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!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
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.
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 :)
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.
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.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Week 6: Continued
The rest of week 6 went really well, I became more involved with other parts of the organisation:
I've been doing some "cool" hunting for Debby & Danis, a "context analysis" for Dom & David, and some writing work for the Ideas & Ideas magazine - an electronic magazine that goes out to all customers. My meeting with Tony (GM) has been scheduled for next Tuesday and I'm planning to do some work over the weekend so I can show him the sorts of things I've been doing here.
It's just after midday today and I'm quite excited to be going down the "Stairway to Kevin" to catchup with Andy and see what his world is like.
c u :)
I've been doing some "cool" hunting for Debby & Danis, a "context analysis" for Dom & David, and some writing work for the Ideas & Ideas magazine - an electronic magazine that goes out to all customers. My meeting with Tony (GM) has been scheduled for next Tuesday and I'm planning to do some work over the weekend so I can show him the sorts of things I've been doing here.
It's just after midday today and I'm quite excited to be going down the "Stairway to Kevin" to catchup with Andy and see what his world is like.
c u :)
Monday, March 17, 2008
Week 6: Motivationally challenged but cool
Monday we had our traditional morning WIP meeting and following I talked with Tony Gardener to arrange a catchup time before the internship ended, despite his busy schedule we agreed to catchup this week.
Lunchtime I handed over the social networking research I'd done for Carine that morning with the anticipation of something interesting to follow. Unfortunately, I was met with more research propositions. I took one back to my desk, but found it difficult to get started. The brand I was doing the research for didn't inspire me. Nor did the idea of staring at a screen - mouse in hand - finger poised at the next hyperlink - for several hours - do much to stimulate within.
When Red arrived, he took another research project from Carine.
Motivation at a particularly low level, I spent half of the afternoon in dead time, being distracted by anything online that could save me from boredom.
When I returned to Carine's desk I was in the middle of explaining that the research today was doing my head in, when I noticed something on her desk.
"What's this?"
It was a 19 year old guy's page of "what's cool". I asked if I could make a copy of it, then went back to my desk and wrote down my own version. It turns out that it was a project for Debby, on trying to plan for the future by getting a handle on what is "cool" now. When Debby came over, I had a really stimulating conversation with her and Carine about what cool is and how to approach it from a corporate perspective. It's less about what is cool, but why it's cool. I wrote her an email following the convo outlining my philosophies and ideas around the subject. The following day I received a wonderful email back, Debby had appreciated my ideas and gave me some additional context to what she was working on.
Cool.
I ended the day by being in an impromptu photo for Tui - 3 of us had to pretend to be getting out of a limo holding a crate bottle each.
"Fucking yeah!" I yelled, fist clenched by my thigh, my voice resonating throughout the building.
Lunchtime I handed over the social networking research I'd done for Carine that morning with the anticipation of something interesting to follow. Unfortunately, I was met with more research propositions. I took one back to my desk, but found it difficult to get started. The brand I was doing the research for didn't inspire me. Nor did the idea of staring at a screen - mouse in hand - finger poised at the next hyperlink - for several hours - do much to stimulate within.
When Red arrived, he took another research project from Carine.
Motivation at a particularly low level, I spent half of the afternoon in dead time, being distracted by anything online that could save me from boredom.
When I returned to Carine's desk I was in the middle of explaining that the research today was doing my head in, when I noticed something on her desk.
"What's this?"
It was a 19 year old guy's page of "what's cool". I asked if I could make a copy of it, then went back to my desk and wrote down my own version. It turns out that it was a project for Debby, on trying to plan for the future by getting a handle on what is "cool" now. When Debby came over, I had a really stimulating conversation with her and Carine about what cool is and how to approach it from a corporate perspective. It's less about what is cool, but why it's cool. I wrote her an email following the convo outlining my philosophies and ideas around the subject. The following day I received a wonderful email back, Debby had appreciated my ideas and gave me some additional context to what she was working on.
Cool.
I ended the day by being in an impromptu photo for Tui - 3 of us had to pretend to be getting out of a limo holding a crate bottle each.
