Spotlight on... Peter Lappin
Pete, aged 27, is an account manager at Paver Smith. He shares a
two bedroom flat with his girlfriend in Oxton Village, on the
Wirral.
Pete's clients include: DLA Piper, Downing, Grant Thornton, and
Rees-Roberts Solicitors.
1. What do you like most about your
job?
It's fast paced and you get to see the results
in print.
2. What is the best example of PR you
have seen recently?
Radiohead letting people choose how much they
wanted to pay for downloading In Rainbows. Plenty of bands
have tried to spin positive PR off the back of the shift from CD
sales to downloads but Radiohead nailed it. They got massive
amounts of publicity for the album - from music magazines to
economics columns - and then went on to release it in the regular
way just a few months later anyway.
3. Where is your favourite place in the
world that you have visited?
Bottle Beach on Ko Pha-Ngan, in the gulf of
Thailand. You can only get there by boat and it has only the
essentials - a bar, a restaurant and crystal clear water.
4. What do you do to unwind?
I'm currently taking guitar lessons so I have
been known to have a bit of a strum in the evenings. I also like
watching films and going out to eat.
5. What are you currently working on?
I've been handling the publicity for
Professional Liverpool. The company has just appointed a new chief
executive and chairman and is aiming to
significantly increase its membership and add
value to Liverpool businesses. This includes developing close links
with higher education institutions - to ensure the sector's
skills needs are being matched - and working with UK Trade &
Investment to build the profile of Merseyside's FPS sector
internationally through trade missions.
6. What is the best experience that
working in PR has given you?
I went to watch one of my favourite bands, the
Cribs, record a set for MTV in a tiny venue.
7. What are you doing this weekend?
I'm going to see a gig at the Barfly on Friday
night, take a trip to Ikea on Saturday (you can never have too much
it seems!) and a walk up Moel Famau on Sunday.
8. What are you reading at the moment?
You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers.
It's about two young friends who decide to travel around the
world in a week to give away a large sum of money following the
untimely death of a friend. It's not as good as his first book
but it's still pretty impressive.
9. What is your most prized possession?
I'd have to say that it is probably my body
board, which toured the East and West coasts of Australia with me.
It's covered in dents but thankfully no Shark bites.
10. What is your favourite quote?
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and
narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these
accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things
cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth
all one's lifetime" (Mark Twain)