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In issue four of esPResso...

Proven media relations skills are required for this law firm. As their Senior Media Relations Executive you be the first point of contact for media enquiries. You will also assist with definition of key messages and build strong relationships with key journalists. You should previous media relations experience, preferably in the legal or professional services sector and the ability to stay calm under pressure. This is a friendly team with a proactive approach so a can-do attitude is a must. 

To apply, send your CV and covering letter stating your current salary and why you are right for this role to jobs@unicornjobs.com quoting reference SS37

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Financial PR Agency
Account Director, up to £50k

Do you have experience of financial technology clients?  Perhaps you already work at a financial PR agency and fancy more recognition and rewards for your work. Or maybe you're currently a journalist specialising in financial technology and are considering a move to the other side.  This could be the perfect opportunity for you!  

As an Account Director at this prestigious agency, you will develop your client's key messages, advise on crisis management, manage a team and identify new business opportunities.  In return you will have the respect and confidence of your clients, colleagues and media and will be given unrivaled levels of autonomy. 

You must have excellent influencing and communications skills, the ability to anticipate problems and proven people management experience.  You must also be creative, confident and proactive.

To apply send your CV and covering letter stating your current salary and why you are the right person for this role to jobs@unicornjobs.com quoting reference SS22

Announcing the launch of the site, MD Sarah Stimson says: "Here at Unicorn Jobs we specialise in both graduate and PR recruitment. We have been offering our graduate candidates all sorts of careers advice through our grad site since the start of the year and their feedback tells us they find this information invaluable in helping them choose and pursue their careers. We are really pleased to be able to now offer this kind of information service to our PR candidates too."

The Unicorn Jobs grad careers website - www.unicornjobs.com/grad - which has been live in 'beta' since the start of the year, fully launches next week to coincide with the start of the new academic year.

Explaining the reasoning behind the new centre, its director, Rupert Younger, told reporters: "Issues such as the ability to attract the best talent, perceptions of potential suppliers, the support of customers, community relations, investor relations and financial ratings, and media relations are all significantly tied to an organisation's reputation. Yet, to date, there has been little rigorous academic research to explore these issues. Our aim is to correct that and to become one of the leading repositories of knowledge on corporate and institutional reputation globally."

The Guardian consulted Moscow pundit Aleksei Arbatov for his take on the Caucasus PR battle, and he observed: "You can't fail to notice that Russian leaders are ignoring the opportunity to convey their point of view to the world. Saakashvili is really never off American TV screens. I suspect that if [Russian president] Medvedev decided to talk to foreign journalists, they would, of course, respond."

Aspect's founding partner James Hunt, though, seems to play down the importance of his company's role in Georgia's propoganda successes, preferring instead to believe the country got more favourable media coverage because they happened to be in the right. He told PR Week: "I'm on the side of the angels. There are agencies that work for Russia. But I don't know how they can be comfortable about that."

Ad man Martin Sorrell has said the seven companies who have signed up as official sponsors of the 2012 games in London have all benefited as a result of the UK's medal successes in Beijing, which has renewed Olympic excitement in the British psyche. Which is good news for Adidas, British Airways, BP, BT, EDF, Nortel and Lloyds TSB, who have all committed over £50 million each for their association with the London Olympics.

Speaking in Beijing where he was participating in an conference on London's creative industries, WPP chief Sorrell told reporters: "The winners as a result of Beijing are the seven sponsors [of the London games]. The value of the local sponsorship for 2012 is much greater now than it was three or four weeks ago because of the performance of the team. The reaction has been electric. They have done a good deal."

Out of all the 2012 sponsors, British Airways probably got the biggest boost from Team GB's success in China. The communications industry seems in general agreement that BA chiefs scored a real PR victory in the way they managed the arrival home of British athletes on one of their 747s. And all they had to do was paint the plane's nose gold and wave some flags. Following all the bad press the airline has had following the disastrous opening of Heathrow Terminal 5, PR pundits reckon the firm's communicators did well to engineer some positive press around the Olympic return.

