Week 1 Practicum: “Talented and Nice”

by Lillian T Zhang

Wow, this week went by fast and I’m loving every minute of it!

My practicum is at DDB located in the heart of Downtown, Vancouver. I am a creative intern in the advertising department. Not going to lie I was super nervous the day before my practicum, from the impression I had, with a couple of visits for my mentorship meetings with Dean and interviews. The big office space with different departments came off a little intimidating for me. But holy, was I so wrong, each department worked closely together to provide their support of expertise to elevate a project to the next level. Everyone was super welcoming and friendly, the nervousness went away instantly and by the second day, I felt at ease.

On my first day, DDB welcomed me with a studio tour and introduced me to everyone including people from Twice, Tribal and Kidthink. I was then assigned to my own desk, working closely with others and had a kit waiting for me at my desk: a notebook, a USB drive and a water bottle. At 10 am, I was able to participate in their “Resourcing” meeting, that happens every Monday where they assign projects to different teams and make sure they are up to schedule. I was given a set of instructions to set up accounts on various communication platforms to connect with others, also I had Laurence, our IT guy to help me along the way. Something I really appreciate and love about DDB is their efficiency in time management and having a system that’s organized amidst all the big projects they are working on.

Never did I once felt I was thrown into a project without any directions and tools. Thanks to my assigned buddy Jon, who has been working at DDB for 9 years now as a Copywriter and Creative Director, he gave me tremendous amount of help with feedback on my ideas and showing me around how DDB function. I’m currently working on a SkyTrain station ad takeover for a lottery company. I did ideations and mock-ups for most of the week, my team presented our ideas to Dean (our executive creative director) at the end of the week. I will be given more projects to work on next week.

Highlights of this week

Hot Dog day:

Be able to experience their hot dog day that happens on the last Friday of every month. Hot dog day at DDB means so much more than just a throwing a party and free food, it symbolizes the persistence Frank Palmer (Former CEO of DDB) strive to go out of his way to deliver unconventional service that other agency at the time doesn’t provide and to make sure his client’s voices and concerns are heard by having hot dog available for his client’s customer on their grand opening day. 

Shout out Fridays: 

DDB have Shout out Fridays every week, Me and Rae who is also interning at Twice made a shout out to everyone at DDB for welcoming us so kindly and making us feel so comfortable. During our orientation, two of the qualities DDB look for in their employees is talent and nice and I witness that in everyone at DDB.

I scream for ice cream:

Discovering stashes of ice cream a few steps away from my desk makes it hard not to reward myself often. This week I tried the Vanilla cups, there are a few more flavours to get through in my 6 weeks of practicum. So stay tuned next week on what flavour I will be rewarding myself next week!!

Follow Lillian’s blog at lilliantzhangblog.wordpress.com or see her portfolio at lilliantzhang.com.