For this paper, I was instructed to reach out to a successful individual within the field of public relations, and I had the privilege of interviewing Alix Mindich, a Senior Account Executive in influencer marketing at Lippe Taylor and a Newhouse alum who works with major consumer and beauty brands. This assignment gave me an invaluable opportunity to learn directly from someone who is actively shaping modern public relations and communications practices. My conversation with Alix was incredibly insightful, and I gained a deeper understanding of agency life, influencer strategy, regulatory responsibilities, and the strategic thinking required in today’s communications landscape. I was excited to translate those insights into the analysis presented throughout this paper.
This assignment required me to create an example of a strategic public relations campaign using the concepts we learned throughout the semester, including research, audience analysis, goals, objectives, and the PESO model. I chose to develop a full campaign for Target, focusing on repairing the company’s damaged relationship with its loyal customers after the backlash surrounding changes to its DEI initiatives. My campaign proposed actionable steps across paid, earned, shared, and owned media to rebuild trust, highlight authentic commitments to DEI, and restore positive public perception. I truly enjoyed working on this project because it allowed me to apply core PR principles to a real-world issue and showcase my ability to build a thoughtful and strategic communications plan.
