The longest jagerbomb line up in grad history...

As you will see I haven't written a post in a couple of weeks. I also haven't slept, eaten or exercised in a couple of weeks either! Why I hear you ask, well I have had my life taken over by what is known  as the MEC Grad Pitch. A final project to mark the end of the graduate rotation programme at MEC. After being given a brief for teen road safety two weeks ago, I have experienced a rollercoaster of feelings and emotions from over excitement to over-tiredness, rushes of adrenaline and mental exhaustion.

All the rotational grads were split up and led a pitch team of 5 other new starters or graduate level colleagues. Reflecting a real pitch situation we had two weeks to brainstorm and plan a communications campaign detailing our insight and idea for tackling teen road safety in London. Because of the tricky target audience and stigma attached to government advertising, this made the pitch one of the most stressful tasks I have done in my career so far. However it was by far one of the most beneficial and rewarding. The early starts, late nights and working over the weekend was all worth it, and I know that everyone involved felt a great sense of achievement and satisfaction. The highlight and I guess most daunting apsect of the pitch was presenting infront of senior management including Steve Hatch the CEO of MEC. Although it was daunting it was also an amazing opportunity. Arguably however another amazing opportunity was witnessing all the MEC grads let loose in our local bar, setting up the longest Jagerbomb line in bar history and racking up over £1000 worth of bar tab in our celebratory drinks session after the pitch! Animals!

It only seems like yesterday since I started at MEC fresh out of Newcastle University but I have now officially finished the MEC graduate rotation programme. It feels like I have graduated for the second time and that the last 9 months have been an extension of Uni. All I can say is I have had the best experience. After reading back over all my blog posts since starting at MEC I can't quite believe all the great things I have done as a result of the grad scheme. I really couldn't have asked for a better start in my career and it's all thanks to the fantastic culture and great people who work at MEC. On behalf of the other rotational grads Rosie Duncan, Rachel Deed, Jono Rayner and Lizzie Harris, a special mention must go to our grad rotation dads Ben Gordon, Simon Keep and Carl Nawagamuwa.

One final point, although it is the end of my grad rotation, fear not, my blog posts will live on! After having my blog mentioned a few times by candidates interviewing for the next grad scheme intake I feel proud of it's success and recognition. Long live the blog!


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Grads of the Round Table

It's been nearly 9 months since I first started at MEC on the Graduate Rotation scheme. At the end of last week the 'Grad Dads' as we like to call them, took us out on a graduation type lunch to celebrate the success of the rotation scheme and mark the end of our time on it. We definitely celebrated in style, eating dim sum at Ping Pong and drinking cocktails like they were going out of fashion...well why not, we deserved it after all and it's not like we had to pay for anything; apart from the deathly hangover each of us suffered the next day!

We were also celebrating the fact that we had found out our permanent roles for after the grad scheme. Thankfully this meant that we had all passed the rotation and were officially being let loose around MEC. Most of us are either moving into MEC's digital department MEC Interaction or the Communications Planning department. I myself will be working in Communications Planning in the Paramount Theatrical (films) team which is a dream come true, especially since if you read my Red Carpet Glory post you will know I am a natural when it comes to film premiere's and red carpets! All jokes aside I am thrilled to be working on such a great entertainment client as the nature of it's business means there are always new campaigns and challenges for each film release.
Although we know our permanent roles we are not quite ready to start singing Boys II Men's End of the Road just yet! This week is our final week on rotation and we'll be spending it at Kinetic - our Out of Home (OOH) advertising agency which specialises in how brands connect with people's lifestyles while out of home and on the move. Check my blog later this week to find out how good we were with getting our hands dirty during a Taxi wrapping session!


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Broadcast Banter - TV Is Alive & Kicking!

Having recently moved into the MEC Broadcast department I am familiarising myself with the art of TV planning and buying, turning on my charm and becoming pally with the channel saleshouse reps and getting to grips with all the TV jargon.

