Media Planning Workshop: Critical Insights

Day 1:

Timmy picked me to work, thus extra bercinta time. Went to work as usual, then left for Genting at 2.45pm. There was only registration and briefing that day, so we were treated to Dreamz Magic Show that night. It was a mixture of magic, comedy, dance and acrobats. I wouldn’t pay RM110 though the acrobats by the little kids from China were very impressive. RM110 for a concert, yeah.

Day 2 & 3:

Breakfast, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, coffee break, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, lunch, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, coffee break, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, dinner.
(there’s a ‘talk’ for every 10 minutes, cos I look at my watch every 10 minutes)

I was utterly sleepy throughout the whole thing, my flu made it worse. Even before the first coffee break, I was having difficulty opening my eyes. But it was good to know that the others felt the same way too, so I wasn’t the only one with a short attention span. A client was even worse, she put her head on the table and napped. MS’s fav question is what time is the next meal, to which I had already known all the answers. Not yau kooi, just bored and utterly sleepy.

Then it suddenly dawned upon me that I should listen and get the most out of it. “Come with an open mind”, so the invitation said. So I sat up with a tinge of determination, went through the notes and drew out what I’ve learnt/ summarized. Sad to say, that only lasted until the next break. After that, I started drafting letters to Timmy and this blog too, by hand =)

It was a tiring workshop, starting at 8.30am daily and we only return to our rooms at 11pm after discussion. It was kinda sad as well that we were at Genting but weren’t able to go or do anything. But it was an experience and meeting some of my clients there was fun, especially our (and my) biggest client. Initially there wasn’t even supposed to be a post on this as there was nothing much learnt but after getting pics… =)

My assignment team members

Me and my (and our) biggest clients, have to show this pic to my boss to show that I did ‘build rapport’ =) Is that guy good-looking..? I have his email add, extension and handphone number, do you want it? Hahahaha

The people from AGB

Very happy..

Being serious

And then wacky..

And I found this!

I have finally found a chocolate fountain like those pics in this post! This coming from First World café where the food sucked so bad that I was considering skipping lunch

I have a weakness for dessert. I actually have dessert before having my main course =P

These are so cute that taking a pic is irresistible

And this is what I learnt or summarized:

1. The purchasers are not necessarily the end users, and vice versa.
2. Creating a target group based on demographics is inaccurate due to psychographic factors, thus couldn’t be reached through the same medium/ campaign
3. Self-esteem plays a big role in brands
4. There are 2 types of products: think (of rational meaning and consequences) and feel (of emotional factors) products.
5. Nielsen Media Index shouldn’t be used when targeting the upper economic stratum (what should be used, I haven’t gotten the answer =P)
6. Do your research, do it well and think. (Case study: The Sun and The Star. Circulation is not readership, and don’t be misled by a high time spent as the number of pages have to be taken into consideration as well). The results obtained thorough research on that case study really impressed me.

That’s about it. What I was looking for, how to create a media plan, was not covered in this workshop. Maybe as the name suggested, it is only about insights. But what use are insights if I don’t even know how to start using them? It’s like giving you directions to my house when you don’t even know how to get to Selangor.

Verdict: Not useful, sleepy, bored but good networking.

*****

What’s going on in my mind:

The problem with juggling 3 jobs is that sometimes, I dunno where I should be. The past few weekends have been taken up by day-job commitments, resulting in the neglect of the other 2 jobs. Day-job related activities should be confined to weekdays, Saturdays solely for tkd and Sundays for tuition. When weekends become day-job stuff, tkd grading is held on Sundays and teachers’ training goes beyond its supposed 10am-3pm hours on Sundays, all goes haywire.

My tuition classes have suffered the most. I’ve postponed 3 classes in a row, and due to last weekends media planning workshop, I postponed another class. The following class is also postponed due to teachers’ training. Yeah, that is related but due to many postponements, parents are making noise. I understand and foresee that too but I’ve got no choice. And on that same day of teachers’ training, I am supposed to take over a tkd class cos there is grading going on. Now where am I supposed to be now? AGB or tuition? Tuition or tkd? Tkd is always the last on the list cos firstly, I am paid on a per class basis and secondly, I am not directly responsible for any student, thus not answerable to the parents. My earnings from there has taken a beating though, especially since I have been given a 100% pay hike this year.

Not forgetting that I have a family and boyfriend too. With all these busy-ness, the money I earn is take home per month is the same, in fact even less due to less tuition and tkd classes taken. The only consolation is that those are for career and self-development. Media planning workshop and teachers’ training. I don’t think that my teaching job is in jeopardy after all that though, as they have just applied a teacher’s permit for me and sending me for training. Good thing that it is a 2-hour class, else a repetition of the torture mentioned above. And it is at Petaling Street, so some jalan-jalan after that and percintaan =)

And my mum thinks that I’m having fun. The Langkawi trip was a strategic meeting cum company trip. By the time I arrived in KL that evening, the clinic was already closed. While I was there, I was messaging my brother every few hours out of concern, not that I want to have plans after my return. Heck, I was even considering not going for the trip the night before. God knows how worried I was in Langkawi; my heart was not there in case anything should happen to my brother. Genting was also a work-related event and I arrived in KL late in the evening as well. If my boss said that I can come in late the next morning, why should she have problems with it? I wasn’t in Genting having fun, it was a 2 full-day workshop and no leave from work the Friday before and the Monday after. So what fun did she foresee there?

Could someone please reveal my blog someday, should something happen to me, to let her know that I’ve been very unhappy.

Hopefully things are back to schedule as before. Still busy with trainings and clients visits but those are supposed to be done during working hours and don’t foresee anything else cropping up after this. Tired, and May is gonna be a busy month. Few times a week to clients’ place, zzz…Need new formal clothes =) Shopping!! Haven’t done shopping for some time and Jeff’s wedding is a good excuse to shop too. As if I have so much money, I just said I am broke. Whatever!