Interviews

A Day in the Life of Claude Peters

Claude Peters was a participant on the 2009 Brunswick Internship Programme, the unique training initiative that encourages and enables graduates from black and ethnic minority backgrounds to launch a career in PR and communications.

Coordinated by Unicorn Jobs with support from its sister company Taylor Bennett and, of course Brunswick, this programme provides six graduates from the University Of East London (12 in 2010) with a ten-week introduction to the media and PR industries, and the way business and the City works.

With a performing arts background, Claude followed up his time on the internship with work experience at Brunswick’s arts PR company, before taking on a role at their sister online content firm Cantos Communications.

With the first six interns to go through the second Brunswick Internship in 2010 currently being selected, we reconnected with Claude to find out about his time on the programme and what he has been doing since.

Did you study PR at the University Of East London?
No, I actually did a Performing Arts & Community Development degree, with a varied selection of modules including one that looked at marketing within the arts. But no, there wasn’t a PR element.

Why did you apply for the Brunswick Internship Programme then?
Well, at first I just wanted to learn about something new, something that I hadn’t done before and that would take me out of my traditional comfort zone, but at the same time be something that utilised some of my performing arts skills – such as basic communication skills – and which I was pretty sure I would enjoy.

I knew that graduating in 2009 was going to be difficult, and my best options were to either look at doing a masters degree, or to find a good internship or graduate training programme. I favoured the first option at first because I couldn’t find an internship that interested me, but that changed when I heard about the Brunswick programme.

What was the application process like for the Internship Programme?
Extensive, to say the least! It started with an application form asking various questions, such as what you understood PR to be and why you wanted the role. A lot of people had attended the initial information seminar at UEL, so I knew a lot people where going to apply, and therefore I had to make my application extra good.

And it didn’t end there. Those of us who sufficiently impressed at the application form stage were invited to attend an assessment day. You were up against sixteen other people on the day, and we knew another 16 had done a similar assessment the day before, all of us after the same six places.

It was a really intense experience with a range of tasks, including giving a presentation, speed networking, and numeracy and literacy tests, all topped off with two interviews with people from Unicorn Jobs, Taylor Bennett and Brunswick interviewing us at the same time.

What did you learn on the programme?
That’s a really big question! An awful lot. But, in a nutshell, we learnt about the world of PR and corporate communications, its different strands and sectors, and the role PR plays in ensuring a company is successful. We learned about the different roles that exist in PR, and how they differ depending on who you are communicating for. We spent a lot of time exploring the news, business and other media, how they work, and how journalists interact with PR people. And we did some practical stuff, how to contact journalists, how to write press releases and how to run PR campaigns.

What have you done since the internship finished in early December?
Because of my background in the performing arts, after the main internship I was offered an extra two week internship at Brunswick Arts in the run up to Christmas. That was an awesome experience. And I was asked back in January to work on the London Art Fair, which was a great experience, especially as I got to actively take part, contacting journalists and participating in media monitoring sessions.

What are you doing now?
After my internship with Brunswick Arts I was asked to join [Brunswick’s sister company] Cantos for three months, which has now been extended to six months, which is amazing and expanding my skills and knowledge of the wider communications industry even more. I am also doing some freelance PR for an independent musician.

Tell us a bit more about Cantos
Cantos is a provider of online video services, helping companies make video content about their operations, which is distributed on the clients’ own websites, on the Cantos site and elsewhere. We work with around 140 clients, and count about 40% of companies on the FTSE among that client list. The content we produce will focus on big announcements and financial results, and will often involve CEOs or other senior executives.

Cantos also owns its own content, like the ‘Cantos Charts’ and our ‘Longview Programme’. The company is, in my opinion, at the forefront of the use of digital and online broadcast media as a corporate communication channel. And we embrace many of the new developments in online media, with a Cantos YouTube channel and updates on the Cantos Twitter feed.

Tell us about a typical day at work.
It varies, though the one constant over the past few months has been the creation of feedback reports for clients. These can be time-consuming to create, but are important, as they tell a client how many and what sorts of people watched their videos, and the information often goes directly to a CEO.

Working on such reports has been a great way to learn about institutions, and to become more familiar with the different sectors Cantos works with. So, whilst they are time consuming, I’m never upset at the prospect of having to do one.

I’ve also been out on video shoots, acted as a camera man, and attended meetings and brainstorming sessions; so, like a say, each day can really vary.

What advice would you give to anyone considering a job in PR?
I would say the most important thing is to practice your writing. It’s something that I haven’t stopped doing since the Brunswick Internship, and it’s important because a lot of the tasks you will be involved in when you join a communications company or department will require you to be able to write, quickly, accurately and in an engaging way. So write, a lot! It might just be a blog (which is what I do), or even practice writing press releases for events or stories you have seen in the media.

Consume all types of media too – whether they be online or in print. And that means reading newspapers, whether you buy the printed paper or check out their websites. It’s important to have a clear understanding of the media landscape, and just watching the TV news in the morning isn’t enough. You really need to be reading newspapers, looking at online newswires, following the Twitter feeds of key media, journalists and PR agencies, and checking out relevant blogs. Of course all of this takes a lot of time!

What’s the best thing about your job?
The people, and the flexibility of my role so far. Everyone here has a lot to teach, and they are always willing to share their knowledge, providing we’re not on a very tight deadline with a major announcement! My role has been very diverse; it’s been particularly good to go out on shoots and help draft questions.

What’s the worst thing about your job?
I can’t say there is anything about this job specifically that I don’t like, though – and I’m sure everyone says this – there just aren’t enough hours in the day.

What has been the highlight of your time at Cantos so far?
Three weeks ago I completed a whole report practically on my own, which sounds like a small thing, but to me it was a really big deal! Having done that, I am now writing a ‘how to guide’ on reports, which will be used for future new producers or interns, which is very exciting.

Tell us something interesting about yourself that we couldn’t find on the internet.
I can tap dance and I studied ballet when I was 15… and no, there are no photos anywhere!