Recently, a free master class for students from Kateryna Zvezdina, PR director of the Odesa International Film Festival and the Ukrainian Film Academy, was held at the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts. The lecture was held within the framework of the social and educational project “School of PR activists”.
Katerina heads the press service of the Odessa Film Festival, which employs more than 30 people and annually accredits more than 750 journalists from all over the world. She also promotes the Golden Jiga film award and the TA Ventures venture fund.
Most of Katerina’s story was devoted to the specifics of the work of a PR specialist. She shared her professional life hacks with students, and also told future colleagues what PR really is:
What is PR? Any textbook gives a terrible definition, and you, sitting with a friend in a bar, will not explain to him the essence of your profession in these words. And for me, this is the first rule of PR – you must be understandable to your audience. You can use high-sounding phrases to make yourself look smart, but you will be misunderstood. For myself, I formulate it like this:
- 1. PR is, first of all, informing, and building brand awareness. Everyone knows about your product, many talks about it, or at least those who you need.
- 2. Communication with everyone and always. Every day we need to answer the questions: why are we doing this and how? PR should be based on the goals and needs of your business.
- 3. Anti-crisis communications. When a company is in trouble, you are at the forefront: “You didn’t bring down the bridge, but you are responsible for it.”
- 4. PR is a cross-platform activity. PR has long gone beyond writing texts and communicating with the press. In many companies, PR people are delegated SMM and even part of business decision-making. Because they can carry risks, including reputational ones. In such situations, the company can start to “sink” very quickly, or vice versa, “tax” itself into a plus, it largely depends on the PR person.
- 5. Of course, PR people have to be in touch 24/7. PR, from this point of view, belongs to the TOP-5 most stressful professions.
Kateryna Zvezdina frankly spoke about the advantages and disadvantages of working in the field of cultural projects, shared her principles, and also opened the veil of the inner workings of the OIFF and the Ukrainian Film Academy.
“The Film Academy and the Odessa Film Festival, from the point of view of the work of the press service, are very similar. We have exactly the same tasks for the content that needs to be processed. Our press service is responsible for everything that will be released to the world: the production of photo and video content, the press center, press tours and inviting journalists, PR of the first persons, SMM, we are partially responsible for sales and marketing, ”said Katerina.
She also noted that PR is a long-term game: the OIFF team starts preparing for the next film festival on the day the previous one ends. About the peculiarity of PR in the field of culture: In PR for cultural projects, you sell abstract ideas that people may not always understand. Almost every exhibition has a curator, his task is to give a general meaning to the entire exhibition so that it would be understandable. By engaging in cultural projects, you also perform an educational function.
Katerina also added that culture is now on the rise, and culture in any form: exhibitions, festivals, artists’ workshops, screenings, and filming…
