J Barbour & Sons PR Student Placement
Blog 10- April
During April I pulled together product images and copy for Festival Fashion dropbox, which then got sent out to press. This was my first time throughout the year having a go at writing copy for press. I did struggle with this task as I don’t feel writing is my strong point, this is because it doesn't excite me or come naturally to me as my abilities I feel lie elsewhere. I gave it my best shot and will try to improve my writing skills in future.
During April I pulled together a research deck on the band ‘Sea Girls’. This is because marketing are looking for a new band/ influencer/ VIP to be either gifted and endorse the Barbour product or to be the face of a new collection. I really liked this task as I am a fan of Sea Girls and have been to their gigs and even got a photo pass to photograph their Newcastle gig at the 02 City Hall for Darkus Magazine.
Sea Girls Band.
In April I had another research task given to me by my supervisor on what other brands are doing for Earth Day and screenshotting what they posted on their socials and compiling it into a research deck. Barbour decided against posting anything this Earth Day as they believe they are sustainable every day and don’t want to jump on the bandwagon. Looked at Barbours competitor brands.
During April the Barbour x Vogue design competition Jackets got displayed in Selfridges London and auctioned for charity. In order to get the x5 Competition jackets to London from the Barbour South Shields Offices, instead of getting a courier, the PR team got me to personally take the jackets there. I had to get the train at the start of the day, work on the train, drop the suitcase, containing the x5 jackets off at the Barbour Holford office and get the train back all in one day. This felt like a very stressful day as it was a very fast turnaround between train times and getting the jackets to the London Offices. I also had to work on my work laptop whilst on the train, which made me quick travel sick. The trip was very tiring and I think the jackets would have been just as safe with a courier as I was expected to go back to work the next day tired off travel which meant I was not as focused on the tasks given. But I am pleased I got to experience seeing the Barbour Holford Offices in London. I really liked how they had a vintage cinema room to show buyers and clients the campaign videos.
Barbour x Vogue Design Competition Design Finalists Jackets on Display.
One other main event throughout April was the ‘Wax For Life’ press trip on the 27th/28th April. This included a number of VIP Press staying overnight in Newcastle on the Quayside, doing Hadrian's walk and having a tour and talk within the Barbour Factory and Wax For Life station. The event took a lot of planning, one of the main elements I helped with for the trip was arranging and ordering the press gifting. Each guest got gifted some Barbour Wellies and a Barbour Overlayer and jacket. On the day of the event I was tasked with having all 20 guests gifting in my car, driving to the Quayside hotel they would be staying in and dropping off each of their gifting to their hotel rooms ahead of their arrival. I didn’t get to attend any of the press trip although I helped with a lot of the planning and gifting of the event, which I would have liked to.
After the event, I helped collate all of the coverage into a PR deck and presented to the other marketing teams.