Session 2: The Art of Communication

In our first media session of Part 2, we began looking at different forms of PR and Communication and its role within the fashion industry. I definitely found this super interesting and enjoyed the discussion we had during the first part of the class about various brands and their PR methods and examples. It was really interactive and engaging which was a good change of pace.

For the first task, we had to select a product and come up with PR ideas for it. My group and I chose the Gucci x Disney collection (yes, I inadvertently chose my own brand). The reason for choosing this product was the possibility to use Disneyworld and Disneyland as PR locations for a variety of ideas. I didn’t have a particularly collaborative group, although I was able to speak to one person at the beginning and felt we worked well to choose our product and bounce some light ideas off one another.

At first, I struggled to come up with ideas and decided to draw off of the examples we’d spoken about earlier and try and think more out of the box and creatively. While doing so, I definitely felt the blurred line between PR and marketing, as I didn’t want my ideas to come off as too much of an advertisement as such, but more as events or social media ploys.

This image may not be very clear, but most of these ideas can be seen on my final practice PR board

After this, we worked individually to create a PR board that visually displayed our ideas. As this was practice, I used Word to create this, meaning my layout isn’t as nice as it could be, which is something I will take into account when creating my final PR board. I enjoyed this task and due to having a variety of ideas that weren’t all necessarily related to each other, I bolded the main ideas on my board to highlight them. Along with this, we also had to create a small press release. While mine was quite short, writing the press release was something I enjoyed and did well at during Toolbox, so I’m looking forward to giving it another go for this unit.

While creating this, I definitely began thinking of the effect of COVID on PR strategies (Disney theme parks closing temporarily and pop-up stores possibly not being as successful due to social distancing measures). In the last year or so, companies would have had to adjust their strategies and potentially focus more on online PR and communication to get their brand across to existing and new customers.

Overall, I was delighted by how this session got me thinking about PR and press releases in terms of how a brand makes itself appear and how strategised and intentional the process can be for many brands.

Going forward with the SDS, I need to make a thought out decision about the product I want to use for my PR board and make sure I consider the software I’m going to use to present it. At the moment, I’m thinking of using my customised trainers as my product, as it is one of my most successful pieces from this unit and drawing from my inspiration for them, I can see a range of possibilities for PR ideas. To create it, I’m also thinking of using Photoshop, as I’m more familiar with it.

I also need to begin investigating different magazines and their interview questions and content. I want to get inspiration from these sources and make use of the extensive list we’ve been given, but also want to come up with my own original questions to make my work stand out. I also want to try and style my questions into a unique voice and direct them towards a person whose career obviously lies in fashion, but can be relevant to anyone’s choice of pathway (as I obviously don’t know who I’m going to b interviewing next week). From this, I should have a story of at least 10 questions that hopefully allow the interviewee to answer them in a way that will tell a narrative.

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