What a Week!

First of all, I had an early morning (slightly hungover) epiphany which spurred me to get up and write this week's blog...

On the train home I was a little bit inebriated (post pitch booze up) and took that opportunity to catch up on some games in Draw Something. It was only when I read messages commenting on the quality of my drawings that I likened playing Draw Something pissed to the advertising industry. Because I wasn't focused on who I was drawing to and the quality of my drawing (or message if you like) I completely ruined our turn ranking (if you don't know what I am going on about- get Draw Something) meaning we had to start back at the beginning. I liken this to the ad industry because all too often a message is delivered by a brand that doesn't really consider it's audience who then goes back to the first stages of consideration. I suppose this analogy links back to everything I have heard throughout the course- be simple and considerate, know your audience and take time to plan the message and the channels to reach them. I just don't understand why something so simple isn't being put into practice a lot more? And what can I do to change it?

Ramblings aside, this week has been hard, tiring, stressful, but most of all rewarding. It was the final week of project three, so we were all frantically getting our pitches together for Friday afternoon. Each group pitched their idea and media plan to Paul Ridsdale (Head of marketing at ITV) and Helen Lawrence (Marketing Manager of new platforms at ASOS) and we impressed them so much Helen later tweeted:

""Wow. Amazing day judging incredible work from the Squared 2012 teams. So impressed. Amazing talent, they're sure to be millionaires by 30"

Other than project work, we had a toolbox session on Google Analytics, where we were asked to analyse the Google Store Website using real time data. I found it really insightful as it helped me consider where websites go wrong and potential solutions to problems. This is something I would like to take back in my agency work as it would definitely aid in effective digital planning. It was also nice to go back to looking at numbers #imissmyspreadsheets.

Simon Rogers (editor at the Guardian) gave a talk on "beautiful data" and the use of infographics in supporting explanation. He gave multiple examples of how data can be used in interesting ways, for example: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/interactive/2011/dec/07/london-riots-twitter and opened up new ways of thinking about and combining different data sources in order to create something people actually care about.


This week has been very full on, so apologies for the brief post as I am off to make the most of the sunshine and fresh air! As ever, keep up to date following @kerrydatlen. Project 3 starts Monday...