Day 5: Internship at BBH

Today was my final day at BBH. I had such a good week there I didn't want it to end, so I promised myself that I would at least ask for another week before the end of the day. If you don't ask you don't get!

I spent the morning finalising and organising my ideas for the Fruit Shoot website. At 11am I met with Joe and began going through my ideas. 5 minutes in he stopped me and invited Danielle over who has also been working with Fruit Shoot.

"Tell her what you've just told me", I went on to explain one of my main ideas.

"I think its a great idea" Joe said! Danielle agreed.

Phew! I thought. I hadn't even gone half way yet I hope he likes the rest!

After the presentation Joe asked me how long they had me for.

"Just today unfortunately" I replied.
"We'll have to see about that" he said.

This was such a great feeling to know that my ideas and work was really being valued so much to the extent that they wanted me back. I immediately said how much I had enjoyed my week and would love to stay another. He promised to speak with Darius about the possibility of staying.

Following this I still had to show Ben my work for Tango looking at rival brands on Facebook, and the work for Darius on Barnardo's. I managed to finish these and they both were very happy with what I had done which was another boost of confidence as well as relief!

At 4.30pm I received a phone call from Darius confirming that I could come back next week! I was really grateful and quite proud that my hard work had paid off with an extra week at a global company like BBH.

Day 4: Internship at BBH

On Thursday morning I wasn't sure where I was supposed to be so I carried on with my work for Barnardo's. I then moved on to researching more drinks brands on Facebook. Following this I went over to Ben and Joe's area within the digital department as I was sure I was supposed to be with them today. Joe greeted me and tolde me he had some work needed doing for the Fruit Shoot website. I was asked come up with new ideas for content within the site as well as new competitions children could become involved with. I looked at what Fruit Shoot competitors were promoting on their sites and looked at the strong and weak aspects of the Fruit Shoot website.

I had a number of ideas floating around for good, engaging content but wanted to wait until tomorrow until I presented them to Joe.

Day 3: Internship at BBH

Day 3 I spent with Darius, an Engagement Planner who was a key person in helping me interview BBH for my dissertation. I was asked to help out with a project he has been working on for the children's charity Barnardo's.
I looked for media articles where children have been 'dehumanised' being called things like 'ferel', 'scum' and 'slime'. To my surprise I was able to find many examples with ease. To be fair most of them had been against teenagers who had done some disgraceful murderous acts. But there were some aimed at children in general which is very wrong.

I spent the day working on this but also managed to continue doing some work for Tango that Ben had asked me to look at the day before.

Day 2: Internship at BBH

Day 2 was spent mostly with Made By Many, a digital consultancy company that is based within BBH and has worked closely with the business. They actually created Metrotwin, the brilliant social platform for British Airways that twins New York with London and treats both cities as a single online community. They have also done work for Amnesty International with Protect The Human, an online community for people with humanitarian interests to congregate and sign petitions.

The first person I met was Tim Malbon, Founder and Executive Director of Made By Many. He was a really nice guy who treated me like I was already an equal member within his team, which was great! He took me through some presentations and latest work he had done with such wonderful enthusiasm. I was then given a task looking into Paid and Earned Media looking at the difference between the two and good examples of Earned Media.

- Paid Media is basically advertising that you buy and have posted on websites to connect with people.
- Earned Media is media coverage that is 'earned' but not purchased.

Earned media is far more valuable in the long-term because companies offer services, allow consumers to interact with brand and they also offer information for free.

Good examples are:
www.mystarbucksidea.com - Starbucks
www.campaignforrealbeauty.com - Dove
www.willitblend.com - Blendtec

Blendtec's will it blend? website has had proven success with its viral video's where they basically... just blend things.

• The iPhone episode has had over 7 million views on YouTube.

• The Top 20 videos have had around 50 million views!

• Blendtec's sales have increased by 700%!

This is just one example of how valuable this earned media can be and there are many many more out there!

End of Day 2

Day 1: Internship at BBH

Today was my first day at BBH, a company I have grown up knowing about as my Dad had worked there for 17 years! I was very excited for my first day as I walked through the giant front doors.

I was greeted by a very smiley and friendly Emma aswell as another 2 Interns, which was interesting having been the only intern at every placement I've ever been at. It was certainly a nice change having people in the same position as me.

After an hours tour around the smart building I was assigned to Ben who put me to work straight away! This was a relief because I wasn't sure whether or not I'd be twiddling my thumbs all day. He gave me a research task for their client, an online subscribed dating service. There is a worry that people these days are meeting dates on social networks like Facebook or Date Pad because they are free to use.

Without giving away confidential details, the free services still have a lot of catching up to do from my analysis as well as from customer reviews and feeback!

I had a really good day and the people there are so helpful and nice, they make you feel appreciated. Roll on day 2!

