My University is lucky enough to have many people come and talk to us from all walks of buisness as part of our organised enterprise festival. Its an oppertunity for us as students to ask questions that can be answered on a first hand basis. straight from the cats mouth we are allowed an insight into the regular day of a business person which applies to our desired role. wether it be an account executive in PR or a creative consultant in the marketing sector.

Shivonne who worked for Primal PR has been shortlisted for...one of the most prestigious awards in her field. she emphasised the importance of gaining reputable work experiance in both larger and smaller buisness. again wether it be in Public relatgions or marketing. Part of the BWP group, Primal PR is a integrated public relations and marketing company based in Maidenhead and are planning to expand to a London office. Established in 1995 the company offers business to business publication, marketing experience and a team of top professionals who specialise in digital design.

Primal is an ideal public relations marketing communicator as it offers everything the customer wants in relation to promoting a product. It is part of a synergetic group which allows all areas of promotion and launching a product to come together. Some of their clients include Westfield shopping centre, IKEA and Clarks village. Starting off in a company such as Primal you would be given the position of account executive. It is typical in pr and marketing companies to read the newspapers for an insight as to what’s going on and whether your clients are affected. Yu would then be expected to partake in media lists and press releases. It would also essential for the account exec to copyright material for clients and attend media liaisons. There is also admin work included from keeping up to date on emails to make sure your clients are receiving their full service and maintaining your timesheets to ensure the company isn’t working for free.

Attending the enterprise festival at university gave an insight about the ever changing industry that is business. The guest speakers illustrated their feelings that “the product doesn’t matter” (Rick Haslam, - Group Creative Architect, RAPP, 2009) it is the brand and outer packaging that really appeals to the customer. It was interesting to see a group of professionals contradict what their main aim is suppose to be – selling the product. They weaved deeper to explain that a product does actually come as a package the consumer is paying for everything that product contains from the personal satisfaction and overall enjoyment of the product.

This enhances the role of 21^st century marketing communicators what was once an unarguable decision to promote and sell a product has become a differing process to win trust and acceptance from the public. Consumers are very demanding for brands as it adds an aspirational factor to their lives. The panellists suggested that Barak Obama - president of the United States – himself is a brand. He has builds and promised to deliver changes like that of a product launch he must now stay true to his words at the risk of his consumer losing faith in his brand.

“We won’t mention the “A” word” (Sue Unerman - Chief Strategy Officer Mediacom, 2009) disconcerting words from an advertising company but justifiable in the least. People do not care about advertising they just want to know that they are receiving what they purchased of satisfactory standards. Making people care or take time to notice advertising is where the skill lies. The word advertising has developed a stigma of force, consumers being forced to endure details about products they neither want nor care about. Times have changed from when consumers were made to watch adverts, it was a social acceptance but with the introduction of services like sky + and 4 on demand have gave customers a choice.

mmmmm McVities...Can u tell the difference?

As a vice to determine how strong perception can be in our everyday lives I conducted a taste test with a few friends to determine whether or not branding and cost can dictate the taste of a product. I decided to use biscuit's because although they vary in taste they also vary in variety so I though through making the varieties and brands different I would be able to conduct a fairer test. I also had problems with finding biscuits that didn't have the brand printed on them. First I had to decide on a supermarket. My main competitors were Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury. I opted for Tesco as it is my local and I actually quite enjoy their brand of biscuits, but will my friends? I then had to find a leading brand to compete with my Tesco value digestive biscuits. At first I wanted to use Hobnobs but they didn’t comply because of the texture so I decided on the classical McVitie. Many people have a clear perception of what good food is. They believe the proof is in the price, you pay for the good quality food you receive. M&S pride themselves on having good quality food however they are also known as one of the more expensive places to purchase food. Whereas Sainsbury’s has higher priced food but also offers cheaper options for those who believe a product is a product so why pay more whether it be chocolate or bread. For example Hovis a leading brand, has an rrp (recommended retail price~) of £1.16(http://www.talkingretail.com/products/product-news/9706-hovis-reintroduces-little-brown-loaf.html) where as Sainsbury own costs only 79p. However can you really tell the difference in taste by price? Or is it our perceptions and associations which certain brands - whether high or low brow - that mould our taste buds. Is it just a case of mind over matter? I mean bread is bread right? Or is it our own preferences that really determine the final say.

I began by placing my two brands on plain white plates, I done this because I didn't want the plates to effect the perception of the biscuits through using patterned or coloured plates I may have made one plate look more appealing than the other. As the first biscuit was eaten instinctively my friend looked at and said "mmm McVities" I found this very amusing as before she had tasted the second one she had already determined the leading brand because of her perception on what a good quality McVities biscuits tasted like.

However I gave nothing away and she proceed to the next. Not so keen on the second taster she looked to me for reassurance that I wasn’t the cheapest biscuit I found. This experiment showed that the perception and previous knowledge of a product will enable you to trust that brand and conclusively buy them. However this can vary. I found that my friend had been used to one type of biscuit more than the other, concluding that her perception of cheaper biscuits were low, resulting in her choosing McVities as her favourite biscuits of the two.

I found a useful video about the perception of smell taste and vision...check it out...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiVUZc5Optc