Aesop Agency, Piccadilly, London.
Week 25 - Monday 14th April 2014
Day 115
After only having the interview on Friday, the turn around to accepting my job and starting was very quick! None-the-less I started my placement at 10am. Not before a morning of hell though! I awaited the 9.11 train at Twickenham in good time, only for it to arrive and not even be able to get on! Not a great start. Then, as the semi-fast train pulled in shortly after, I lost my shoe down the gap as I stepped up to the train. To my embarrassment I had to step back off and hop down to the guard who had to fish it off the tracks. Finally, I was on my 3rd train and luckily arrived bang on 10am. Pip, who interviewed me greeted me at reception and showed me to my desk, right beside her. It was a lovely building with huge windows and music playing which gave it a friendly vibe. I spent the day getting to know the Shell team and reading all the booklets and documents involved to get a feel for what stage they were at and what was going on. Later I was sent out on a run to Soho Broadcast on Greek street to pick up a camera and tripod. I was slowly but surely getting to know my way around this side of London.
Day 116
Today's journey ran much more smoothly and I was very excited to start my second day. Matt, one of the creative directors and his creative partner Simin invited me to their showcase they were holding upstairs. Having only been here 5 weeks themselves they decided to show everyone their work as a pair through the years. A few of us followed them up to the meeting room where they played their adverts which stretched across print, digital, 360 and TV. I was stunned, they had won a huge amount of awards including a Gold Cannes Lion and had actually produced some that I recognised. They told of their amazing journey's to New Zealand to film Lexus and Cape Town to film Anchor - I was so inspired and was excited at the prospect of maybe one day travelling on work too. They had previously been at CHI for a number of years so I had a chat with them about that after having done 2 weeks there previously. In the afternoon I was asked to create a finance spreadsheet of the months hours undertaken by the freelancers and with info given, work out how much they earned etc - certainly got my Excel mind refreshed!
Day 117
This morning James asked if he could brief me on some work that he wanted help with. So we sat at the sofas while he updated me on their client Tic-Tac. He had a deadline with the creatives later that day and needed to research previous digital campaigns that supported a TV ad that were also different and innovative. I had great fun sourcing old examples and it took the best part of the day to find a good handful and put them into a presentation ready for James to take with him. Later, Jess asked me if I would like to come along to a voice over they were doing later that day. Of course I jumped at the chance and walked literally 2 streets away with her and the team to Wave productions. It was amazing inside, almost like a modern, east London show home, the reception was like a huge living room and kitchen and we took a seat on the sofas and were offered food and drink (fab!). Then Gaby Roslin walked through the doors! I recognised her instantly and it was amazing to hear her reading out the script as I knew her voice from the TV and radio so well.
Day 118
Today I was invited to the status meeting with all the client services people (account managers). I don't know why but I was slightly nervous as I didn't know what to expect and one of the partners of the agency was attending. Luckily, it was completely fine and I actually enjoyed hearing what they had to discuss and was interesting to hear their up and coming plans and how they worked together. Later, JJ sent me a Shell document of which they had discussed in the meeting. She gave me her hand written notes that I was to type up and add to the bottom as well as amendments throughout. The day finished early just before 5pm and we were called upstairs. A cake was brought out for Matt as well as a good-bye party to Fiona who was off to Australia for a few weeks. I helped myself to the prossecco and cake (of course) as the sun drifted in through the french doors from the balcony. I sat on the balcony with two other girls as I made an effort to get to know everyone and watched Piccadilly go past - it was lovely!
Day 119
Bank Holiday!
Week 26 - Monday 21st April 2014
Day 120
Bank Holiday!
Day 121
This morning, after a lovely long weekend, I found it hard to leave my bed but arrived to the office with people telling their funny stories from the weekend. Jess soon asked me to return the camera and tripod to Soho broadcast and after that I updated the freelancers finance spreadsheet for the week just been. Then I was sent an 'attendee's' list with an excel spreadsheet template to fill in who would be attending the upcoming workshop with everything from their dietary needs to their position and what company.
Day 122
Today Jess sent me 3 videos by Shell which I was to watch and create a summary about each one to send to Roger (CEO) so was extra attentive. Later Roger requested I search LinkedIn for the Head of Marketing of a brand. I'm glad Uni advised us to get LinkedIn in my first year when it wasn't so popular as i'm so comfortable with it now and my profile has helped me in so many ways. Later Jess sent me a presentation and I had to extract the initiative and definition for 25 slides for the creatives to use as the body copy for a project.
