I’m the youngest member of the Smoking Gun team, as well as the newest to Public Relations. When I was finding my way into PR I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. If you believe the hype that surrounds TV shows such as Absolute Power – in which PR is all about celebrity or The Thick of It – in which political spin doctoring is the prime focus of all communications, then PR is quite diverse.
Although the shows offer only a glimpse of specific facets of the career, in real life PR is very varied, it’s not all champagne and parties – though in all honesty since I’ve been at Smoking Gun I have gone to the odd event and had my share of canapés and cocktails. However my experiences have been far wider…
So far I’ve helped get ready for Christmas in July and more recently been down to the Big Smoke (London) with a suitcase of cheese and delivered it to various journalists – including some lovely people at Grazia – whose appetites weren’t as I’d imagined! For the same client I’ve been on a tour of a cheese factory and learnt all about the processes that are used to make one of my favourite foods, made cheese toasties for Mancunian influencers and made slices of Lancashire to celebrate British Cheese week.
Then there are the completely different experiences, that no one really believes you’ve had; such as playing cricket with some ladyboys or conducting secret filming for a viral video.
The military always uses great straplines for it’s recruitment campaigns and the further into PR I get the more I think a recruitment poster should look something like this:

PR is many things however one thing is certain, it’s a career that’s far from ordinary!