PR through the medium of cake baking

by Kulbir Sandhu, Intern at Northern Lights PR

As somebody who has had some work experience of ‘in house’ communications, the first week of the programme has been an eye opener for many reasons.

My objective before the internship started was to immerse myself:  immerse myself in the master classes, in client briefs and generally pick up as much as I can from the speakers and Northern Lights PR staff.  I was also looking forward to working with my fellow colleagues.

You can imagine the shock and puzzlement on our faces when, on the first morning we were asked to bake a cake.

PR through the medium of cake baking – had I missed something??  I had heard of social media, blogging and internal communications as important parts of public relations – but what was this? Could it be that fluffy sponge and perfect icing were in fact the real secrets to good PR? Was there an analogy in the midst of all this that I wasn’t getting?  Needless to say, we got stuck in. To make matters worse somebody quipped that I had more flour on my tie and trousers than in the mixture! (partly true!)

But looking back there was method to this cake baking madness – it taught us all valuable lessons in teamwork and how teams are only really as strong as the sum of their collective parts. Granted, the cake didn’t look too pretty, but the proof as ever was most definitely in the pudding!

Here’s what I took from the first week:

1.       Great things are being done by Yorkshire businesses. Whether public, private or anywhere in between, local firms are at the forefront of their respective sectors. I particularly look forward to working with a local insurance company

2.        Bradford has a great resource in the School of Management. On a week where local and international press have focused on the tenth anniversary of the Bradford riots, not all of it necessarily from a positive point of view, here is an example of a hidden gem – renowned staff,  green campus – all good for Manningham and Bradford.

3.       PR, done well and with imagination and vision, can have a massive impact on an organisation’s profile (and bottom line). One of the speakers commented on a campaign she was involved in, which had a budget of £200k and brought in £5 million of value. Which organisation wouldn’t want that sort of success?

4.       Baking a cake for the first time, is hard!