Day 123
This morning Tommy asked if I could contact BMW MINI and get a contact to discuss a cross promotion with them including a prize giveaway. I found their email online and sent across the email but no reply so I called but the number was not working - bit tricky! I found another email and continued waiting. Later I went to the weekly status meeting and it was evident the organisation that goes into the weekly time sheets and handling of accounts.
Day 124
Ah Friday. Today James asked if I could form an excel spreadsheet and find out the costs of the proposed stock images. I used the image numbers to type into image databases like iStock and Getty to find out info such as licence type and cost. I then put this into a spreadsheet with a thumbnail and kept a running total. Jess took me for afternoon lunch around 3 which was really nice of her, we went to Bill's and I got to know her better and she gave me some really useful insight into her job role and the industry.
Week 27 - Monday 28th April 2014
Day 125
This morning Jess sent me an email with images for Shell to organise and file somewhere as well as creating a presentation with them in. Then after the other Jess requested I source online some gifts for a care package for one of their clients who was nervous about her new promotion (thought it was a very nice idea!). I love stuff like this so had bags of fun finding mini wines and smelly stuff etc. Later, I had to complete an errand and purchase something in Covent Garden for the designers and after that James heard back from the client that they wanted to change two images so I sourced 2 similar ones from Getty and amended the spreadsheet.
Day 126
Ah Tube Strike! So annoying, meant I had to walk from Waterloo for 25 minutes to Piccadilly following a map that Dad attempted to sketch. Finally got to work a bit later than usual and finished up my GreenVale research for Tommy and sent it over who replied very gratefully explaining it really helped which was nice to hear. After that I started contacting Getty & iStock to try and reach an agreement on a possible discount for the batch of photos we wanted to order. My maths days came back to me as I started working out different prices and if it would be cheaper to buy package A or B etc. my head started to hurt!
Day 127
Another annoying journey to work, can't wait for the tubes to run again! I arrived slightly late, but a lot of people did too. I got back onto Getty having not heard back from then and contacted iStock about a licensing issue. Finally they got back, as did a MINI representative and I forwarded the details and contact onto our client. In the afternoon I helped the Shell team prepare for their shoot tomorrow, I went to Ryman's and picked up last minute bits and sorted the admin out and created the info packs, risk assessments and call sheets etc into folders. I finally finished about 8.40pm which was an insight into the real hours of advertising.
Day 128
Finally the tube's were back and I had never been so happy to get on one! After a much easier journey to work I caught up with Robyn, James and Stevie as Stevie needs the images I sent off to be approved by the client so he could start artwork. He was meant to start on Monday which meant we were not up to date on our timings sheet but couldn't do anything until the client got back.
Day 129
Today I learnt to use the scanner! Rich showed me how to use their high-tech printer/scanner and I scanned some Shell work for Pip and made it a PDF and saved on server. Next I had to do a run to the Apple store for Ed. Afterwards I dedicated my day to really digging around for useful insight into the new client and Jess and I shared a document of areas to cover and ticked them off as we went. At 3.30pm was the internal meeting about it and Jess asked me on the way up if I was okay to present my sections. Suddenly I got really really nervous! 3 out of the 4 partners of the company were in there and I hadn't presented anything here yet! With little time to practise I just went with it and spoke in as much depth as I could about each bit i'd found. Afterward Henry congratulated me and said what I found was really helpful which made me feel good.
Week 28 - 6th May 2014
Day 130
Bank Holiday!
Day 131
This morning after a lovely long weekend I was asked to go to Holborn and pick up a stamp that they had had made for the health project. I arrived at the shop 'Blade Rubber Stamps' at 10.10 to realise it didn't open until 10.30 so I went and sat in the lovely Bloomsbury Square gardens and it was really sunny!
Day 132
This morning Jess asked if I could create a status report for Shell using a template she sent me. I was a bit nervous as I hadn't done one before and a bit of it was guessing which section went under which heading but none-the-less after 2 hours I had completed it and sent it back. Afterward she asked me to help her un-load from the Shell shoot and I had to put everything back and collect all the signatures from the packs I put together, scan them and send them to Jess in a PDF. Later, Jess asked me to go out and buy some nice chocolates and a thank you card for the client. I was learning Client Services was all about keeping good relationships and pleasing the client.
Day 133
Today wasn't a very busy day as all the mad rush's for the shoots and deadlines had passed. James showed me how to do a PO - purchase order. He explained the importance of them in conjunction with cash flow. It was a lot to take in but he went through it a few times and I was beginning to make sense of it. Later, Tommy came back from his shoot and knew I loved kittens so showed me all the footage of the two kittens in the advert - so cute!
