Have you ever been so tired of school assignments and
difficult group members that you feel like you need a nap? Well I know I have
those moments at Humber, where all I want to do is close my eyes and fall
asleep for a while and wake up fresh for the busy day ahead.
I’ll let you know of some great napping spots that I have found
over my 2 years at Humber. The most commonly thought about spots to nap are
usually the library and of course in the back of classroom when your professor
is speaking. But those places won’t work simply because Humber classrooms
aren’t large enough for you to do that - your professor will easily see you - and the library is much more difficult as there are too many students making noise for you to sleep.
So you’re probably wondering where are the best places to
sleep? Well it all depends on the time of day and how far you are willing to
walk to get a quick nap. If you’re at school in the morning between 8-10 a.m.,
it is a bit difficult to pinpoint the best place. Right above the cafeteria is
usually used for group projects but it is a perfect place to take a quick nap.
There are also empty classrooms all around Humber at different times of the day
but usually the D, E and H areas have plenty of empty classrooms.
I am not advising anyone to go to school to nap but if you’re
tired at any point and need a quick nap to re-energize your mind and body so
you can be a better student, then by all means, take a nap!
Hopefully these tips and locations, will help you!
In business, like in every other aspect of
life there are so my acronyms that it begins to get hard to keep track of what
each acronym stands for.Acronyms can
come from anywhere; you use them all the time in conversations with friends
TTYL, LOL, and LMAO. In business there are many different acronyms as well such
as; GDP, PPP, GNI, and the list can go on! But the one I will be focusing on is
one that it is important to Humber and marketing students in Ontario.
OCMC which stands for Ontario College’s
Marketing Competition, OCMC consist of various competition formats such as quiz
bowl where competitors are asked various marketing definitions. As well as a
case analysis exists where each competitor looks at a case and tries to define
the problem and come up with various solutions to that problem. It seems to me
that not too many people outside of the marketing world, are aware of how much
of a big deal it is to be apart of or compete in OCMC. Just picture all the
best marketing students in Ontario competing with each other.
For business it’s a perfect opportunity to
pick out the next Steve Jobs or the next person to have that million-dollar
idea. It is important for OCMC to continue and to get the message across of how
important it is for students to try out and participate in OCMC.
It is also an enjoyable experience to
compete with other great marketing students! It takes a lot of hard work and
dedication to both the team as well as to yourself, to put in the effort and
long hours of reading, preparing as well as practising to become a great OCMC
competitior.
I am looking forward to the OCMC, I will be
competing in the case study analysis for retail I hope everyone will wish me
luck as I prepare for the challenges a head!
Tuesday they are giving away popcorn and on
Thursday you can play PS3 in the concourse. That’s crazy right? Well that’s
Humber for you, always having something new and fun planned for students as they
go through their day. You just never know what you’re going to see next when
you walk by HSF (Humber Student Federation) stand right in front of the bookstore
one day you can see fake beer pong and then another day they’re giving away
free popcorn.
There is never a dull moment at Humber. As
soon as you think, “finally we have a break from HSF” BAM, in your face is a new
activity coming up or something that you might be interested in doing. Right
away you can get flyers that will inform you of any pub nights and as well as when
they are giving away free breakfast to students.
HSF will also let you know of the great
places to hang out when you want to just relax with friends. They will point
you to the direction of the Linx pub and of course the Games Room. I can not begin
to tell you how many times I had to run through the halls of Humber, which can
be extremely difficult during peak times, to make sure I wasn’t late for class.
You can get a little carried away. It’s a great atmosphere to hang out with
friends and meet new ones as well.
Humber is an exciting and diverse college
there is always something happening as well as something for everyone to do.
When applying to a post secondary
institution, what are some of the first things you do? Do you look at the
program outline, the faculty, and actual location of the school? And don’t lie
to yourself as you’re reading this, because I know you don’t do any of these
things - I didn’t!
As a 20 year old, and with 1 year of
University under my belt, I wanted to make a choice that I was actually going
to be happy with. So I did the most logical thing and that was to ask friends who
were currently at potential schools as well as people who graduated from that
school, how difficult it was for them to get a job once they had finished their
studies? This was the key for me.
