As I gathered all the items I deemed "essential" for my first day, my mother commented on how I looked so "cosmopolitan" as compared to the usual garb I adorned for all of my previous jobs. They typically consisted of a polo shirt with the company logo and some tattered old pants and truly cruddy shoes. She said this new look suited me much better than the others. I thought for a moment at the word "cosmopolitan" and realized that this was the beginning of what I have come to refer to as my very first "real job." Excitement as well as the usual first day jitters came over me as I set out to my place of work, Largemouth Communications, based in RTP.

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Just because you get excited about learning doesn’t make you a nerd. Or, at least, that’s what I tell myself. I’m no dork, just an intellectually curious young professional, and that’s why I love PR.

A career in public relations provides the opportunity to constantly learn more about the world around you. For example, in my first few weeks as an intern, I’ve already learned:

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A week before Christmas, I stood in my kitchen with flour gracing my forehead, sugar dusting the floor and a botched batch of shortbread dough sitting in a mixing bowl, mocking me.

The perfectionist in me was crushed, and the baking connoisseur was utterly embarrassed. I spent a few minutes pondering what happened, asking myself, “Why didn’t the dough come together?”

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There’s a common fear among many PR practitioners:  rain. When it looks like the only thing that could ruin an event is rain in the forecast, of course it is going to rain. Last month, Murphy’s law was in full force at a BP “Olympic Experience” event hosted by Kangaroo Express and partner organization BP.

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We worked with ABC11 to secure this video featuring our client, UnitedHealthcare. The video, "Making healthcare decisions easier," was part of the afternoon newscast.

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Before starting this blog post, I found myself stumped on what angle to write from. I was aiming for a fancy hook that would make this post newsworthy and appealing to readers. But then I realized that I don't need a hook, my story is already newsworthy.

ALERT THE PRESSES! I wouldn't change a thing about my summer at Largemouth.

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It’s hard not to get caught up in the excitement of the Kangaroo Express “Salute Our Troops” campaign. But why wouldn’t you want to?

Organizations from across the country are combining their resources, passion and expertise to support our Armed Forces and their families, and the result is inspiring and humbling. We have embraced the “do well while doing good” philosophy of our client, The Pantry, as we promote this incredible campaign.

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As one of Largemouth’s newest summer interns, I was asked a very important question when meeting to discuss goals for her internship, “What exactly do you want to do when you graduate?”

Though I recognized this was a perfectly legitimate question for a student coming into the final year of an undergraduate career, I wasn’t able to respond truthfully. Like many of my peers, I was unsure what specific professional path I would like to take following graduation, but I do know that establishing my personal brand would be one of my top priorities – confident that once I fully understood my areas of expertise, and accrued diverse work experience, my career aspirations would become clear.

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As a new intern at Largemouth, I’ve been given the opportunity to re-evaluate myself as a pre-professional by setting some goals for my internship. I’m not going to tell you the usual clichés like how I’d like to “break out of my shell” or “go above and beyond.” I do desire these things, but I also prefer to keep my goals practical.

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I've had the good fortune to work for some pretty great companies; from locally owned TV stations, to NBC, to some great NC business leaders like Progress Energy and Blue Cross. A few years ago, I decided to step away from the high profile jobs and focus on public relations and media relations consulting. It was great; chose my clients, created my hours and had a lot of flexibility. But something seemed to be missing.

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I recently had the opportunity to attend a Business Wire hosted “Meet the Media” luncheon featuring an impressive panel of three local journalists: News Director of NewsRadio 680 WPTF, The North Carolina News Network and StateGovernmentRadio.com, Rick Martinez; Co-Founder of WRAL Tech Wire and a previous editor and reporter at The News & Observer, Rick Smith; and the Assistant Business Editor of The News & Observer, David Bracken.

During the luncheon, the esteemed panel of guest speakers shared a recipient’s view on media pitching, a truly invaluable skill every practitioner in our industry aims to perfect.  