Facebook Doubles Up

Facebook's executive director and creater Mark Zuckerberg has announced plans to expand the company by 50%. The social networking site aims to capitalise on the surplus of engineers looking for work in the recession. Zuckerberg explains, "“No one else has been hiring,” he said. “It's been a great environment for us because the economy has helped out.”

Facebook currently employs 1000 people around the world including a base in London's Soho Square. With the company personnel gradually growing Zuckerberg goes on to say, “We're way closer to the beginning than the end. A lot of times buildings can be a signal that you've made it. I would prefer that our building feels more like a large garage.”

I think that this is a good move by Zuckerberg, he clearly recognises how Facebook has been benefitting during the recession and with Facebook already valued at $10 billion with a relatively small team (for a global company) hiring another 1000 people could help the business reach even greater heights than it has already!

Day 10 (the last day): Imagination Work Experience, London

21st August 2009

It was my last day at Imagination today and I am really hoping my presentation to Katie goes well. I get in and make the final changes to the PowerPoint document and we go into the meeting room. We sit down and I take her through the presentation and she likes my ideas - relief!
She gives me some useful feedback and I make a few small changes to the presentation. Katie then tells me that she will use my presentations when they present to the clients! So I'm suddenly nervous even though she has told me that I've done a good job.

I prepare to leave for lunch around 12.30 and Katie says that she won't be back in the afternoon so I give her some chocolates and a thank you card and she says its been nice working with me which was good!

When I come back from lunch I spend the rest of the day searching for Ford of Europe blogs again and send Tom all of my updated work before I leave and then see him on the way out luckily. We say our goodbyes which was good because he has also been great working with and has been very helpful.

I leave and feel so tired but the experience has been so worth it. Hopefully I get the chance to work with Imagination again in the future. A great company.

Here is a post about me on Katie's blog (click to enlarge) - http://inoted.wordpress.com/

Day 9: Imagination Work Experience, London

2oth August 2009

Thursday has been a productive day. I have developed my ideas up to the next level and now have a number of possibilities to present tomorrow morning. I briefly ran through my first draft with Tom and he really liked my ideas which has given me a lot of confidence. He gave me a few pointers on the best ways to get across my ideas to Katie and also gave me advice on how they could be further applied to the museum, which was really helpful.

I spent the rest of the day searching blogs for more Ford of Europe campaign targets.

Here is the beautiful front entrance to the museum

Day 8, Imagination Work Experience, London

19th August 2009

Today I still feel miserable due to this illness I've picked up but wasn't about to lose a day of experience with so little time left! It was another day dedicated to the museum project where I came up with some more ideas. I thought about ways that I could drive teenagers to visit the museum as they were the main demographic who I noticed were not in attendance. I also thought about how you might be able to incorporate messages and content through mobile phones into the museum experience. I jotted down all my ideas and began to structure a presentation on PowerPoint. Tomorrow I am going to run through my ideas with Katie and get any feedback that she wants me to look at.

I attended a meeting with Katie, Jeremy and Sarah from the digital team where they discussed ideas about how they are planning to use digital and social media for their prospective L'Oreal campaign. I was then asked to look into Flickr's presence in Germany and the processes you go through to use Flickr to create and manage groups, and how you upload videos and photos.

Usually on a Wednesday the team meets up in the basement for drinks. I was feeling so awful and snotty (nice) I had to leave before, I felt bad leaving and Katie was in a meeting so I sent her an email explaining why and I hope she understood because I really appreciated last weeks drinks!

Day 7: Imagination Work Experience, London

18th August 2009

Woke up today feeling extremely ill. High fever, runny nose, sore throat and a headache. The swine flu bells were ringing until my mum told me to 'man up' and that it was just a summer cold. I chose to believe her and set off.

Today I spent the morning doing more research for the Imperial War Museum by going on Playfish.com and Zynga.com to study the games available to play on and how they work. Katie wanted me to do this as one piece of criteria from the brief was to come up with my own idea of a game for the museum website. So I spent a very enjoyable hour playing Mafia Wars, Bowling and Special Forces! I then thought about the separate sections within the museum and immediately though of 'The Secret War' exhibition which looked at spy's , MI5 (James Bond) and MI6. It had all the gadgets and equipment secret agents have used in past covert operations. A Mafia Wars style game using spy's and secret agents to unlock clues and enemy information came to mind with gadgets exhibited in the museum included within the game.
Also a game involving 'The Battle of Britain' came to mind.

The afternoon involved more research into how museums are using digital methods to engage more with visitors. I also thought about the types of content could be introduced to the website.

Day 6: Imagination Work Experience, London

17th August 2009

My final week at Imagination began today and I had been given the prep for the 2nd project which was looking at a social media strategy for the Imperial War Museum to drive traffic to the website as well as visitors to the museum. I also have to try and come up with interesting content for the website that will spark an interest for visitors to go to the museum.

