“So, what do you do for work?”
It’s a question we all get asked a lot – especially when meeting new people or networking. Sometimes people find it hard to explain what they do but since starting work in public relations, communication is at the heart of everything. Here’s what I do.
I joined Fenton Communications with a health-focused academic background, one week of Year 10 work experience (at Fenton) and only a glimpse of what working in PR involves. Over the past year, I’ve gained an eye-opening insight into just how powerful PR can be in helping to communicate campaign messages, shape strategies and deliver real solutions – whether it’s to drive behaviour change, understanding or service uptake.
PR is all about delivering information to specific audiences through a variety of channels. These could include education resources, editorial and social media, stakeholder engagement, events or community partnerships.
At Fenton, we work across a wide range of campaigns – including in the health sector. The team’s diverse backgrounds and experience create a collaborative, adaptable and creative environment. One of the things I love most about my job is that it’s never dull!
So, what does that look like day to day? Here are some of my highlights from my first year:
- Australian Government Youth Vaping Education Campaign: I was part of the team delivering a community activation at the Y in Geelong, even donning the My QuitBuddy app mascot suit (see below) to engage young people. Now I know what the ‘any other duties as required’ line in my job description actually means!
- Pregnancy, Babies and Children’s Expos: I attended information stands at expos in Brisbane and Sydney, where we had positive, important conversations with parents and families about childhood and maternal vaccinations.
- Filming in Darwin: Following a lot of planning, I travelled to Darwin and spent time at the local Medicare Mental Health Centre and Palmerston Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, capturing warm, supportive and informative videos with staff and patients about the local services.
- Behind the camera: I’ve supported production of influencer and health expert videos for government campaigns about youth vaping, childhood immunisation and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) maternal vaccination.
- National distribution of public health information: I engaged directly with more than 200 community organisations to facilitate the sharing of information with local communities about a range of benefits available under Medicare.
- PBS 60-day prescriptions community engagement: As part of our campaign to inform Australians about the benefits of 60 day prescriptions I attended a pop-up booth at Cranbourne Park Shopping Centre in Victoria. Speaking to over 50 people about how they can save time and money on their prescriptions, this engagement shaped the next phase of our community outreach nationally.
- Clean Energy Council communications planning workshop: I joined the Fenton team in a planning workshop to map communication priorities and synergies to inform a communications strategy that would guide clean energy workforce development projects.
Reflecting on my first year at Fenton, I feel incredibly grateful to have contributed to so many impactful campaigns and projects. I’m excited to keep learning, to help connect communities with important information and services – and to keep discovering everything a career in PR has to offer!
By Kate Campbell
