I really enjoyed our time at Alice PR and hearing about their advocacy work for clients. Niamh Breathnach, Maisie Lynch, and Emma Walsh from Alice PR were great presenters, and I learned a lot! 

One thing I learned was Alice PR’s commitment to its community. The agency held a bootcamp for aspiring activists called Alice Academy for Activists. Over the course of three days, 21 activists learned about media relations, social media, fundraising, and more. The camp was completely free for participants and made Alice PR a leader in activism and advocacy. 

Another thing I learned about was Alice Asks, a series of guest speaker events for clients and friends to further their learning. Some previous topics include ethics, AI, and women in leadership. It is incredible way for the agency to bring clients up-to-speed on current topics and trends. 

The third thing I learned was the importance of relationships with journalists. Alice PR was tasked with earning media coverage for a campaign with Ruhama and the Gaelic Athletic Association. Maisie had a previous relationship with a few journalists she pitched to, and she earned a good amount of coverage from just those journalists she knew.  

Understanding your audience was interesting to me. In the campaign above, the target audience was men ages 18-35, and Maisie does not fall into that demographic. In our campaign exercise, my group created a campaign for men in their 30s and 40s. We relied heavily on research about our audience to figure out what strategies would work best.  

I also found it interesting that Maisie had to explain the importance of the Game Changers campaign to journalists with a sports beat because it was not an issue they covered directly. Maisie did a great job explaining how she pitched the campaign to sports journalists.  

I still have questions about measuring the long-term results of a campaign and how audience sentiment changes.