Welcome to the real world; it’s not always pretty!

Change is good. And in fast-paced industries such as advertising, marketing, media, and such, change is the only constant. So you’ve got to embrace it. And you’ve got to love it! 

And in the spirit of change, the next three Fridays are going to be apprentice challenges! FUN!

The first Friday took place with a client briefing us about their project; GRM TV. We listened to his briefing, took notes, asked questions, and went into our little cocoon to brainstorm ideas and think of a strategy to pitch out idea! Luckily, I’ve worked in advertising for a few years, so I know that this is how things are supposed to go. You get the brief, you gather all your notes/research/client input, and you get cracking! But what I particularly enjoyed during this class is different people’s views and perceptions on the process.

I was very impressed by many of my classmates who have never worked in the industry, and possibly never worked in their life, that asked really good questions, and were able to pitch their idea. I was, thankfully, very impressed with our team as we managed to get our point across and won best presentation (yay!)

However, I think it was especially fun to see how different people dealt with the situation. Throughout this course, I realized that some people aren’t taking this as real life experience. They’re not treating it like real life experience, and that’s a shame. Of course, only through mistakes do we learn, and I’m learning so many new things that I sometimes forget I once worked in this challenging industry! 

I hope that more people begin to treat their businesses, their teammates, and the clients that we come across in challenges as real as they possibly could, because this is real life. You have to know when to talk and when to shut up; you have to know how to talk to a potential client that is possibly worth 1-10 million pounds, and you most certainly need to know how to pitch your ideas without sounding either too condescending or too big of a wuss! What I especially found difficult, in this challenge, and in many accounts I worked for, was to come up with great strategies, and great campaigns for not-so-great companies. I’ll tell you now fellow MACErs, and everyone else who’s reading my blog: If you think for one minute, that throughout your career in Advertising/Marketing, that you won’t have to deal with clients you don’t approve of; or work for accounts you completely disagree with or are against, I had to break it to you: you’re very mistaken. Life is all about the grey areas; sometimes you have to come up with a slogan for frozen meat when you’re a vegetarian; write a Valentine’s Day card greeting when your boyfriend just broke up with you; or smile at the marketing director that said your concept was ‘shit.’ This is the real life. And if you’re too much of an idealist now, you will learn to adjust to real life eventually.

There’s a lot to be learned, in this course, in other courses, and in life. And hopefully, these challenges have given us all a taste of what real life can be like.

Hoooraaaaahhh for Team Seven and the can of Sprite we won! Whoop whoooooop!

J

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