I knew that I wanted a school that
would give me hands-on experience as well as a solid foundation in the fundamentals
- so I could get that job. My first choice was Humber College, followed by
George Brown and Seneca. I weighed my options and after discussing it with
alumni, I knew Humber was the right choice for me! Humber could give me the
blend I was looking for.
Humber understands that each student
has a different needs and varied reasons for coming to Humber. Some come to
Humber on their path to University, others come to get the skills and knowledge
needed to get a job! This flexible approach also appealed to me.
So here I am - on my way to graduating
- and loving it!
As the spring semester draws to a close and we say
goodbye to all who are graduating, it’s time to welcome new students into
Humber with an Open House this Saturday, April 13, 2013 at the North Campus from 10am to 2pm.
This is a fantastic way for you to get introduced to the Humber Campus and all
it has to offer our students. As well as get introduced to what kind of
programs that Humber offers and meet some of its great faculty and professors. So tell your
friends and family to come down to the Open House and meet faculty and some of
its students.
For aspiring marketing students the tour starts at 10 am and goes
until 2 pm in room F113. Marketing students will be able to get introduced to
some of their professors, see the classrooms they will be attending, learn
about some cool aspects of the courses and get introduced to some students and
former students of the marketing program and be able to ask them some questions
about the program. The Open House was the first thing I attend before entering
into Humber and it was very informative and helpful to me as a marketing
student, so I highly suggest all take to opportunity to attend the Open house.
There will be campus
tours, you’ll get to see the labs and Humber facilities and learn more about all
the programs Humber offers its students. Whether you’re applying for
Business, Applied Technology, Health Sciences, Hospitality, Recreation and
Tourism, Media Studies, or Social and Community Services there is something for
everyone. Come on down for a great day at Humber.
On April 4th,
Humber Marketing grads from many different graduating years set foot back into
their school to attend the Grads Give Back event run by Christina Clements
herself. Current Internet Marketing, Marketing Communications, and Database
Marketing students were invited to attend the event, to gain an insight of what
may be waiting for them after Humber. Christina also gave us (Siddique Baksh
and Angela Schell) the opportunity to help out with the event, and live tweet
from the event as well, using the @MktgHumber twitter account for those who
could not attend, and interested followers. All of the Humber graduates
contributed to provide a very informative and inspirational presentation.
First to speak
was Caralia Fabiano, a grad from 2007. She shared her personal industry
experiences and her path to success at Mosaic Experimental Marketing, where she
holds the position of National Operations and Account Manager. In addition to
talking about how many different roles she took on to end up in the position
she now holds. Caralia also talked about how to connect brands to consumers,
and explained to upcoming Humber grads the importance of gaining field
experience in the industry before graduation.
Andrew Dagg a
graduate from 2010 took the spotlight next. Being the Project Leader at
Wishabi, Andrew talked about how retail advertising is moving away from
traditional outlets such as paper and print, in favor of dynamic digital
solutions. These dynamic displays have already gained some heading online with
Target Canada adopting this technique, and Wishabi was proud to be one of their
launch partners.
Rachel Kennedy
then took the stage, and reminded current Humber students to take chances in
getting experience in the field, because you never know which ones will pay off
for you in the future. Once being a previous poster on this blog, and
maintainer of Marketing Humber’s various social media accounts, ending up at
Virtual Logistics Inc. has been a very big change for her.
Jeff Superle
from Nearly Famous Enterprises followed. A graduate from 2009, Jeff chose
Humber after wanting to steer his career in a different direction, and he was
not disappointed. Jeff conveyed to the current Humber students which sales jobs
they wanted to avoid, and tips on how to point out which jobs may not be right
for them as well.
After a brief
break, Zac Stanley was up. Being a Digital Media Account Manager for Rich
Media, and graduating in 2011, Zac covered everything from what courses helped
him the most while he was at Humber, to job hunting tips which enabled him to
reach his position, and how it is very important to tailor your resume and
cover letter to the position you are applying for.