I spent the morning looking for more blogs for the Ford Europe campaign and managed to find one or two more. I went for lunch and following that set off for the Imperial War Museum for some observational research. After getting lost... three times... I finally found myself at the entrance looking at two massive cannons facing me. I bought a guide and wandered in. The main room is filled with lifesize models of tanks, aeroplane and weaponry. There were children with their families watching them climb on and play inside the models. I spent the day looking at all of the displays, making observations of the people who were there, and the people who were not there and also getting a sense of the brand itself.

I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed the museum as I had a predetermined view of museums as being boring, a place for old people and unappealing. I was clearly wrong, however I feel had I not been alone I would not have learned or observed as much as I did. My grandfathers both fought in the wars and I was surprisingly moved by the stories I heard and the images I saw.

I feel I have a good idea about what the museum needs and will express them over the following week.

Day 5: Imagination Work Experience, London

14th August 2009

Friday was the big day of my presentation for Holcim's social media strategy so naturally there were a few butterflies in my stomach in the morning. The presentation was at 4pm so the morning and early afternoon consisted of touch ups to the PowerPoint document also with final preparations made for how I was going to articulate my ideas to Katie and Tom.

4pm came round and we went to the meeting room. Other than a few technological glitches from some YouTube videos I had posted the presentation went well and Katie and Tom's feedback was very positive. They did make a few recommendations to back up my ideas, showing evidence of where I found my statistics and whether the sources were credible. So I have the weekend to add these final details to the presentation and it is done.
Considering this was my first time presenting on my own I was proud that they were impressed and that they offered positive, constructive feedback that I will take on board.

The first week is now over and I have learnt a great deal. If next week is half as good as this week has been I will be throughly satisfied.

Day 4: Imagination Work Experience, London

Thursday 13th August

Day 4 at Imagination involved a lot of research looking for independent blogs in the UK that are based around 3 categories; Lifestyle, Cars and the Environment. No journalists allowed, sorry. This work is for a new social media activation campaign for Ford of Europe.

After spending a frustrating hour probing around the Internet for websites allowing me to filter out blogs from outside the UK, I finally came across www.blogcatalog.com. If anybody knows of any other that could aid me with this please let me know!

From this website I was able to scroll through and pick out relevant blogs that may be perfect for the campaign. I based their suitability to whether they fitted in well with the 3 characteristics and then if the blogs carried any authority on technorati. I found this to be quite problematic as a lot of the blogs I found carried little to no authority and some authors had been inactive for months.

I managed to come up with around 6 or 7 suitable so far, some way short of the target of 15.
I will continue to try of course but I feel perhaps technorati and co. could perhaps have introduced a search filter that allows filtration based on country to make this a lot easier.

Day 3: Imagination Work Experience, London

Wednesday 12th August

Day 3 has been a very busy and tiring day but I feel like I am learning something new everyday. Today I began structuring my ideas for the Holcim social media project onto PowerPoint and making them presentable for the deadline this Friday.

At different times during the day Katie assigned a few more tasks for me to work on

• Finding key bloggers to target for their new Ford campaign
• Coming up with innovative interactive ideas for a new BBC project 'BBC Canvas'

I think this extra work is certainly helping me build upon my time management skills getting all the projects done on time.

'BBC Canvas' is an exciting new project that will bring together content from some of the UK's biggest channels, including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five. Viewers will be able to watch on-demand content through their television via a special set top box, expected to cost between £100-£200. The BBC's director general Mark Thompson called it "potentially the holy grail of future public service broadcasting provision in the UK".

Sitting within the small 'brainstorming' session it was really exciting to learn about how experienced professionals think, and how well they can think 'outside the box'. Ideas were floating around about how the audience can use the IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) and create interactive content becoming more involved within televised programmes and improving the overall experience.

Day 2: Imagination Work Experience, London

Tuesday 11th August 2009

Day 2 at Imagination has just finished and has been another good day. The morning consisted of research and note taking around the Holcim social media recruitment project.
I looked at:

• Competitor Analysis
• Content
• How recruitment agencies & other large businesses are using social media to attract applicants
• Successful case studies
  
• Target Audiences/Demographics
• Aspects of social media that have proven effective in raising interest in brands/businesses
  

In the afternoon, because Holcim isn't a household name I thought about ways Holcim can raise public awareness whilst informing the public about what they do, who they are etc, etc.

I then began coming up with ideas about how Holcim can effectively engage with prospective recruits once they have gained their interest, which social media platforms would be most suitable and how I could make Holcim different, memorable and appealing to potential graduate and professional recruits whilst still staying true to the brands identity.


This is certainly a challenging task but I'm feeling confident about my ideas so far. I'd say I need another few ideas so a later day in the office is on the cards. I have a deadline on Friday that I am on course to see but I have to make sure my work is looking professional and presentable.

