De Wolven back to (the new) school
What do you do when you work at a public relations firm? For communication students, it is difficult to get a good idea of the daily practice as a public relations consultant. What capabilities are needed for this? What is the role of PR agencies for business and how does the relationship with media work? Since 2016, De Wolven has been teaching this during the public relations course to students at The New School in Amsterdam. This school has been named best small-scale hbo education for marketing, communication and creativity by the Keuzegids hbo 2020 for the fifth time this year.
Approach: current examples from practice
In a higher education course, you try to match education as closely as possible to practice. The subject of public relations is exactly the kind of subject where this is easy. From discussions about the impact of a PR stunt such as “Victim Fashion, created by accident”, the question of whether campaigns with influencers such as Magnum’s sleepovers still have any effect on millennials, and spotting publicity opportunities in newspapers and magazines. The knowledge that the students gained in the lessons, they could immediately apply in work assignments. In addition, the students visited interesting image-makers such as the editors of Vice, Trouw, NOS and DWDD to gain insight into their working methods but also to investigate their own career opportunities.
Result: inspiring plans
There are many roads that lead to Rome, and that’s also true for PR. Of course there are preconditions for how to write a good press release, but within those preconditions there is room for creativity. We also use this view in our teaching approach. Yes, we pay attention to theory, but you learn more from actual examples: what works and what doesn’t, and why? To put their ideas into practice (and test them), the students were given an existing public relations case with the request to develop a creative plan. With success! We even shared some of the insights from the plans with clients.
"From influencer event to PR stunt, a press release or a communication campaign. It's just a selection of challenges in our work.With our versatile and practical knowledge, we can inspire students to think for themselves about a well-designed and creative PR approach. And be honest, that's just a lot of fun to do! In addition, we want to include talented wolves in our pack in the future. So where better to start lobbying for the wonderful profession than at school!"
Jill Bakker, Senior PR Advisor
