alongside classmates who facilitate fresh perspectives, within a real firm setting. This is the
closest you will get to being a professional while still being a student!

Strengthen your Resume and Portfolio
One of the hardest tasks when leaving college is creating a resume and portfolio that is
interview ready. Though you have completed hundreds upon hundreds of classwork
assignments, it is not always what employers may be expecting. Our agency takes on multiple
projects each semester, teaming up with well-known non-profit organizations and companies in
the area. Each and every student works on the tasks at hand for these organizations, giving you
an opportunity to happily show off your work. For example, here is what my resume looks like
since I joined the agency in 2020.

Building Your Network
As many of us are learning, networking is a huge part of your college experience! Not only will
you be able to make connections with other members of the agency, but you’ll be exposed to
guest speakers, as well as clients! The agency has 1-3 guest speakers per semester, who share
their insights in the communications world and their contact information. The agency provides
you with connections that can lead to future careers!
Tip: Remember, you are sitting beside connections in your classroom everyday! The student
next to you may be the future CEO of a company, or a journalist… Take advantage of this and
network, network, network!

Role exploration
1853 Communications allows all of their members to choose what they would like to work on
when it comes to projects. Whether that is event management, social media management,
content creation, press releases, you have the opportunity to learn! You will never be tied down to one role. This way, you have the opportunity to explore your options, gain experience, and
really see what you enjoy doing with your talents.

Our agency is always looking for new individuals eager to learn. Sign up for Fall of 2022 while
seats are still open!

Anti-Senioritis

“I’m so ready to graduate”- said every high school senior ever. In high school, dreaming of the next chapter in your life becomes a regular pastime as you sit in Algebra II not listening to the equations on the board. Sure, you’re sad about leaving your hometown and all of your friends, but there is sort of a road map of what comes next: going into college or the workforce. After 12 years of standardized learning, high school seniors are usually ready to embrace a new challenge in life and all of the freedom that comes with it. This feeling, “senioritis”, comes in waves throughout a high schooler’s final year as they anticipate their education career’s closing activities.

“I’m so not ready to graduate”- said every college senior for the past three years. With the COVID-19 pandemic, those that are graduating this year agree to the feeling of being frozen on March 13th, 2020. This was a generation-defining day, with the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown. Because of the absence of in-person learning, college seniors still feel like the just-getting-started sophomores we once were. We missed out on our junior year, which is usually a time of finally feeling secure in who you are as a college student. We lost almost two years of in-person internships, study abroad opportunities, and regular old life experiences.

Graduating college is different from high school. For most college kids, for some reason when the clock strikes 12:00 on your 18th birthday you start to understand life a little differently. You may not see it through the rose-colored glasses you once did, because your education curriculum shifts to only focus on your field of study. Throughout your 4 years as an undergraduate you slowly become equipped with the tools to face the workforce and all of the sudden, all of your energy is pinpointing on your future career. It’s exciting and challenging, but can be draining as you spend 4 years preparing yourself for the dreaded “real world”.

With this juxtaposition of growing more experienced academically and the absence of an entire year of in-person social life, I am so not ready to graduate. I have this feeling of anti-senioritis, where I immediately shut out the idea of graduating. It’s a mix of nostalgia for what could have been, fear for the future, and a pining to live unmoving in the present.

This is uncharted territory for my generation, but we will learn to move past it. Commencement is approaching whether we like it or not. Graduation will be bitter. Nonetheless, I need to appreciate the time that has been granted in the here and now- surrounded by all of the experiences I once wanted so badly two years ago.

Public Relations during Valentine’s Day

February means Valentine’s Day is coming up and Valentine’s Day means PR pitches
are going wild. During this month of love, brands are capitalizing on the holiday to lure in new
and existing customers or audiences. Billions of dollars are spent each year on gifts for people’s
significant others and loved ones. Whether it be a product or service being sold, PR
professionals are great at gearing their promotional efforts towards all things love and cupid. Not
only is this strategic and successful for these brands, but it is also fun for the people behind the
messages. This is an opportunity for their creative juices to start flowing and come up with
clever and intriguing concepts to relate their brand to the holiday.

I bet if you scroll through your social media feeds or email inbox, you will begin to see
countless Valentine’s Day themed campaigns from your favorite brands or even influencers.
With today’s use of influencer marketing, I would predict that there will be many influencers
being paid to promote products in relation to the holiday. For example, a makeup or perfume
brand may have someone create a post of them using their products to get ready for a date
night. This will then cause their followers to be persuaded that they should also be using those
products if they want to look or smell good on their own dates.

As we all know, a huge seller around this time of year is jewelry. Jewelry brands use a
great amount of PR in order to plan and execute their Valentine’s Day campaigns. They may
create commercials, love themed jewelry lines, social media posts, influencer programs and
much more. Let’s be honest, we all fall for the Kay Jewelers love stories where “every kiss
begins with Kay.” PR thrives off of holidays like Valentine’s Day, so begin to keep an eye out for
this content to see the creativity behind it all.

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