PR Week quote Susie Aust of bgb communications thus: "Through a simple paint job, BA managed to turn the sporting success of many into a reflection of the UK's national carrier. By naming the plane 'Pride', BA also extended the story well, enlivening future journeys for hundreds of travellers sitting on the same plane as their Olympic heroes. At least for one afternoon, BA banished headlines of Terminal Five and oil prices, and reminded us of past glory and affection for our national carrier."

"The Olympics are still being missed in our house. Couldn't they run all the time? Especially when it's raining. There were two features in the news last week that I thought contrasted against the 'one world, one dream' vision that the Chinese were promoting.

In one headline it was revealed that Zimbabwe's inflation had reached 11,270,000%. That was up from 2,200,000% the previous month. That's amazing. I will let you do your own calculation on how a $1 loaf of bread might change in that time... But, let me ask, who can live in that?

Then there was the story of the UK's Olympic sprinter, Christine Ohuruogu (pictured), who won gold for the 400 meters. She's been in the news here a lot because she had missed a series of drug tests many years ago. And there were questions about her running in Beijing. But she's a fantastic story. Born as the second of eight children to 'God-fearing' Nigerians in 1984, she reads religiously. She studies German in her spare time. Got four A levels that permitted her to get into University College London where her Linguistics thesis was on the etymology of swear words. What a life. She's not even a sprinter by choice. She played on England's netball team as a teenager.

My geography is good enough to know that Zimbabwe and Nigeria are not even close together. But my political economics is also good enough to know that a few years ago you would have fancied your chances in Zim well ahead of Nigeria.

There are people and businesses - including western businesses - in both of these countries that are benefiting and failing from the local economies that make our 'mortgage crisis' seem like walk in the park. We can talk all we want about what got them there, but it's hard to believe that we can't do more to reduce the incredible change in fortune that the country of your birth can have on you."

You can read David Ferrabee's blog as it was meant to be seen here. You can read other Hill & Knowlton blogs here

"Good PR. And Google's PR team have clearly had a big hand in the launch of their new browser, Google Chrome. Basically, they 'accidentally leaked' a 40 page comic strip (pictured), which documents the browser in a fun media-friendly way. Apparently, bloggers got their hands on the story earlier than intended - yeah, right. Google know that the best way to get out there tech-wise is through bloggers, who are not only influential but also clued in to the latest web happenings. It was only a matter of time before the wider media got a hold of the story, which has resulted in some great PR for Google!"

"Bad PR. I hate it when this sort of story makes it into the national press... as if we didn't shift blame enough already... Apparently, 'experts' have found a 'divorce gene', which upon study was more likely to be found active in people who suffer marital problems more than others. Basically, men with a variant of the gene vasopressin, which is 'central to human bonding', scored badly on a questionnaire designed to assess how well they bond with their partner and were more likely to report having suffered marital difficulties. This apparent 'discovery' raises the possibility that scientists could one day develop drugs to target the gene in an attempt to prevent marriages from falling apart. What rubbish."

read the full blog here

Our home computer kicks into a Picasa screen saver that rotates through images after five minutes. We sometimes use the TV to display feeds from Flickr and Photobox (a client of our consumer firm Custard PR) and I use my iTouch for carrying personal images around. But we've never been tempted to buy a digital photo frame.

Likewise I don't know that anyone that has one in their living room to display images, although I know plenty of folk that have bought one and have relegated it to a bottom draw.

Walking past Jessops has made me question why. Here's some possible answers.

1. Power: these devices gobble batteries or power cables are unsightly. You're limited to sticking it near a socket and there's never enough.

2. Integration: getting photos into a digital photo frame isn't a trivial exercise. Wi-fi connectivity to a web app such as Flickr would be a good solution.