It's no secret that I have been eagerly anticipating my time in Broadcast as the other grads have given it rave reviews (the broadcast team players being a key element behind the positive feedback). The broadcast team at MEC have a reputation for being the loudest, most welcoming, most entertaining and most sociable department with the best banter going. So far I haven't been disappointed. Everyday starts with a hand tingling high five from one of my managers follwed by an early round of tea. In my first week I competed in a strength challenge. Each member of the broadcast team (men and women) had to lift at arms length a case of boules (metal balls) and see how long they could hold them up for. No real reason other than a bit of fun and healthy competition between the team! I am proud to say that I lasted 59 seconds beating all the girls and even some of the men! This surely calls for some kind of award?

All fun and games aside the TV department work extremely hard to make sure all our campaigns are due to deliver what air time has been bought on each channel.  Buying and managing TV ad spots is not as simple as maybe an online campaign because TV ratings or viewing figures fluctuate daily which means you have to keep track of how the campaign is progressing.

Because television is a high impact medium it delivers immediacy, mass coverage, flexibility, movement, colour and crucially, spot-by-spot accountability. The fragmentation of audiences is met by a multitude of digital channels from E4 to Eden ensuring that an advertiser's message reaches a chosen target audience in an effective but cost-efficient way. I'm not denying the fact that the advertising industry has seen dramatic change (increases in social media and online spend), but global cross-media studies (by Milward Brown) have confirmed the following key facts:

• Multimedia campaigns deliver more than any single media channel can on their own, but TV often delivers the bulk of impressions and brand response.
• TV advertising is still an extraordinarily important channel for changing awareness, attitudes and sales.
• It still delivers vital mass audience reach and can prime other media to make them more effective.
• TV also surpasses other media in terms of communication power.

The fact is no matter what area of advertising I end up working in, my knowledge in Broadcast will always be useful as so much of  a client's budget is spent on TV. It is a medium suited to every target audience and I personally can't imagine an advertising industry without the presence of TV.
Long live TV!

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Daybreak Dreaming

One of my dreams when I was younger was to be a TV presenter and thanks to ITV I came a step closer to living the dream during an ITV studio tour.

Although an early start (7.30am) this easily topped the list for being one of the best experiences on the MEC grad scheme. Having watched Daybreak (or GMTV as it was previously known) from a young age, it felt so surreal to physically walk around the studio and sit in the green room where all the celebrity guests usually wait before going on air.

I have always been a fan of the lovely Lorraine Kelly (as she is one of the original GMTV presenters) and I was chuffed when we got the chance to watch her whilst she was being filmed live. At the end of her show we got to meet Lorraine and posed for a cheeky photo to remember the occasion. The photo opportunities didn't end there and we got slightly camera-happy when we went into the Daybreak studio (which by the way is so much smaller than it appears on TV.)

We parked ourselves on the Daybreak sofas, stood in front of the weather screen to present the weather and posed on the very stage that all the bands and artists perform on when they come onto the show! 

However no studio tour would be complete without actually meeting the most important people of the show – the presenters themselves. My Daybreak dream reached its peak when we brushed shoulders with Christine Bleakley and Dan Lobb from Daybreak! We stood in the green room chatting to them and they were both really welcoming and genuinely nice people. Christine was even more stunning in person and she had a killer pair of Kurt Geiger heels on!

The morning couldn't have been any better and it ended with a champagne breakfast with all the indulgent food imaginable. I think I speak on behalf of all the grads when I say that it was one of the best mornings we have had, and who knows, maybe one day I will pursue my old dream and become the next big TV presenter!

Any tips Lorraine/Christine?


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Access All Areas...

To most people this common phrase refers to being a VIP ticket holder and getting full admission to the secrets that hide backstage whether at a concert or film set. At MEC or at least for me anyway 'Acees all areas' refers to working in the MEC Access department aka 'Sponsorship'.