Day 134
Today I woke up in a very good mood as after work I was driving down to Bournemouth for the weekend with some other girls on placement. This morning at work was very relaxed - typical Friday. I helped James do an image search to create a database of imagery for his client. Later, I helped Pip organise all the Shell documents on the server.
Week 29 - 12th May 2014
Day 135
This morning I had to chase up a finance issue with the head of finance but apart from that it started off nice and easy. Then Jess asked me to help her with admin for Shell and we went through different documents and print outs from presentations and ordered them or shredded them. I learnt that in this industry you don't put any documents in the bin - always shred everything to enable confidentiality. Later Tommy briefed me about some print they were creating for their client. I was to research weird and wonderful facts about apples! The weirder and stranger the better. Was quite a fun task and he praised my efforts at the end, would be cool if I saw some in the actual ad!
Day 136
Tom asked me if I could help him finish a proposal he was writing as the deadline was fast approaching and he had a lot on with another account. He gave me a previous one as an example and briefed me on it quickly and I attempted to finish it off as best as I could. I then proof read it and corrected the layout and send it back.
Day 137
Today was a fun day, I arrived late due to an appointment and the sun was shining and everyone was in a good mood. Tommy updated me on the MINI promotion and asked me to negotiate with MINI Park Lane because the client had a strict budget and the price they were offering was a few thousand over. So I did some research and realised it was the 'wrap' to make the car mint green that was costing so much, if we picked the ordinary green it would be much less so I relayed that to the client who agreed and after going back and forward between client and the product we finally all agreed! Was a good experience to negotiate first hand. Later Sonja asked if I could help her and few other girls prep for the agency party tomorrow afternoon (Aesop's 3rd birthday). After £2k of food and drink was delivered we put everything in the fridge and Sonja and I started making the vodka jelly shots, was a lot of fun and got to know her really well!
Day 138
This morning Monica asked me to help with further preparation of the tins, we needed to find a plain sticker for the front and the back to print on. I found some samples at Ryman's and she was happy with the circular one. After she came over and asked if I would like to borrow her Ogilvy book on advertising - I said of course, was a really nice gesture. Then she said she would put an hour aside at 4 on a few days to go through things with me which was so kind of her. Just after midday myself and a few other girls started setting up for the agency party! We borrowed some of the boys and went to wholefoods with 3 huge buckets and filled them with ice which was a funny trip. Then we hung up the decorations, blew up the balloons, laid out the food etc and at 4 the party kicked off!
Day 139
Everyone slowly emerged this morning looking very ropey. It was such a good night and everyone got very wild - people were dancing on the boardroom table, champagne was popped off the balcony and Twister came out! I got to know a lot of the people that I hand't spent much time with which was good and overall I had a very enjoyable time. I helped clear up what was left this morning and caught up on my emails. Then Fiona briefed me - they'd decided to scrap the mint tin gifts and decided to go with small Forrero Rocher packs with a label/tag attached. Finding 250 these was harder than it sounded, Tesco only went up to 99 and other supermarkets less. After calling round a few places I tried Sainsbury's and they had 250! So £440ish later I'd put the order in.
Week 30 - 19th May 2014
Day 140
This morning I went out to buy 3 packs of 3mm red ribbon for the thank you gifts for the client event. It was only 9.30am and it was already boiling hot! Shortly after, Sainsbury's arrived with my order of the Ferrero Rocher's only to find out of the 250 I ordered they brought me 88 and substituted the rest. I was a bit angry and called Jess upstairs. We kept the 88 and she said we had to quickly try and source the missing 162 so I called up as many stores in London as possible but no one stocked that many. I finally called Sainsbury's head office and they located 162 in Sainsbury's in Beckton. We put them on hold and arranged a courier to collect them and as I came to pay over the phone they said I'd have to come in. What a nightmare! Beckton was ages away right across in South East London. Jess explained if I could get the tube there, if the bags were too heavy I could get a cab back. So I quickly set off and after changing what felt like a million times I arrived at 'Cyprus' Station via the DLR which was new to me. I started following my google maps but soon felt really uneasy. It was in the middle of no where with estates all around and people were staring at me from inside their cars. A man emerged from a bush right in front of me and I turned back and walked quickly back to the station. I called Sonja and explained the situation and she said to definitely get a cab there so using the Aesop account I ordered an Addison Lee and finally felt safe. After collecting the hundreds of chocolates I enjoyed a very scenic cab drive back going past the Gherkin, St Pauls and much more!