"Fucking yeah!" I yelled, fist clenched by my thigh, my voice resonating throughout the building.
Round the Bays
Sunday morning on the 16th of March I ran "Round the Bays" adorning Saatchi & Saatchi T-shirt. Despite lack of sleep due to my birthday celebrations the previous night turned this morning, I managed to get up in time to be only 10 minutes late to the event. I ran it in 1h06, my worst time, but I was unphased and still proud that I did it, and even prouder to be wearing the Saatchi & Saatchi T instead of representing Datacom as I had done the previous 2 years.
At the finish I walked 20 minutes to the wrong park, so ended up fairly exhausted by the time I arrived at the Saatchi tent Glover Park. Beer and Mayo's excellent BBQ skills saved the day. With beer and sausage in hand, I wondered if it would've been healthier if I'd just slept in today?
I had a good convo with Mayo and Andy. Andy, who gave me a lift home (thanks!), works for Saatchi Design (?) and spends his time wording key brand message and establishing frameworks for companies to achieve congruence in their branding. His job sounded really interesting so I planned to chase him Monday and spend some time learning more about what he does.
At the finish I walked 20 minutes to the wrong park, so ended up fairly exhausted by the time I arrived at the Saatchi tent Glover Park. Beer and Mayo's excellent BBQ skills saved the day. With beer and sausage in hand, I wondered if it would've been healthier if I'd just slept in today?
I had a good convo with Mayo and Andy. Andy, who gave me a lift home (thanks!), works for Saatchi Design (?) and spends his time wording key brand message and establishing frameworks for companies to achieve congruence in their branding. His job sounded really interesting so I planned to chase him Monday and spend some time learning more about what he does.
And the 11th commandment?
Communal toilets are the 2008 version of Kenyan land mines.
With all due respect to those who have lost limbs by way of unfortunately-timed detonations, they don't have to deal with the bacterial minefield that is the handle of the door on the toilet cubicle. That, my friend, is real danger.
You know those 20/20-style exposés where they shine a UV light on hotel bedspreads and see all those various forms of excrement spread across it like peanut butter? I shudder to think of a similar test on Saatchi's bathrooms. Of course, this is a problem far from exclusive to Saatchis, I'm just using their name as a way to somewhat ambiguously link this Saatchi-focussed blog to a subject I've wanted to blog about for like, ages.
We all have our own secret techniques, don't we? Our bacteria-avoidance manouevres, or BAMs. Some like to swathe their hand(s) in toilet paper, in order to avoid any accidental brush of the bog. Others wash their hands like an autistic kid with chronic OCD, until their fingernail enamel is all but gone. I like to use the 1-finger technique (no, this isn't foreplay 101) when opening doors, thereby minimising the likelihood of covering my entire hand in my colleagues' germies.
What strikes me as odd, however, are those cavalier few who are so impervious to the potential of an all-out bacteria assault that they choose to take a non-precautionary approach, i.e., not wash their hands. In a way, it's a bit like staring a wide-jawed lion in the eyes and saying "Fuck you, potential bacteria", but to the casual observer, it's also a bit like "Ew, you didn't wash your hands", and come on now, that's just gross.
You would respect - at least, one would hope you would - Kenyan land mines, so I think it's high time you raise up and respect the soap, fool.
Week 5: Research, research and more research
I had a distinctly negative start to week 5, sleeping through my alarm until 9am Monday and impatiently waiting for the delayed 09:18am train, I didn't arrive until a bit after 10. Being late is always a mood killer for me.
I spent Monday much like everyday that week, doing research. Some for Carine, some for Chris.
Tuesday morning was a highlight though, Jane took us through the TVP workshop, the process a TV ad goes through from start to finish. We had an interesting discussion on the effects digital and widescreen TVs had on the process, and budget.
Thursday Red and I gatecrashed the photo shoot for the Digital / Interactive and Direct teams - they were having photos done for agency of the year.
Despite being a fairly monotonous task, it was a welcome relief from research when Rachel asked me to quickly wrap a parcel destined for Telecom - Friday.
