4 Months Later...

Wow time has flown by, seriously it's almost August and I feel like it was Canada Day just yesterday. At one point I thought about closing up this blog because it originated as a school project but now I think im going to keep it going just so I can share some of the content I've been working on with my two jobs.  I realized lately that what I really have passion for is actually just that, creating content. Whether its writing short stories, posts about my favourite TV shows, quizzes or even real estate content for my co-op job, there is something rewarding about posting content you worked hard on online for the world to see. It is even better when you receive feedback and can track how many views you have. I recently created a fun flip card post for Voice of TV and it has garnered over 65k unique views which is insane! Anyways I will add links to some of the stuff I worked.

https://voiceoftv.com/CharlotteB

A cool info graphic I helped work on that made the Metro News in Toronto

Looking Back

Some of my Friends and I at Networking Night 

As this semester is coming to a busy, crazy but exciting end, I thought I would reflect back at my time in the Sheridan Advertising Account Management program. I was unsure of what to expect when I started this program for a variety of reasons. One, I didn't know much about advertising, it was an interest of mine but I felt slightly unprepared about what I was getting myself into. Two, I didn't know what college itself was going to be like and obviously I wanted to make friends ( which I did by the way). So looking back, I can honestly say that this program was one of the busiest but also most rewarding years of my life. I remember starting back in September and I was getting very overwhelmed by all the information and assignments that we had to do, but I took it step by step day by day and the semester flew by.  Semester one was all about the learning the basics and getting familiar with the advertising industry and the various departments and components. Which paved the way for semester two, where we hit the ground running week one, diving into co-op and a major integrated marketing campaign for Purina ONE. So yes, there has been long nights and days where the work never seemed to end, but the thrill of pulling off a strong ad campaign or killing that presentation you were nervous for was worth it for sure. Not to mention, I've gotten to work with a great group of students and helpful, knowledgeable and fun professors. So if you are afraid of long nights and hard work, then maybe this program is not right for you. However, if you are willing to put in the time and do the work you will have a lot of fun along the way and the end will be so rewarding. 

Purina ONE

One of my favourite parts about the Sheridan Account Management program has definitely been the assignments that we have gotten to do. I love college because you actually get to work with real products, not just theories about products or brands. Last semester my group and I did work for brands like NIKON, Dove and Somersby Blackberry Cider. For me as soon as I am given  a real product to work with, I instantly enjoy the project more. This semester there has been one big ad campaign that we have been working on, for Purina ONE dog food. Although it has been a lot of work, it really has been fun and a great learning experience. It is a great opportunity to get a taste of what it might be like to work on a real campaign for a client like Purina. We have parts of this project in almost every class we are taking this semester. So we do the media for the campaign in one class, the creative in  one and the research and idea generation in another just for an example. It has opened my eyes to how complicated it can be sometimes to co-ordinate between different departments and people within an agency. Every professor has a slightly different idea of what the campaign should be like, which aspect is more important (ie. Creative vs. Media) and what the ads should look like. The deadline for the big presentation is slowly creeping up on us, but I'm actually looking forward to sharing all of our ideas and findings with everyone. I feel like this project is a huge advantage for this program because it really does test you and give you a glimpse into the process and co-ordination that goes into a client's campaign and the skills needed to work in an ad agency.  So if hands on real life projects are what you are looking for, this program is for you.

Catelli's Perfect Family Commercial

I was recently watching TV, probably the food network, because lets face it, it is always on in my room. Anyways, this commercial for Catelli Pasta caught my eye for a variety of a reasons. I love how it is able to capture and celebrate the imperfections found in every family dynamic. I also really liked how it started off with showing social media clips, and people commenting saying " aw your family is so perfect."We have all seen those family's online, perfect mom, perfect dad and adorable kids dressed like mini models, but its refreshing to be reminded that every family has their flaws.
Doyle Brown, Senior Brand manager at Catelli stated " what we're trying to do is show real life moments- a more genuine depiction of families, so it showcases those moments everyone has been through"
There is a lot of pressure, especially on social media to portray that perfect image, but in reality people and families come in all shapes and sizes and this add captures this beautifully.
Whether its the battle between mom and teenage daughter about showing a little too much skin or a family trying hard to accept their son and his boyfriend. All in all great commercial and a first from Environics.
Read more about it here : http://www.marketingmag.ca/brands/catelli-ad-celebrates-the-imperfections-of-family-life-168919

Infographic

Infographics are fun, visual representations of concepts, ideas or information. I thought it would be helpful  to post a view that help explain digital advertising. Enjoy!

Job Searching

The Sheridan College Post-grad Advertising Account Management program comes with an optional co-op term! So essentially, its recommended that you take the opportunity but it is not required for

receiving your certificate. So if you find yourself wondering whether you want to do co-op in the future let me give you some insight from what I've learned so far. Job searching is a daunting task.. even in co-op and it can be stressful, yes even in co-op. However, without co-op I feel like job searching would seem impossible, its hard to know where to start, who to contact etc. For the first 6 weeks of semester 2 we had a co-op class, that helped us prepare our resumes, cover letters and brush up on our interview skills. Honestly, this was very helpful. I am still nervous about the real world and working for a potentially big company downtown Toronto. However, this co-op process is slowly giving me the confidence that I really need to go out there and get a career started. I had my doubts, mainly due to fear if I wanted to go through with co-op , but even though I have no secured a job quite yet, I know there is one out there for me and I will find it. Sheridan also has a group of great ladies in the co-op department that are very helpful, and are willing to talk to you whenever you need. So in conclusion, if you ever have the opportunity to do a co-op program do it!

https://www.sheridancollege.ca/life-at-sheridan/student-services/co-op.aspx

Super Bowl 50

The Super Bowl; a night to watch football, drink beer and eat a ton of food with friends and family. Now if you're like me you don't care much about the actual game but rather watch it for the half-time show and for the coveted Super Bowl advertisements! As an advertising student it makes sense that these ads would excite me right ?

An interesting little fact though, in Canada we have a hard time finding the commercials on air. This is because of a little thing called Simultaneous Substitution. So while we have the game airing in real time, the commercials are substituted with Canadian ones meaning any Canadian watching on a Canadian network would have missed gems like this one last night .....

Yeah.. not sure where they were going with this 

Some people have complained about this in the past, so starting next year the CRTC decided to for go simultaneous substitution and allow the American Super Bowl ads onto Canadian television stations. Its estimated that Canadian Super Bowl broadcasters like CTV will lose millions over this decision. It is a huge opportunity for Canadian advertisements too, because they know viewership will be huge. I was able to watch them anyways having a satellite station from Seattle, so is it really worth hurting Canadian TV broadcasters?

On the lighter side of things here are the top 5 Super Bowl commercials from USA Today ( I personally like the Wiener dog one )