My name is Fatuma, I am a BTEC Level 1 student, currently taking the Fresh Start course in IT at CNWL. Here is a summary of my first-ever Career Insight Day at Publicis Media Group.
CAREER INSIGHT DAY 1: Publicis Media Group
Getting there
I prepped for the trip the night before, including my outfit for the day and checking bus timings. I woke up early and left around 8am. I reached Television Centre at 9:20am, walked to the reception, and I was handed a visitor’s card which I used to enter the Publicis office.
Upon arrival, I saw a group of young women aged from 16 to 25 and the group continued to grow over time. After ten minutes or so, the director from NextTech girls and the Publicis workers welcomed us all.
Morning sessions
We all took a seat as Jack and Rebecca from Publicis briefed us on the day’s plan. We had several sessions within the day and breaks as well.
My favourite part was the group task where I got to interact with the girls who were all from different schools and universities. We were organised into groups, and our task was to use AI tools such as Gen Canvas and Runway AI to create an advertising campaign for Disney+. Each group was given one company laptop, and I was chosen to navigate our way through it. We first brainstormed some ideas, and then we started to work on it. We chose to promote the adult dramas, documentaries, thrillers, and romance movies available on Disney+, using TikTok as our campaign platform. I created a prompt from our idea and used it to generate an image with the help of Gen Canvas. We further improved it by including some captions. Each group presented their ideas, and we all had so much to learn from each other.
Wrapping up
After the group task, we ate. Then, it was time to wrap up for the day. It was 3 PM. We took some pictures, chatted with each other, and then left. During this event, I learned several aspects about marketing such as Search Engine Optimisation, AI agents, advertising and AI tools and apps such as Animatic Builder, Audiostack, Eleven Labs, Gen Canvas, and Hey Gen.
I loved being there! Plus, I was even able to make a couple of friends.
CAREER INSIGHT DAY 2: Digitas (part of Publicis Media Group)
The morning
I did my prep like usual, the night before and left early in the morning. Once I reached there, I was escorted to the office. This time I felt more confident and prepared. It was even better when I saw familiar faces from the previous insight day. We took our seats and the session began around 10 AM. Before we even realised, we had dived into the middle of the day. I learned about creative tools such as Mobbin, Dribbble and Figma.
Afternoon competitions
Later that day, we were divided into groups, and we were challenged to solve real-life problems. Our group’s main task was to improve the social media engagement of the Subway fast-food app. We were each given a paper to write down our ideas or even sketch.
We all contributed several ideas to include in the app. A teammate suggested personality and health quizzes to know user preferences which can also be used for marketing and ads. I suggested adding a games section, leaderboards, and daily streaks, just like Snapchat and TikTok, to increase the engagement. The top three at the leaderboard would receive a discount, coupons, and free meals, to encourage competition for more points.
Another member suggested a social section and its design was meant to look like that of Twitter and Instagram posts with comment sections. There was also an idea called ‘Sandwich wrapped!’, taking inspiration from Spotify Wrapped. The users will be able to see their favourite sandwiches, top sauces and drinks they had bought all over the year. We then heard ‘time is up!’ and we all had to present our ideas.
Although our group was originally the third to present, we took the initiative to present first. Afterwards, the other groups presented, and we were told that the winner group would be announced.
None of us saw that coming but I am both thrilled and proud to share that my group won first place. We were all open-minded and positive towards each other, which also contributed to our win.
Reflections
Reflecting on my experiences from both the events, I realise that I have learnt a lot about myself. Not only was I able to discover my creativity, but also developed several skills such as team collaboration, communication, adaptability, creative and critical thinking. I am most grateful to Mr Yacob, my ICT Lecturer, who encouraged me to sign up to the events using the links he posted on Microsoft Teams, and, of course, to my team members at both events for their contributions. I am also glad that I decided to be a part of the events.
My only advice to you is to be curious and to get out of your comfort zone, only then will growth happen. Cheers to many more events like this in the future and thank you for reading!