This week is National Apprentice Week and as part of the week long celebration, we have reflected on the importance of recruiting young talent and the value of our apprentices to our business.

We’re very proud of our three apprentices Dan, Rhea and Katie and the fantastic  work they do with our clients. Our blog this week focuses on their experiences to give an insight into a day in the life of an apprentice here at BBJ&K.

Why did you decide to look into becoming an apprentice?

Dan

During A-levels, I very quickly realised that formal education was not for me and I often learn through doing and getting involved. My A-Level media teacher knew my fascination for Media and it’s power/influence on society and  we started looking for media apprenticeships. I knew I wanted to immerse myself in the world of media and marketing and an agency would be the perfect way to do so!

Rhea

After finishing sixth form, I decided to go for an apprenticeship, as it’s an amazing way to start a career, gain experience, learn, and get a qualification. I could work in a field that I’m passionate about and enhance my skill set as a hands on learn; all without having to go to university.

Marketing is a field that is ever-changing and engaging, there’s always something new and interesting to learn, which is why I chose to pursue a career in this field. I have always had an interest in all things digital and social media and digital marketing really stood out for me. Being brought up during the age of digital technology has meant that social media has become second nature to me.

Katie

I decided to look into becoming an apprentice, as it was a way for me to learn on the job! I was able to take the next step in my career, train and get paid all at the same time. While studying photography at university, my specialism became focused around the creative side of advertising, which is where my interest in the industry began. After graduating, I decided I wanted to delve further into the ‘behind the scenes’ of these adverts we see around us every day… and here I am!
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What does a normal day look like and what tasks do you complete?

Rhea

A day in the life as an Account Executive involves working on a range of different client accounts and assisting in reporting and campaign planning. My day-to-day tasks consist of communicating with managers and media owners to drive campaign execution, alongside team and client meetings and reporting. This is also supported by other admin tasks.

Recently, I have been working on a client 2022 media plan and with 126 events throughout the whole year, there is a lot of planning to do! This involves speaking to media owners for different media channels, which is always interesting as I am always speaking to different people. I also work on a lot of post campaign analysis reports for a variety of clients, which I enjoy, as it is nice to see how well campaigns have performed.  

In addition to this, I also work on projects and exams for my apprenticeship and have gained a wealth of knowledge and understanding on a range of topics. This includes social media advertising, marketing guidelines, coding, SEO, email marketing and much more! This has been a great insight, as I am now able to implement what I have learnt and use those skills and the knowledge in my job.

Dan

My focus is on TV and VOD and one of my busiest and often most fulfilling days is reporting day, working with my best friend Adalyser (our Linear TV reporting tool) with a big cup of coffee to get me through the day!

To start with, I’ll go through all the internal reporting data sheets, which is where we track campaign performance. Once I’ve completed these with the correct data, I will have a brief meeting with our Broadcast Director, where we discuss how  everything is performing and look for optimisation opportunities. We will then go through the week’s schedule and ensure this aligns with optimisations, as well as checking in on budget. We will then send these schedules over to the clients, highlighting top spots for the week along with descriptions of what we have looked to upweight and down-weight.

After Adalyser has  fully consolidated its data, I can get started on the weekly reports for all clients running Linear TV campaigns. This will usually take me to the end of the day depending on the amount of clients that are live. Once I’ve completed this, I will look through my apprenticeship file at the end of the day  and continue with a project or possibly revise for a test.

Katie

The first thing I do in the morning  is check over my e-mails and the to-do list I made at the end of the day before. This helps me understand my workload and prioritise tasks.

From here I go on to complete budget checks and optimisations for digital campaigns. I will fill in the daily budget checker as well as a note of optimisations I have made and send to the digital team so everyone can stay on track for the day ahead.

I will then go on to complete any reports or look-books that need to go out to clients. As an example, I’ve previously completed  competitor analysis reports from the Black Friday period. This includes gathering competitor Facebook Ads, as well as PPC searches, creating an in-depth comparison of the creative text and callouts. This is a way for the client to have a greater understanding of their competitor’s activity across digital.

Throughout the day I will be answering phone calls and catching up on any e-mails I’ve missed to pick up new tasks. I’ll also continue to work through my to-do list and get ready for meetings/calls ahead of time. Every day is different, but always very busy! As an apprentice we are responsible for running any errands for the day and of course topping up the snack station!

As part of my apprenticeship, every Wednesday I attend seminars on different topics to help with my learning. Here, I take part in discussions with other apprentices and get given small tasks to complete. I am then given assignments to complete every few weeks based around this learning.
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What are your goals once you’ve completed your apprenticeship?

Rhea

My goals after completing my apprenticeship is to increase my knowledge, improve my work performance, and grow with BBJ&K within this industry.

‍Dan

On completing my apprenticeship, I am hoping to continue to improve my knowledge of TV advertising as well as other types of marketing. I am very excited to get even more involved in setting up and running campaigns myself.

Katie

My goals for when I’ve completed my apprenticeship are to continue my journey in the advertising world and to keep on learning!

If you are interested in applying for an apprenticeship here at BBJ&K, please get in touch at: careers@bbjandk.com