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.