Our client two10degrees was at Dartmouth Regatta at the weekend. We love the boat!

Back for my fourth consecutive summer here at Spring, I just can’t get enough of it!

Only in for three days this week, I was given the opportunity to try something different, and this time I tried my hand at the research and copywriting side of the advertising industry. In two weeks, I leave to study English & Journalism at Salford University, and given the chance, I thought I would try to practice my research and writing skills.

Starting with a task completely out of the blue, I was asked to research and apply for tourist signage for the Woodbridge Tide Mill. Knowing next to nothing about applying for road signage (who does?), it was back to basics to try and understand a little highway law and lots of forms. Eventually, my challenge was successful, and after pestering the town council with difficult enquiries all afternoon, “How many disabled spaces do you have at Hamblin Road?”, “Is the bike shelter at the station within 250m of the river?”, the form was sent off.

My next task was to source images for a new website promoting the Suffolk Coast. Accompanying my photos would be articles written about a variety of locations across the east; everywhere from Aldeburgh fish & chip shops to Orford Castle. Despite my preconceptions that, being a local, I’d know everywhere on the list, I was surprised to find a few that I’d never even heard of; and I’m going to make sure to have a look on the Suffolk Coast site once the articles are up.

Final job was to create a dummy press release for AWS’ new site two10degrees, in preparation for its launch. I approached it with a little trepidation; I’ve never written anything like a press release before, and although the number of words to write was hardly daunting, I suspected there would almost certainly be re-wording, re-wording and more re-wording. I wasn’t wrong – it was definitely the trickiest task of the week; getting the tone of voice right was very difficult, and I can’t count the number of times I needed to use a thesaurus. Nonetheless, 3 hours, 5 paragraphs and 7 drafts later and it was done.

Perhaps the thing that struck me most about this week was the diversity in the jobs I got asked to do. Yet again, I’ve managed to evade the dreaded tea making associated with interns (probably in everyone else’s favour, to be honest – my tea is awful), and get stuck in with tasks across a variety of skills and disciplines.

Speaking of discipline, it seems the intern punishment now is to take part in the weekly Friday lunch gym session.

Still won’t put me off coming back next summer.

“Before I came to Spring, I had an understanding of what a copywriter did, but I didn’t have a practical knowledge or the experience of properly copywriting before. I have always had a passion for writing ever since I can remember. As a child I was always writing short stories and coming up with my own adventures.

“At school I was starting to become even more creative, but never really grasped my creativity and put into something practical, and never properly written before. It wasn’t till my final year of school, when I went on a Business trip in Chelmsford, did I discover the world of advertising, and how I had a knack for using my creativity in a business sense.

“We had to invent a new flavoured cereal, and promote it with a design for a box, a logo, a power point presentation talking about the cereal. I was not project manager as I did not go for it, something which I regretted, but was still the central figure for my team, coming up with a name “Rainbow Mix” as the cereal was cereal mixed with fruit and other healthy items, thus making different colours going with the name. We went on to win the competition something I am extremely proud of till this day. That is when I began to take an interest in advertising.

“It was when I was in college when I decided to pursue this interest, firstly taking courses that are oriented around advertising such as English, business and media. I then decided to ask our careers worker how I could get into the world of advertising, and she informed me that it was best to start emailing local ad agencies and requesting if I could have some work experience there, so I can get some hands on experience of what goes on in advertising, and this would look good on my CV.

“I began to email agencies in Colchester, with little success, as they said they did more of the design element, rather than the creative element. Finally, I was recommended I tried Spring in Southwold. I had my doubts, as I wanted to try something closer to home, rather than further afield, these fears when I got here quickly evaporated, but I emailed as I thought this could really be a real help for my future.

“I was very lucky to be offered a place, and was excited at the prospect of getting some practical experience at last, as I believe that this will be much more helpful, and will look greater in real life, rather than learning it in a class room. I was meant to say two weeks here but unfortunately I could not afford accommodation in Southwold for two weeks, something which is frustrating, as I have just began to settle in, and a second week would have been an even greater experience, but I am still very grateful that I have got a week under my belt.

“When I first came to Spring on a Monday morning, other than being tired after getting up early in the morning, something I hadn’t been used to since I had broken up for the summer holidays, I was feeling anxious and tentative. When I got here, I was quickly thrown into the deep end. At first I was feeling extremely overwhelmed, but once I began to get my head around it, I started to get into my stride, and have become extremely glad I was thrown straight in, because if I was perhaps weaned in by the time I had started getting onto the work, my week would have been over, plus it helped me to stand on my own two fee and be more independent.

“What I have learnt here, is that you have to be confident if you want to fit in, something which I have often lacked, as I have often had little belief in my own abilities and sometimes not been outgoing enough for my own good, and not managed to shine as much as I ought to. If I were to come back here, I would try and be more confident and outgoing, and try and get my voice heard, and I am sure with more experience, and if I was to settle in more into the business work, my confidence would quickly blossom.

“I have learned to write in different tones which will be extremely helpful later on in life, in other agencies, at college (possibly university if I go) and if I write novels, which I have always had a passion for. I have learnt many life skills here, such as tone of voice, ways of getting inspiration, use of imagery, identifying a target audience, and even making tea with a tea bag (as I have always made tea with loose tea) so I have learnt a lot of life skills, which I can definitely take away with me back to Colchester.

“I think that this form of learning, should be used much more regularly, and schools should find different ways of harnessing a student’s potential, rather than constantly the usual academic way, as it is not suited for the individual’s needs. If schools were to help find out what their students want to do in life, and what their skills are, more hands on work experience and internships, should be available for them.

“I would be happy to return to Spring if an opportunity is available to me, perhaps for a longer time (and with more cash in my pocket!) as I definitely recommend people who are interested in Advertising, or other form of business, get some work experience here, before going to university, or leaving college etc.

“The team here are brilliant and extremely hard working, yet still find the time to help me and make me feel welcome. I never realised the amount of work people in advertising had to do, but the team here take it all in their stride, and get it done quickly and brilliantly. I am extremely grateful to everyone at Spring, and wish the company well for the future.”

We just couldn’t resist sharing this pic of Simon’s gift to the office, fresh from his garden this morning.

This is another sign of Springers’ worrying trend towards good health alternatives – our Friday Lunch Fish n Chips sessions have now morphed into a group visit to the gym every Friday for most of the team, where Personal Trainer Gary Matthews gets their heart rates up for an hour.

How times change from the glory days of the all afternoon agency lunch!

We are all fizzing with excitement about the imminent launch of Spear and Hubble, a stylista’s paradise in Beccles. (How much better will that trip to the supermarket be with the promise of Vivienne Westwood, Edun and Paul & Joe after the catfood and nappies?)

Spring was commissioned by its delightful owners, Dayna Hubble and Lorna Spear, whose visits to the studio have always filled some of us with panic about our own sartorial standards. We have developed a clean and impactful brand, using the font Faricy in black on a shocking acid yellow and are looking forward to seeing the impact this will have had on their shop design.

Not long to wait now – the shop will be open next week.