Case Study Proposal

I am going to be completing my case study at Halpern PR in London. I am going to be working alongside the Leisure and Lifestyle department who have brands including Disney on Ice, Centre Parcs, Superclubs, Hotel Chocolat and seriouslystores.com on their books. I am starting on Monday 29th March until Friday 30th April.

I choose Halpern as they are a leading name in the PR industry and have a really good reputation, also their extensive client list of high end brands was very attractive as would allow diversity and the opportunity to work with a range or brands and clients. Halpern is owned by Jenny Halpern Price who set up the company 16 years ago and the current managing director is Jennifer Burner. They have a 50 strong team of employees servicing clients from different sectors including fashion, travel, interiors, consumer brands, food, social, arts and entertainment.

Halpern see themselves as a leading and innovative company saying ‘We create cut-through consumer brand campaigns that fuel aspiration, underpinned with commercial focus to buy. Quite simply, we make our clients known...and respected. Part art, part science. We set trends, build consumer desire and shape debate across a broad spectrum of media and industries, for a diverse portfolio of world-class brands’
My case study is going to look at the relationship Halpern holds with journalists, and how this affects the company as a whole.

I am going to observe how effective I feel the communication is between Halpern and journalists, as I am aware all employees have to meet with at least one journalist a week, even if it is just for a coffee. I want to see how this unique approach benefits Halpern. I am going to interview employees at different levels in the company to find out how they feel it benefits them in doing their job and whether they feel it is an advantage to them when trying to gain media coverage.

As well as asking Halpern employees, I plan on asking some of the journalists how they feel this affects their relationship, as I want to be able to get views from both sides to be able to give an accurate account of just how much of an advantage this unique approach is.

I have chosen this project as I feel it is something that is realistic to investigate and I will be able to gain the information needed to answer the research question I devise. I was able to devise my idea based on the little knowledge I have of Halpern and how they operate, including their compulsory once a week journalism meeting, which allowed me to form my case study around something unique to Halpern as an agency.

I feel my own views will affect my research as I already have a pre-empted idea of what some of the answers may be, which could cloud my judgement when creating questions to ask employees and journalists. Also having never met anyone from Halpern I feel people may not have time to answer my questions or help with my research which may mean I lack confidence in asking.

I feel I will be bringing a fresh look and inquisitive nature to this case study allowing me to create interesting and relevant questions and observations to help come to a conclusion about my case study idea.

The questions I have devised for my research is ‘Halpern employees have to see a minimum of one journalist a week, does this create a positive impact for Halpern in maintaining their relationships with journalists and does it help towards their ability to generate media coverage?’

I came to my question as I wanted to use the unique approach Halpern have with meeting with journalists and see the impact this has on the company, also media coverage is something that most current and prospective clients will primarily be interested in, so I want to know whether Halpern’s relationships with journalists allows them to have an advantage in gaining this coverage.

The primary methods I am going to use is questionnaires, interviews and observations, I plan on contributing to my blog regularly so I don’t forget any small details and am able to reference back. Also this will allow me to adapt my questions for employees and journalists by looking at the information I have already received.