An experience I could get used to.

Posted by Charlotte Barker, on February 12, 2009

A couple of days ago, I was lucky enough to be involved in a meeting that brought weeks of hard work together creating a great day here at they. Since my first day I had been involved in a very significant campaign for they. I have seen all the steps involved prior to a client pitch starting with research and information gathered. It is amazing to realize the amount of prep that has to be done in order to come up with a campaign idea. We are told in school that you have to research but in all honesty we all just liked to come up with ideas and sometimes skimmed over that part. BIG mistake. I definitely found out the importance of knowing your stuff and being able to back it up with sound information. Before you can come up with an idea you have to know the company, the competition, the economy, and the consumer inside and out. It’s all about problem solving. You identify the problem and you research and strategize to come up with a solution.

The next step was to choose the most appropriate media. This step was just as thought out as the research. There is more to it than just putting your ad in any paper you want. You have to chose relevant publications and look for specific issues that would be more relevant than others. You also must have good reason as to why you chose a certain publication, and if there is not a good reason then you use something else. You always want the most relevant media to your client and target.

Budget and media planning seemed to go hand in hand. Each one gives and takes from the other until it all works out and all the numbers match up. There was a lot of back and forth and negotiating, and a lot of number crunching involved that are very important steps in the process. All the while, the creative team were coming up with ideas and tweaking and tweaking until they had the perfect one. I imagine many good and healthy habits were put into this effort. The creative part was quite fascinating, it is really incredible to see someone take all of the considerations and squeeze and condense them into one perfectly solid idea. Then to watch the whole team here take that idea and transform it into a whole campaign that carries across all different media types-it was an incredible thing to see. From all of this I learned that the backbone to every campaign and idea is strategy. An idea can only have wings if there is sound strategy to back it up.

Running through the keynote presentation with Brian and Shawn the day before was another good learning experience for me. Checking the flow, and the correct order of information reinforced things I learned at school. It is hard to imagine without being here the amount of work that goes into putting together a campaign and a campaign pitch. I really had no idea what was all involved. All of this was a build to a 2hour meeting.

The meeting was an amazing experience for me. I wasn’t sure what to expect but by being here for the last few weeks I knew it would be professional yet relaxed, and that everything would go smoothly. I also knew they knew what they were doing and that the client was sure to love the idea as much as everyone here. I also wondered if Shawn and Brian were anxious at all. It was refreshing to see their confidence as I realized that no matter how many times you do it, it still doesn’t get any easier. But it also emphasized how much they care about their work. It doesn’t matter if you are presenting to Harvie (my presentations teacher at college) or to a client, you prep the same and you do your best. Throughout the meeting I was paying attention to how Shawn and Brian presented the information and the order and delivery of the message. I also paid attention to the clients’ reaction to things. I noticed that Shawn and Brian were doing the same and I noticed they made sure the client understood where they were coming from and the reasoning behind everything before they moved on. Brian and Shawn were also very attentive to any questions the client had and responded with a relevant, satisfying, and honest answer that was backed up with proof and strategy. Watching the presentation was such a valuable experience.

Working on this campaign these last few weeks has taught me many things that I will keep with me. The most important thing I learned from all this was the process of building a campaign and all the steps in between point A and point B. Being able to see the process right from the beginning has given me a better understanding of how the industry works and also has given me a glimpse of what each person contributes. This knowledge will be so helpful to me as I will be able to contribute in many areas with a knowing of how and why everything works and happens a certain way, and also how each department works and builds off each other to create a campaign. It was very beneficial to be able to see everything come full circle from a blank piece of paper a few weeks ago to a whole rounded campaign today.

Now going forward, there is still a large amount of work to be done and I am looking forward to being involved in as much of it all as I can and watching the second half of the campaign come to life.