Possibly one of the most hectically short weeks Pravda has ever seen, with 3 major briefs finally near completion/signed off on. Needless to say, Simon didn't get to spend much time with me & Sarah what with everything going on, so we live to fight another week!
Unfortunately, Simon's off on his jollies now, so again we won't be seeing him. Looks set to be a much quieter week, so hopefully we can get stuck into all of the briefs on offer and give Simon even more of a reason to keep us for a fifth week!
Time to cross all appendages!
Friday 29 August 2008
Monday 25 August 2008
Busy, busy, busy!
Bit of a hectic weekend, so this is just a quick update to say that me and Sarah will indeedy be gracing the halls of Pravda tomorrow. Simon is keeping us on for another week as he's been out of the office a lot over the last fortnight and so hasn't had much time to spend with us and see how we're getting on. Hopefully will have more of an idea about where we stand by Friday! : S
Thursday 21 August 2008
BRING ON THE TRUMPETS!!
Finally! After observing an alarming rate of "Bring on the trumpets!" status changes on Facebook, I now know what the hell everyone's going on about. And ashamedly it was my own mother who told me! This placement malarkey is preventing me from viewing any form of televisual antics, be they terrestrial, digital, new ads - even my beloved Hollyoaks!
A big "hip, hip, hooray!" for YouTube, in all its video wonderment. These ads from The Natural Confectionery Company are great! Sweets. Camera. Someone to hold the camera. Someone to shout "Bring on the trumpets!". Simple, effective, quirky, and they tickled my funny place (though that isn't hard to be honest).
Enjoy!
(For extra oodles of fun, play all the clips at the same time - all you'll make out is the bear in the first ad saying "BRING ON THE TRUMPETS!")
A big "hip, hip, hooray!" for YouTube, in all its video wonderment. These ads from The Natural Confectionery Company are great! Sweets. Camera. Someone to hold the camera. Someone to shout "Bring on the trumpets!". Simple, effective, quirky, and they tickled my funny place (though that isn't hard to be honest).
Enjoy!
(For extra oodles of fun, play all the clips at the same time - all you'll make out is the bear in the first ad saying "BRING ON THE TRUMPETS!")
Saturday 16 August 2008
One week down...
...hopefully more than one to go!
Yesterday was already the halfway point of our placement at Pravda, and so far we've loved it! Everyone's made us feel welcome from the start, and it's almost like joining a family (I know that sounds utterly cheesy, but it's true).
Unfortunately one of the "family" left yesterday - lovely Paul from Accounts. He's going on to the bright lights in the hope of becoming an actor! So someone may have to take up his mantle of a daily chippy lunch (me and Sarah are doing it on Monday, but doing it every day is hardly gonna work wonders on the waistline!)
So as a farewell to Paul, here he is taking one for the team.
(Yes, it is tequila. And without the salt and lime.)
In other news, Wigan got it's very own mention in Campaign this week - turns out that McCann Erickson is set to form a social marketing campaign for the local area regarding issues such as obesity, cancer, and smoking and alcohol. Will be interesting to see what they come up with - can't say much for the cancer part, but we certainly have our fair share of pie-eating, chain smoking alcoholics round here! Cheers, Wigan!
Yesterday was already the halfway point of our placement at Pravda, and so far we've loved it! Everyone's made us feel welcome from the start, and it's almost like joining a family (I know that sounds utterly cheesy, but it's true).
Unfortunately one of the "family" left yesterday - lovely Paul from Accounts. He's going on to the bright lights in the hope of becoming an actor! So someone may have to take up his mantle of a daily chippy lunch (me and Sarah are doing it on Monday, but doing it every day is hardly gonna work wonders on the waistline!)
So as a farewell to Paul, here he is taking one for the team.
(Yes, it is tequila. And without the salt and lime.)In other news, Wigan got it's very own mention in Campaign this week - turns out that McCann Erickson is set to form a social marketing campaign for the local area regarding issues such as obesity, cancer, and smoking and alcohol. Will be interesting to see what they come up with - can't say much for the cancer part, but we certainly have our fair share of pie-eating, chain smoking alcoholics round here! Cheers, Wigan!
Tuesday 12 August 2008
Our first non-uni deadline!
OK, so maybe we're a little sad, but after 3 years of "There'll be a crit on the new brief this time next week", it was surprisingly refreshing to have a deadline sprung on us today.