Natasha Persad
took over from there. After graduating in 2010, Natasha went on to become an
eBusiness Solutions Specialist at Prophix Software. She also showcased and explained
some interesting augmented reality facts, before ending her presentation with a
video of Burberry’s sales force, which you can view below.
After Natasha,
Steve Lorini, a current Guelph-Humber student then had the floor.Steve has accomplished a great deal of
impressive feats for being so young. Being an Events Coordinator at Z103.5
Toronto, Evanov Radio Group, and Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, Steve is
proof that networking works, and is crucial in the marketing industry. He ended
his presentation with some words of wisdom; Plan, Be Noticed, Build a Network,
and Have Confidence. I am sure all the marketing students in the room took that
to heart.
Natasha Vadori,
the last speaker of the event is a Social Media Analyst at BrandProtect and had
every marketing student in the room looking at Social Media Marketing from a
different perspective.Companies put a
lot of time and effort into building their brand, and companies such as
BrandProtect specialize in risk management solutions, and the legal aspects of
the field. Having Natasha talk about brand protection brought to light the fact
that these types of things are happening every day, and the people who are
securing companies accounts and reputations are doing an amazing job. After
some final words from Christina, Grads Give Back came to an end.
Initially, we
expected the Grads Give Back Event to be a good look at what we could expect in
the future when we look for jobs and get into the field, however, it ended up
being much more than just that. Each of the speakers not only provided useful
insight of the industry, but they also gave insight on how it is changing, and
how we, as current marketing students, can tailor and adjust our paths to
better suit the direction where marketing is heading in the future. This
projection provided us marketing students with invaluable information to carry
with us to our future endeavors, and a hope that one day we will be the ones
giving back to marketing students after we graduate.
One again, we
would not have been a part of this experience if it were not for Christina
Clements providing us with the opportunity, and the speakers who attended who
chose to give back to the current marketing students. Big thanks go out to all
of them, and we look forward to future graduates sharing their experiences and stories at future Grads Give Back events!
Online TV and movie viewing is becoming one of the fastest growing
trends in media today. Whether it is a TV show or a movie, it’s hard to find a
young person today that hasn’t downloaded or streamed online with the massive
amounts of websites dedicated to hosting the content for a small monthly fee,
or free of charge. Even on our mobile devices, the public consumes countless
hours of television. This year`s March Madness has 26% of all viewers coming
from a mobile or tablet device. In previous years this technology was not
available; and it is obvious that mobile TV viewing is going to be `the next
big thing` for marketing and media corporations worldwide.
This should be a marketer’s dream - websites dedicated to binge TV viewing;
but there must be a way to have the biggest impact on consumers with the least
amount intrusion on their viewing experience. Standard advertisements litter
these file-hosting website like there`s no tomorrow; paid for by the companies
that make the ads, they allow these streaming websites to stay free.
Unfortunately, this often proves to be a hassle for viewers, overloading their
computers with media and slowing down the streaming rate. This is a small price
to pay for most people, who chose these websites over cable TV to avoid
additional expenses
This is an exciting time for
marketers who are looking to come up with new innovative ideas to reach
consumers on platforms that didn’t previously exist. When legitimate streaming
websites limit and monitor the amount of advertisements being presented on
their page, they can also target specific audience groups based on the
information gathered about their users. This will allow a harmonious
relationship between marketers and the viewers who prefer to make their
TV-viewing mobile without the annoyance of unnecessary and outdated ads.
On March 21th
the IAB MIXX Canada 2013 Conference took place in Toronto, and Humber's Internet Marketing students were fortunate enough to attend - thank you IAB Canada for inviting us! I, Siddique Baksh,
had the opportunity to live-tweet from the event for the class, keeping those that could not attend updated from @MktgHumber. From beginning to end, the conference was informative and fun. Speakers from Google, Terraform Media, Sapient Nitro, comScore and many other
distinguished companies were present. All of them shared their knowledge of
marketing, as well as insights as to what to expect next, as technology
advances.
