Thursday, April 3, 2008

Week 8: Friday

I've had another really enjoyable day. I finished editing the vox pops videos for Debby and wrote up a summary for her. I've been doing lots of helping work with Saya: creating IPMAs and studio job sheets for advertisements that are running next week. She has been really good, taking the time to explain things to me and teach me about the process.

I scored some coffee mugs, tea pots and milk jugs that Debz was getting rid of, the flat will love me.

It's sad to leave, but I have a feeling I will be back at some stage.

Off to Taupo tonight to do the 100km Oxfam trailwalk!

Week 8: Thursday

Another really good day. The morning I spent at my old workplaces (Datacom and YouthLaw) doing vox pops research for Debby. I got into the office around lunchtime and went over the footage, pulled out the good bits and started to formulate insights about the brand.

Saya explained to me how to read a media schedule and fill out an IPMA form. I did an IPMA and also burned some TVCs onto CD for her. It was good to be able to help her out as she has been busy lately.

Worked late, but still feeling good. This week has gone really well.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Week 8: Wednesday

I spent the morning at Unitec for my internship paper and also helping Joce with her thesis. It was time that was much needed and I'm coming under a bit of pressure to achieve in both my academic as well as professional life.

My work for Saatchi & Saatchi in the afternoon involved walking around town asking people on the street about their perceptions of home electronic brands and recording their answers on video camera. It was good to begin with, despite the majority of people who would decline the short interview. I managed to get around 8 responses and they gave me some good insight into the brand that I was researching. However, I only got 8 minutes of footage in the 3-4 hours I was on the street. Tomorrow, I've offered to visit my previous workplaces (YouthLaw & Datacom) to get some better and longer responses. I'm back at the office now, but having issues continuing my desk research due to the internet sites not working properly. I'm going to head home to finish it off.

Quite tired, but still good :)

Week 8: Tuesday

Today was good, but not as good as yesterday. I'd had such a good sleep staying at nana's house and I really didn't feel like getting up early to get in to work. I ended up getting in at 9:30am, which was anonying because I like to get in earlier to get on top of things. I had arranged with Debby to spend a day doing desk and outdoor research, but Daniel asked me to do an urgent stock photo job instead. I spent the day trawling through photos of different cities, which was actually quite enjoyable; and he promised beer which is always a good motivator. The photos gave me the travel bug though! In the arvo I caught up with Debby to go over the work I'll be doing for her. I really appreciated that she had material to back up what she was asking me to do (powerpoints and written notes) and spent the time going over it with me. All too often in the workplace people seem too busy to ask questions or even fully explain what they are asking you to do. I'm going out tomorrow with video camera to record some consumer insights for a brand she's working on. I always enjoy getting out of the office and actually "doing" something, it's good to get away from the computer and air conditioning for a bit. Yay!

Monday, March 31, 2008

Week 8: Monday

I was on a roll all day today. I was out of the "intern" mindset of trying to explore the company and see as much as possible. Instead I was focussed on the task at hand. I talked to Angelina early in the morning who gave me my task for today - reviewing brand behaviour of competitors for a client of hers. I found that the Mac I got back was running too slow, it's an old iMac, so I asked Jacky to set my laptop up for wireless - no regrets since. I also met Sarj today, who is on work experience here for a week. I'm leaving at 8:15pm, having thoroughly enjoyed a day of work. Hopefully I can maintain this momentum tomorrow.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

One more week

Just had the 9am Monday call from Tony Gardner. He's happy for me to come in for an extra week in return for a $500 donation to Oxfam. I'm currently ecstatic and can't wait to get back in to it. It was really good of him to return my calls despite him being sick today. Leaving home now!

Friday, March 28, 2008

Is this the end?

Without the distraction of work, I had the opportunity to spend a little bit more time talking to the people of Saatchi & Saatchi before my final departure.

I had a brief chat with Tony which I found slightly awkward as I still resent his decision to not keep me on.

I talked to Carine and Cess who offered me some advise about collecting for the Oxfam trail walker, which lead on to a discussion around whether advertising is dead. It turns out that it’s not, but it’s changing: as mass media shifts towards social media, so advertising follows. Either way, upon reflection, I’ve come to realise that I don’t enjoy advertising or collecting for money. I want to work so that people to just want to give money, or want to buy a product.
I had a good convo with Chris that developed into what we should learn in school. We talked about our experiences at tertiary studies, he had done an engineering degree at AIT, but felt at the time that it was difficult to apply to real life. We agreed that the tertiary studies I was doing at Unitec were good because they relate to the industry and I’ve been given opportunities to work as part of the degree programme. But what should kids learn at school? Calculus that doesn’t necessarily relate to the industry? Spelling that could become irrelevant as spell checks become more common?

Various other stuff happened, it was fairly emotional for me as I really did appreciate the lovely people that work here.

Then it dawned on me that I should ask for another week on Internship. I called Tony and asked that he keep me on for another week in return for a $500 donation to the Oxfam trail walker I was about to complete. He said that he’d follow up on the people I had mentioned who had further work for me. I called everyone I thought might have some work for me. I thought that between Carine, Debby, Sarah and Angelina, there would certainly be enough work to warrant another week there. It turns out that there would be. I emailed Tony with the names and details of the work. Hopefully something will come out of this because I really want to stay on for a little bit longer – leaving on my own terms would make me feel much better about everything. Less bitter about not being offered further hours, yet Red had. TBC.