Being a Communication Studies student who specializes in Public and Promotional Communication, I decided to pursue my interest in advertising by doing my internship with an advertising agency. I was accepted into Bates advertising agency and spent 24 weeks with its affiliated company, 141 Singapore Pte. Ltd. Bates advertising specializes in above-the-line advertising, dealing with creative work like radio commercials, televisions commercials, outdoor advertising, press advertisements etc. 141 advertising agency specializes in below-the-line advertising which deals with advertising involving product launches, strategies and materials directed to consumers in-store, channel management and support tools directed to the channel.
 Perhaps similar to other fresh interns without much working experience, I expected to be handed big projects or do presentations to the client during the first weeks of my internship. But, for the first two weeks of my internship, I was given an induction to the various departments within the agency namely: production, traffic, creative and account servicing. I was attached to the account servicing team which handles the Asia-Pacific Nokia account. Thus, I spent my first two weeks attending the various induction sessions and reading about the servicing of the account. That was when I realized the broad scope of work an advertising agency does and the amount of professionalism they dedicate to their work. Mistakes like a spelling error or wrong measurements for materials produced are not tolerated. Sometimes, design discrepancies not noticeable to the layperson can cause much frustration and lead to the rejection of the materials printed. Such was the level of professionalism people in the agency put into their work and I knew that I had to prove my worth before my colleagues would sonfidently place the work they take pride in into my hands.
 Initially, I was mostly shadowing my colleagues, attending meetings and finding out the general workings of the agency. Thus, the work I did was pretty straightforward like proofreading of materials and locating images to be used in the artworks. After one month working in the agency, I became familiar with the advertising process and the nature of work we handled. So, my supervisor agreed that it was time to move on to what he called “the next level” of my internship. That was when the real work began. I became actively involved in projects. Initially, I was given simple projects like handling requests from markets requiring CD-ROMs with past campaign materials. They might seem simple but it actually involved writing a new job brief, following up on the job with progressive briefs until completion. After the job was completed, I also had to settle the finances involved with the project manager (i.e. my overstudy).
 Gradually, I was able to establish trust among my colleagues in my working capabilities. Thus, I was given more complicated projects to handle. Although I handled all the internal communication within the agency, I was supervised by a fellow colleague who made sure that the client’s requirements were met and she would be the direct contact person with the client. I was pretty content that my colleagues slowly allow me to be independent to run the projects I handled. However, they would always keep tabs on potential problems when they listened to my daily updates and would also give me pointers on how to better get the job done.
 The main way to learn while doing an internship is very unlike school. In school, information and knowledge is passed systematically through lectures and tutorials. In the working world, especially in an advertising agency, where everything moves at an extremely fast pace, people often lack the time and patience to sit down and teach whatever expertise and knowledge they possess. So, I had to make even more use of my eyes and ears while working. I observed my fellow colleagues on the job to learn the best way to work. I paid attention during meetings and briefing sessions to make sure I had all the necessary information to carry out my job. That would also mean asking the right questions. It is understandable that people would appear a little frustrated with the questions asked but I feel it is better to bare my ignorance and clear my doubts instead of doing the job in a wrong way and wasting everybody’s time in the end. However, the fastest way to learn is by doing the job. Only by doing will one gain experience. Being fresh, mistakes were inevitable. Fortunately, people were generally more forgiving towards interns and were willing to accept my sincere apologies.
 When I gradually got used to the working environment and nature of work, I became more confident of the tasks I handled. That was also when I became involved in producing advertising materials for products like the recently launched Nokia 8310. For that product, I assisted my team members in producing materials like the brochues, packaging, point-of-sale materials, etc. The usual scenario was that they would handle the external communication with the client while I helped them with the internal communication in the agency. Assisting my colleagues in producing advertising materials for Nokia phone products was very challenging and interesting. There is an old saying that no amount of good advertising can save a bad product. But, when given good products by big names such as Nokia and Heineken, there is a lot at stake for the manufacturer and their advertising agency. There is a constant need to produce materials that will promote the product and help the client maintain their stronghold in the market. Thus, the upcoming campaign has to be just as good, if not better, than the previous one. However, on top of producing a better advertising campaign, there is also a need for consistency among campaigns. That is the challenge for each product advertising campaign; to be better and more creative than the previous one while letting consumers see synergy and consistency with other campaigns.
