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.