3. Style: designs are like cheap TVs, not living room chic. Real photo frames are much more decorative.

4. Price: they are expensive and don't represent value.

5. Context: albums are for sharing photos, frames are for displaying photos that have special memories. The digital photo frame demands a change of mindset

Is this a market that is destined never to fly, or does it need a manufacturer such as Apple or Philips to solve some of the issues above and develop a really classy design? Or has anyone solved this issue already?"

Read this blog complete with reader comments here.

	I always think of September as being a cut-off in the working year, where I try to buckle down after the summer. If I was to make any 'new work year' resolutions, what would you recommend they be.
	If you're thinking of making some resolutions, we'd recommend having an out of body experience! Seriously: evaluate what you do from the point of view of your stakeholders We usually think about work from our own point of view. Of course we do. What else would you do? Well actually, it's a really enjoyable – and incredibly useful – exercise to put yourself in someone else's shoes – namely the people you communicate with every day. For example, if you're in investor relations, take a moment to reflect on the occasions when a client has complimented you on your work. Think about what it was that impressed them - what was it about your work that they especially appreciated? Was it your inventiveness, thoroughness, tact, attention to detail? See whether you can bring those qualities – which you evidently possess – to bear in other tasks and with other people. If on the other hand, you know in your heart of hearts that you have nearly come unstuck once or twice, then think about how you can work on those weaknesses. Similarly, if you deal with the press, try to have a better understanding of what they want and need from you. Note down all your contacts' deadlines – when their magazine or the pages they write for go to press, and when is a good time to call. (Or to put it another way, remember when they last barked at you that they were ‘on deadline'. Being unaware of a journalist's deadlines is perhaps the Number One most annoying habit that a PR person can have.) Also note when you've found they're looking for ideas and more inclined to pick up on your feature suggestions – for the Sunday-for-Monday news pages for example. In other words, structure your work to help them to do a good job. They'll like you for it. And a good PR/journalist relationship is priceless. Whether your ‘stakeholders' are clients or journalists, put yourself in their shoes and think about how you can improve what you offer them. You can even consider asking them for feedback if you're feeling brave. This isn't such a crazy idea. If you find yourself in the pub with a journalist contact, quiz them on what they love and hate about the comms people who they come into contact with. And what their ideal PR person would be like. You might be surprised – and learn a lot into the bargin.

If you have a work-related problem, Ask The Unicorn at info@unicornjobs.com

So you decided that you wanted to get into PR?
Yes. By now I realised that I was drawn by big business. I just sensed the opportunities in big companies. Besides, PR can still be very creative – you're writing press releases, deciding strategy, understanding businesses, products and the market place, etc. My new boss was very charismatic and determined to succeed. She drove you hard, but you learnt a lot.

Such as?
Discipline, determination, responsibility. I loved the new challenges - and there was a bit of glamour too.

Glamour?
Yes. My first account was Clothes Show Live. It was fantastic to be launched into the deep end working with such a client. In terms of PR it was a great learning curve - we worked with the BBC TV show, BBC radio and a BBC magazine. So immediately I got exposure to working in all those media. In some PR jobs you can sit behind a desk for six months and not meet a single journalist, but I was working with the media almost as colleagues but also with all the commercial radio stations, other TV networks and all the national and regional magazines and newspapers.

Sounds like you enjoyed yourself
It was hard work but the event was massive at this time – the height of its commercial success. I was absorbed by it but I enjoyed being part of a team, with responsibility and working on such a high-profile event. I also had other clients, including Wedgwood, Laura Ashley and launching Anya Hindmarch's first shop.

Any lows?
Oh yes. Working until 4am. And the pay wasn't brilliant. But the company did look after you – there were rewards. And the work was exciting and I learnt so much. PR best practice was drummed into me there until it became second nature. That was the best foundation I could have had for my career.

Read more about Karen's career and learn how - armed with a degree in Textiles from Central St Martin's School of Art and Design – she carved out a successful career in public relations. Click here for the full interview.