Since the beginning of the summer semester, three competing junior agencies each worked closely with the two clients. Over the past three months, the PR agencies developed customized PR concepts for the different assignments. While the maxx solar & energie GmbH was looking for a targeted campaign for skilled workers, Michael and Melanie Baer wanted to create a corporate image and awareness for the emerging co-working space. In the process, the students were advised not only by their lecturers, Tatjana Faj and Elisabeth Wagner-Olfermann from the research group for public relations and communication of technology, but also by Ninette Pett. The managing director of MITTKOM GmbH, which focuses on SME communications, has been supporting the application-oriented format with her practical knowledge for five years.
In the context of a real pitch, the students presented their concepts to the clients and the seminar leaders at the end of the seminar on July 12 and answered their critical questions. For maxx solar & energie GmbH, the junior agency Construe with Lara Baumeister, Leonie Bayer, Anna-Luisa Hess and Carolin Steger came out on top. They convinced with a stringent conversion of their strategic considerations in well connected and clearly visualized communication measures. The junior agency SISU PR with Markus Grund, Lena Johanna Herold, Jasmin Hollós and Lydia Klemm convinced with a clear corporate design and matching measures to generate attention for the future co-working space in Gotha. "For the students, it's a trial by fire. It's not only about convincing with good and well thought-out ideas, but above all about finding out individually whether PR is a career field you can imagine for your own future," says Elisabeth Wagner-Olfermann.
The two-semester seminar "Berufsfeldorientierung Public Relations" (vocational field orientation public relations) of the research group for public relations and communication of technology is offered every year to students in the third and fourth semesters of the bachelor's degree program in Applied Media and Communication Studies. In the winter semester, students gain insight into the theory of PR campaigns, and in the summer semester they put what they have learned into practice for real clients. Past clients have included Jenoptik, Erfurt/Weimar Airport, the Erfurt-based company SAE Schaltanlagenbau and the regional management of the Gotha and Ilm districts. Clients repeatedly incorporate ideas from the concepts into their projects.