In January, the Mattapoisett Museum began its collaboration with PRLab at Boston University.
Established in 1978, PRLab is the oldest student-run public relations agency in the country. The organization provides Boston University graduate and undergraduate students with “hands-on public relations experience that empowers them to push boundaries and produce results for brands and clients nationwide,” as written on its website.
The agency works with a wide variety of clients, from local nonprofits like Aaron’s Presents to well-known chains like Ben & Jerry’s. PRLab’s services are primarily carried out by students enrolled in the CM580 course at the Boston University College of Communications. Most students act as account executives, with a select few taking on administrative roles. Each semester, the class is split into teams and assigned clients.
I, along with my fellow account executives Molly Richendrfer, Noemie Zazueta and Rokii Tan, was assigned to the Mattapoisett Museum, a small local museum in a small town. Nearly all of the historical artifacts it houses are treasures donated by or acquired from community members over generations. They often represent memories or experiences that the donors cherish. Our primary contact has been Tobe Berkovitz, a member of the museum’s communications committee and former Boston University professor. Having worked with PRLab faculty in the past, he recommended this partnership.
“The Mattapoisett Museum team has been such a pleasure to work with this semester. They’ve been so supportive and encouraging of us,” Richendrfer said. “Tobe, Jenn and David are always willing to give us advice, feedback and anything else we may need to be successful in our work together.” She has found our client to be “understanding of our lives and work capabilities as students.”
Our team was tasked with reinvigorating the museum’s brand in preparation for its 2024 summer season. The goal was to establish a consistent voice and brand identity across all channels of communication, reinforcing this place’s identity as not just a museum, but a central hub for the community where people of all ages can come together for memorable experiences.
Wecreated a comprehensive brand kit, which provides a template for logos, graphics, color schemes and typefaces that will be used in promotional materials. Additionally, we engaged in media outreach efforts to garner coverage from different local outlets. One result of our efforts is that the museum’s upcoming unveiling ceremony for its model of the bark Wanderer will receive coverage on a travel blog, called Backyard Roadtrips, in the form of both a written piece and a podcast episode. Our team also produced a variety of predrafted posts for the Mattapoisett Museum’s Facebook and Instagram accounts and organized those posts into a calendar. This ensures that our client will have a consistent stream of content throughout the entirety of the museum’s 2024 season.
As students, PRLab has provided our team and me with valuable hands-on experience that will help prepare us for careers in this field. “PRLab is a great organization because it lets us do real work for real clients in an environment that is still very conducive to learning,” Richendrfer said. “No matter how much practice you do in school, it’s always different having your work actually mean something to a client rather than just turning it in for a grade.”
Berkovitz hopes to continue working with PRLab on future projects. “PRLab offers professional quality work,” he said. “They’ve developed first-rate content and ideas to help the museum achieve its objectives—all of the work has gone beyond our expectations.” He believes the tools our team provided will have a long-term, positive impact on the Mattapoisett Museum’s brand.
For more information on PRLab, visit prlabbu.com
By Max Shapiro