On the research relief tip, I enjoyed going on a red cellophane mission for Chris; he had found an interesting kids science lesson on colour and was thinking about using it for an upcoming project.
I was horrified to find out that on Chris' birthday, he had spent the evening at work until 9pm while his family and friends waited at home for his arrival. They had left by the time he got home, picking up McDonalds on the way. What worried me was that for some reason I felt that he had earned respect within the company for this selfless act. My belief is that sure, it happened and he can't go back to fix that occurrence, but there should be an emphasis placed on how to prevent this kind of thing happening again. I'm not in the loop with whether this is happening here or not, but I have heard anecdotal evidence that says the advertising industry can be prone to this. With the ever-increasing pace of life we lead, the companies that actively seek to positively affect their employees' personal lives will succeed longterm. IMHO.
Speaking of birthdays, it was mine that weekend and a nice email was sent out to the Auckland team wishing me a happy birthday. So that was really cool, especially to be recognised - despite only being an intern!
It was Kate's leaving drinks Friday so we had a few sneaky red bull vodkas late afternoon, then a trip to the pub post 5:30pm :)
I spent Monday much like everyday that week, doing research. Some for Carine, some for Chris.
Tuesday morning was a highlight though, Jane took us through the TVP workshop, the process a TV ad goes through from start to finish. We had an interesting discussion on the effects digital and widescreen TVs had on the process, and budget.
Thursday Red and I gatecrashed the photo shoot for the Digital / Interactive and Direct teams - they were having photos done for agency of the year.
Despite being a fairly monotonous task, it was a welcome relief from research when Rachel asked me to quickly wrap a parcel destined for Telecom - Friday.
On the research relief tip, I enjoyed going on a red cellophane mission for Chris; he had found an interesting kids science lesson on colour and was thinking about using it for an upcoming project.
I was horrified to find out that on Chris' birthday, he had spent the evening at work until 9pm while his family and friends waited at home for his arrival. They had left by the time he got home, picking up McDonalds on the way. What worried me was that for some reason I felt that he had earned respect within the company for this selfless act. My belief is that sure, it happened and he can't go back to fix that occurrence, but there should be an emphasis placed on how to prevent this kind of thing happening again. I'm not in the loop with whether this is happening here or not, but I have heard anecdotal evidence that says the advertising industry can be prone to this. With the ever-increasing pace of life we lead, the companies that actively seek to positively affect their employees' personal lives will succeed longterm. IMHO.
Speaking of birthdays, it was mine that weekend and a nice email was sent out to the Auckland team wishing me a happy birthday. So that was really cool, especially to be recognised - despite only being an intern!
It was Kate's leaving drinks Friday so we had a few sneaky red bull vodkas late afternoon, then a trip to the pub post 5:30pm :)
Week 4: Continued
The vox pops biscuit interviews were used in the presentation Tuesday, and I had some good feedback from Angelina - so that put me in a good mood. It's cool when you hear good feedback about stuff you really enjoy doing.
We finished the digital information review and handed it over to Aaron - Wednesday.
Carine had been doing some social networking and mobile research and pulled Red and I in to help. With only 2 and a half more weeks of the internship left to go, I really wanted to spend more time with Urs doing some copywriting work. Unfortunately when I approached him, he had a lot of work on and couldn't spare the time that day. However, later he showed me some cool YouTube videos by leelefever who shoots short explanations about new concepts like wikis, social networking, twitter and RSS. Check them out at http://www.youtube.com/user/leelefever.
I spent the rest of the week doing social networking and mobile research, but was starting to get bored with it. I'm not the sort of person who enjoys one way activities, like television or surfing the Internet. I see Internet research as a one way activity because you are always looking for and receiving information. Sure, you might summarise your findings, but you aren't necessarily creating new information. Nor are you creating new ideas - just summarising other people's. I was getting over it.
Interactive and digital meeting Friday was good though, Red and I presented the work we had done for YouthLaw which landed us the internship in the first place. The laptop in the room wasn't connected to the network unfortunately, so we just sent the links around by email following. New General Manager, Tony Gardner spoke at the end of the meeting as it had been his first week at Saatchi & Saatchi. He spoke really well and stuck me as being an open and approachable man. It's good when you respect the people you work for, but actions do speak louder than words and he hadn't earned my respect yet - more just gave a good first impression.
