Hosted by Shaa Wasmund, the CEO and founder of Smarta, the panel will include:

Sir Richard Needham from Dyson who will be giving lots of great advice about how to make the most of a Made in Britain brand.

Simon Willis from Royal Crown Derby talking about how to leverage the ‘Britishness’ of your brand.

Nick Roope from Plumen, the world’s first designer energy saving light bulb and also Will King, King of Shaves.

The event is free to attend and you can book a place here: The O2 Smarta 100 Academy Made in Britain

Say hello if you see me there, and I’ll be more than happy to provide Made in Britain manufacturing PR advice.   

Posted by Ellen Carroll, founder and director of Nellie PR.

Nellie PR’s latest Intern

Hello, my name is Harriet Bowyer and I have just started interning at Nellie PR.  After getting through the standard post university blues I decided that it was time to get myself onto that all important career ladder once and for all, which has started with an internship at Nellie PR.

As an Exeter graduate, it’s great to be back on campus, albeit on the working side of things which will take some getting used to!  That aside, this is my second internship to date and so far, being the ‘new girl’ is going (I think?!) well and is definitely a step in the right direction concerning the ‘grand career plan’.

Internships act as a great stepping stone between university and getting ‘that’ job.  For the intern (me), it solves the much talked about catch-22; you need experience to get a job, and you need a job to get experience.  It provides the EXPERIENCE you need to fill that space on your CV and a potential job offer at the end.  If not, considering 2/3’s of employers offer graduates with internships 9% higher salaries than the average graduate, YAY!!!! it’s still worth the effort.

For the employer, an intern only has limited time to make a good impression, and is counting on your reference to boost their career prospects.  Therefore it is safe to say they will be working their arse off hard 24/7.  At the same time, as the intern develops and helps move projects forward, they can help define a new position and save you the trouble of recruiting to fill their shoes.  Considering that is their dream job, this is, as I said a WIN-WIN situation.

The secret to a successful internship is to BALANCE the work of an intern between the routine and the creative, so that the work is enjoyable for the intern and productive for the employer.  It is true that not all internships work out, there is intense competition and they are by no means easy, but successful working internships are out there and thankfully I have found one at Nellie PR.

As a business graduate, I was keen on entering the world of PR and therefore progressed through my degree with this in mind.  I was fully involved in University life; I joined sports teams, went on club trips, partied, volunteered for charity, took on a committee position and was a brand ambassador for Musto.  I also completed my first internship as a Marketing and Editorial Assistant in London during my penultimate summer and financed my uni lifestyle with a part time job…all of this will have gone some way to securing my position at Nellie PR.

So, the question is why did I chose Nellie PR and what do I hope to achieve?  I chose Nellie PR because I learnt from my previous internship that working for a smaller company gives you the opportunity to do more than filing and the notorious coffee run.  I want to LEARN all things PR related in the B2B sector and build up some EXPERIENCE.  I am looking forward to attending network events, working on projects and the possibility of seeing my work published – a great feat for one who has three years one years worth of blood sweat and tears stashed in the loft.

At the same time, I hope to see myself blooming into a B2B PR expert under the professional guidance of Ellen Carroll, founder of Nellie PR.  Considering that I have already written my first press release, Ellen has dropped me in the deep end and is keeping me nice and busy….I have a good feeling about things to come.

However it’s not all work and no play in the working world either – outside of work I am just as busy, whether I am at the gym, climbing, at the cinema or whipping up something new in the kitchen (this morning I made my first “detox juice” for breakfast – which was very successful I might add).  I am always keen to try something new and am very much enjoying my time at Nellie PR so far – keep an eye on the blog to keep up to date with life as an intern.

Posted by Harriet Bowyer, Marketing and PR Intern, Nellie PR.

Nellie PR is an engaging and attentive PR Agency based in Exeter in the lovely South West.

University of Exeter Forum

Of course, Nottingham will be sadly missed, but we will still be popping up North and spending time with all our Midlands-based clients, friends and family.  But why the move to Exeter?

