BC Hydro - Advertising Contract - 2003
“I feel like I am in a Zoolander reality show.” That was my first reaction to dealing with my first advertising agency. Trendy people, minimalist décor, lofty ideas and designer shoes. I didn’t realize how true the stereotypes were about Ad creatives until I had my first interaction with them as an Advertising Planner Co-op with BC Hydro. I was at Cossette in their slick Yaletown office with my boss.
We went there for a pitch from the agency for the BC Hydro Product Incentive Program. I was working in the Power Smart Advertising group, and my life at that point was devoted to getting people to use less energy. This particular pitch involved a money clip with a power meter on the front. Not bad. We accepted the proposal, and went ahead with the campaign.
Welcome to big business
Working at Hydro was my first experience of big business. A crown corporation with 5,000 plus employees and billions in assets and revenue, working in the Hydro Ad department really felt like the big leagues (despite having spent my two previous coop teams with pro-sport franchises).
While at Hydro, I was responsible for updating the Product Incentive Program portion of the website, designing ads for the Power of Business Forum, writing Power Smart one pagers for products, and re-designing the graphic standards manual for the company.
Leveling up my project management and HTML skills
My official title was “Advertising Planner Co-op Student” and so this meant that I project managed a number of ads – and mainly acted as an overflow from other Ad planners who were either overworked, going on vacation, or looking to give me some good work experience.
Because my desk was located next to the web development team, I also had a lot of collaboration with them. I learned how to design navigation for a website, I learned how to write copy for the web, and updated my modest html skills.
In hindsight, however, perhaps the most valuable experience I gained was learning how to work within a large organization that had many layers of approvals, sign-offs and check-offs. I left Hydro feeling like I could navigate through a big pond even though I was a small fish.
