The luckiest day of my life
When I was in final year I came across the Communications Council stall at the Business School Careers fair. I applied for their Graduate Program and managed to scrape in with a call back after someone else pulled out (probably the luckiest day of my life!). After I finished the Program I got picked by one of the Advertising Agencies (Meerkats) to be their Grad for the next 3 months while I finished my final semester at UWA.
I stayed at Meerkats for the next two years, working on Lotterywest, Synergy, Celebration Homes and non for profit Youth Focus amongst others. Just after I’d left Meerkats a previous Director (who had now moved to West Australian Ballet as their Marketing Director) called me to see if I wanted to move over to client side marketing with WAB, and I’ve been there for the past year.
A nerdy passion for strategic thinking
My nerdy passion is strategic thinking and creative solutions. Good brands really understand the importance of marketing strategy being at the very core of their business - in terms of understanding what it is that their company exists in the world to do. Then they use that strategy to make decisions on what products to sell, how to make them, where and how to sell them and what function their brand plays in the lives of their consumers. If time and energy were no object I truly would be the happiest person in the world to sit down with every business and talk about their strategy. I guess I would like to make a difference in the world by trying to provide businesses that add real value into the world with the tools they need to design a marketing strategy for their sustainability.
The changing landscape of communications
I think the Communications Industry has really changed a lot in a very short amount of time. Back in the day you could put a full page ad in the newspaper and you’d be sure that a large percentage of people (hopefully your target market) would see it. The way the modern person consumes information is changing so quickly, even year to year. For instance a year ago I might have gone to my Facebook newsfeed to get updates on the results of the Derby but now, without even opting in, your iphone sends you News notifications on stories as they break. Or I might watch the 1 minute highlights on Snapchat’s Featured News about what happened at the Brownlow’s red carpets rather than watch the whole thing live on the TV.
Ever changing technology and news media has meant an overarching marketing strategy has been more crucial than ever as we move away from executing ‘ads’ to communicating a message (through whatever channel or media outlet that might be). That’s caused some serious shifts in the value that communications professionals provide to their clients or their companies. The value, now more than ever, seems to be in strategic thinking.
Words of wisdom for new students
Do an exchange semester. It will change your life!
And if you’re like me and you wanted to take time off to travel but your inner economist is saying that’s not the most efficient use of your time then you can kill two birds with one stone and get money from the government to do it!
About Andrea
While at UWA I studied a Bachelor of Commerce (Majoring in Marketing and Economics with a Business Law Minor) and did a semester on exchange at Copenhagen Business School. I completed the Communications Council Graduate Program in 2013 and was hired as a Grad with Meerkats, the Brand Leadership Company in 2014 where I continued to work as Brand Coordinator until late 2016. Following this, I moved to West Australian Ballet as part of their Marketing Team, where I’ve been for the past year.
I was just lucky that my step into Advertising was so smooth and I’ve always been conscious that it often isn’t that easy for others. So outside of work I’ve been keen to be involved in providing support for people wanting to move into the Advertising/Marketing Industry through mentoring events with year 12s at my old high school, organizing social and networking events as a Committee Member on YoungbloodsWA and volunteering at UWA’s Markam events.
You can connect with Andrea on LinkedIn.