This week my tasks largely involved preparing for our Fall 2018 Press day at the London showroom, so the week was a bit different to the rest and another great opportunity to see what goes on at luxury in-house PR.
We took on another intern for the week, which meant that I was now training two interns on the ins and outs of my role and teaching them everything that I’ve learned over the course of the past two and a half months. At times this could be a little bit frustrating, since I had been on my own for the previous three weeks with only myself to rely on to get the job done. I’ve had to reconfigure myself to be able to delegate tasks and share responsibility again, which has definitely alleviated the pressure from my shoulders. I’ve felt a bit more under pressure in a different way this week; I really wanted to make sure that I gave clear instructions and explained things concisely to the new girls so that they would get the most out of the opportunity, as I have done. Whether or not I achieved that is debatable! It wasn’t an easy task to remain patient and go through instructions slowly when I was fully aware of just how much we’d have to get through each day.
This week has meant a lot of early starts and late finishes, but I haven’t really minded that because it has been fun overall to see our hard work come together into a really successful press day. PR is certainly not for the feint-hearted; I’ve learnt that by comparing the hours and the commitment that the PR team at Coach dedicate to their role with previous roles I’ve seen during placement year, such as fashion assistants at publications or creative teams at luxury e-commerce retailers.
On Monday and Tuesday, the three of us had a huge task to complete in the form of gift-wrapping 200 Coach belts which would be given to guests as they left the event. We did this efficiently by setting up a ‘conveyor belt’ so that we each completed an aspect of the gift-wrapping in a cycle, from tying the Coach belts up with ribbon, to assembling the small branded gift boxes, to sealing the boxes shut. We were careful to label the boxes once they were sealed so that we would know which colour and size of Coach belt was inside.
On Tuesday evening, we eagerly awaited the delivery of the Fall samples which had been dispatched from the New York press event that same day. As a result of the close proximity in time between New York and London’s press days, deadlines were tight. It was all hands on deck to ensure that everything was unpacked efficiently, recording what had been delivered to avoid losing any of the samples, and hung in the showroom for the Visual Merchandising team to present in a more visually appealing way! The job involved a lot of heavy lifting which I am extremely under-qualified for, but I felt satisfied that it had been a job well done as I left for the day at 8pm.
Wednesday was intense, as last minute prep for the press day on Thursday was well under way. Again, there was a lot of heavy lifting as we ensured the VIP dressing room was clear of boxes and moved tables and chairs out of the showroom to make space for the VM team to set up. We processed a lot of sendouts ahead of our busy day on Thursday, in which we would be away from our desks for the entire day, and I made sure that as a team we stayed on top of everything else like returns and coverage tracking to keep things running smoothly. Technology let us down this week as the office printer broke, so it was down to me as the more experienced intern to make several trips to and from the nearby alternative Coach offices to print the team’s files for them. I’ve always been quick to jump up at extra tasks like this to prove my flexibility, dedication and sheer willingness to do my job well - this is something that I know has made a real impression.
Thursday was the long-awaited press day. We started the day by rushing through coverage first thing - a task which would usually take a few hours but today could only take one. The event was scheduled to begin at 10am and end at 5pm. Again, the three of us rotated our tasks to share the responsibility of the day. One of us would be positioned at the front door to the building to greet guests and have them sign in, another by the door to the second floor to direct them to the showroom and the last would be posted at the goodie bag table to gift guests as they left with the Coach belts that we had lovingly wrapped earlier in the week! The day itself was exhausting; there wasn’t opportunity to sit down for the whole day which I’m definitely not used to these days since I’ve swapped part-time retail work for full-time office work this year. I adored the fact that I was meeting writers and editors of the UK’s biggest magazines, and while the conversation I made with them was only superficial, I’d like to think that just maybe my face will stick in their mind for future opportunities.
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