Friday evening I played Facebook scrabble with Kate and Debz, but was interrupted by James who urgently needed to get to Queen St for a bit of reputation management. Apparently things weren't going very well with a client of his. As I drove him to the meeting, I learnt that he was going to miss his Wellington flight (weekend - personal) because of it and would have to get a later one. It concerned me slightly that work had impacted on his personal life like this, but remained optimistic that it was a relatively infrequent occurrence.
Later, I joined Siobhan, Daniel, James, Bella, Teina, Richard for a few drinks at the bar. It was good to spend some social time with the people I'd been working with; I came to the realisation that they are a really friendly bunch - and have a fucking awesome way of telling hilarious stories about the sometimes eccentric culture & personalities here.
We finished the digital information review and handed it over to Aaron - Wednesday.
Carine had been doing some social networking and mobile research and pulled Red and I in to help. With only 2 and a half more weeks of the internship left to go, I really wanted to spend more time with Urs doing some copywriting work. Unfortunately when I approached him, he had a lot of work on and couldn't spare the time that day. However, later he showed me some cool YouTube videos by leelefever who shoots short explanations about new concepts like wikis, social networking, twitter and RSS. Check them out at http://www.youtube.com/user/leelefever.
I spent the rest of the week doing social networking and mobile research, but was starting to get bored with it. I'm not the sort of person who enjoys one way activities, like television or surfing the Internet. I see Internet research as a one way activity because you are always looking for and receiving information. Sure, you might summarise your findings, but you aren't necessarily creating new information. Nor are you creating new ideas - just summarising other people's. I was getting over it.
Interactive and digital meeting Friday was good though, Red and I presented the work we had done for YouthLaw which landed us the internship in the first place. The laptop in the room wasn't connected to the network unfortunately, so we just sent the links around by email following. New General Manager, Tony Gardner spoke at the end of the meeting as it had been his first week at Saatchi & Saatchi. He spoke really well and stuck me as being an open and approachable man. It's good when you respect the people you work for, but actions do speak louder than words and he hadn't earned my respect yet - more just gave a good first impression.
Friday evening I played Facebook scrabble with Kate and Debz, but was interrupted by James who urgently needed to get to Queen St for a bit of reputation management. Apparently things weren't going very well with a client of his. As I drove him to the meeting, I learnt that he was going to miss his Wellington flight (weekend - personal) because of it and would have to get a later one. It concerned me slightly that work had impacted on his personal life like this, but remained optimistic that it was a relatively infrequent occurrence.
Later, I joined Siobhan, Daniel, James, Bella, Teina, Richard for a few drinks at the bar. It was good to spend some social time with the people I'd been working with; I came to the realisation that they are a really friendly bunch - and have a fucking awesome way of telling hilarious stories about the sometimes eccentric culture & personalities here.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Week 4: Monday "It's cool when you get shit done"
Monday was awesome, I powered through the Digital Information review and it's pretty much finished in my eyes. I also took a look through Friday's videos and I'm pleased they came out really well - I think the presentation is today so it will be good to hear some feedback from that.
As Red so eloquently put it, "It's cool when you get shit done".
As Red so eloquently put it, "It's cool when you get shit done".
Week 3: Performance
Monday was the longest day ever. I arrived approx 8:30am for the Telecom team WIP, then attended the whole office WIP (it is actually starting to become the highlight of my week). I spent the rest of the day working on Sarah's presentation. Then, I did some work for David's proposal. I left just a bit after 8pm, feeling a sense of achievement, and that the work I was doing was valuable to others. Sure, I was a bit tired, and I'm not planning to make it a regular occurrence, but at the time - it felt good.
Tuesday was more relaxed, having completed the urgent work and I could bring the digital information back off the back burner.