Sponsorship is an integrated partnership or event management however at MEC it is much more than this, it is also content creation, an area which I find inspirational and exciting. 'Content creation' umbrellas a number of areas from ad copy or product launches to branded materials or viral videos. This week I assisted a film director in creating my first piece of content for MEC.
Although situated behind the camera, my role was to act as an interviewer asking questions to, and prompting actions from the interviewee, to create some great and interesting footage which would then be edited to produce a mini documentary. The experience was both educational and enjoyable and I now think that if I fancy a change in career I will try my hand at presenting. After filming for 4 hours I was ready to hit the sack. I didn't realise that the same scene or question needed at least 4 re-takes each time, but I guess all will be revealed when the final piece is produced. Check back next week when I have uploaded the film to this blog.

Taking part in things like this sums up what Access is all about. Production. Creativity. Diversity.

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FYI Facebook Rocks!

82,557 is the number of status updates being posted every 60 seconds on the most successful global social platform. With an incredible 500 million worldwide users Facebook has outshone its competitors and in my opinion is a culture in its own right. If Facebook was a country, it would be the 3rd most populous in the world after China and India. Facebook has changed the way the web has been built. In the 90’s the web was built around browsing, in 00’s this changed to search and now in the 10’s it is structured around discovering. It is continually being re-built around ‘people’ to help users to ‘discover’.

Now that I have wowed you with stats it's probably worth noting that I'm not a huge Facebook supergeek but have actually just spent the morning at Facebook's London offices as part of my grad scheme at MEC. The 2 hour induction included a Facebook overview and case studies exampling how brands have used Facebook to target consumers. A great example is Cadbury's campaign to bring back the Wispa bar which began on Facebook and prompted a huge press campaign. Despite being interrupted by a fire alarm drill the morning was extremely insightful and I managed to bag myself my very own Facebook t-shirt!...hmm potential eBay listing?

I am fascinated by the social media giant as it provoked real people to create Facebook profiles giving them for the first time a real online identity. This profile creates and connects you to your social graph, mapping your friends, interests, hobbies, relationship status, where you live and work and so on. This has enabled businesses to use Facebook as a global communication tool and offers one of the greatest and most trusted online platforms for brands to target consumers. News, shopping and gaming are key industries which have re-organised their marketing and communication models around ‘people’. For example with the use of Social Plugins, 43% of news sharing occurs through social media - dramatically increasing the immediacy of news around the world.

For the future: Although this has already rolled out in America look out for Facebook Check-in deals using Facebook Places!
If i could share anything with you about the greatness of Facebook it would be this video: What happens every 60 seconds on Facebook: http://vodpod.com/watch/5268426-60-seconds-on-facebook# Enjoy!


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This Industry Is Big Enough For The Both Of Them

As I come to the end of my placement in MEC's digital department I feel the time spent has been extremely beneficial and I have got to grips with one of the newest and most unpredictable media platforms. Although the knowledge I have gained has barely reached the tip of the iceberg, I have left feeling excited about my future work in media agencies.

One thing I am certain and have been consistently reminded during my time in digital is that it is the future and it is an exciting department to work in. However I can't help but question the strength of digital as a sole media platform. I don't doubt online's extensive potential however a new advert for retailer Tesco came to my attention.
This was a TV ad for Tesco's grocery shopping app (please watch the below):

Tesco is the first high street supermarket with a full digital strategy however it is interesting how much it relies on traditional media such as TV to advertise and promote it. There have been countless predictions and statements that the digital space is soon to overtake traditional media.

Although more and more consumers are buying into digital technology and spending increasingly more of their time online, one thing remains constant - TV is still trusted in penetrating a mass audience especially since it is at a time when people are relaxed in their home environment. In comparison consumers face digital advertising every time they carry out daily tasks such as online banking, email, online shopping, gambling sites, social networking, gaming, researching and much more. Thus my point is that most people are online for a certain reason other than to relax and so are maybe less likely to take notice of ads. It is all very well for a brand to have digital services but in order for these services to be used and appreciated, traditional means of creating awareness play a key role in their success. This is why I believe digital advertising will never be superior to TV, maybe not for another 10 years at least.


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Online's Big Brother

With the Christmas break fast approaching and the adverse weather causing havoc, the last few days at work have been really busy as my team and I are trying to implement all the digital campaigns in time for their January 'Live' date. Like most things in life there is more to a display ad than meets the eye and a lot of behind the scene work is carried out in order for it to exist.