Here's what they had to say...

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Having joined Largemouth Communications as their newest intern, I am beyond thrilled about the knowledge and experience this position will allow me to gain throughout the fall semester. With one successful week under my belt, Largemouth seems like a great fit for me. Provided that it is my dream to become a public relations professional at a high-energy PR agency, I am already confident Largemouth will help prepare me for my future.

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At the close of an infamous week marked by both an earthquake and a hurricane, I'm relieved to have missed the biggest disaster of all; the Twitter fail whale that arises from too many tweets and prevents users from viewing the site. Lately, every major event has further proven of the importance of Twitter as an instantaneous news source and an arena for completely unfiltered commentary and interaction. But as social media's role shifts to further evolve into a news platform and society's reliance on social media for disaster preparedness and awareness continues to grow, can popular platforms' systems keep up with the flow of information?

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Anthony recently wrote about how Plug-In 2011, a national electric vehicle conference and exposition, is taking place at the Raleigh Convention Center this week. Well, we both attended last night's public event, and witnessed an impressive turnout! Here are a few of my Plug-In 2011 highlights:

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It is truly exciting to work on behalf of clients who lead the masses rather than follow the trends.

For instance, last week I bounced out of the office to meet a client, and on my way to lunch at a popular RTP restaurant, a flock of hungry, hurried businessmen and women were out in full force. In my quest for a prime parking spot, I was utterly surprised to see an entire row of spaces solely dedicated to hybrid automobiles - I was even more surprised to see that most of them were occupied.

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Conventional PR wisdom will tell you that you can’t force something to “go viral.” Sure, you can make every effort to produce content that is hilarious, meaningful, catchy, valuable, or just so very cool that people want to share it with their friends. But no matter how real it gets in the Whole Foods parking lot, or how many dance parties take place in Apple stores, you truly cannot control what catches on and what doesn’t.

But sometimes a client offers a deal so amazing it takes on a life of its own, as was the case with the deal Kangaroo Express offered its guests: Pay $6.99 for a reusable cup, refill it with fountain or frozen beverages as many times as you like at any of the 1,600+ locations throughout the Southeast – all summer long.

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I've just about completed my first month as a full-time account coordinator here at Largemouth's RTP home, and although I was in and out of the agency as an intern for a semester, that experience provided only a taste of what full-service communications really means.

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As a rising senior in a communication major at North Carolina State University, largely known for its nationally ranked engineering programs, I get a lot of flak from my engineer-dominated circle of friends. "Oh Communications...so you're just learning how to talk and use Facebook better?" jousts my mechanical engineering roommate as he reminds me with a smirk that I should look into getting a real major. My friends' lighthearted heckles resurrect an argument, or a discussion on reputation rather, that has inundated the professions within the communication industry since they originated, which I am told did exist prior to the Internet.

Albeit, engineers are a smart brood that serves a valuable purpose within our world and economy, but my friends overlook the immense value that public relations and other closely related communication professions play within this same market. Our industry's falsely acquired reputation of being dispensable, with incalculable effects and without any "real" licensing board, have left many, including my friends, with this platform upon which to jest. In terms of what makes up "professionals" it is more or less clear what a doctor or engineer does and why they are necessary. Why then the ambiguity between what a publicist does versus what a public relations practitioner does, or a communications director or any of the other number of fields that make up possible careers for specially-trained Communication degree-holders?

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Thanks to social media, new marketing technologies emerge as often as status updates.  But, as the boundaries between physical and technological communication blur, it is vital to monitor and predict trends, as well as recognize society's needs, when planning the next cutting-edge marketing campaign.

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Even the best of seasons have to end at some point - and with Gary Williams' unexpected retirement news I'm sure Maryland basketball fans will concur. The buzzer may have sounded for this year's Battle for Bean Street, but luckily we've got a highlight reel compiled by our friends at Skiver Advertising that will leave us basking in the glory of the battle until we're back in action next year.

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