University of Exeter Campus

Love, the pull of the Devonshire scenery, the sea on our doorstep, and new business growth in the South West all had its part to play in the move southwards.  Exeter is a great place to do business, and our office at the Innovation Centre has more going for it than just a great view – and it is a great view.  The reasons are too numerous to mention, but as a starter, here are the:

Top Six Reasons why Exeter is our new business home:

Exeter is in the top 10 for business – according to the BBC and Experian, Exeter is in the top 10 in England for businesses that show high growth potential.  The perfect fit for us as we expand and grow our business.

The University of Exeter is The Sunday Times University of the Year and its campus with the Business School, £48 million Forum and even the fantastic Northcott theatre all within its campus grounds, means that we have plenty of places to entertain our clients, hold events, bump into and get chatting to the best business and academic minds.

Conferences and business events – including TEDex, major business conferences, events, seminars and workshops taking place almost daily.  The facilities at the Innovation Centre include conference and meeting rooms, onsite catering and cafe.

Talent – we have some of the brightest student and graduate talent on our doorstep and have already taken advantage of this talent pool with third-year psychology student and intern, Luke Bristow and marketing graduate, Harriet Bowyer, joining the Nellie PR team.

In great company – the Innovation Centre is home to over 50 other businesses with a combined £20m plus turnover, and is the focal point for business in the region. The complex gained more than £10m investment to provide first class facilities and our successful neighbouring businesses include the likes of Crowdcube and Fantasy Shopper.  Exeter is the home of the Met Office, Thomson Reuters and Flybe.  Even the museum is award winning.

Transport – beaches, national parks of Dartmoor and Exmoor, waterfront and quay all close by, great road transport links, two mainline train stations with fast trains to Bristol, Reading and London and other major UK cities.  We also have an international airport.

Our aim is to become the best PR agency in the South West, so picking Exeter and the Innovation Centre as our new home was more than a lucky find – it was a strategic must.  Location, location, location means that we have the most attractive environment for our business to grow, to attract the best talent and service the very best businesses.

Come visit, we’ll be happy to show you around.

Looking for the best South West PR agency, contact Nellie PR, the Exeter PR agency at hello@nelliepr.co.uk

Nellie PR’s latest Intern at the Exeter Agency

Some would describe the PR industry as a proverbial shark tank; a dog-eat-dog world of public image, persuasion and commercial competition. So why, you may ask, would I voluntarily throw myself into such a pressured and ravenous environment? Unlike many internship positions, which predominantly encompass such exciting projects as coffee making or memo filing, Nellie PR prompts its young talent to meander out of their depth and into the expansive realm of public relations. We are yet to see whether I shall sink or swim.

As a final year Psychology student at the University of Exeter, the chance to work for a company like Nellie PR was too good an opportunity to overlook. So why was I favoured above the array of hotshots that fought so hard for my position? Throughout the rigorous application process, my enthusiasm for this agency and its long term goals was a crucial factor that stood me out from the other candidates. Not to say that I would have got the position based on ambition alone.

Previous experience working as a marketing executive for a local company, where I promoted their image through social media and e-mail marketing presumably contributed somewhat. My part-time positions as a football coach and restaurant supervisor also demonstrated a versatile combination of teamwork and leadership ability – and that I’m no lazy student. Oh, and did I mention that I’m devilishly handsome? I jest. Nonetheless, Lady Luck must have been smiling fondly at me over the past few weeks, as it’s no fairy tale that paid internships in the PR world are few and far between.

So what do I hope to gain from the coming months, as I toil with Twitter and a thesaurus becomes my new best friend? Nellie PR is an engaging and attentive PR agency, which does not exclusively apply to its clients. This mutual relationship will provide both the company and I with profusely beneficial experience, in which I hope to ditch the armbands and plunge straight into the deep-end of business story making.

Posted by Luke Bristow, PR and marketing intern at Nellie PR – bossing, or should I say ‘venturing into’, the world of PR and reciting my adventures here on the Nellie PR blog.

Nellie PR is an engaging and attentive PR Agency based in Exeter in the lovely South West.

Nellie PR attended a Networking Event at the Magdalen Chapter, Exeter.

It could be considered rather brave for an agency to cast a new intern into the strategically-social environment that shapes a PR event.  Yet this is precisely what the higher orders at Nellie PR had me doing for the CIPR’s recent gathering in Exeter.  Amidst the canapés, free wine and general chatter, I was able to find my feet in the South West PR scene and build some networking confidence.

