Breaking in to the Digital Advertising Industry
For a year and 3 months I have been at EA Games, a digital designer for their online store Origin (previously EA Store). There were good times, great times, and not so good times. I think it’s a bit too soon to write my story about my time at EA here, so may be in a future post, when time permits, I’ll do my best to write about the good, the bad and the ugly things about what I know about mega corporation known as Electronic Arts!
So where am I now? I have moved on, to do bigger and better things. While I was in Sri Lanka I had my chances in dipping into the advertising industry, working at McCann Erickson and LOWE. In the process learnt a lot and made a lot of friends in the industry. That was in Sri Lanka. Now I am in the UK, finished my university degree and went back to square one; trying to get my foot in the industry in London. EA isn’t exactly the “advertising industry”, it’s more of a “gaming” scene, with little to no chance of making contact with the hyped ad industry I kept hearing about. I got to work on a lot of exciting project, online ad campaigns, and improve my portfolio. The timing was perfect. The application process began.
Enter “ClickTag”.
After several interviews the recruitment agency sets up an interview with ClickTag. All the other places I have been were big agencies: OMD, VCCP, The Doodle Bar, and other in-house positions as a designer: PokerStars, SwiftCover. Quite big companies. Then I walk into ClickTag, a small agency, a small office. I sit by a glass table, next to it a bookshelf with a graveyard of old mobile phones, and old Macintosh computers. I see an old iPod stuck on the toilet door used as the door handle. Plenty of taxidermitised animals. Interesting. Nad Daniel, my current creative lead, walks in. We talk the usual interview stuff. I walk out. In my mind all I kept thinking was that this was a very small place, will there be room for development in my career. I wanted to grow, reach the skies. Is this the place? Still hadn’t made a decision.
Second interview. I’m still working at EA, and couldn’t take time off from work for this, but the kind folks at ClickTag agreed to meet me after work. At a bar. Yes, a bar. I walk in at around 6 pm. Meet Nad again, and Jon Lefly the CEO. Showed him my portfolio, and he instantly showed interest in hiring me. Still, in my mind I keep having this image of myself wanting to work in a big agency. Was I right? I was about to be proven wrong. I meet Andy Reid. He might have been in quite a state, but we had a deep conversation which lasted for more than 2 hours. Just the both of us, in the beer garden at the bar. I was convinced. I wanted the job. I left at around 10pm.
I still went to my second interview at VCCP. But right after I called back and withdrew the application. Did the same with all the other agencies and companies. Tried to resign at EA, but the process got a bit complicated. As a contractor I didn’t see why it was so difficult to just quit. So, a day after I handed in my official resignation letter I get fired. And I needed it. ClickTag wanted me to start the very next week. So thank god things worked out, and here I am sitting in the Chelsea offices of ClickTag.
So about ClickTag. This is an advertising agency. But not a traditional one. We specialise in Digital. Everything digital. From the 40k banners, rich media ads, facebook apps to iPhone and iPad apps. We have our own share of clients who we directly deal with, but in the meantime also liase with other top agencies such as Saatchi & Saatchi, Adam & Eve, AMV BBDO, BMB, DLKW LOWE, St Lukes and Publicis Chemistry. A lot of production work, but the agency is moving towards the creative side, making ideas happen. We also have our own LABS department, that have a team of tech wizards who appear to be able to do literally anything that’s thrown at them!
So yes, ClickTag is awesome. Not too sure about the logo, or branding. But things are changing. We are making some amazing things happen here, it’s in the making. We have a new upstairs section for the Suits and the Techs. More on this later!
Tomorrow, Movember begins. Watch out for some interesting stuff on that!