Patryk, an account executive at NBS
Communications, in Warsaw, Poland, and a member of the first class of the
participants in the PRWA Exchange programme, shares his thoughts on the
programme and the time he spent at Feintuch Communications in New York City and
Stanton Communications in Washington D.C. at the beginning of this year.
When I
first learned about the PR World Alliance’s exchange programme I was instantly
sold on the idea. Despite a pretty fair deal of time spent living abroad, I had
pretty limited experience of exchanges, Erasmus student exchange being the most
notable I ever participated probably, but I’ve always found such opportunities
alluring.
At NBS, I am
usually involved in projects with a strong Public Affairs component, and
although I am very much engaged in those issues and find that part of the job
really interesting, I was curious about broader PR practices. NBS is pretty
open organization and I am often asking around to learn more about what else we
are doing, however our strong IR pedigree makes it a specific place, not an
archetype of the industry at large. I realized that the exchange could serve as
a good occasion to look beyond all that limitations.
I submitted
the eleventh-hour application and the next thing I knew I was crossing the
Atlantic. I’ve picked the United States as I imagined that there couldn’t be a
public relations market, in the PRWA network, more different to Polish one than
the American. The public relations industry did not develop in Poland until the
early nineties, with NBS dating back to 1990 considered as one of the founding
fathers of the industry, whereas modern PR in the US has been present since the
beginning of the century.
As for many
before me, my first step on the American soil was New York City, where Henry
Feintuch hosted me for a week at Feintuch Communications. Henry set me up at
hip place at heart of Williamsburg so every day I had a proper NY millennial
experience with a morning commute to Manhattan and constant nagging at the
L-train delays, topped with a great deal of after-hours fun in ever-changing
Brooklyn.
Work-wise,
I’ve came just after the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, an important
event for technology-oriented Feintuch Communications. The aftermath turned out
to be “an extremely quiet period”, per Henry’s estimation. However, that
allowed me to have more time to talk and discuss with Henry and his team. We
often exchanged information and opinions on how both our firms worked, identifying
the areas of similarity and comparing differences between the market realities
in Poland and the U.S.
The other
advantage of that relative lack of pressure, was that it made room for more
casual socializing with Henry and his staff and made a great combination with
Henry’s hospitable attitude. Henry was an amazing host that eagerly carved some
of his after-hours time to hang around Brooklyn, get an after-hours drink or
see a Broadway show.
In terms of
the programme’s objectives I’ve been regularly invited to client meetings and
internal brain storming sessions, where I could contribute as well. Even if I
didn’t know the client, or the industry that well it was genuinely interesting
and informative as Henry and his staff were really forthcoming and frank in
those exchanges. On my own I was able to do stuff I mostly don’t do at home
which was really refreshing such as pitching journalist for the upcoming trade
show in Amsterdam.
The next
stop was D.C. where I’ve spent another week with Peter Stanton and his team.
The general framework was kind of similar. I could get involved in practically
anything that was in the pipeline, with my engagement ranging, from just
observing, a kind of fly on the wall arrangement to full participation,
according to my preference.
Coming to
Washington I had also bit of a different goal in mind, as I’ve imagined that
D.C. could be a great place to observe some of the best practices from my
particular turf – Public Affairs. And even if Stanton Communications did not
have any on-going project in this field my conversations with Peter allowed me
to get a fair deal of quality insight.
During my
time across the pond, both Peter, Henry and their respective teams have been
equally open, candid and willing to share their know-how and opinions with me
while I was involved in many projects at various stages. Thanks to that
sensibly loose structure I was able to have a broad perspective and see many
aspects of the PR profession I am not exposed in my daily routine. On the other
hand, the workload made it possible to stay in the loop with the developments
back at NBS, and whenever I felt I need it catch up with some assignments there
I was free to do so.
I highly
recommend participating in the programme, I came back with a different, wider
perspective and many fresh ideas I hope
to implement at home.
