Publicis London

Week 8 - 11th November 2013

Day 33

Coincidentally, Publicis is located five minutes from my first placement at CHI, so I knew exactly how to get there, making my first day much more relaxed. Another large agency (on Oxford Street!!), I was directed from the lobby up to the reception on the 6th floor, then met Dipika who took me to the 5th floor to meet my supervisor Amie. She is an account manager on the Renault account and asked if I could help them out as two people were away. After working on the Lexus account at CHI, I realised how exciting car advertising is. My first day was made up of being shown around and meeting different parts of the team. 

Day 34

Today I hit the ground running, I was briefed on a task for Renault which involved using 'Ebiquity' which I was now fairly good at using! Amie said I could create my own template for the deck as the old one was going to be updated soon so creatively I used the Renault colours, yellow and grey to fix up a smart layout. For lunch I had a cheeky look around the high street shops and got a bit carried away - I almost forgot I had to go back to work!

Day 35

Today I met Dan who took me to a meeting room and talked me through what he doing and where he needed help. Being interested in sustainability, when I found it was about Renault's electric car, I was very excited and then found out it was called ZOE! I felt like I was made for this task. It was also very interesting as for one of last year's Units at Uni we had to create a concept for Nissan's Leaf (electric) car and here I was researching back into it all. 

Day 36

I couldn't believe it was Thursday already, the week had gone so quick. I continued with my work Dan and was genuinely interested by this project which made time fly as the day was over in a flash. Toward the end of the day, Amie briefed me on an additional assignment for Renault in which I just had to expand the work I did previously to other brands.

Day 37

Friday was a manic day in terms of time pressure but it was great to get the experience of working towards a short deadline as part of a team. Garnier needed their meeting room set up with all the content I had been collecting and the time limit got put forward and with a few people not in, there was even more to do. Finally, we got it done just on time and it looked great in the end. Later, I finished my competitor review on vans for Amie and then it was time to go!

Week 9 - 18th November 2013

Day 38

Today Amie asked for help on another Renault task as they were a bit behind and needed an extra hand. It was a review of their B2B work for the other team over in Paris. This made me slightly nervous but I used the nerves to my advantage making sure I did everything as carefully as possible. 

Day 39

Today Clare asked me to help gather all the products Garnier had launched between 1997 and 2013 for the big meeting/review. Learnt a lot of things through this - such as Sarah Jessica Parker was the face of Garnier for a short period?! I used a bit of help from a senior member as wasn't sure where to locate the content dating back a while but finally I had a strong list.

Day 40

This morning I had to come in at 9 as the Garnier deadline was for 10.30 and there was a lot to do. I whisked in and out of the meeting room we had prepped removing the content that had been crossed off and then removing it from the online folder and making sure everything was under the correct year. 

Day 41

Today was my 21st birthday and was in the best mood ever (despite the grey and drizzly start) I also finally finished the B2B deck and printed it off for a review with Amie. I learnt in this task what CRM and an advertorial was which was good to of known. Later I was sent to find The Devil Wears Prada DVD which was fun as walking down Oxford Street is so beautiful at the moment with all the xmas lights!

Day 42

I had they day off today as I drove to Bournemouth after work on the Thursday to celebrate my birthday that night with all my friends at Uni.

Week 10 - 25th November 2013

Day 43

This morning Amie briefed me on a few things that she needed help with regarding Renault which involved me looking at some super-cars which was really cool and very interesting. Then I emailed the Garnier team asking after how everything went on the Friday which apparently went well and I was thanked for all my help which felt rewarding. Next I was to note down interesting trivia and facts on a certain subject that could be linked to a brand for their advertising. Lastly I was asked if I could take something to the Campaign offices which have just moved to Teddington which is next to Twickenham where I live - perfect! Got to finish early and visit Teddington studios where it is situated. 

