Australia’s first student PR consultancy has its first client. Catherine Andrews, of Lotus Wellbeing Centre, has met two students who will her develop a diverse PR plan to promote the business.
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Catalyst was born in February when Wollongong public relations consultancy LBPR and the business faculty at University of Wollongong teamed up to help keep skills in the region by nurturing young PR talent. They also wanted to help local businesses and charities who did not have the kind of budget required to hire a team of experienced professionals.
Alyss Phillips was the first to get hands-on experience at Catalyst and has since been joined by Siobhan Kelly. Ms Phillips is doing communications in the arts faculty and Ms Kelly is doing commerce in the business faculty.
“This is amazing. It is the first of its kind. It is so great to be part of something like this. The theory is great but this is putting it into practice,” Ms Kelly said.
Ms Phillips did some work experience with LBPR in 2015. “It gave me a good taste of how PR works and how Lisa’s team works. But now Siobhan and I will be working with our own clients.” Ms Phillips said.
Catalyst is the brain-child LBPR managing director Lisa Burling and UOW PR Major co-ordinator Dr Lois Burgess. Ms Burling said interest from business was good and there was presently a triage process going on to identify each clients requirements. The level of early interest means more students will soon be able to start getting experience at the Catalyst office in Keira Street.
“The parameters are that if it is a not-for-profit charity organisation we do it for nothing. If it is a small-to-medium enterprise that is just starting the PR journey then we look at a price structure that is significantly discounted to what they would usually pay to show them the value that it can bring to business,” Ms Burling said.
Dr Burgess said there were many interested students. And those who do get involved will get a broad cross section of experience doing many different things for each client.
Mrs Andrews has already been described as a dream client who knows the students need to understand her broader marketing activity to add value. “I have ideas about what I want to do and what I want to communicate. I want more people to know about what we do because I am really passionate about treating health problems the most natural way possible. I understand what I do and what I want to communicate but I don’t know how to get it out there. I am doing bits and pieces but I need someone to pull it together. I need guidance. I recognise I need to spend money on it and I am willing to.”