The first speaker, Alan
Schulman gave the show an amazing start. He focused on something called
“Storyscaping”, which is creating a world in which many different types of
media carry your advertising message, and said, “to be part of the story, we
must create worlds, not ads.” After him, speakers from Casale Media, The
Weather Network, and Juice Mobile took the stage and presented their recent
innovation in the marketing field. After a break, the speaker from Environics
Analytics talked about Canadian demographics and about their PRIZM segmentation
system, which I think every marketing and business student at Humber has used
at least once. comScore then came up, and talked about the growth rates in
smartphones and tablets, which brought to light some very interesting statistics.
Terraform Media then talked about how important the T.V. video business is, and
how some people are “cord cutting” which means they are trading in a
traditional T.V. cable connection in favor for an internet based T.V.
experience. Then, Tim Reis, the head of mobile and social solutions at Google
was up. Mobile marketing was his focus, and he talked a lot about how the
potential for mobile marketing has not even begun to be touched yet. He also
showcased a video of how powerful and influential the connection can be between
mobiles and Google+, you can watch it below. Lastly, Candy Chang took the last
speaker spot, and talked about how useful and informative public communication
can be. Allowing the public to post up their ideas and hopes in different
places around the city is a fun and interesting way to gain insights into what
people are thinking. And just like that, the conference was over.
As I was tweeting along
with IAB Canada, Google Canada, and others about the conference and what was
being said, I found myself to be enjoying the experience quite a bit. In
addition to what the presenters were talking about, the interactions I was
getting on twitter with these huge names in marketing, was also part of the
fun. Getting retweets from Google Canada, FounderFuel, FFWD AdvertisingWeek,
and some others gave me some sort of drive that enabled me to keep going.
Although I was not able to keep up with the heavyweights, I believe I held my
own and gave out some useful information to the followers of MktgHumber on
twitter.
Of course, I would not
have been a part of this experience if it were not for the IAB inviting the Humber Internet Marketing students, Christina Clements
giving me the opportunity to live-tweet, and the support of my classmates helping me out
while I was tweeting. Thank you to all and I look forward to future MIXX Canada
events
Why do viral videos create such a
big buzz in the marketing world? We have all at some point in our lives wanted
to be wanted to be stars, actors, or comedians; and viral videos do just that.
It gives all of us the opportunity to be part of the world’s culture, and in
almost an instant you can become a star.
An
example of this can be taken from an episode of television show ‘The Pitch’. For
those that haven’t heard of it, ‘The Pitch’ is an unscripted series from AMC that
goes behind the scenes with the pressure on America's top creative ad agencies,
competing to pitch a new account. Each week the two agencies go head-to-head in
a presentation known as ‘The Pitch’ with only seven days to prepare. In one of
the episodes, two companies competed to be the advertising agency for Subway sandwich
chain. One of the agencies saw a video of somebody on YouTube rapping about
everyday food and thought it would be a good idea to bring him in and develop a
rap for Subway sandwiches. After the two agencies presented all of their ideas,
Subway ultimately chose the agency that brought in this unknown rapper.
This
is a fantastic example of how a marketing agencies was able to think out-side
the traditional forms of media to capture the attention of consumer through an on-line
video sensation. A lot of companies today are investing in online media, going viral
is the ultimate goal. Not every video is going to be a success but if you make
something that’s unique, funny, and creative enough you may just have the right
ingredients to go viral. So next time you are looking to go outside the box in
your promotional campaign think VIRAL VIDEO!
I have
tried to avoid this topic for quite some time now but with yet another
celebrity endorsement falling at Nike’s feet, I felt a need to pose a question
to all who read this. Does your view of a brand change when the epic and highly
publicized failure of athletes and celebrities come to light?
Now I
don’t particularly want to go into what Oscar Pistorius, Lance Armstrong,
Michael Phelps, and Tiger Woods (just to name a few) did because we all have
read and heard enough of this in the news. But I do want to get into the
underlying issue. How do we as people, as consumers put so much faith in
athletes or celebrities that a brand has placed on a throne for all to see and
admire, when in actuality there are just as human as the rest of us?They all have their own faults, weaknesses,
and pressures. But we like to view athletes and celebrities as more; as someone
to look up to, someone who can inspire us to be more than what we are and
someone who we want to be growing up as a kid.We don’t want to know their faults or their failures. We only want to
hear about their triumphs and successes.
