A Note From Our Work Experience Students
Black Vanilla recently hosted three work experience students, who over the course of three afternoons took part in press release workshop, drafted a press release each, designed a social media campaign each and worked together to create a hybrid event concept.
Below each of the students explains what they did during their time with us and how they found the world of PR!
After expressing interest in content creation and public relations, I contacted Black Vanilla in the hope of gaining some work experience. I have greatly enjoyed the past few days of working alongside those at Black Vanilla, and have learnt a lot about the nature of the industry and the roles within it.
Upon being given the tasks of writing a press release and drafting blog post ideas, I have learnt the importance of researching your client and exploring what their audience is interested in, for creating engaging and interesting content. This creative writing element was a lot of fun and I enjoyed being able to incorporate that into the task.
I was very eager to practise designing a social media campaign for a client as that area of work is of particular interest to me, and I can say that I have learnt a lot from the experience. Creating the content for various social media platforms was a fun task and I enjoyed being given the challenge of completing it in a matter of hours.
The final task of planning an event was certainly a challenge as I did not have any experience of doing this. Working as a team was a fun aspect as we were able to bounce ideas off of each other, and work together to create an engaging experience for those attending. I focused on the social media promotion side of the task, and designed posters that could be used on Facebook or LinkedIn for launching and advertising an event. I was able to use and develop my creative skills and enjoyed being in an environment that encouraged learning and personal growth.
I have greatly enjoyed my time working with Black Vanilla, and am very appreciative to have been given the opportunity to learn from those working in the industry. I have loved being able to develop my creativity and work alongside others when working on projects, and believe that I have learnt a great deal about content creation, event planning and public relations. I look forward to using these skills later on in my potential career in this area of work.
I am a Year 13 student from the Guernsey Grammar School, studying Media Studies, Business Studies and Physical Education. I reached out to Black Vanilla for a work experience placement as I am keen on gaining some practical experience in media and public relations. I am very passionate about media as a subject and am currently considering choosing the employment path over university. As a student with a keen interest in what Black Vanilla does, as well as a passion to progress within the industry, I thought that it would be great to gain experience.
First, we were given the task of a press release which allowed me to research my specific chosen client and to gather information and structure that information in order to make the story relevant and timely. By being able to look at other examples and compare the audiences and how the preferred reading can be put across for the target audience, this allowed me to focus on the key points I was trying to infer throughout.
We then looked into blog post title ideas for three of the clients. I really enjoyed this as blogging and thinking of new engaging ideas is something I enjoy looking into. Exploring these different clients gave me an insight into the varied types of blogs that can be discovered.
Furthermore, we had the challenge of creating our own social media Christmas campaigns. This allowed me to gain experience on Canva and to be able to think of intentions for the project and keep the posts engaging.
On the last day, we looked at an eco-friendly event plan by Black Vanilla, this focused on sustainability and brand reputation. In order to get the public and many businesses involved, we had to conduct research into what sustainability actually is, where to hold the event, our branding, the food, budgeting and what we want to offer and how to incorporate hybrid so everyone can be involved.
Over the past few days I have really enjoyed my work experience at Black Vanilla as I was able to gain an insight into the industry and the many routes available. From writing my own press release and planning a Christmas media campaign to working on an eco-friendly event, this has really helped me to build up my skill base and explore new ideas and challenges.
As a recent graduate returning to the island, I came to Black Vanilla for work experience to learn more about the opportunities within PR on Guernsey. I hoped to gain insight into the range of areas that Black Vanilla works in and see how my skills and previous experiences could be applied within PR.
The first session focused on copywriting. I found it interesting to learn about the range of clients Black Vanilla works for and the role in which press releases play in giving attention to an event. I put this into practice by writing a press release for a future event. It was important to research the company to have a clear understanding of the aims and requirements for the piece of work and felt that I was able to precisely describe the key information.
The next task explored the role of creative content to boost exposure for companies. Within this activity, I researched previous blog posts for a specific client and came up with my own blog post ideas. It was interesting to see the role of blogs to create an insight into school life as well as advice for the parents and students.
For Wednesday’s task I looked at the role of social media campaigns to boost a clients’ social media platforms. I came up with a hashtag to use across the campaign and incorporated catchy headlines and captions to grab the attention of the target audience. This task allowed me to be creative and experiment with different ideas through the software Canva to create posts for Instagram. This software was new to me but I quickly got to grips with designing a cohesive campaign.
The final task of my work experience was focused on event planning. The brief was to create an event hosted by Black Vanilla surrounding sustainability and brand reputation. We completed the task together by brainstorming ideas and then dividing up responsibilities for further research, planning and branding. I found it vital to do research surrounding the key areas of sustainability within business and was interested in how it focused on both the effects on the environment and society. This led us to draw on ideas from local produce and businesses to draw on Guernsey’s community spirit to share our awareness and drive for more sustainable practices. I looked into the budgeting side of the event and found that there were so many little details needed to consider when planning an event to make sure it all goes smoothly.
I have learnt a lot during my work experience placement and am grateful for the opportunity to learn about the business. I enjoyed the collaborative attitude to working that Black Vanilla encouraged and appreciated the guidance and expertise they shared. This week has given me a strong foundation of the PR industry and in the future I hope to develop the skills I learnt during my placement.