Still working on the live brief we were given yesterday, we tidied up some ideas and thought up some more before having a moment with Simon to go over our initial thoughts and check that we were headed down the right track/weren't completely out of our depth! A positive reaction for the two main thoughts we'd been working on, and we merrily toddled out of the office and sat down to tweak and think up some more. Around 1pm we're told that scamp layouts are needed by 4pm, if that's OK? PANIC STATIONS TO THE READY!! Except there was no panic, and it was pretty damn cool. We just went back through our ideas, decided which held the most promise, and I set about writing brief copy for them and making mock-up mailpacks (to work out the technicalities of some of them), whilst Sarah set about drawing them up. And by 4pm, we were done and dusted. Nothing like a bit of teamwork, eh?
Unfortunately I was on one of my many jaunts to the loo when Simon came to get them from us, but I returned to find that he liked 3 of our 4 executions and had taken them along to consult with Tim Trapp (Accounts). So all-in-all a really productive day for us, and left feeling like we'd made our first real step in the world of advertising.
Geeks! : )
Still working on the live brief we were given yesterday, we tidied up some ideas and thought up some more before having a moment with Simon to go over our initial thoughts and check that we were headed down the right track/weren't completely out of our depth! A positive reaction for the two main thoughts we'd been working on, and we merrily toddled out of the office and sat down to tweak and think up some more. Around 1pm we're told that scamp layouts are needed by 4pm, if that's OK? PANIC STATIONS TO THE READY!! Except there was no panic, and it was pretty damn cool. We just went back through our ideas, decided which held the most promise, and I set about writing brief copy for them and making mock-up mailpacks (to work out the technicalities of some of them), whilst Sarah set about drawing them up. And by 4pm, we were done and dusted. Nothing like a bit of teamwork, eh?
Unfortunately I was on one of my many jaunts to the loo when Simon came to get them from us, but I returned to find that he liked 3 of our 4 executions and had taken them along to consult with Tim Trapp (Accounts). So all-in-all a really productive day for us, and left feeling like we'd made our first real step in the world of advertising.
Geeks! : )
Monday 11 August 2008
Placement weight
That's right - Unemployment Weight's trusty sidekick!
So today the day of commencement... commenced! Me and Sarah started our first placement at Pravda and set straight to work on the DM brief we were given (won't say much about it as not sure if I can or not). But had a really productive day I think - sure beat trying to think sat in Lloyd's Bar or Piccadilly Station! Has been a very long day, that being the only downside to it really. Me, living in stoopid Wigan, had to get up at 6:30am to make it to Pravda for 9am (only to be rammed into the train like a herd of sheep - put more carriages on the bloody train lol!), and we stayed til 6:30pm - hardcore! Well, not really, as I think we were only the second pair to leave. Seems like everyone pretty much stays quite late every day, and it's a bit rude to go "La-di-da, we're just a placement team so we'll bugger off at 5pm!". Not that I mind staying later, it's just a bitch trying to get back to Wigan, so only had my tea of solitary beans on toast (with Branston sauce - yum!) at 9pm. Feeling a little bit guilty for blogging instead of researching for tomorrow, but I am literally about to go to bed and get some decent kip for another long day tomorrow.
Hopefully me and Sarah will have another idea-fest tomorrow and can come up with something new and fresh to show Simon and Jim (the CDs) - seems from what we've heard from our friend Neale (who is literally sat right by us - just like old uni times!) that we're on the right wavelength with some of our initial thoughts, both on the DM we're working on now, and the campaign that preceded it. Was really good to see the finished articles that the agency had decided on, and that we'd a had a lot of similar thoughts over the last couple of weeks working on that brief before getting this placement. But as every good creative knows, you need to be able to do something different to stand out from the crowd and get those teeny-tiny toes in the door. Fingers crossed we can pull it off, and celebrate with ice cream!
I mention ice cream because we had some today. Just because : ) But the long days at agencies spell trouble for the old waistline again - just when we thought we'd be shifting that unemployment weight, it's been replaced by the dreaded placement weight!
So today the day of commencement... commenced! Me and Sarah started our first placement at Pravda and set straight to work on the DM brief we were given (won't say much about it as not sure if I can or not). But had a really productive day I think - sure beat trying to think sat in Lloyd's Bar or Piccadilly Station! Has been a very long day, that being the only downside to it really. Me, living in stoopid Wigan, had to get up at 6:30am to make it to Pravda for 9am (only to be rammed into the train like a herd of sheep - put more carriages on the bloody train lol!), and we stayed til 6:30pm - hardcore! Well, not really, as I think we were only the second pair to leave. Seems like everyone pretty much stays quite late every day, and it's a bit rude to go "La-di-da, we're just a placement team so we'll bugger off at 5pm!". Not that I mind staying later, it's just a bitch trying to get back to Wigan, so only had my tea of solitary beans on toast (with Branston sauce - yum!) at 9pm. Feeling a little bit guilty for blogging instead of researching for tomorrow, but I am literally about to go to bed and get some decent kip for another long day tomorrow.
