On thursday I made my way down to London for an interview at Cake Brand Entertainment. I very much like the company, their work and their offices. Anywhere with an aquarium in the reception gets my vote.

Discussion ranged from the nightlife in Southport to my dissertation and my blog post about the Logobama viral website a few days ago. A topic, which appeared on the Cake blog a few hours later. It's probably just a coincidence, but a cool coincidence nonetheless.

I should find out about the job soon. So wish me luck!

Labels: cake pr, dissertation, formby, logobama, matthew watson, southport

I received an e-mail from Cake PR in London today, inviting me to an interview for the position of digital account executive. I applied for the job last week after seeing it posted on Stephen Davies's site PrBlogger.com. The job sounds fantastic! Very innovative with plenty of scope to try new and exciting PR methods and mediums. Which is exactly what I want to do.

The picture shows one of Cake's PR stunts were they turned Trafalgar Square into a village green to promote the London villages to tourists. Strangely enough I talked about this stunt in my dissertation. I discussed how they had evaluated the campaign in terms of how many bloggers wrote about it, but didn't disclose the readership of those blogs in PR Week. Readership is important because some of those blogs may only have two readers, whereas other may have two million. Therefore coverage in one blog can be worth more or less than coverage in an another.

Curiously my parents have both been invited to interviews this week. Perhaps there is something in the water?

Labels: cake pr, digital account executive, dissertation, formby, job interview, london, matthew watson, new media, pr stunt, prblogger.com, public relations, stephen davies, trafalgar square

Stephen Davies of prblogger.com recently posed the question 'Where are all the student PR bloggers?' Now he's created a list, and for some reason or another I top it. See the list of UK PR student bloggers here.

It's not the first time Davies has helped me. I quoted his Behind The Spin article, 'Blog-it-yourself and watch your profile rise' in my dissertation. I think this serves to prove that blogging can raise your profile. This is certainly true in Google. A search for 'Matthew Watson' shows my blog as the 4th result, just behind a Professor Matthew Watson from the University of Warwick.

Labels: behind the spin, blogging, dissertation, formby, google, matthew watson, prblogger.com, profile, public relations, stephen davies, students, university of warwick

Dissertation asking Is blogging the future of Public Relations? Done.

Thank you to everyone who helped me with interviews:
(Alphabetical as always)

Heather Constantine, the parliamentary researcher for Ann Widdecombe

Iain Dale is a political commentator who blogs at www.iaindale.com

Sarah Halton of Tangerine PR

Roger Haywood the former CIPR and CIM president.

Ian Green the director of media at Green Communications

Johannes Kokert and engineer at Leica Microsystems in Germany

Simon Law, a junior product manager at Amadeus in France

Thibault Masson, the founder of international online marketing consultancy Fashion Fox

Katie McLoughlin of Trinity Mirror North West

Alexander Petricca, a professional photographer and blogger in Liverpool.

Douglas Smith the former CIPR president and MD of Parliamentary Perceptions

Margaret Tarpey the MD of Concept Communications

Nina Watson, the senior account manager at Concept Communications

Paul Watson the Global IT manager of Rolls-Royce Energy

Philip Young, a senior lecturer at the University of Sunderland and prominant PR blogger

Special thanks also go out to:

Maxine Barnett who organised the 'Two PR Greats' lecture and introduced me to Douglas Smith and Roger Haywood.

Anne Gregory whose lecture on 'Public Relations and its Struggle for Respectability' at the Bradford University School of Management helped me enormously.

Labels: cipr, concept pr, dissertation, formby, huddersfield, is blogging the future of public relations, matthew watson, public relations, students, university

I had a great phone interview with Ian Green of Green Communications today. Ian is the director for media at Green and works with Andy Green, the author of Creativity in Public Relations.

He gave this advice: "All students and PR practitioners should start blogging. I think it is a good way to show off your writing skills and show that you can think. I’d recommend people pick a subject they have knowledge of and stick to it."

So hopefully this blog should stand me in good stead.

If you're wondering why Patsy and Edina are brightening up this post it's because I started up a facebook group today. 'The PR People' should help people on my course stay in touch after uni and keep each other up-to-date with any announcements. At least until the next big internet craze comes along and replaces facebook.

Labels: absolutely fabulous, andy green, dissertation, edina, formby, green communications, ian green, matthew watson, patsy, public relations

At the moment I'm in the process of finishing my dissertation.

What I need is some extra time, an excellent spell checker and the ability to type several hundred words a minute.

What I don't need is someone getting a little too trigger happy with a bulldozer and cutting through the network cable, bringing the entire university network down along with all the e-mails that I desperately need from people I've contacted.

And it's raining!

Labels: dissertation, e-mails, formby, huddersfield, matthew watson, rain, university

Thanks to Easy Jet and having a good friend with an appartment in Nice, France, I shall be enjoying a six day break during Easter for just £113.05. A bargain by anyone's standards I think.

Should be a great reward for finishing and handing in my dissertation on blogs. I just need to write it first!

Ooh la la.

Labels: blog, blogging, dissertation, easter, easy jet, formby, france, holiday, matthew watson, nice