Before spending a week at Fantastic Media I had never completed any meaningful work experience. I say ‘meaningful’ because two years ago I had a placement at a primary school which didn’t really involve anything other than tidying up the classroom at the end of the day. For a student who aspired to be a teacher, this would probably have been a valuable opportunity to find out more about the profession but unfortunately, I’m not said student. My time at Fantastic on the other hand was worlds apart from that experience.
AN EYE OPENER
I had a look on Fantastic Media’s website before starting to get a feel for the type of work which the agency undertakes. When I arrived on Monday morning I was provided with a placement pack which included a range of tasks for me to complete. Working through the pack allowed me to develop a further understanding of some of the work which the Client Services team carry out for their clients on a daily basis.
Prior to starting my placement I thought I had a reasonable knowledge of marketing; I was very wrong! I was completely ignorant to the wide range of marketing strategies which can be employed to meet a client’s needs. From pay-per-click advertising and social campaigns, to direct mail and blogging, my eyes were well and truly opened to the complexity of marketing. I now know that there is much more to marketing than what the 5 pages designated to it in the GCSE Business Studies textbook suggest!
REAL EXPERIENCE
As well as working through the placement pack I was also asked to assist members of the team with some of the work which they were currently doing. From speaking to other students at college, I know that few work experience providers allow work placement students to play such an active role. I am therefore very grateful to Fantastic Media for this opportunity.
For example, I was asked to put my blog writing skills to the test and pull together a piece for Simmonsohn, a company which sells tandems. Not being an expert in the field of dual participant bikes, I conducted some research into them and found out that tandems are no longer just novelties and that they are now used for an array of reasons. Fantastic always carry out extensive research into the markets which their clients operate in in order to optimise the services which they provide.
I was also asked to create a social schedule for construction company Actavo Direct. This task involved planning the tweets for the company’s Twitter account for a few weeks using Excel. I learnt that the planning process is important to make sure that the balance of tweets with internal links, external links and homepage links is correct.
TEAM FANTASTIC
Over the course of the week I’ve been able to really get a feel for what the Fantastic team are all about. They meet every client with respect, friendliness and a determination to meet their specific marketing needs. From sitting in a number of meetings, I quickly found out that teamwork plays a significant role in Fantastic’s success. The excellent cooperation between members of the team – an essential ingredient for any agency – ensures that productivity is at its maximum.
A SUMMARY OF MY WEEK
Despite only having a week to spend at Fantastic, the things I have learnt, such as the importance of cooperation, are invaluable and will definitely help me when applying for university. I am planning to do an English degree and so writing blogs was one of my favourite parts of the placement. Above all else I have discovered from the Fantastic team that the amount of effort put into something directly corresponds to the results reaped. Putting 100% effort into everything is definitely worth it in both the world of work but also in life in general.
Molly Jones, student at Greenhead College, Huddersfield.