Meet the Bluestripe team: Senior Account Executive, Paige Brewer

Next in line for our series that spotlights the team is Paige, Senior Account Executive, a member who takes organisation and deadlines seriously.

What’s your role at Bluestripe Group? 

My role at Bluestripe is Senior Account Executive. I work closely with the Account Managers and Directors on the accounts and play a main role on the admin side: responding to emails, keeping client activity trackers organised, drafting content, monitoring coverage, and flagging any updates to clients. Also, I work closely with the other Account Executives to manage outreach for key industry events and keep the wider team informed of deadlines and dates for awards and other events.

Another key part is strategising with Account Managers for client plans each quarter and fresh ideas for thought leadership, along with other PR categories. Furthermore, I work closely with them to ensure we’re on track with KPIs and areas we need to focus on to deliver those goals.

What drew you to PR? 

Since secondary school, I have had an interest in media, whether it be digital or print. I studied Creative Media in college, then a collective course at university that included Advertising, Branding, and Public Relations modules. Through this course, I found that I was most interested in PR. I understood the basics of communication and then the significance of PR for positioning and representation. I also quite liked that PR magic is very much behind the scenes, and the idea of attending events, being creative with ideas, and productive planning.

What’s your most unusual skill that helps you in your role?

This may be unusual to some, or perhaps it is just more uncommon than a few years ago! I prefer a pen and paper to typing up notes from client meetings or internal discussions. It took me some time to find ‘my way’ for organisation and to-do lists, but I found it in the end. There’s something about a traditional pen-to-paper note-taking that I find professional and also satisfying when I tick those off the list.

How do you stay on top of trends in media, advertising and technology? 

Newsjacking for sure. 

As part of my role, I spend half an hour each morning reviewing key trade media publications to stay on top of the news first thing. The relevant news stories I find are collated with others from the team, and I ensure I read the collective pieces as soon as the internal email drops. Along with this, I check regularly throughout the day to see what else is announced that’s important for me, the team and my clients to know.’

What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve ever received? 

Practice, practice, practice. 

When I joined Bluestripe, I was quite new to PR, having graduated that year, and to the adtech industry more generally. Naturally, I felt nervous about starting a new job in an industry I hadn’t worked in before, but I quickly realised I had a supportive team who had brought me to where I am today.

I still receive, and always will receive, feedback on drafted content and on ways to handle client meetings, etc. This was super valuable to my progression, and I gained more confidence with practice. In my one-to-one progress meetings, I am constantly reminded that it takes time to perfect tasks and that it can be challenging at times. However, when I have free time, I always make a point to track my progress while working on areas I find slightly more difficult.

What tool or hack can you not live without at work?

Media monitoring sites are super helpful day-to-day. While I am proactive in reviewing trade publications and monitoring for coverage, I find it useful when media monitoring sites flag client- or industry-related coverage as and when it is published. This allows me, in my executive role, to promptly flag coverage to the team and/or clients. Time is of the essence in the PR, and we need to move quickly.

If you could swap jobs with anyone at Bluestripe for a day, who would it be?

Zoe Baptie, our Associate Director - Head of Tech Practice. She plays a big role on the PR side of Bluestripe and has so many creative ideas to move the business forward and to keep it fresh. If I swapped roles with her, I’d be able to see what it’s like for me in a few years' time as I look to progress. She plays an important part in my journey, and I’d love to have the amazing PR skills she has as I develop.

What’s a random skill or hobby you have that would surprise us?

As many know, I love travelling, and something ‘random’, if you like, is scrapbooking all my trips. A key part of my adventures is bringing back accessories to add to the pages, and quite bizarre things sometimes, like menus and receipts. These, along with postcards and stickers, go hand in hand to building memorable pages that relate back to the place. I’m a memory holder, and this is something I love doing in my spare time.