WEEK 1

My first day

27/09/2022

I had many worries going in on my first day, especially because of how prestigious and intimidating the company seemed, walking through a hallway filled with hundreds of trophies on both sides. However, my stress dissipated after meeting my team, who are incredibly casual and open. Though the work itself may not be the most enjoyable (researching ideas, watching ad campaigns and gathering references), it was reassuring to know that I will not be overlooked, left with nothing to do.

It felt like my opinion was genuinely valued, having constantly been called over to discuss different projects with different higher-ups and professionals. I found that I had managed my expectations well: the work wouldn’t directly require all my skills in animation, it wasn’t going to be a thrilling jam-packed day of fun, and there will be times when I don’t understand all the keywords fully, having joined the team in the middle of the projects they’ve been working on.

My first day involved a lot of researching, getting used to the work environment. I was tasked with researching different ad campaigns over different topics, compiling the ones I find interesting and presenting them. As per the Thai culture of respecting your elders, I was frequently called over to introduce myself to different professionals and adults.

I got to attend a briefing which I mostly glossed over with all the foreign business key terms and talks of cryptocurrency.

That was the new project that came up that day: a mobile app for trading cryptocurrency – a concept I personally don’t align with but that have fallen into my hands anyway. Seeing as I had studied in the UK, I was tasked with researching how cryptocurrency is advertised abroad, especially for people who have no knowledge of cryptocurrency, which is a part of the client’s target audience.

A downside of this job was that I couldn’t decide what projects I could take, though I tried to view this as a challenge, especially to try and understand the appeal of something I personally don’t like.

These were the two main tasks I was given: research the integration of the metaverse in beauty, and how cryptocurrency is advertised.

Despite my hesitance, I found that this process wasn’t too foreign to me as it was quite similar to all the conceptual research I had to do for university.

The day I realised this is not a regular 9-5

29/09/2022

I learned how members of a creative direction team operate – everyone gets the same brief from the client, then goes away to develop their own ideas, finding references that would represent their vision well. Copywriters focus on language/script while creative directors find visual references and concepts. Everyone comes back to present their ideas one by one, grouping/merging them based on similarity in vision/theme to create different directions the project could take. This is then presented to the team leader who will critique, evaluate, further enhance and develop the ideas into something clearer or better-suited to the client.

Still with the pre-conception that these are regular work hours, I assisted in note taking, summarizing each direction and idea on a whiteboard, preparing to leave at 6pm sharp, though things just kept…going, with no sign of the discussion coming to a conclusion. That was when I realised that work isn’t done until the work is done.

I came into work at 1pm that day and left at 11pm – not because they finished at 11pm, but because my mother had called in to check when I would be coming home and so they insisted I could leave early.

The process of discussion itself was interesting. It was my first time observing creative ideas being developed in a professional setting, as well as being given the chance to present my own ideas and research with some references that I found for the presentation of other people in the team. The team leader was extremely casual (some might say too casual) though his criticisms on the ideas including mine were very insightful, giving me a pointer that every media reference must be chosen with a clear purpose in mind and identify exactly/specifically what I am trying to communicate with it.