The ability to communicate is a highly desirable facet within public relations. It can help you to obtain new clients, develop connections in the industry or even expand your agency.  This particular event was hosted at the stunning Magdalen Chapter in Exeter and drew in some of the big names from the area.  As an intern, I didn’t have a particularly expansive portfolio to show off, but it was enlightening to interact with PRs who represent a diverse mix of companies, both agency and client-side, ranging from the Met Office to high tech and software companies.

There were even a few ex-journalists making a transition from journalism into PR and marketing.  Nonetheless, they all seemed pleased to see a fresh, young face (their words not mine) breaking into the industry and were eager to offer tips on the “dos and don’ts” of PR communication, while delicately flaunting their own work, and building up connections.

With Nellie PR being an agency on the rise and looking to expand, it was inevitable that this networking event would also have a subtly alternate agenda for us – scouting for talent.     Of course, I couldn’t play a role in any such selection, but it was interesting from my perspective to see ‘who’ and ‘what’ my mentor was eyeing-up in potential recruits.  Who knows, if we keep up with the networking, we may have another addition to our engaging team in the not too distant future.

Throughout the rest of the session, there was some great input from CIPR West of England representatives who are promoting the PR industry in the South West.  The speakers enthused about the enterprising South West region and what the CIPR is doing to support its PR members in Exeter with events, training and additional networking opportunities.  Some of the forthcoming events include a social media workshop, a session on digital marketing and a course on measuring and evaluating PR.

So it seems that I’m definitely in the right place to kick-start a career in PR. My first experience of networking was not only very engrossing, (I clung to sentences like ivy to a house), but also a whole lot of fun.  It’s great to see so many representatives getting together to rave about the fantastic PR work being done in the South West.

Hopefully next time I’ll be able to contribute with a few blows of my own trumpet too.

Posted by Luke Bristow, PR and marketing intern at Exeter PR agency, Nellie PR.

Take a look at the employee of the month feature in The Manufacturer. 

Take a look at the bucking the trend during a recession article in The Guardian.

Take a look at The Guardian article, from Nellie PR client: David Nieper offers advice to British fashion manufacturers. 

Nellie PR is a public relations and marketing agency based at The Innovation Centre at The University of Exeter.

We are looking for a trainee PR and marketing executive and a part-time PR and marketing intern to join our growing team.

Key Duties:

Writing and content creation

• Writing material for a variety of media, including press releases, blog posts, website copy, newsletters and in-depth feature articles
• Proofreading and editing content
• Development of content plans and editorial schedules.

Public Relations

• Media relations and relationship-building with the media, bloggers, organisations and other influencers
• Researching opportunities, writing and distributing press releases to targeted media and influencers, pitching stories, monitoring news, setting up and maintaining media lists and databases.

Marketing and social:

• Updating the Nellie PR website and supporting the development of a new website
• Developing social media content, including blog posts
• Supporting, updating and maintaining social media channels, including Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube
• Drafting case studies, presentations and other marketing material, including email newsletters and video case studies and testimonials
• Sourcing and developing more visual and interesting content to support blogs, including photography, video interviews.

Other duties

• Client and supplier liaison
• Assisting in the planning, development and implementation of strategies and campaigns
• Administration, as and when required
• Organisation of events and attendance at networking events.

Candidate Requirements:

• Fantastic writing skills and ability to write for a wide range of audiences and across various formats
• Strong communication skills, great spelling and grammar
• Keen interest in PR and marketing, journalism and business
• Hardworking and enthusiastic
• A visual eye with design and presentation skills
• Ability to work under pressure and to deliver to tight deadlines
• Hardworking, self-motivated with ability to work independently and in a team
• Proactive, enthusiastic with a ‘can-do’ attitude, and attention to detail
• Excellent IT, PR and marketing skills and industry experience
• Experience of design packages and search engine optimisation
• Video and photography skills are desirable
• Willingness to learn and develop long-term career with Nellie PR.

Please apply with your CV and examples of work to ellen@nelliepr.co.uk