Day 1: Imagination Work Experience, London

Monday 10th August 2009

Today was the day I would finally begin my 2 week internship with Imagination (http://www.imagination.com/), an integrated communications agency based in Camden, London. I was lucky enough to gain this opportunity after a brief yet interesting coffee meeting with Katie Streten (Head of Insight and Content within the Digital department) where I expressed my passion for digital marketing and my desire to work within an established agency one day like Imagination.

Day 1, like at most companies was an introductory day where I got tour of the building, the digital team and was given my brief for the projects I would be immersed in for the next 2 weeks.

Project 1 (Week 1) : A Social Media recruitment and activation project for global brand Holcim who supply cement, aggregate (gravel and sand), concrete and construction led services to 70 countries on all continents.
Basically I have to deliver a report and recommendations for Holcim on the best ways to use social media for
- Recruitment of graduates
- Recruitment of professionals
- Promotion of the company in an HR context

I am really excited about this challenge because it is the first piece of work that has required me to use my knowledge of marketing using social media since my dissertation dedicated to the topic.
It would of course be a lot easier if it wasn't about encouraging conversations about a brand that wasn't based around cement and concrete, but that's the challenge!


Project 2 (Week 2) : I haven't been given my official brief on project 2 but the information I have received suggests it will be based around the Imperial War Museum in London and the different content and marketing projects Imagination could do for them. It looks at how the IWM could potentially attract different audiences through these campaigns.




Later on in the day Tom, a member of the digital team, took me through a campaign that Imagination carried out with the NMOLP (National Museums Online Project) called 'Creative Spaces' (http://vna.nmolp.org/creativespaces/).

Creative Spaces is a community that allows the public to view artifacts, statues and other objects situated within the 9 UK museums and galleries. The community allows members to create groups, comment on collections and upload their own content - a place many artistic people might go to seek and share inspiration.
Tom also showed me how they incorporated Twitter into the campaign with daily updates of inspiration that increased traffic and interest to the website. I found this particularly interesting because I always wondered how Twitter could be used effectively within a campaign.


Day 1 has gone very well, the people I have met have been very welcoming, helpful and really down to earth. The building itself is very interesting also, made up of two separate buildings linked with metal staircases and bridges, it looks very cool!
I feel I have settled in quickly and can focus all my efforts on doing the best possible work for Imagination on both projects.

Spotify edges towards U.S launch

Spotify is moving closer towards launching itself in the worlds largest music market, America. A Techcrunch has said that all big four record companies currently own shares in Spotify. Spotify now has a big enough backing to satify copyright holders and open the New York ad sales office it is planning.
With this much financial support founder Daniel Ek believes that a release at the end of this year is on the cards.

According to investors the music streaming service is now worth an estimated $250 million.

Daniel Ek had previously said that he would not sell Spotify for $200 million and with it being valued at $250 million before release in America his stance seems to have been a very smart one.

Spotify to add video content soon

Spotify has taken a major step to adding video to its music content database as it launches a video advertising service. The music streaming company has teamed up with Sony Pictures to launch a video player which will give space on the website dedicated to video advertising.

The Flash player will allow users to play, pause, rewind and adjust volume during adverts. A seperate audio message announces the movie release date and drives users to click on a banner to view the trailer.

For £9.99 a month users can stream music for free with one advert played every half an hour. A free version is also available with more ads played during playlists.

The Swedish founder Daniel Ek believes that eventually movies and television shows could be added in the future.

- Spotify is a peer-to-peer music streaming service that allows instant listening to specific tracks with almost no buffering delay. Spotify is funded by advertisments and paid subscriptions -

Social media misunderstood

Social media websites have been getting a lot of negative critiscm for not doing enough to help youths from cyber-bullying. There have been a number of tragic suicides from bullying, recently in Macclesfield a 15 year old committed suicide over bullying from teenagers on social network site Bebo.

In America negativity around social media is increasing. Novelist Mark Helprin accuses social media of everything from wrecking the physical economy of culture to destroying literacy and human conversation.

I believe that looking at the purpose of social media which is to connect with people, share content and information with others within the community. Social networks (where all the cyber-bullying is taking place) are more designed to connect with 'friends' online. Speaking for myself I only engage with people I know or have met and had good experiences with. People need to be more responsible with the type of content they share and allow people to view. This means not passing on private messages to untrustworthy people or adding and interacting with people you don't know or get along with.

With regards to Mark Helprin I believe that social media is actually improving our culture and is benefiting human interaction and conversation by making us all better connected. That is why it is so popular, people enjoy sharing pictures/stories/videos with others building on and improving existing relationships.

Tragic as it is, these terrible incidents are extremely rare and can be avoided if people seek necessary help whether it be from family or friends to combat bullies online. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.