SOFI

Probably now's the right time to blog.

Hello there! You may know that I've spent one of my more memorable summers being an intern for an advertising agency. I got into internship because of many reasons (I wanted to see if the industry was for me or if I was for it, to try Makati CBD life, to have a legit reason not to go to summer school, among others).

I applied for and thankfully got accepted in five agencies. I was apprehensive about choosing the right one. I can say that I have made the right decision with BBDO. The internship program, School of Fine Ideas (SOFI) was just what I needed. I'm a newbie in everything advertising and my course is even far related to it, so I needed an internship that would orient me to everything, from the beginning. To tell you that the whole experience was fun would probably not give it justice. SOFI was just so comprehensive. It was a crash course exposing us to accounts, strat, art, copy, shoots and recordings.

I ended up finding out that agency life is not all cotton candy and sunshine. There are very good days comprised of warm, fuzzy feelings and tada moments; and there are not-so-good days made of idea rejection ending in late nights. Besides that, it's so difficult to cram creative executions since advertising is not like your ordinary art. Every art element must have a purpose, ads must be consistent and in-line with the strategy, the copy must be short and sweet. Those things.

I had met two advertising 'celebrities' in BBDO. One was THE David Guerrero and the other one was Simon Welsh.

Our batch of interns comprised of a mix of different interesting personalities. I can generalize that everybody loves Facebook, being photographed, taking pictures in Photobooth, doing Chatroulette and singing Empire State of Mind (and eating!). It's amazing how in a span of five weeks we got really close as a group. Seeing each other everyday could have helped.

That's our class picture below, with David.

And of course our team! My teammates are awesome. That's us with our mentor Jao.

As said, this summer is one of those summers I felt I've done something pretty productive, memorable and fun at the same time. During our last day we were sad to leave the office. It would be long before we'd get a chance to go back there (that's if we decide to apply for work or just visit the office).

Now, on to a "real" summer vacation which I don't think is ever happening. I still have lots to do. I want to lie in bed the whole day sleeping but unfortunately I still can't do that now.