Week 4 at Coopr Academy started with a surprise. Our instructor Monique asked, “What is the news today?” Everyone paused, a bit unsure at first because with everything happening in the world, it can sometimes be tough knowing what’s actually worth mentioning.  And that’s when we realized, this is exactly what news are essentially made of: an event or a moment worth mentioning to others in the media.

The first part of the session was focused on mainly understanding media and which kind of story is newsworthy from Coopr’s perspective. We learnt that in practice news doesn’t have to be global to matter – local topics can be just as important. However, to get the news out, it’s not only about the event or piece of information itself. You have to know how to “play the game”, as they say. We quickly understood that building a positive professional relationships with media and journalists is crucial for any PR agency. It’s also all about timing and crafting the right story that resonates with both journalists and the target audience, making sure that the client’s news lands at just the right moment.

After dinner, we moved on to influencers. We discussed how to get the right influencer for a brand. Our task was to promote a new LEGO x Netflix Stranger Things set. Everyone came up with various approaches—some wanted to emphasize the giveaways of the LEGO, while others wanted to reach out to fans of the TV show through influencers and Youtubers. Thinking strategically about where your story can be shared, showed us how many unique ways there are to reach an audience.

We ended the day by talking about the crisis communication, using a real-life examples from Coopr’s experience. The key lesson was the “Triple R” approach: Regret (apologize), Reason (explain), and Remedy (fix). Even though it was a very serious case, it reminded us how much honesty and speed matter in the PR world.

By the end of Week 4, we felt more confident in handling media, choosing influencers, and communicating in the times of a crisis. It was yet another insightful session and we can’t wait to see what’s coming next!

Lenka Kordovanikova (Coopr Academy 2025 participant)

Time has flown by because week three of the academy is already over. This week was all about brainstorming, working in our individual groups and putting our first ideas together for a strategy for Fairphone. We also had individual consultation sessions with our group with either Lotte or Shelly to test our ideas, ask questions and receive feedback on our draft strategy. It felt as if we were switching up a gear. Thing were getting serious.