PR students learn the power of the Cision Communications Cloud
Cision hosted 14 students from the University of West London’s Advertising and Public Relations course on Wednesday as part of the company’s partnership with the university.
The cohort of students attended Cision’s offices as part of a partnership between the company and the university. As part of the programme, Advertising and Public Relations students are provided with access to the Cision Communication Cloud for their studies.
As part of their day at Cision, the group were trained how to use the Comms Cloud, were given an overview of how the company provides all-in-one earned media solutions to clients and very given information on a two week internship with the business which is offered to two lucky students.
Student Luke Dixon, whose interest in PR was first piqued by Absolutely Fabulous and Sex in the City, said of the platform: “It was a lot more streamlined than I thought it would be. We’ve used other programmes before which give you rough statistics, but this seems a lot more in-depth and a much better type of platform.
“It’s going to be very useful for our projects. Research has never been my strong point – I’m a creative – but this is going to make it so much easier for me!”
The partnership between Cision and the University of West London – which is in its second year – looks to prepare the communicators of the future to adapt to the ever-evolving PR landscape. Course leader Kristin Brewe believes it is essential her students get a full overview of the amount of data now used in the industry.
“I come from industry so it’s really important to me that students really aren’t just seeing how we did things in the past,” she said.
Brewe added: “Things are so much more about measurement and metrics, I think that the Comms Cloud is really an eye-opener to students about the level of measurement that’s happening in industry and it sets them up perfectly for going into industry and getting jobs of the future and being “future-proofed” on how the future is developing.”
This was echoed by the students, who are delighted to take advantage of the insights they glean from the university’s partnership with Cision. Nabiha Ahmed was just one of those to comment on the opportunity the partnership presents.
“I think the fact that we have this programme is amazing,” she said. I don’t know if other universities do it, but it makes it so much easier for the students. It gives you an idea of what there is out there and the type of technology businesses work with.”
Tom Ritchie, Cision’s VP GTM EMIA, said: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with the University of West London and help the communicators of tomorrow gain the valuable knowledge they need to hit the ground running when they enter employment.
“By allowing the next generation to experience the benefits of advanced earned media software, it will prepare them for the increasingly data and insight-driven world of PR. Cision is at the forefront of this and being able to help young communicators understand the importance of demonstrating the value of earned media is a win-win situation.”