Wednesday was fun, I had my first day back at Uni in the morning. Lunchtime, I gapped it into town as I'd arranged to meet with James at 12:30pm to go vox popping. We arrived at the quad of Auckland University around orientation week. Our task was to ask 18-24 year old males about their Internet habits for a proposal that Daniel is working on. It was surprisingly easy to talk to people and everyone was responsive. The idea was that we wanted people who spend their time online organising parties and socialising. We met some cool guys in shadows bar who post videos of themselves "shuffling" on YouTube, then use it to meet other "shufflers" in the clubs and have "shuffle-offs". That was quite entertaining , if you haven't seen anyone shuffle before, check it on YouTube, especially the Melbourne shuffle, which is where it originates. I went home and bragged to anyone that would listen that I'd just spent the day at work, in a bar, talking to people (the only way that could get any better would be if they were all beautiful women). Later that week, I heard some good feedback that the client really enjoyed the videos, that was the ultimate seal of approval for me.
Thursday I spent doing some research for Carine on Social Networking Sites in NZ, looking for statistics on which is the most popular etc. I also worked on the digital information review, which is close to completion now.
Friday was spent on the vox pops tip again, this time I worked with my friend Kora and we were asking people about how they used to enjoy their biscuits at school lunchtimes. We went out to St Lukes Foodtown, but were promptly asked to leave by the security guard. We spent some time at the Ponsonby foodcourt, Britomart, Queen St, High St and we filmed a lot of good content. There was one man, married for 46 years, who ate SuperWines with cheese in the middle in his left hand. When we asked why he ate it with his left hand, he replied "So I can push my wife away with my right".
I had finished on a good note, achieving lots and enjoying myself too. I couldn't ask for much more.
Tuesday was more relaxed, having completed the urgent work and I could bring the digital information back off the back burner.
Wednesday was fun, I had my first day back at Uni in the morning. Lunchtime, I gapped it into town as I'd arranged to meet with James at 12:30pm to go vox popping. We arrived at the quad of Auckland University around orientation week. Our task was to ask 18-24 year old males about their Internet habits for a proposal that Daniel is working on. It was surprisingly easy to talk to people and everyone was responsive. The idea was that we wanted people who spend their time online organising parties and socialising. We met some cool guys in shadows bar who post videos of themselves "shuffling" on YouTube, then use it to meet other "shufflers" in the clubs and have "shuffle-offs". That was quite entertaining , if you haven't seen anyone shuffle before, check it on YouTube, especially the Melbourne shuffle, which is where it originates. I went home and bragged to anyone that would listen that I'd just spent the day at work, in a bar, talking to people (the only way that could get any better would be if they were all beautiful women). Later that week, I heard some good feedback that the client really enjoyed the videos, that was the ultimate seal of approval for me.
Thursday I spent doing some research for Carine on Social Networking Sites in NZ, looking for statistics on which is the most popular etc. I also worked on the digital information review, which is close to completion now.
Friday was spent on the vox pops tip again, this time I worked with my friend Kora and we were asking people about how they used to enjoy their biscuits at school lunchtimes. We went out to St Lukes Foodtown, but were promptly asked to leave by the security guard. We spent some time at the Ponsonby foodcourt, Britomart, Queen St, High St and we filmed a lot of good content. There was one man, married for 46 years, who ate SuperWines with cheese in the middle in his left hand. When we asked why he ate it with his left hand, he replied "So I can push my wife away with my right".
I had finished on a good note, achieving lots and enjoying myself too. I couldn't ask for much more.
Week 2: Continued
The rest of week 2 redefined what I consider to be "settling in". Red & I went to a TVC shoot to get an idea of how Ads are made.
Our relationship went a little dark for a bit, as best friends outside of work, it was beginning to get difficult seeing each other almost constantly. It was also difficult because our relationship was built from friendship during the school years, not necessarily anything from the corporate world. As we've been through a lot together, there was always the potential to bring up the personal life at work, so that was an interesting dynamic. There was a feeling of competition between us as well, that had never been present before. It got a bit intense for a while there.
Power horses arrived in a mini-fridge mid-week and gave me a massive caffeine blast. One night, having had several coffees and a late evening power horse, I became disillusioned with advertising and the corporate world and set off on a frantic mission to find spray cans with which I could express my frustration (ideas) in a rage of colour on to 3x A2 posters.
