MFN and The General Store, Deansgate played host to the first of a series of student events for the academic year 2010/11. The Making It In series of seminars cover various areas of the fashion business sector and invite students, and people looking to move into the sector, to attend, meet with and listen to people already working in these fields. This event, entitled Making It In: PR & Marketing welcomed Jessica Lowe and Amy Young who both work in PR & Marketing in the fashion industry.

Lowe is the Press & Marketing Manager for Harvey Nichols in Manchester and her job is very varied, summarising her role Jessica says: it is my job to "attract new customers to the store in many, many ways!" Young is the PR & Marketing Executive for Jacobson Group in their head office and deals with "PR & Marketing and advertising campaigns" for the company's various brands on a national and international basis. Amy works with some of the company’s major brands including Gola, Dunlop and Lotus.

The event enabled attendees to get a feel for what would be asked off them if they took a job in Marketing within the fashion industry by both panelists giving examples of a typical day in their specific post. Amy starts her working day by "checking emails for sample requests, image requests”. 'Call ins' are also a big part of Amy’s working day, which she explained was when her office "get an email from a magazine who are working on a specific feature”. This email asks for specific product images to be considered for their feature, Amy then puts together a package that represents the Jacobson Group’s brands.

Jessica and her team had spent that day, following the Harvey Nichols Manchester A/W ’10 Catwalk show the night before, emailing out images and post-event press releases to the press to ensure that her event was covered.

When asked to map the journey from school to her office on New Cathedral Street, Lowe admitted, "I never really had a plan ... I just knew I wanted to do something fun!” She continued, “I did A Levels ... did a Degree in English at Manchester University and whilst I was at University I started writing for the University Paper for the fashion pages [and then] became Fashion Editor". Jessica then worked in Journalism in the local area and “built up [her] contacts” before joining Harvey Nichols, where she has been for four years and eight fashion shows.

Amy Young has been with Jacobson Group for two and a half years, before this she "went to Uni in Preston and studied Business”. Amy’s education comes from a Business Studies perspective but Amy’s heart was in fashion which saw her “working for a local design agency as the Marketing Assistant" after graduation. Amy said of her move into fashion: "Experience does count for a lot as does enthusiasm”.

The two panelists certainly had a lot of enthusiasm for their jobs and were a positive set of role models for any audience member looking to move into fashion PR & Marketing. Lowe said of her role, "I think it is fantastic, I have lots of friends who do not enjoy their jobs but I do", but adding "If you're the kind of person who likes your own time and finishing your job at five, it isn't for you". Amy talked about her job’s high points: "we have magazines in the office that we get buzz from if we get a mention ... when you see product placement in a magazine it just confirms that you've got a good product and that you're doing your job”.

MFN’s top tips for success:

Network

Be nice

Be IT literate

Intern/volunteer in the relevant field

Words by Jordan McDowell. Images by 天 乐/Qian.

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