As we
grow up and with a lot of help from the new media, we become more enlightened
and educated to their negative behaviour, but it still doesn’t stop the
public’s idealization of these so called iconic figures that so many brands
have labelled, so many times. However, for those athletes and celebrities that
have overcome remarkable odds do have a profound impact on the lives of others
as they touch the hearts of millions. Shouldn’t we not hold them higher
standard? So when they fall from grace, their fall is that much higher.
The
phrase that I have found that best describes the celebrity spokesperson is “Borrowed
Equity”. When a celebrity wears a Product A or uses a Service B, maybe the
consumers will purchase it too. But as you can decipher from the term-borrowed
equity; it is just that--it is borrowed. For as long as they are successful,
impactful, and relevant, they will be able to influence consumers. When a
company and their marketing and advertising departments get together and decide
to attach themselves to a celebrity or athlete, they are in most cases now held
hostage by that person’s image because it is supposed to reflect the image of
that brand. It holds true when you think of Michael Jordan you think of Jordan,
Sidney Cosby-Reebok, Payton Manning-Papa John’s, “Mean” Joe Greene-Coke and
Lance Armstrong you think Live Strong.All of these celebrity athletes and the brands that have attached
themselves to them all have the same characteristics, but you now when you read
that list your image towards one brand and athlete has changed dramatically.
It is
not because the view of that company/brand has change; it is solely based on
the actions of one and is now his/her image is being placed beside that brand.
How long it takes a brand to recover from the tarnished reputation of their
spokesperson is purely based of how iconic the figure was. Now you won’t see Tom
Brady endorsing beauty, but if he endorses a new Under Amour clothing line, you
may consider it. The goal for companies is to obtain maximum exposure and
celebrity endorsements are just that and the same goes for the celebrities. We
cannot forget the goal for both parties and it is to gain exposure and increase
sales. When these symbolic figure heads fall, we should not forget what they
are a symbol our expectation put forth by the brands that employ them
Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media outlets
available to the public. Recently the Facebook-owned photo sharing company has
announced the launch of it’s website-equivalent, which functions just like the
app does on your smart phone; but they have left out one key element - the
ability to upload photos.
It has been two years since the release of the
Instagram app for iPhones and Androids, and in that time it has gone from a relatively
unknown photo sharing application to servicing 90 million users today. It’s no
wonder that Facebook bought Instagram last April for a whopping 1 billion
dollars. This web-based experience now allows users to access and view photos,
but the company wanted to keep one key aspect of their application the same –
photo uploads are still only mobile-based.
Many of us are left asking why the two year delay if
Instagram hasn’t made any major changes to the website or app. One way of
looking at reasons for the the web expansion is the growing number of tablets
and netbooks consumers are carrying with them today, and taking into
consideration the amount of potential users who are excluded from using the
popular app. This now provides users with the continued ability to view
Instgram through a variety of devices that now include your PC, laptop or
tablets.However, in an attempt to deter
users from committing copyright infringements, Instagram’s choice to limit
sharing abilities to mobile devices may have actually been a smart business
choice. The sharing capabilities, now restricted to mobile devices, allows the
company to indirectly control the source of the images being shared.
So why is this so important to marketers? With millions of
consumers, and companies flocking to social media, Instagram gives marketers another
consumer touch-point to influence through visuals and short messages. It has
become a perfect way to allow brands to get their messages across as quickly
and effectively as possible. The company’s transition to the web allows
marketers to reach a wider audience that can be engaged with the brand and
hopefully be influenced by it.
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Aidan Sykes
(@aidanpsychs). I’m a Humber business marketing student who is ambitious and looking
to break into the Marketing/Advertising Industry. If I had to sum myself up in
one sentence it would be…“Young creative with a business mindset.”
Adweek is an amazing opportunity for students to learn,
network and get some insight on the Marketing/Advertising from Industry leaders.