We did some more work on the Digital Information review and it was interesting meeting new people and beginning to understand their perspectives on the digital world. We spent the rest of the week working for Sarah on her presentation, doing research and arranging PowerPoint slides. I did a little bit of work for Vanessa, doing similar things.
Our relationship went a little dark for a bit, as best friends outside of work, it was beginning to get difficult seeing each other almost constantly. It was also difficult because our relationship was built from friendship during the school years, not necessarily anything from the corporate world. As we've been through a lot together, there was always the potential to bring up the personal life at work, so that was an interesting dynamic. There was a feeling of competition between us as well, that had never been present before. It got a bit intense for a while there.
Power horses arrived in a mini-fridge mid-week and gave me a massive caffeine blast. One night, having had several coffees and a late evening power horse, I became disillusioned with advertising and the corporate world and set off on a frantic mission to find spray cans with which I could express my frustration (ideas) in a rage of colour on to 3x A2 posters.
We did some more work on the Digital Information review and it was interesting meeting new people and beginning to understand their perspectives on the digital world. We spent the rest of the week working for Sarah on her presentation, doing research and arranging PowerPoint slides. I did a little bit of work for Vanessa, doing similar things.
Week 2: Pow wow meeting
We started week 2 with the best meeting ever.
I'm not the sort to particularly dislike meetings, but I can understand that for a lot of people, meetings can be fairly tedious, especially if they drag on well after the content has been digested, regurgitated and re-blended to make what is essentially the same thing you had started out with. Not the Monday WIP (work in progress). The loudspeaker announced that the meeting is starting, and people promptly made their way to the large board room. Those that arrived on time were able to sit down on the comfy couches. The presenters, started early, were audible and engaging. The PowerPoints were largely replaced with multimedia examples of the work Saatchi & Saatchi had been doing lately. It all went by in a flash. Done in 15 minutes, entertaining and informative. More like a performance than a meeting, I was sure that someone had kidnapped the boring corporates and replaced them with expressive actors. Why can't every meeting be like this?
I'm not the sort to particularly dislike meetings, but I can understand that for a lot of people, meetings can be fairly tedious, especially if they drag on well after the content has been digested, regurgitated and re-blended to make what is essentially the same thing you had started out with. Not the Monday WIP (work in progress). The loudspeaker announced that the meeting is starting, and people promptly made their way to the large board room. Those that arrived on time were able to sit down on the comfy couches. The presenters, started early, were audible and engaging. The PowerPoints were largely replaced with multimedia examples of the work Saatchi & Saatchi had been doing lately. It all went by in a flash. Done in 15 minutes, entertaining and informative. More like a performance than a meeting, I was sure that someone had kidnapped the boring corporates and replaced them with expressive actors. Why can't every meeting be like this?
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Week 1: Nothing
It's been a week and nothing has gone seriously wrong. Nothing.
That's not to say that nothing has happened, stuff has happened, actually heaps of stuff...
We spent the first week working on an internal digital information review, but we were continuously distracted by client projects, beer research, ICT research, stock photo mining, UAT testing and the odd meeting. Friday was great as Peter from IT showed us how to do a few things on Macs that I'd never been shown before. As a 15 year PC user, Macs are a fairly new world to me. Luckily IT have been really helpful and always there.
Trains have been getting me here on time, and I'm starting to get into the 9-5:30 routine.
I'm looking forward to week 2, finishing off the digital information review, going to a tv ad shoot today and meeting some new and interesting people.
That's not to say that nothing has happened, stuff has happened, actually heaps of stuff...
We spent the first week working on an internal digital information review, but we were continuously distracted by client projects, beer research, ICT research, stock photo mining, UAT testing and the odd meeting. Friday was great as Peter from IT showed us how to do a few things on Macs that I'd never been shown before. As a 15 year PC user, Macs are a fairly new world to me. Luckily IT have been really helpful and always there.
Trains have been getting me here on time, and I'm starting to get into the 9-5:30 routine.