An example of this is creating and layering the advert with tags which track how well an ad is performing. This is one of the reasons online has become so popular - it offers increased measurability. Being able to track a campaign's performance is extremely desirable for all parties (the client, the media agency and the media owner). Every display ad you see on a site whether a standard banner, a video or expandable ad has a tracker to measure how many people view and interact with it. Therefore ads which are not reaching a great enough audience can be optimised so that the client achieves the results it desires.

You may not think it but most, if not all the ads you see online are targeted to you directly in some way depending upon your online behaviour. Targeted display or 'behavioural advertising' is exploding and is getting more personal than ever before particularly now that audiences are even more fragmented. Another way to think of behavioural targeting is when you use online shopping at Tesco.com. It tracks and remembers what you have previously purchased and offers you a list of your most popular items so you don't have to trail through the pages and pages of groceries to find what you're looking for. It is applications like these which make using online so appealing. The implementation of such services make using the internet a breeze.

Ultimately this is what display advertising aims to achieve. Rather than be seen as obtrusive, it aims to be identified and used as a useful tool to minimise the stress and lengthy process of surfing the world wide web.

Goodbye Traditional...Hello Digital

It's been a few weeks since my last blog and the reason for this is because I have recently moved departments as part of my rotation. I completed my first 8 weeks in Communications Planning and am now working in MEC Interaction our 'Digital' department.

Within digital there are a number of sub-departments including Social Media, Search (SEO - Search Engine Optimisation and PPC - Paid for Search), Brand, and Acquisition (digital direct response). So far I have found digital to be a real eye opener and a completely different experience to Comms Planning. Having not had any experience working in digital before there is so much to learn and understand, let alone getting to grips with the digital jargon.

Everyone I speak to about working in digital says the same thing: It's the most exciting place to be and the most rewarding in the long term future. If you specialise in digital media you will be highly sought after. I haven't yet got my teeth stuck into any really interesting digital campaigns but I think this will come the longer I spend in this department. I think until I fully understand and appreciate the extent of what brands can do with digital media I will be naive to it's capabilities. However I am both intrigued and excited about my future weeks in MEC Interaction and look forward to blogging about what is to come.

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Never doing a Jagerbomb again...

The end of another busy week in the life of a media graduate and the early mornings, daily commute on London's unreliable underground and my lack of sleep is beginning to catch up with me. However, I have to admit it's been another interesting week from visits to the Yahoo offices, after work training sessions at the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) and coping with my first work hangover!

I could go into detail about my new found knowledge of the digital industry and the new services that Yahoo provide but in all honesty it would probably bore you. All I will say is that I found out you can do a lot more than just display ads embedded on web pages. Something that you may find of use is my after work series I attend every Wednesday for 6 weeks at the IPA. It is a workshop set up for those people who are new to the world of marketing and communications and an excellent opportunity to network. You will almost certainly hear it is not what you know but who you know and how important the role of networking is in getting your foot in the door. Don't underestimate the power of this. Each week the session is themed and we hear from a panel of professionals in the advertising industry. Topics include: The Future of Advertising, Client Services,  Strategic Planning, Creative and Digital. Although it is an effort to attend these after a day's work, they have been extremely interesting and beneficial and to make it even more appealing there is free drink and buffet food!

Talking about free drink slightly turns my stomach as I suffered with my first work hangover on Friday morning. Not a good look or one I intend on taking to work very often, although working in media is an extremely social industry so maybe I need to just figure out the best way of disguising my suffering. Or maybe I just need to turn down the Jagerbombs which seem to be a popular death trap. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

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Everyday is a New Experience

As my second week draws to an end I feel like I have been at MEC for at least a month, I feel really settled and everyone on my team have spent time talking me through what client campaigns they are working on and how to use a number of analytical and comparable media report programs.

I have also been lucky enough to start working on a brand new campaign which means I will gain a real insight into the communications planning role from start to finish, from being given the initial brief to signing off the media plan. I sat in on my first briefing session which outlined the product details, target audience, creative stapline, business objectives and the communications objectives. In short the communications objective is to generate as much awareness as possible within the target audience because the product being advertised is a completely new product.

