Direction of this Blog

This blog began as a way for me to document what I was learning as an intern at Quiksilver. Now, it is taking an adaption. Much like is done in the process of public relations, I had to reevaluate the purpose of this blog and the direction it would take from this point on.

First of all, I would like to settle on the term practitioner when referring to an individual working within the field of public relations. As my professor Daniel Ruth suggested, these individuals should not be termed professionals. Someone cannot get a license: Public Relations Professional, expires 2015. The one thing we have going for us: the First Amendment, providing the freedom of speech.

The official title for the internship position I held this summer: Event Marketing Intern. The responsibilities as stated on the application:

• Organize promotional materials
• Producing post-event reports
• Managing promotional distribution
• Assisting with promotional plans

Now, there are all kinds of tasks that I was responsible for this summer that are not included above. I will be taking a step towards the E portion of the R.A.C.E. acronym used in public relations: Evaluate. I will be evaluating what I did this summer with Quiksilver and applying them to what I am learning currently through my public relations studies as well as out-of-class activities.

One component of public relations is Marketing Communications. If if were to wrap up the internship into one statement in conjunction with public relations, it would be as follows:

As an event marketing intern at Quiksilver, I gained experience in the marketing communications aspect of public relations. Working primarily with a retail-driven mindset, we combined activities designed to sell Quiksilver products and the idea of the boardriding lifestyle as defined by Quiksilver. We combined advertising, collateral materials, publicity, promotions, trade shows and special events.

This last paragraph will be my guiding statement — my mission statement — for the direction of this blog. I will be relating my experiences with Quiksilver, as well as other experiences within the action sports industry, to the established views of public relations. I will be relating these experiences to my studies at USF, and also formulating my own views on public relations.