My name is Ethan Byrne. I am 16 years old and I decided to get work experience at Kola Digital this week.
I’m quite interested in digital advertising and marketing, so I felt I’d enjoy it here in this type of workplace. It also gave me a better idea of what it is like inside a digital marketing agency, where different types of creative and advertising work are handled for real clients.
I’m glad to say my feelings were proven true, the experience was amazing and there were lots of things we got up to.
What I Worked On at a Digital Marketing Agency:
On the first day we made a report on research we’d done on Kola Digital, so we wrote long reports on the history of the business, and about Krystle Foley the business founder and her story, and all the services the company provides. We also wrote about the team, learned about and listed some examples of who they’ve worked with on projects.
For the rest of the week we were working on making captions for the teams of Relay for Life Kildare. This showed me how digital advertising can support a campaign by using the right message, format and design for each post.
We needed captions for a team spotlight post, and for a candle bag fundraiser ad.
We also had to design the team spotlight pages and candle bag pages by using Canva.
Canva was extremely easy to use, especially since I had prior knowledge with the site and have used it to make things for personal ideas and projects.
We also were sent a leaflet to proof read alongside a menu to proof read. The restaurant recently had price changes and so we had to make sure the new menu was up to date and everything was correct about it. We also got to visit a client’s place of business, it was great to be able to see it in person, and get a tour around.
What I Learned From Digital Advertising and Marketing:
I’ve gotten loads of knowledge on digital marketing and how you need to change the ratio of some posts to fit different social media posts.
I also learned that a digital marketing agency has to think about where each piece of content will appear, who it is for, and how quickly the message needs to be understood.
I also learned all about Kola Digital as a company which was very interesting, and in my opinion, quite an eye-opening story about just needing to put one foot in front of the other and make it work. I’ve learned a lot more about how to use Canva and how to design ads for clients.
What a Normal Day Looked Like:
A usual day at the office would go something like this: Aidan and I would arrive there at 10 AM.
We’d open our laptops and sign into our Google accounts and then sign in to Canva.
We’d open Trello and look at our to-do list for the day, and get started on something new or continue on unfinished work. Then when we finished a design or caption we’d send it to Krystle who would look at it and send it forward to get it checked before getting it completed.
Then we’d go for lunch at 12:30 PM to 1:00 PM and go out for a roll at the deli down in SuperValu before coming back and getting right back to work.
Things That I Helped With:
An example of projects and clients I helped with was the Relay for Life campaign where I made captions and designs for the teams and candle bags.
We looked over an advert for a radio station to advertise Relay for Life Kildare. We read it over, made some changes and recorded Aidan reading it out to see if it would make it below the 30 second mark.
My Favourite Part of the Experience:
My favourite part of it all was being able to do all of this for an important cause like Relay for Life, and getting to have a hand in making the adverts and posts for the event.
I very much enjoyed being able to do all this with a boss like Krystle! She was always in a good mood and always treated us with respect and fair judgement on our projects.
She was so kind as to let us have this opportunity for work experience and I’m glad I got to do it.
What This Helped Me Understand About the Marketing Industry:
This helped me understand that it’s more than just making something that grabs someone’s attention, it’s also about making something that fits your branding, and something that has more thought put into it.
That changed how I looked at digital advertising, because the design has to look good, but it also has to match the purpose of the business, event or campaign.
I feel I understand more about how to make an advert, logo or design that really gets the point across of what an event is about or what a business is about.