I'm looking forward to week 2, finishing off the digital information review, going to a tv ad shoot today and meeting some new and interesting people.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Day 1: Public transport dilemnas, NZ army training
You would think a 10:30am start on the first day would be easily manageable. Unfortunately, if you thought this, you would be putting a lot of misguided faith into the Auckland public transport system. My 9:18am train from Kingsland stopped 3 times mid-journey due to signal failure at the Britomart station. I accepted the situation and was content with my 10:11am arrival, leaving enough time to walk to the Saatchi & Saatchi building on The Strand. Red was not so lucky, he had missed the 9:18am with me by 5 minutes and had to take the next one at 9:54am, which was scheduled to arrive Britomart at 10:11am. His train was similarly disposed to signal failure which delayed the journey by half an hour resulting in an 11am arrival.
Everything got better once we had arrived, Chris and Carine met us at reception. Carine showed us around the office and introduced us to everyone that passed by. I was particularly impressed with the coffee machine, to industrial cafe standards, and which gave me the opportunity I'd been pining after for years to steam some milk under a high pressured steam wand again.
I was also impressed with the fact that we already had desk setups with a Mac and username and password ready to use. First days are always better when you can just leap into it, with no delays or head blocks.
We spent most of the first day doing usability testing of a new NZ army training game.
Chris, Carine, Red and I had lunch at the downstairs cafe and it was good to get an idea of what we are all about. It's novel that everyone here has "o'clocks", like "sorry I've got to run, I've got a 1 o'clock". Maybe they should take the "less hui more doey" approach, as so eloquently put by Jeanie Richards.
A few more coffees later and our first day was over. We both left, confident that we had remembered at least 25% of everyones names, and content with the work we had done, which was surprisingly fun.
Everything got better once we had arrived, Chris and Carine met us at reception. Carine showed us around the office and introduced us to everyone that passed by. I was particularly impressed with the coffee machine, to industrial cafe standards, and which gave me the opportunity I'd been pining after for years to steam some milk under a high pressured steam wand again.
I was also impressed with the fact that we already had desk setups with a Mac and username and password ready to use. First days are always better when you can just leap into it, with no delays or head blocks.
We spent most of the first day doing usability testing of a new NZ army training game.
Chris, Carine, Red and I had lunch at the downstairs cafe and it was good to get an idea of what we are all about. It's novel that everyone here has "o'clocks", like "sorry I've got to run, I've got a 1 o'clock". Maybe they should take the "less hui more doey" approach, as so eloquently put by Jeanie Richards.
A few more coffees later and our first day was over. We both left, confident that we had remembered at least 25% of everyones names, and content with the work we had done, which was surprisingly fun.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Starting out
Last year, Red and I won the yMedia challenge, a challenge that gets students together with Non Profit Organisations (NPOs) to work on digital media. One of the prizes was an internship at Saatchi and Saatchi.
We went to the office on Beach Road last year and were shown around by the General Manager, Jen. The place looks really cool, lots of energy and an awesome work environment.
During our time there, we will be working in a variety of roles: sales, project management, creative work like scripting, production work like shooting TV ads, post production work like touching up photos and magazine advertisements, Internet work like SEO - search engine optimisation. Bring it on!
We're working there for 6 weeks, with the possibility of more work if we can demonstrate our talent, and our skills are needed. The internship starts on February 11th 2008. Red and I are really looking forward to starting there.
I will update this blog as a chronicle of my Saatchi and Saatchi experience.
We went to the office on Beach Road last year and were shown around by the General Manager, Jen. The place looks really cool, lots of energy and an awesome work environment.
During our time there, we will be working in a variety of roles: sales, project management, creative work like scripting, production work like shooting TV ads, post production work like touching up photos and magazine advertisements, Internet work like SEO - search engine optimisation. Bring it on!
We're working there for 6 weeks, with the possibility of more work if we can demonstrate our talent, and our skills are needed. The internship starts on February 11th 2008. Red and I are really looking forward to starting there.
I will update this blog as a chronicle of my Saatchi and Saatchi experience.
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