Day 141
My train was so full this morning I nearly didn't make it on and then the Bakerloo line was delayed - not a good morning! Anyway, once in the office Jess asked me if I could print out 2 more of the client packs and add my table to the back of each because it worked well. Later Tommy forwarded me an email from TicTac with a list of questions and things to do - he asked if I could do it and I of course agreed. They wanted to use a high end technological product in conjunction with their other promotional giveaway and I had to work out how many we could get with their given budget and then find a contact for the brand and persuade them to let us use them in the promotion. I spent the rest of the day helping prepare for the big Shell event tomorrow, everyone's hard work was about to pay off and I was pretty proud of my gift design!
Day 142
Today James asked me if I could help him prepare for a workshop that was taking place later with his client. There were 3 boards, representing their 3 different types of audience. I was to purchase 15-20 magazines that they could use to fill this board with visual stimulus. I had to understand the audiences and what genres of magazine would be most appropriate. In the end I chose a range of life style e.g. food, travel, house keeping to music, TV and Mens Health. Afterward Jess asked me if
Day 143
Jess asked me if I wouldn't mind helping her write up the notes from her client meeting yesterday. It proved quite a difficult task as the scribe had very messy handwriting! With the help of Jess we managed to translate the words - it was turning into a game! Afterwards Rich asked me if I could help Natalie package up the presents. We had long trails of bubble rap and parcel paper - felt like little elves! We had music playing and made fun out of it.
Day 144
This morning James came over and thanked me for help with the Workshop notes and asked if I was free to write up the second half of the workshop. It was interesting to read and I could see the consumer profiles pulling together and it reminded me of work we did at Uni on that topic. After that, Natalie and I had the lovely task of getting the client presents to the post office. As there were so many we ordered a cab from the agency and hoisted them into the car with us. I've definitely gained some muscle from being an intern! After that task was over I came back to the agency to watch the unveiling of the new website which involved a presentation about the strategy behind it which was interesting to hear.
Week 31 - 26th May 2014
Day 144
Bank Holiday
Day 145
Today James asked if I could source and buy 'The Washington Post' to look at ad space and get an idea for positioning and size. Later I got back onto the headphones promotion contact. I was learning it was difficult to get an immediate answer as I was the go-between I'd have to keep waiting for the client/company/manager to answer. Then Fiona asked me if I could help her create a powerpoint for an upcoming Shell project, she sat down with me while I made notes on what she was saying and that took up the rest of the day.
Day 146
This morning finally the company who I was talking to about the promotion for TicTac got back with a really good deal - looked like my persuasion skills had worked! The figure they showed me was hugely discounted and in budget. I was excited to tell my manager and go through with him the next steps.
Day 147
Today was quite a busy one! It started off sitting in on a video call with Robyn and James and a new client. He wants to launch a specialist coffee that is already active in Russia and Israel, here in the UK. I made notes so I could refer back to them on the work that followed. Then Robyn asked if I could create a design brief for the design team! I didn't know what to say at first, I was very new to this and felt it was a lot of pressure but she explained she would give me the agency template and would correct it if need be afterwards. So I spent the whole day researching and creating these 2 briefs - one for the copywriters and one for the design team.
Day 148
This morning James asked if I could help manage one of his accounts - The Glenlivet, which is a premium whisky. I was going to be in charge of handling their email account and replying to all enquries. At first I was a bit daunted but then saw it as an exciting prospect! I was given a Standard Responses template with a few common subjects to use to reply to the public. Before I started this though they asked if I could start organising and filing the email, starting with deleting everything before May. Later on it was the HSBC accounts team lunch! I was invited along for helping with all the image sourcing and costs. We went to the Jackson & Rye on Wardour Street and had a lovely steak and wine and cocktails! Everyone had a lot of fun and it was nice to chat to everyone on a more informal note.
Week 32 - 2nd June 2014
Day 149
After a relaxing weekend I came in and made a to do list as I was now working on 4 accounts, I needed to make sure I knew what to do for each and prioritise them. I replied/emailed the necessary people and caught up with James to get up to date on the Glenlivet. I summarised all the emails that didn't fit under the Standard Response template and discussed with Astrid from the Glenlivet how to best deal with them. Tommy asked me to draft an email to the Tic Tac client giving them a summary of where we are up to and what we need from them now
Day 150
This morning I helped Sonja wrap and box up books about leadership that were being sent out. I then helped James go over all the costs for the HSBC images and track all receipts etc. Early afternoon I had no jobs left to complete so created a rough layout for my coursework.
