My week at Third City
Joanna Falconer is interning at Third City as part of the Taylor Bennett Foundation’s Summer Stars Programme
My first week interning at Third City has been exciting, varied and action-packed. I have joined the agency as part of the Taylor Bennett Foundation’s Summer Stars programme, and after an intensive week of lectures at the London College of Communication, I now plan to get stuck into all things PR over the next two months here. Here’s a snapshot of what my first week looked like.
Monday saw me dedicating time to researching Third City’s various clients and brands, and getting my head around the work we do with them. I also started building an understanding of the media landscape by assessing coverage and helping to pull together monthly evaluation documents.
I received a warm welcome while having lunch courtesy of Third City at a lovely Clerkenwell café just down the street. This is where I was able to connect with the other interns and the lovely Katie and Liam introduced me to the team in the office.
After work, I had my first client event to attend. Tefal, known for its efficient iron and professional finish, partnered with the new film Men in Black 3 to showcase a futuristic iron for those sharply-dressed alien fighting agents. This meant I was treated to an exclusive film screening along with colleagues – a pretty cool experience to end my first day.
I’ve been tasked with doing media monitoring for one of our fintech clients, so first thing Tuesday, I start my morning by searching for relevant news articles that have been published within the past 24 hours and flagging them to the team.
While helping to support teams on existing clients is a core part of my workday, new business is also an essential part of agency life. With this in mind, I helped to support they agency’s joint MD Chris by doing some research for a new brief. This consisted of developing an overview of the key industry themes, past coverage, competitor analysis and a summary of the audience.
Third City’s office makes the perfect breeding ground for creativity and this was shown through my first brainstorm. Everyone gets involved with pitching fresh thinking in a brainstorm and for me, plucking up the courage to say my idea was the first step to building a confident voice in PR.
Wednesday’s media monitoring done, my next order of business is to use a PR evaluation tool to check how many times coverage has been shared on social media. This was a great way to see the power of earned media and how a strong PR story can engage audiences.
I also had my first experience of doing media outreach for one of our cookware brands, getting in touch with various journalists to see if they might be interested in reviewing some of our products. This type of regular media engagement helps to ensure a steady drumbeat of coverage.
Thursday’s focus was connecting to others in my team. Everyone knows my name by now so my inbox is beginning to be filled with a few hellos. First from Katie who invited me to join her for coffee in the morning to discuss what skills I’d like to have under my belt by the end of my internship. While sad to think of the end at the beginning, I know now by the end of my placement I will have much more experience and hope to get stuck in with drafting press releases and selling in stories.
Another way Third City like to bring people together is through grad forum. Grad forum, held by Emily, is a chance to talk to other grads and interns about our duties and hear helpful advice from those in the agency who know what it’s like to be new in PR.
Friday is here! Completion is the main priority on a Friday, adding any finishing touches to documents I had worked on throughout the week. My first week at Third City seems to have flown by while having fun. I know I’m going to like it here!
