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!

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.