Hopefully me and Sarah will have another idea-fest tomorrow and can come up with something new and fresh to show Simon and Jim (the CDs) - seems from what we've heard from our friend Neale (who is literally sat right by us - just like old uni times!) that we're on the right wavelength with some of our initial thoughts, both on the DM we're working on now, and the campaign that preceded it. Was really good to see the finished articles that the agency had decided on, and that we'd a had a lot of similar thoughts over the last couple of weeks working on that brief before getting this placement. But as every good creative knows, you need to be able to do something different to stand out from the crowd and get those teeny-tiny toes in the door. Fingers crossed we can pull it off, and celebrate with ice cream!
I mention ice cream because we had some today. Just because : ) But the long days at agencies spell trouble for the old waistline again - just when we thought we'd be shifting that unemployment weight, it's been replaced by the dreaded placement weight!
Friday 8 August 2008
Dilemma
Life's a bitch sometimes, ain't it? In this mad world of advertising, nothing's ever certain. But as tough as it is, I kind of buzz off that - the drama, the tears (usually from me lol), the "Eureka!" moments - it's all worthwhile in the end. Or at least I bloody well hope so! : )
What exactly am I rambling on about? Well, I finally got word from Frank the agency (where I went for the interview a few weeks back) telling me that I'd made the final shortlist of 3 possible candidates and if I'd go back in on Thursday next week. When I'm at Pravda : S Cue me panicking about what to do!
Resulted in a hour of me weighing up my options and all the pros and cons involved. At the end of the day, it was never going to affect the Pravda placement - full steam ahead to that, I say! But it came down to not having a clue what'll happen after the placement. Fingers crossed me and Sarah will remain a fixture there for awhile if they like us and our work enough. But nothing's certain, and in the meantime I'm the skintest person in Skintsville.
So what's it to be - love or money? Heart or head? The answer should be easy, but I don't think it ever is for anyone. Frank need an Account Exec who can forge long-term relationships with their clients and be in it for the long-haul. And as much as I'd love the chance to embrace my scarily oraganised and bossy side, I can't guarantee them that. As sad as I am to decline it, I just have to be happy that I made an impression on them, and maybe they'll be interested in this crazy cookie further down the line.
In the end my heart won - being bossy may be what I do best, but it isn't what I love (...well, sometimes!) Being creative is one of the biggest challenges I ever put upon myself - academia was my thing at high school and I sometimes struggled to get my head around art or graphics projects, but I've never been one to take the easy route - where's the fun in that? Placements may not pay well, but why go into a job just for the money if it won't make you (or your employer) happy?
Whatever happens, if I follow my dream then I can never be disappointed, right?
What exactly am I rambling on about? Well, I finally got word from Frank the agency (where I went for the interview a few weeks back) telling me that I'd made the final shortlist of 3 possible candidates and if I'd go back in on Thursday next week. When I'm at Pravda : S Cue me panicking about what to do!
Resulted in a hour of me weighing up my options and all the pros and cons involved. At the end of the day, it was never going to affect the Pravda placement - full steam ahead to that, I say! But it came down to not having a clue what'll happen after the placement. Fingers crossed me and Sarah will remain a fixture there for awhile if they like us and our work enough. But nothing's certain, and in the meantime I'm the skintest person in Skintsville.
So what's it to be - love or money? Heart or head? The answer should be easy, but I don't think it ever is for anyone. Frank need an Account Exec who can forge long-term relationships with their clients and be in it for the long-haul. And as much as I'd love the chance to embrace my scarily oraganised and bossy side, I can't guarantee them that. As sad as I am to decline it, I just have to be happy that I made an impression on them, and maybe they'll be interested in this crazy cookie further down the line.
In the end my heart won - being bossy may be what I do best, but it isn't what I love (...well, sometimes!) Being creative is one of the biggest challenges I ever put upon myself - academia was my thing at high school and I sometimes struggled to get my head around art or graphics projects, but I've never been one to take the easy route - where's the fun in that? Placements may not pay well, but why go into a job just for the money if it won't make you (or your employer) happy?
Whatever happens, if I follow my dream then I can never be disappointed, right?
Thursday 7 August 2008
Unemployment weight
That's what Sarah calls these needless extra pounds we've both put on in the last couple of months. But fingers crossed it should soon start to be shed as of Monday - because we have our first placement!
