What is the University College Falmouth London Study Visit?

The University College Falmouth Level 1 London Study Visit is a critical part of the first year for BA (Hons) Public Relations students. An energetic, immersive trip, it unlocks the doors to some of London's (and therefore the UK's, Europe's and the world's!) top public relations agencies and other organisations with a PR function.

The purpose is to provide students with a glimpse into the lives of PR practitioners and hear about their work, its challenges and the passion they have for the business. We also hear about work placement and internship opportunities.

As a result of London Study Visits, University College Falmouth Public Relations students have secured fantastic placements at top PR agencies including Halpern and Frank PR.

The visit also prepares students for a similar study visit to Amsterdam during their second year.

So what do we do in London?

We spend three days in the capital, visiting two locations each day. Upon arrival, we meet senior staff plus, often, new graduate level employees who've just started with each organisation.

This year (2008), our visits included:

The Camden Arts Centre: to hear about PR for the arts

Frank PR: to hear about consumer PR and buzz marketing

Lexis PR: to hear about consumer PR and youth marketing

Warehouse: to hear about fashion PR from the leading high street retailer

Ketchum: to hear about international healthcare PR

And don't worry - there's always time in the schedule to catch a few hours sightseeing and shopping in London if you like.

What does industry think?

"The London study visit provides a priceless opportunity for students to interact with practitioners in the workplace. It's a testament to the quality of staff contacts within the industry that this visit is so well-run and successful."

Jo Patterson, Head of Consumer Public Relations, Lexis PR

Wednesday 19 November

So, this is it. One of the highlights of the first year for students on University College Falmouth's Public Relations degree—and where better to start it than awaiting a coach outside Falmouth's very own Argos superstore at 07.45 on a Wednesday morning?

Only an hour early

Just a little paranoid about missing the train from Truro, an unfeasibly quick coach trip leaves us with an hour's wait in the convivial surrounds of the station cafe, Pumpkin. Surprisingly, no students need waking when the train arrives, bang on time.

The road to Lexis PR

As soon as we've dropped bags off at the hostel, International Students House, we're marched straight off to our first stop of the visit, the award-winning PR agency, Lexis PR.

Lexis PR

Cait's thoughts on Lexis PR:

"Upon entering Lexis we were all met with a very warm and friendly welcome, everyone was very kind and always smiling. There was a very clear passion for PR from every one of the speakers which was really inspiring and grabbed everyone’s attention making the talk very interesting.

The agency deals with some very interesting clients, in turn making some interesting PR work. The Dove Campaign ‘isn’t she dovely’ was one of the most interesting. It showed innovative public relations at its finest and it seemed like a really fun piece to work on, due to its creative style. It also gave us an insight to how much variety there is within public relations and how it’s not all about press releases, but also events organizing and a lot of building relationships.

It was really interesting listening to personal experiences from professional people working in PR. Director of Consumer PR, Jo Patterson, spoke about her career and how she fell into consumer PR. She believes that once you begin working you will almost certainly fall into a specific area of public relations that you enjoy.

The creative team were a very lively bunch and came up with a really fun session for us, as well as gaining some information out of us which we hope came in handy. Their enthusiasm and flair for their work rubbed off on everyone, and really put public relations in a good light.
I really enjoyed the time at Lexis PR, it re-lit my excitement and passion for public relations and was a really good example of a real working environment."
































Georgia's thoughts on Lexis PR:

"When we walked into Lexis, the environment was professional and the talk reinvigorated my passion for PR. The fact that it was still a fully British PR group surprised me as I had thought that the agencies dealing in big brands were American funded. The talk really showed the enthusiasm that each member of staff had for PR and the campaigns they worked on.

What made me giggle was that the most interesting campaign that Jo Patterson had worked on was the Yellow Pages. I had always figured that the most exciting and experimental people to work for would be the clients who had the most money. However this stereotype was thwarted when Jo said they usually kept quite a tight hold over what the PR agency did, as they had to ensure that the campaign did not move too far away from the brand image that they had already established.

I also found it interesting that they had a whole creative team who just came up with ideas for campaigns which the other members of staff then picked up and moved along with. It gave a whole different perspective on the campaign technique. The whole experience really showed me what it would be like to be in agency PR and actually made me re-evaluate what I want to do after University."















Lexis PR 2009 Graduate Scheme

If all this has got you wanting to know more about Lexis and our
Graduate Scheme please visit www.lexispr.com/career and follow the
link to the Graduate Recruitment Scheme 2009.

The delights of Carnaby Street

After Lexis, it's a quick but chilly stroll down to Wagamama's for some of the students, pausing under this bulbous inflatable Christmas decoration in Carnaby Street en route.

Thursday 20 November

A busy day ahead: first stop, the Camden Arts Centre, followed by Frank PR, then the Warehouse press office. Phew.