Day 44

Today I hit my first real problem - none of the super-car dealerships would give me the information I was looking for which was a bit annoying but couldn't be tackled. Instead I got started on another project which was about how cars and vans are using sensors at the moment in their technologies and how they communicate this through their advertising. Later, Amie praised me for my work on the subject I can't talk about and asked me to do something else on it which felt nice. 

Day 45

This morning after her status meeting Amie came over with lots she needed help on and I created a list from her brief of what I needed to do. It involved a lot of thinking off my own back and researching for the bits I didn't know. She also wanted me to include a template which involved thinking of functional messages, key findings, insight etc which all brought back memories from Uni - very useful!

Day 46

Today was a busy day. It started off with Megan asking me to help out on some Garnier Media Plans which I was intimidated of after a unit on it last year at Uni, but with a bit of guidance and using the knowledge I learnt I was able to read them and take out the relevant information to create a new sheet for 2014. I felt really proud at the end as numerical work is not my strongest point but it was great to get a variety of experiences. Next Ben for Nescafe asked me to come along to a creative meeting with the creative director. It was a very laid back and humorous meeting and I made lots of notes about what I needed to complete. After that I made the notes into a document and started sourcing the items needed online. 

Day 47

Today I had the day off as my family were going away for the weekend for a celebration. 

Week 11 - 2nd December 2013

Day 48

Today was the seating arrangement mix up so I had to find my new desk which was a bit tricky but luckily one of my supervisor's helped me and I wasn't that far from my last place. This morning I set out on my sourcing spree with a huge wad of cash. I had looked up places to visit over the weekend and made a note of how to get there so I followed my list. It was interesting to weave down some of the side roads and explore Soho, I felt like a fashion student getting cuttings in the beautiful Fabric Shops. Then I explored the magazine selection in a corner shop to get a theme that fitted the brief. After nearly a whole day sourcing I returned with my million bags and went through it with Sue who said I was on track and simply needed MORE.

Day 49

After gathering half of Oxford Street's materials, Phil thanked me for the effort and said everything was perfect. We then had a meeting about the workshop tomorrow which will run from 1-5 and made a plan of action. Later in the day, Amie asked me to help her with some hands on arts and crafts for the Christmas party - I of course accepted (love a bit of creative work). I had to cut out stencils and draw them onto card, carefully calculating how many I could possibly fit on each. Then came the cutting, hadn't done much of this since primary school! Was quite relaxing though and I enjoyed the quiet time. 

Day 50

Today Nescafe came in and we had our all-day workshop. It was really really insightful to what happens in these days and watch how client and agency communicate. I could relate a lot of what they were saying to our first year consumer insight unit which was interesting. I spoke a short presentation about one of the topics on the agenda which was great for my confidence and enabled me to truly be involved. All my hard work collecting the materials had paid off toward the end when they came in incredibly useful on the task and helped unlock many brand visuals and essences. At the end we celebrated what we go out of it with champagne and mulled wine - and a few cheeky mince pies! Then later was the Christmas party which I was grateful to be invited to and had an amazing night and got talking to a lot of interesting people. 

Day 51

We were allowed to come in an hour later this morning and I took full advantage of that having gone to bed at 3.30am! In a very fragile manner I walked into the 5th floor to soon see I wasn't the only one. I spent today arranging all our insight and analysis from yesterday and organising the work I'd done here ready to send to myself to put in my portfolio. Half way through, pizza got delivered and my day was made. 

Day 52

My last day was full of good byes and grabbing last minute emails. I helped Phil finish off some Nescafe work that followed on from the Workshop and finished a Renault project which I sent over to Amie. I thanked everyone for my time there and sadly left as the day drew to a close. 

adam&eveDDB

Week 6 - 28th October 2013

Day 25

Unfortunately the St Jude's storm ruined my first day as Twickenham Station was closed and South West trains had cancelled trains to Waterloo due to trees on the track. 