 Apart from product launches, I did other forms of advertising work. The biggest project I took part in was one that involved taking 30-40 shots to be used in advertising materials for Nokia. It was a big project and involved a huge budget. In the initial stages, the agency had to shortlist a few photographers to recommend to the client. The agency also had to make sure that the photographers recommended were within the client’s budget. By working with my colleagues, they taught me that a photographer does not work on his own but normally comes with a crew of stylists, make-up artists, producers and runners. The photographer also works closely with the art director to achieve the shots needed. When the scenarios and costs have been agreed upon, one would enter the pre-production phase.
The photographer has to be briefed clearly so that he and his team know what the shots are about. Initial contact with the photography team involved sending them scamps of the scenarios to be taken, general comments on the treatment, talents, styling and type of mood to be achieved. The producer would email us pictures of locations they have scouted. Of which, he would narrow the list down to two locations to present to the client. Wardrobe references and talents scouted were also sent to us. When all details like talents, wardrobe and props were more or less finalized, there would be an integrated pre-production session between the agency, the photography team and the client. After more than two months of hard work, the pictures taken turned out great and the client was very happy with them.
On top of gaining professional knowledge about the field, this internship has taught me a lot. My fellow colleagues taught and showed me what it meant to be a professional. Since our client was Nokia and is involved in the telecommunications industry, we often read journals and newsletters about the industry. Knowing trends within the industry and our competitors helped us better understand our client’s position and the industry as a whole. Such knowledge might seem to be of low importance to the actual work produced but knowing one’s clients is the basic homework an agency has to do. Other than reading articles related to our client’s industry, I noticed that my colleagues were also very keen in upgrading themselves. They often read books written about advertising and spent time going through magazines to find out the various types of advertising done internationally. I do recall a few sessions I had with my colleagues discussing the points raised in books they were reading which I have also read as part of my course materials. We discussed our individual insights and they gave me their views on how well some points mentioned in books work in the real world.
I feel my colleagues taught me as much about life as they did imparting their professional knowledge. I remember one incident in which the agency made a small blunder. It was a pretty small mistake and if one’s luck was good enough, nobody might notice the flaw. However, it was mandatory to point out the mistake to the client as it might have future complications. Before I entered the working world, I have heard my fair share of how menacing and hypocritical it can be. Thus, I thought my colleague would just weave a pretty excuse to distance herself from the blame for the mistake. To my surprise, she chose to tell the truth to the client and apologized sincerely. The client understood and forgave her with a stern warning. It was a very unforgettable incident for me. My colleague’s display of honesty and courage left a stronger impression than all the moral and civics lessons I have attended combined. The bottomline is communication. At the end of the day, we are working with people. If communication is accurate and sincere, people are highly likely to accept it, even in cases when the information may be to their dislike.
Ever since I began my internship, long working hours and quick lunches became the norm. However, we also found the time occasionally for a long lunch or tea-break sessions just to relax. Especially in a fast-paced environment like advertising, it is sometimes hard to predict what can happen next. One minute you might be enjoying coffee and recollecting the deadlines of jobs you need to meet, the next minute you might be handling dozens of phonecalls and having to solve a crisis in five minutes. All in a day’s work.
The worst day in my whole internship was one in which we were asked to produce some posters for one of the client’s event. It was a pretty tight job as the posters had to be printed in two days and we still had not finished the artwork. We normally need about one day to finish the artwork and another day to print the posters. Thus, the project did not give any leeway for mistakes or even color correction. The shock came when the client asked for the posters to be delivered within 24 hours. It was the most hectic day of my life. I was frantically pacing within the studio providing them with pictures and copy while the designers were making layout and design adjustments to the artwork. There were also worries that some of the pictures might not appear very clear when printed. All of us stayed till 9.30pm before we finished the artwork. Our production manager took over from there and worked till 3.00am at the printer’s making sure all the posters printed were faithful in color. With concerns that the posters might not turn out right and that they might not be ready by 7.00am the next day, it was the first sleepless night I have had in years. Luckily, the posters turned out great although I caught myself a few times the following day dozing off in front of the computer.
I feel I have matured both professionally and emotionally through this internship. Professionally, I now know the workings of an advertising agency and the creative process. Emotionally, I now know how to handle and cope with stress. I was glad to hear my colleague comment that I have changed from a “panic-stricken” to “solution-driven” person. I have learnt to respect and appreciate my fellow colleagues who spent the time to teach and help me when I was in need. No one can do everything, not in advertising and perhaps, not in any other field. So, it is important to maintain a good working relationship with other colleagues. Thus, whenever we receive compliments from the client on work well done, we always attribute it to great teamwork. At the end of the day when I see the advertising materials I worked on displayed in stores and how nice they have turned out, it suddenly makes those long working hours, skipping of lunches, tensions and frustrations experienced, all seem worthwhile.