It’s a week full of speakers-series,
workshops, and events that you don’t want to miss!
Next Generation Day
It was an early morning at the Bell TIFF Lightbox. I
struggle to get up for my 8am classes, but this morning I felt like a little
kid going to their first day of school. It was a restless night, had my clothes
picked out the night before, and was ready to learn and network with the
industry’s top executives. People from all over Ontario were in attendance,
some travelling more than 6 hours to be here! The day started with a panel of
speakers spanning from Directors’ to Account Managers. I really liked the mix
of experience because we got insight from all levels of the Marketing/Advertising
Industry. I took a lot of notes and decided to share some of them with you
(Check Out My Black Book Of Advice
at the end).
A very compelling story that really motivated me was from
Emma Brooks, Digital Strategist from Publicis Modem. She graduated from
Dalhousie University and decided to try and find a job in Toronto; she knew no
one and had only been here one time before. She used all of the networks she
knew from school and cold called every possible place she could find to get
information interviews and try to get her foot in the door. Did I mention she
was only able to stay in the city for a week! After preparing for her journey
from Halifax at the end of her week in Toronto she had multiple internship and
job offers….
After the panel was done we got some words of wisdom from
Burke Moody (Exec. Director of AICE New
York) who discussed the wonderful world of post-production editing. It wasn’t
the most engaging of speeches and interested 1/15th of the crowd. I
wished they had someone that would have spoke more to the entire industry
rather than one specific niche sector. On the plus side he showed us some
really cool edited movies that highlighted the work that editors do that we
always overlook. You can see some really cool videos (If you can only have time for one, watch The Shining) at: http://tinyurl.com/a7j238q
We were than
split into groups according to the agency that we were assigned to. There were
so many times when they were calling out agency names that I just wanted to get
up and pretend to be apart of a group, but I managed to restrain myself. People
had the chance to get an insider view of agency’s like TAXI, McClaren McCann,
BBDO, DDB, Olgivy, Juniper Park, etc.…. My head was spinning with all the
amazing agencies’ and corporations who were willing to open their doors to us. I
was a part of a group attending KBS+P. It’s a smaller agency that just won
Target Canada as a client. They were open and very welcoming. They gave us the
typical spill about the company, office tour, and broke down job titles to give
us a better understanding of agency life. The best part was when they gave us a
chance to work on a current creative brief they had. They even said that they
were going to present some the ideas we came up with to the client! I don’t
know how much involved we could have got.
After meeting
some great people at KBS+P the group and I attended the networking event. We
met up with all the other attendees; I got to meet some great people while
enjoying good music, food and drinks! Unfortunately the industry execs weren’t
able to attend, due to playing catch up from a missed day of work.
Overall it
was an experience that has taught me a lot and I would not trade it for the
world. I would suggest if you want to get into the Marketing/Advertising
Industry you need to block off everything for Adweek and attend as many
sessions as possible. Knowledge you’ll gain will be invaluable and give you a
leg up when looking to break into the industry.
Thank you to
all the organizations and Individuals that participated and gave their time.Especially thanks to the Institute of
Communication Agencies (@ICA) for putting this together.
The 42nd
annual Super Bowl kicks off this Sunday night; and while most of the focus will
be on the game between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, many
marketers and advertisers will be watching which brands make the biggest impact
with their game day commercials. With big named brands such as Blackberry,
Doritos, Toyota, Go Daddy and Sony shelling out major dollars, upward to $4
million for just a 30 second spot, you can bet those companies want to get the
most out of their money and be the highlight of the night.
Few things
are must-see-TV anymore, and that’s why advertisers are so geared towards
advertising during the Super Bowl. All you have to do is look at the statistics
to see why; T.V audiences last year reached a record 111 million people. This
is mass marketing at its best - being able to reach as many consumers as
possible with just one consumer touch point, doesn’t come around too often.
