On Monday, October 15, a group of Temple PRSSA chapter members visited Braithwaite Communications for an agency tour. Braithwaite Communications is a full service public relations agency located in the heart of Philadelphia. When we arrived at Braithwaite we took a tour of their office which has an open layout of employee spaces. This allows for a communal and collaborative environment. There are cozy conference rooms with couches and white boards for team brainstorms and client calls against beautiful views of the city.
We sat down for a presentation from Megan Matthews and Marissa Reale (a former Temple PRSSA Vice President), who are both Internship Coordinators and Assistant Account Executives at Braithwaite. They both a gave an overview of their journeys to Braithwaite. Matthews, a native of the UK, found her affinity for public relations and marketing in an internship after previously pursuing journalism. Reale found her love for public relations from a young age and gained experience through internships at local news stations and agencies.
They went on to explain the full service nature of the agency. Braithwaite offers structured thinking, counsels for best practices, advises research, fosters client relationships, serves as a liason to the media, enhances brand messages, tells stories and narratives, and much more. They work with a variety of B2B and B2C clients in many different industries. Braithwaite operates with a can do attitude and takes on any challenge their clients bring to them. Their employees switch between hats of storyteller, creative, communicator, marketer, and others to supply their clients with excellent comprehensive work that sees results.
Matthews advised students to be open to working with a variety of clients outside of your comfort zone because of how much you will learn in the process. She explained how much she learned from working with a B2B client from an industry she did not know much about and did not think she had an interest in. After working on the account, she now has a great understanding of that industry, has a passion for it, and feels rewarded by the work she does for them.
We also heard from Freddy Braithwaite, a Senior Account Executive at Braithwaite. She explained storytelling and crafting narratives to enhance a client’s brand messages is one of her favorite jobs. She is able to see how the story she creates guides marketing and advertising efforts and results in increasing sales and awareness for the brand.
Lastly, CEO Hugh Braithwaite gave us some career advice. He recounted how he started in public relations almost accidently, when he thought he was interviewing for a marketing position. In this interview he realized public relations was the intersection of all his interests. He advised us that being able to know what you like and what you are good at and giving those skills names is very important. Being able to communicate what your skills are to an employer in a way that is not generic will make you stand out.
From this experience, Temple PRSSA members gained a better perspective of what it is like to work at a full service public relations agency and the importance of having a strong well rounded skill set you can communicate to employers.
This blog post was written by Olivia Rotondo, Vice President.
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