Being a creative thinker I remember lying in bed and suddenly a rush of flashbulb ideas filled my head so I got up and wrote them down in a notepad. The next day I took it upon myself to put together a short power point of my ideas (which went down a treat with the account manager).

The grads who were on rotation in the year before me are currently working on a final project. In teams they have been given a live client brief to work on and produce a complete media plan which they must pitch to a panel of judges. I was asked to sit it on a brainstorming session for the campaign which I found extremely insightful. I felt energised by people's creativity and enthusiasm and it was interesting to see how other people think. However I also learnt a lot about the roles and appropriateness of using certain media platforms for best communicating a brand message and engaging an audience. For example, creating brand collaborations and partnerships to enhance trends and facilitate behaviours and celebrity ambassadors to drive awareness and create buzz around a product or campaign. It is experiences like these which make working in a media agency so diverse and enjoyable. Everyday I have been exposed to something new and I am continuously learning.

To conclude, I now feel more integrated within MEC rather than a new starter because I have been immersed into my team's current projects and have been able to get my teeth stuck into some live campaigns.

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Summer Fridays - Gives you that Friday Feeling

Towards the end of the week I presented back the work I had carried out which was a great way to demonstrate my understanding of it. I was then lucky to get a one-on-one demonstration of how to use a program called Ad dynamix (a great online tool allowing users to find out everything there is to know about advertisers, brands and their media advertising spend). I was given a project looking at the pastt 4 years of cinema box office sales which I had to then compare with the media advertising spend for the top 10 film distributors (Paramount, Lionsgate, Universal etc). Through this I was able to identify trends and engage with the media used to advertise film releases and explore how advertisers have changed their communications strategy in the last 4 years (the main trend witnessing the introduction of online advertising). However I will be interested to see how the next 4 years differ and I predict that the industry may see a growth of online advertising but displayed via outdoor platforms.

To conclude, my first week at MEC has been great and to top it off I was taken out by my team for lunch - bonus! I used the opportunity to get to know the people I will be working with and also to gain more insight into the current projects the team are working on (not to mention the ins and outs of office gossip)

Finally, not that I want to brag but my first week ended in the best possible way with a little benefit called Summer Fridays. The whole company is invited to leave work early at 3.15pm instead of the usual 5.15pm! And a little bird told me that Summer Fridays was extended into the end of October last year. A good idea really because it gets darker much earlier in the autumn months, so finishing earlier will mean we get to leave work in daylight!

My 1st Day at MEC

If you have read my previous post you will know that I have started my first job in the media industry at MEC. I am going to use this blog to document my journey as I complete a graduate rotation scheme at MEC. Hopefully this will give you an insight into the various departments and roles within a media agency whilst reflecting upon my personal experiences.

I started the day at 11am which was a welcomed late morning start to the day. Upon my arrival at MEC I met the four other rotational grads who were also starting. The scheme enables us to rotate around 8 different departments within the company within 9 months. After receiving our welcome induction we were appointed 'buddies' and 'mentors to act as a guide and support - I like to think of mine as an extra lifeline.
The first day kinda resembled my first day at secondary school or 6th form - taking in the new environment and looking at all the other employees thinking wow don't they look grown-up - I felt like a total 'Newbie'.

Due to my morning nerves I hadn't been able to enjoy my daily bowl of cereal that I religiously chomp on, so when we were told that we had lunch reservations at a nearby Thai restaurant - ALL PAID FOR I thought Christmas had come early! It was a great chance to meet a few people that we would cross paths with in the near future and a relaxed environment where we were welcomed into the team.

After lunch we got a mini tour around the office building and were then separated into our individual departments. In the space of a couple of hours I felt I had got to know the other grads quite well so it was daunting to be separated from them. My first department on the rotation scheme is Communications Planning - one of the key departments I am interested in settling in. I will be working here for 8 weeks and I am really excited about the tasks I will be getting my teeth into and soaking up all the new information and knowledge I will gain.

Bring on day 2!!