Companies are starting early and releasing their commercials prior to game day
in an effort to create buzz around their brand. Last year companies had around 300
million views per commercial on YouTube. Then YouTube did some research into
the early release of Super Bowl commercials and found that companies with
earlier release dates had on average 9.1 million more views. Super Bowl ads are arguably the best part of
Sunday’s championship day; it is the part of the event that will make us laugh,
cry and love, regardless of the love of football. Social media will be abuzz on
Monday, with everyone’s thoughts and reactions to the outcome of the game, where
all will be judged and scrutinized.
This
trend suggests that the price for Super Bowl commercials isn’t going to dip
anytime soon, and with an 84% increase for a 30 second TV spot from just 10
years ago, you can almost guarantee it. As an advertiser it would almost be
cheaper to ink yourself on one of the heavily tattooed players on one of the
two teams for the four hour show.
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Aidan Sykes
(@aidanpsychs). I’m a Humber business marketing student who is ambitious and looking
to break into the Marketing/Advertising Industry. If I had to sum myself up in one
sentence it would be…“Young creative with a business mindset.”
Adweek is an amazing opportunity for students to learn,
network and get some insight on the Marketing/Advertising from Industry leaders.
It’s a week full of speakers-series,
workshops, and events that you don’t want to miss!
Next Generation Day
It was an early morning at the Bell TIFF Lightbox. I
struggle to get up for my 8am classes, but this morning I felt like a little
kid going to their first day of school. It was a restless night, had my clothes
picked out the night before, and was ready to learn and network with the
industry’s top executives. People from all over Ontario were in attendance,
some travelling more than 6 hours to be here! The day started with a panel of
speakers spanning from Directors’ to Account Managers. I really liked the mix
of experience because we got insight from all levels of the Marketing/Advertising
Industry. I took a lot of notes and decided to share some of them with you
(Check Out My Black Book Of Advice at
the end).
A very compelling story that really motivated me was from
Emma Brooks, Digital Strategist from Publicis Modem. She graduated from
Dalhousie University and decided to try and find a job in Toronto; she knew no
one and had only been here one time before. She used all of the networks she
knew from school and cold called every possible place she could find to get
information interviews and try to get her foot in the door. Did I mention she
was only able to stay in the city for a week! After preparing for her journey
from Halifax at the end of her week in Toronto she had multiple internship and
job offers….
After the panel was done we got some words of wisdom from
Burke Moody (Exec. Director of AICE New
York) who discussed the wonderful world of post-production editing. It wasn’t
the most engaging of speeches and interested 1/15th of the crowd. I
wished they had someone that would have spoke more to the entire industry
rather than one specific niche sector. On the plus side he showed us some really
cool edited movies that highlighted the work that editors do that we always
overlook. You can see some really cool videos (If you can only have time for one, watch The Shining) at: http://tinyurl.com/a7j238q
We were than
split into groups according to the agency that we were assigned to. There were
so many times when they were calling out agency names that I just wanted to get
up and pretend to be apart of a group, but I managed to restrain myself. People
had the chance to get an insider view of agency’s like TAXI, McClaren McCann,
BBDO, DDB, Olgivy, Juniper Park, etc.…. My head was spinning with all the
amazing agencies’ and corporations who were willing to open their doors to us. I
was a part of a group attending KBS+P. It’s a smaller agency that just won
Target Canada as a client. They were open and very welcoming. They gave us the
typical spill about the company, office tour, and broke down job titles to give
us a better understanding of agency life. The best part was when they gave us a
chance to work on a current creative brief they had. They even said that they
were going to present some the ideas we came up with to the client! I don’t
know how much involved we could have got.
After meeting
some great people at KBS+P the group and I attended the networking event. We
met up with all the other attendees; I got to meet some great people while
enjoying good music, food and drinks! Unfortunately the industry execs weren’t
able to attend, due to playing catch up from a missed day of work.
Overall it
was an experience that has taught me a lot and I would not trade it for the
world. I would suggest if you want to get into the Marketing/Advertising
Industry you need to block off everything for Adweek and attend as many
sessions as possible. Knowledge you’ll gain will be invaluable and give you a
leg up when looking to break into the industry.
Thank you to
all the organizations and Individuals that participated and gave their time.Especially thanks to the Institute of
Communication Agencies (@ICA) for pA \