Day 26

Once the 'huge' storm was over and the trees were cleared from the tracks I was back on my way to my first day again. Walking into adam and eve was quite daunting at first as it was the largest agency I'd worked in. I was soon sat at my table with the other two interns and they helped me settle in very quickly. I was approached by Nick to help with the office Christmas calendar which was a nice project for my first day. It was centered around the office dog, Freddy, who was gorgeous. I had a lot of fun sourcing moving background and help think and expand on themes for each month. The rest of the day was full of tours and meeting people.

Day 27

On the Wednesday I helped the 'social' team upstairs for a task on Walls. They had to find every post they'd posted on the Walls UK Facebook and print it out and create a timeline so they could see what direction all the content was going in etc. This again was an easy but nice task to ease into. It also made me think about what areas I would like to go into and work on eventually...

Day 28

Today an email was sent out by Nick E which talked about the prospect of a very exciting and rewarding task. I immediately jumped on it before the others saw, sneaky, but every man for them self! I met with Nick around one of the tables upstairs and he explained to me he worked on the Google account, already I was excited. He then briefed me on a huge project that was taking place which involved other countries. It will be aired at the end of this year and he was offering me to be so involved I could have the possibility of seeing my work on TV and by the world!! I got straight to work and realised this was probably the best project I had worked on yet. 

Week 7 - 4th November 2013

Day 29

This morning I emailed Freddie, who helped look after the placement people to request a general chat about the agency and life. He soon replied that he was coincidentally coming over to brief me on a phones 4 U task. By now I was getting to grips with how to structure a competitor report so I was confident I could be of use. I was given the social media section which was even better as I am very familiar with this area! Later I finally met Freddie and he gave me some very insightful advice based on his own leaving-uni experience. It was interesting to hear everyone's unique story.

Day 30

Despite being a Monday morning I was in a particular good mood. My mood got even better once I received an email from a girl called Sam who said she used to be at Bournemouth studying the exact same course as me! We quickly arranged a time to meet and she mentioned she also need some help on a task. Later, we met upstairs in the bar and had a great chat about what lecturers were still there, what she did after uni, what she enjoyed and didn't and gave me some advice that I will take with me. It felt like such a small world reminiscing about Bournemouth! After our chat we got back to business and she asked me to transcribe an advert for Save The Children which needed to be sent to clear cast to approved (I was getting used to the routine now!) I had explain what was on screen and what text accompanied it. The advert was very touching and each time I had to restart it, I felt more and more sorry for the children I was seeing.

Day 31

Today I met Justine who also worked on Google and asked me to help her with some work on the World Cup. Luckily, my brother and Dad are football crazy and over the years I had picked up some of their knowledge which was useful. Like some of the other projects, I can't talk about what more I did as it's confidential at this stage. 

Day 32

Today I met Nick again for a catch up on the Google project and he set me more to do on it and I was keen to get as much done at the best of my ability as possible in hope my work would be used and I could point out to my family on TV what I did!! But who knows, I won't know till the end of December. Later I was asked by George to help him source some songs for a Lipton job that were 'feel good' 'not too mainstream' and 'sunny'. This took a lot of digging around and a Facebook status for help!

Day 33

Today was a very special day. It started off with Kristina (intern) and I unpacking, setting up, and downloading 40 brand new iPads. It was a long process but I had got quite close to Kristina by this stage so we had a good old chat. Later, was the all-staff meeting in the bar at 4.30pm. It was wine and nibbles galore - my favourite. It started off with congratulating teams on their work and agency news and then it got to the good bit. We were shown the official preview of the Christmas John Lewis advert!! It was amazing to have seen it before everyone else and was great to chat to other colleagues about their reactions and thoughts. I realised then that my confidence in speaking to people, especially those older or above me was growing.

Day 34

My last day, like most of them, was a sad one and I didn't want to go. It was Kristina's too and we made it a fun one and arranged to meet up outside of work which was nice. I managed to fit a last minute competitor report in for Edward and put all my effort in, in hope I would be remembered.