Completely unexpected turn of events yesterday - had an ominous text from our friend Neale who works at Pravda first thing in the morning, saying we would be contacted at some point during the day. Instant "whoop whoop" alarm bells going off and everything. Trust me to have chosen yesterday to spend watching The Dark Knight (which ROCKS by the way!) and Mamma Mia! (which doesn't rock quite so much). Spent a nervous 4 hours waiting for a call and to duck out of the cinema, but only had updates from Sarah and what the secretaries were telling her whenever she rang.
Finally the long buzzing of joy in my pocket happened at the end of Mamma Mia! (my phone on vibrate, you dirty minded buggers!), but being hemmed in by loads of old people, I couldn't get out to answer it. Luckily Sarah was getting the call at the same time, and text me to let me know the joyous news! Still a little unsure of where it all came from out of the blue - it's 2 weeks since I visited Pravda, and over a month since Sarah did. Whether they heard that we'd since teamed up and decided to call us in, who knows? All I know is that we're very excited to have been given an opportunity so soon : )
It starts as a 2 week placement, but hopefully it can be much longer once they're bowled over by the extent of our hard work and awesomeness : ) Here's me and Sarah having some awesome moments:
After the good news was confirmed, I got back to Neale to let him know (in a rather excited manner). His words to us? "Are you prepared for all the hard work?" And the answer?
Hell yes, we are! But the question is: are Pravda ready for us? : )
Completely unexpected turn of events yesterday - had an ominous text from our friend Neale who works at Pravda first thing in the morning, saying we would be contacted at some point during the day. Instant "whoop whoop" alarm bells going off and everything. Trust me to have chosen yesterday to spend watching The Dark Knight (which ROCKS by the way!) and Mamma Mia! (which doesn't rock quite so much). Spent a nervous 4 hours waiting for a call and to duck out of the cinema, but only had updates from Sarah and what the secretaries were telling her whenever she rang.
Finally the long buzzing of joy in my pocket happened at the end of Mamma Mia! (my phone on vibrate, you dirty minded buggers!), but being hemmed in by loads of old people, I couldn't get out to answer it. Luckily Sarah was getting the call at the same time, and text me to let me know the joyous news! Still a little unsure of where it all came from out of the blue - it's 2 weeks since I visited Pravda, and over a month since Sarah did. Whether they heard that we'd since teamed up and decided to call us in, who knows? All I know is that we're very excited to have been given an opportunity so soon : )
It starts as a 2 week placement, but hopefully it can be much longer once they're bowled over by the extent of our hard work and awesomeness : ) Here's me and Sarah having some awesome moments:
After the good news was confirmed, I got back to Neale to let him know (in a rather excited manner). His words to us? "Are you prepared for all the hard work?" And the answer?
Hell yes, we are! But the question is: are Pravda ready for us? : )
Sunday 3 August 2008
Well it's only polite to...
Me and my trusty new partner, Sarah, got together for our first brainstorming (sorry, "thought showering" - wouldn't like to upset all the PC people out there!) session, so I thought it time to introduce you all to our world.
The location: Lloyd's Bar, Manchester.
The time: 11:30am - 4:00pm (oh yes, we are hardcore party advertisers).
And the "we've made some good progress" treats: a big fat plate of fish & chips for us both! : )
Good times!
Luckily both me and Sarah are in similar situations right now - skint and in need of a creative kick up the arse! I can't yet say anything for our partnership solving our money problems, but the creative cogs are moving once again after hibernating for a couple of months. Another plus is that me and Sarah are.. well, we're me and Sarah! Anyone who knows us knows we're absolute idiots (in the good way, of course) and she may possibly be even more dirty minded than me - winner!
Here's Sarah in action:
And one of the many constructive products of our few hours together:
Take from these images what you will : )
The location: Lloyd's Bar, Manchester.
The time: 11:30am - 4:00pm (oh yes, we are hardcore party advertisers).
And the "we've made some good progress" treats: a big fat plate of fish & chips for us both! : )
Good times!
Luckily both me and Sarah are in similar situations right now - skint and in need of a creative kick up the arse! I can't yet say anything for our partnership solving our money problems, but the creative cogs are moving once again after hibernating for a couple of months. Another plus is that me and Sarah are.. well, we're me and Sarah! Anyone who knows us knows we're absolute idiots (in the good way, of course) and she may possibly be even more dirty minded than me - winner!
Here's Sarah in action:
And one of the many constructive products of our few hours together:
Take from these images what you will : )
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