Stephanie Stevenson

From a young age, I had taken great interest in the world of advertising. My fascination with the industry began during one of our family vacations to the United States. While having lunch at an old school diner, I noticed that the place was decorated with many Coca Cola posters from the 50s.

I can’t quite put my finger on why these ads had such a big impact on me but this experience definitely sparked my curiosity. This encouraged me to pay more attention to different advertisements, both old and new and from then on, I was hooked. It’s amazing how the smallest things can affect us in so many ways.

I chose to study Marketing because I believe that it would give me the best of both worlds. It covers a wide range of topics which broadened my understanding of business as a whole while also touching on my first love, which is advertising. Upon finding out that we were required to undergo an internship program to complete our academic requirements, I jumped at the opportunity to dig deeper into the profession I was most curious about. I applied for an internship position at Ace Saatchi & Saatchi, Manila.

Ace Saatchi & Saatchi, originally Ace Compton, was founded in 1949. Ace Compton had become partners with Saatchi & Saatchi, an international communications agency in the 1980s which gave them direct access to a network of 138 offices in over 80 countries. The agency has then grown tremendously and now has a large roster of local and international clients from different industries such as P&G, Mead Johnson, Lexus, Harley Davidson, & Toyota, to name a few.

I was assigned under ‘Client Services’, otherwise known as the “accounts management” department. Account executives are the bridge between the agency and the client. In total, the group I worked in was composed of 4 people (including myself) and we handled brands such as Cadbury Dairy Milk, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR), LINE Mobile App as well as several SM accounts.

Given that our group is quite small, I felt that the team was more open to giving me the chance to help out with different projects and take responsibilities for certain tasks. I embraced the challenge despite my initial nervousness because I knew that this would enable me to make the most out of my experience and see what it is like to work in the advertising industry first-hand. My day to day tasks included doing research, creating presentations, taking minutes for meetings, issuing job orders, briefing Creatives and communicating with clients. In addition to that, I was also given small projects to head such as overseeing all digital projects for our Cadbury Dairy Milk account which allowed to me dabble into new areas of work such as app development.

Over-all, I can say that I definitely enjoyed my experience as an intern at Ace Saatchi & Saatchi. While I admit that at times it can be overwhelming to take on certain responsibilities, it definitely challenged me to work harder and give my best. I have learned so much in the short amount of time I have spent working in the company. The people I worked with were very helpful and willing to teach me new things.

The most rewarding thing about working at Saatchi is just being surrounded by so many creative minds who love their job. It’s not every day you are surrounded by people who are willing to put in an insane amount of hours for the thing they are most passionate about. The feeling definitely rubs off on you, encouraging you to give nothing but your best. This has inspired me to pursue this career in the future. I definitely see imagine myself working in advertising or a similar field in a few years. However, next time I would like to try working in other departments such as strategy planning and/or the creatives department. I think you never really know where you fit best until you try it out. I am grateful for this opportunity as it has taught me a lot and also cemented the path in which I want to take.

PROJECT PHOTOS:

Cadbury Dairy Milk’s “Creamy Chocolate Fountain”	PAGCOR TVC Shoot
LINE “Say it better on LINE” Campaign