Meaningful work placements

Catherine Hudson joined us here at Vividink for a week's work placement, to better understand how storytelling plays a major part in how we communicate our client's messages to their audiences. With an aspiration to work in film, storytelling will be a key aspect of her undergraduate degree. Catherine was kind enough to share her experience and how she felt about her time with us: 

"Recently, I spent a week at Vividink for a work placement. I wanted to gain work experience in an environment that deals with different forms of media and with PR, communications, and social media all being fortes that Vidvidink covers, it was an ideal placement.

During the first day, I worked with Romina on a social media campaign. She talked me through buyer personas which gave me a good idea of the brand we were catering to. I researched social media content and narrowed down the best ones I found. This included inspirational quotes, fun facts, and relevant dates to the client's business. By the end of the first day, I had also written a social media caption for the company's campaign. In this task, I learned how to use the correct hashtags with helpful websites recommended by Romina.

In the next few days, Paul set me working on a news release for another client. I was given a briefing document including the important ‘who? what? why? when? where?’ questions needed to start the news release. I asked Paul the questions, and I noted down the required answers. This process is a fundamental part of PR, gathering the information needed for a good release.

Moving into the next stage of the release, I worked on the document where I would draft up my first attempt at the news spread. At first, I struggled to grasp the format of the document and the style it was written in. I got help from David who assisted me in amending sentences and informed me what phrases I should and shouldn’t use. From this task, I learned the language required in a news release and how they're structured. Eventually, the piece came together with extra information and added quotes from the company's CEO and Vividink. I had to think about how the audience would read it, which impacted the layout meaning I needed to keep the basic, important information nearer the top.

After that was completed, I began a LinkedIn post for the same news. I referenced other posts from Vividink on its LinkedIn profile and noted the information used, the structure, the use of hashtags, and an action line at the bottom to send the reader to the website. I then wrote a news release for Vividink’s website about the story. Again I used the website for reference to help me emulate VividInk’s previous news releases sound in mine. Paul checked the document and amended a few areas. The news release was then sent off to the client for approval.

Having the opportunity to write these articles has taught me the importance of storytelling in the media and PR. The continuity of a message is essential to keep an audience engaged and impacts how imagery and ideas are communicated effectively.

I also had the chance to listen in to meetings and Paul and David's conversations regarding clients and a very riveting discussion about the Metaverse. I've found it valuable to see how the team works effectively and an insight into the communication with clients. I have thoroughly enjoyed my work placement at Vividink and meeting the lovely team."

We firmly believe that any work placement should offer the participant the opportunity to work on real projects that can contribute to both their own experience and be of use to the host business. We would all like to wish Catherine the very best in her chosen degree subject and thank her for her diligent work whilst she was here with us.