Day 151
Today was a busy day. I started off popping to the London Graphic centre to get stuff needed for the new reception desk that arrived today! I came back and Pip asked me if I could pull together a deck on Vodafone's new style of advertising and save the images on the work server. After that Rich asked if Jess and I could carry some leaflets to be cut and scored to a print company off Regents street. I came back and then Jess asked me to help out on Tabitha Webb, she introduced us via email and I had to prepare a deck on competitors, articles on Tabitha and what others are doing for dress packaging.
Day 152
Today I got back to managing the Glenlivet email account, there had already been a flood of new emails and we got an email from Glenlivet asking if we would be able to respond to customer queries daily minimum so my management needed to step up and I constantly kept a tab open so I could see when new emails came in. Tommy talked to me about the latest on the promotion for our client - they wanted a higher priced product from the company we had approached so I had to rearrange volumes/budgets and discuss with Mark the other options.
Day 153
This morning Jess approached me to help her with a New Business idea. She had noticed this brand was under performing and thought they could do with a branding makeover. She briefed me and asked me to pull together a powerpoint on different issues and areas. It took me all morning/early afternoon to finish it as it was a lot of researching but it paid off when she was really happy with it and thanked me on my efforts.
Week 33 - 9th June 2014
Day 154
After a tiresome weekend celebrating Bournemouth Summer Ball, I was back in London and had to get straight back into work mode. I started the morning off by answering some of the emails on the Glenlivet account and filing them. Then Jess forwarded me some new Tabitha Webb data to put into the spreadsheet we shared with her. Later I recapped on the L'Oreal presentation I made, ready in time for our briefing at 2. After that the office went down to watch a bit of the Gumball 3000 Rally that was taking place round Golden Square, was very very cool!
Day 155
This morning Jess asked me if I could proof read her work and make amendments where necessary. It was nice to felt she trusted me in that sense. I printed several copies out afterwards, bound them and returned them to her. After, Tommy asked if I could keep chasing up our contacts as the client was calling him today and he needed the info. Advertising is such a chain of people, if one person slacks, the whole line can be affected.
Day 156
I was ill today.
Day 157
Despite not feeling 100% I came in because I had to chase up the company we were using for the TicTac promotion and they were back from Sweden today. I drafted an email and sent it to my contacts there explaining the client needed the info asap to move forward. Then I answered yesterday's Glenlivet emails and filed the email account. Then Jess sent me over new Tabitha Webb photos to be filed and put into the spreadsheet along with the details. Afterwards I had the Editorial and Comms tools meeting which was from the planning team to the client services team and was really interesting, I learnt a lot as well.
Day 158
This morning I finally got a company info pack from the company I was chasing for Tic Tac and forwarded it onto Tommy who was pleased. Next I had a meeting with Pip with regards to my internship and how it was going and she said her good byes as she was off on holiday next week so I wouldn't see her. Later I had a chat with James regarding the Glenlivet account - he said I was doing really well and liked the way i'd ordered things. The day came to an early finish at 4.30pm when we went upstairs to see off Jody who was leaving on maternity leave.
Week 34 - 16th June 2014
Day 159
This morning, the temp who was covering Sonja on the front desk was ill and Jim asked me to man reception until a new temp arrived! I was a bit scared at first as no one knew what to do, luckily Jim found a handbook and had to run off so I frantically tried to flick through it and soak up all the info on how to buzz people in, to how to answer the phone and transfer calls. Later in the morning the temp arrived and I did my best to explain what I learnt to her.
Day 160
This morning I had a catch up with Jess who asked me about how my time overall had gone here and asked if I'd like to be taught how to use their finance system and of course I said yes, it could be really helpful in the future. After that we had a general catch up and she suggested we do a goodbye drinks on the Friday which was very sweet. Later I got back to the Glenlivet account and managed the few days communications.
Day 161
News came in this morning that the drum kit Tic Tac digital ad had reached 140,000 views in 6 days! Everyone was really chuffed that it was getting a good reception ahead of the release of the rest of the videos in upcoming weeks. Now Robyn had returned from her holiday we had a catch up with the designers on how they were responding to the brief I'd written and how the ideas were coming along.
Day 162
I couldn't quite believe I was finishing tomorrow, the time had literally flown by. I started finishing projects and sending over documents that I could no longer manage such as James Kerr's finance sheet, The Glenlivet email account and various Shell documents. I joined the final weekly meeting and could only listen to the work they had ahead instead of offering to help on it.
Day 163
My last day! It ended with me handing over the Glenlivet account to James and creating a word doc about where I was up to and where to send enquiries etc. The day finished early and we headed up to the bar where Jim did a speech about me and handed me a card and Vueve Cliquot champagne! Celebrations began and I had a lovely evening on the terrace for the final time.
