Friday, March 21, 2008

CHI & Partners Work Placement

I just finished up my CHI & Partners work placement. Without going in to too much detail, I'll describe the week.

From memory:

Monday: Got 150 pounds and was sent out to buy foreign money and old "out of print" money for a shoot. Worked on research report for a "green " campaign idea. I also started the brand presentation project which is a keynote presentation point of three brands I have to present to several seniors at the end of my work placement.
Tuesday: Finished research report. Looked for relevant ads. I also worked on my own brand presentation.
Wednesday: Helped with a focus group power point presentation (by finding pictures to convey message visually) and attended the focus group. It was pretty awesome to sit behind an one-way mirror and watch an actual focus group being conducted live. I also did document edits and got ads people wanted.
Thursday: Went to home decoration shops such as Habitat, Next Home, Heal's, Pier, etc. to investigate some items for decorating a client's environment. Took notes, pictures, catalogues. The Next Home store manager was nice and gave me their 2 pound catalogue for free. Worked on power point (getting screen shots of competitors and ads) for someone's meeting with client. Took 3 hour train to Leeds to deliver a cake for a client's party. Left office at 2PM and got back home at 11:51PM.

Friday: Holiday.

I must say I really enjoyed working at an ad agency. I loved the work which was artistic, visual, constantly changing, creative, and introspective. I loved the merging of art, anthropology/psychology/consumer behavior, and business. There were so many different people all under one small roof. In terms of demographics, I think it was mostly all smart, stylish, and beautiful people with very distinctive personalities. I met one Californian and I think I was the only other Asian there. Well another one was half. Half white, half amazing. Joking. I also think it's really great to see your work in public. For example today I saw our Lexus ads in Time and Newsweek, and Tiger Beer ads on several bus shelters in Leeds and London. So I think I'd like to work at an ad agency.

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