Students from LCF's BA (Hons) Fashion Public Relations and Communication worked with NOW Gallery as part of their Innovative Communication project. The knowledge exchange project involved the students looking at ways to promote Silent Madness, their exhibition with designer Mowalola.
Student Poppy Livermore was selected to attend the private view. Here she tells LCF Stories about the project.
Tell us about the project and your involvement
The project entitled Innovative Communication Tactics required my fellow second year students and I to produce a proposal for a PR campaign for the north Greenwich based NOW Gallery who were looking for ways to increase their footfall and to promote an upcoming exhibition designed by Mowalola, an emerging British-Nigerian fashion designer whose designs have been worn by various celebrities including the rappers Drake and Skepta.
Following the hand in, ten students (including myself) were selected to present their work to the NOW Gallery team and their PR representatives from The Communication Store. The NOW Gallery showed further interest in the projects presented by Aaliyah and I, and we were asked for assistance in generating press coverage which would draw more UAL students into the gallery to see the exhibition. We attended the private viewing party on the 5 December where we took over the Pigeons & Peacocks Instagram Stories to debut the exhibition to its followers.
Tell us the most valuable thing you learned?
This project, unlike any previous projects, really allowed me to see how real PR campaigns work from the conception of initial ideas to its launch and aftermath. We were able to work on the campaign throughout, helping the NOW Gallery with ideas and then assisting them in carrying out their chosen campaign and press coverage.
Why did you choose to study BA (Hons) Public Relations and Communication
I had initially intended to do the Fashion Marketing course, however when visiting an open day I realised that its content was not what I was interested in. I have always been interested in generating ideas and the PR course allows you to do that, by coming up with different creative concepts for brands that are trying to widen their reach or refresh their image.
What do you love about PR and Communication?
With the PR and Communication degree, I feel there is a good balance between idea generation and writing which are both things that I enjoy. I love that you can be as creative as possible in coming up with campaign ideas ensuring that they are in line with the values of the brand that you are working on.
What are the most challenging aspects of PR and Communication?
The most challenging aspect of PR and Communication is coming up with new innovative ideas. There are millions of brands that exist who are constantly putting out new content and campaigns, therefore, it can be hard to come up with something that hasn’t been done before. Also when a brand has a crisis, it can be hard to come up with strategies to try and rectify this. We were given an entire unit on this to get an understanding of what real-life PRs are faced with during a brand crisis.
Do you have any advice for future students?
For future students, my best advice would be to plan out all aspects of your given project using the Unit Handbook before you start any work. It is best to break down the requirements of the project into small daily tasks that can be done over several weeks, rather than rushing to get all of the work done too close to the hand in. This is especially important for students who have other commitments like part-time jobs and internships, to ensure that they give themselves enough time to work on their projects to a high standard, without feeling stressed ahead of an upcoming deadline.
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