“It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy”

A 6-Month Internship at TBWA\Group Singapore as an account servicing intern on the Standard Chartered Bank (Global) account. I got the chance to learn from some of the best in the industry, picking up knowledge from different departments and learning about how to stay on top and ahead of culture everyday.

About TBWA\Singapore:
Part of a leading global advertising network that holds Disruption® at its core to develop business-changing ideas for brands. TBWA\ Singapore constantly creates disruptive ideas for clients including Airbnb, Apple, Caltex, Energizer, Michelin, NTUC Enterprise, Singapore Airlines, Singapore Tourism Board, Standard Chartered Bank and more.

As part of the Standard Chartered Bank (Global) team, my duties included:

• Network coordination among SCB’s global markets
• Writing direct briefs and briefing Creatives on jobs
• Putting together timelines and cost estimates
• Checking through creative work and requesting relevant changes
• Opening Work Start Orders for new jobs
• Building of decks for presentations
• Trend spotting and insight mining
• Conducting weekly and quarterly competitive reviews, and providing suggestions based on analysis
• Assisting Planners (Strategists) to facilitate Disruption® Live, a weekly session of trend spotting, insight mining, brainstorming and brief writing

HOW I FELT

Working in a creative company like TBWA was something completely different from what I learnt it was going to be like at school. Having the opportunity to be a suit-in-training was so rewarding and sparked a renewed passion for advertising in me.

When I first heard about TBWA, I thought that their beliefs in Disruption® were merely a branding gimmick. I can safely say that I was wrong and that being disruptive is something that everybody in the creative industry can learn from and adopt into their life.

During my time there, I think that the most valuable thing I learnt was that having the guts to ask somebody to share their knowledge with you is a whole lot better than worrying that they might say “no”.