A glimpse into a possible future.
As life can have many outcomes and possible futures, I got given the chance to take a dive into one of these potential futures, by coming to spend a couple of weeks in the busy well-oiled machine that is ‘Hunch’. Being plucked straight from university exams, halfway through a degree, you’re at the cusp of career decisions in your life, not knowing which way to turn, whether your degree is right for you, or if you’re cut out for that line of work. So while these thoughts turn over in my head, taking this opportunity gave me a chance to see if the ever-rough life of marketing was for me.
WEEK ONE.
Day one rolls around and I’m already ten minutes late, not to mention extremely anxious (due to a number of reasons). I walk in, ashamed at my lateness, to a room filled with warm energetic faces, all greeting me from the coves of their computers. Shortly after, I’m ushered into a room to partake in their weekly Monday morning meeting.
During the meeting, they had a segment called ‘five minutes of inspiration’ (or ‘FIMO’), in which someone has five minutes to inspire the crew. This week it was a photo competition, where photos were filled with artistic gravitas and the room was filled with laughter. At the end, they all told me one truth and one lie about themselves. I learnt quite a few things about them, from Erin being ‘Miss Burlington’, to Genamay cracking her head as a child, to Michael asking to pee on national television.
As the day progressed I went through the Hunch hand book vigorously, completed my first brief for a project and went all fast and furious driving the Hunch mobile all the way to Spark. Moving past first day jitters, being able to witness and participate in these projects and even having my name credited in helping was a riveting experience.
AGENCY WORK LIFE:
Working with the ‘suits’ can be daunting, especially with the way their processes are ingrained into every fibre of their being. Then observing the way the ‘creative’ team carry out their tasks, from scamping (which is basically just doodling), to the designing of several things, to videos for their clients. And then there’s the articulation and vocabulary of words that just fly over my head and dance across their screens.
The week progressed and many coffee runs and lunch times talking about the latest episodes of love island later; I was travelling around meeting animators, having group calls with clients and seeing projects start and projects finish. It all came and went just like that.
WEEK TWO.
One week later and I seem to be settling in a bit easier. As I write this I feel the creative and professional atmosphere emanating around me, although it fails to reach my brain. The process of routine coffee runs is still heavily present, the rush of jobs is not slowing down and then, suddenly, I’m in the workplace cover band.
This week’s mission, if I chose to accept it, was one for the ages. It was the tidying and testing of their lighting and sound equipment, which led to a massive one man rave downstairs. Hours of gruelling work later, I stood there in a sea of flashing lights, in blissful silence, in front of a bunch of broken speakers. Great. With that done, back to the squabbles of the office I went.
The FIFA world cup played an ever-present topic within the office. Though the pain filled aura of the room as England was knocked out resonated in the building, it was a perfect way to round out the week. The final two teams stood and so to their delegates, France (Dylan) and Croatia (Hampton) were to prepare for the finals, as bets had been made on who would be champion.
All in all, the goings on at Hunch has really given me a lot to look at and think about when it comes to my future. And through this experience, I am confident in the career I have chosen to pursue. But whether I make it depends on what I do after this time. Maybe one day I’ll be stealing all of Michael’s clients.