By Sophie Shorthose, Intern
What is PR you may ask? Well, I had similar questions before joining Oracle. As a university graduate who had just written a dissertation on the effects of brand marketing, I couldn’t think of a better way to learn more about the industry than to dip my toes into the mysterious world of PR. While we are all constantly surrounded by PR – from newspaper articles, to events, to social media posts, it is actually quite hard to pin down what this career entails until you are a cog in the machine yourself. Now, having been immersed in the industry for the past four months, I can safely say that I… still don’t know everything.
What I can say though, is that PR is a fast-paced, dynamic, and multi-dimensional, especially in the world of property PR which has been rocked over the last few years by continuously changing policies, a crashing financial market, and the current energy crisis. However, all these challenges have meant that every day brings something slightly different to contend with – as they say, variety is the spice of life! Innovation and adaptation are definitely not new concepts at The Oracle Group, and whether it be from a group brainstorming session to generate ideas, or head-down- earphones-in type of afternoon, solutions are always found. In a world now dominated by online opinion on social media, effective PR has never been more important; while good PR can do wonders for the visibility of a company, poorly thought-out PR can cause reputations to crumble in the blink of an eye. As such, my own eyes have definitely been opened to the need for the layers of careful planning, deliberations, and approvals that go into everything released here.
As the intern, my primary role has been to help manage the ever-growing to-do lists of everyone else in the office, so that means I’ve had the chance get to dabble in a little bit of everything. From writing press releases for new development launches, to battling with Canva to create Instagram reels, to scouring google maps for locations and ideas for events, I feel like I have had the opportunity to get truly stuck in. Funnily enough, while I have spent the last four months soaking up the tips and tricks of the trade from everyone in the office, they have also diligently sat and listened to me ramble on about TikTok trends and whatever else had caught my interest that week.
However, what has really made this internship special has been the people in the office. Whilst I have really enjoyed the work, it is the social life that is going to make it hard to leave. From opening a bottle of prosecco after a long week on a Friday, to a trip to the pub after work, to the general chatter throughout the day, it has been clear to me since stepping foot into the office that everyone here are, before anything else, friends. It has been such a great experience to be surrounded by women who are not only very passionate about the work they do for their clients, but show the same support to each other. It has been the best introduction into the mysterious world of PR, which I am now happy to say is not so mysterious.