Zulu Alpha Kilo Meet & Tour

Written by: Glenesha Grant

Our class was given the chance to visit and tour an ad agency called Zulu Alpha Kilo! Zulu Alpha Kilo is a creative boutique ad agency (for simpler terms that means they have a strong focus on the creative element of advertising).

Zulu Alpha Kilo earned a huge industry shoutout by being named Strategy Online's overall Gold Design Agency of the Year and Bronze Agency of the Year 2018! This is BIG for them because A LOT (if not all) smaller ad agencies are under bigger advertising corporations such as Omnicom Group, Publicis Groupe, Interpublic Group. Zulu Alpha Kilo is an independent ad agency that stands on their own within the advertising industry.

It was an AMAZING opportunity for us to see how an ad agency operates and the kind of work they do! We were offered refreshments (LOTS of cookies) and the Associate Creative Director (Jacob Gawrysiak) and Group Account Director (Matthew Sinuita) introduced themselves and started off with a presentation about Zulu Alpha Kilo!

The presentation was very in-depth about the work that Zulu Alpha Kilo does, and one amazing campaign that they created was the Tim Hortons Kenya Hockey Team commercial that I thought was BRILLIANT! 

Here is the ad!

Also, I really liked how they talked about how their agency believes strongly in “no-spec” policy. In simple terms, a spec policy is when advertising agencies pitch ideas to clients to try to win the account. Historically, clients expect this creative work to be done free of charge, which can be quite costly for an agency.

After the presentation, we were given a tour around the agency and it was so cool to see all the floors and their other building too! Each floor had their own specialty, for example, they had a creative production floor, accounts floor, digital floor, and even an IT floor too!

Overall, our class had a wonderful time and it was an excellent opportunity for us to see how an ad agency works. It allowed us to visually see what kind of work we would be doing in the near future!!

LAST and MOST IMPORTANTLY (if I say so myself), Zulu Alpha Kilo offers “employee-ships” instead of internships. Instead of offering unpaid internships, Zulu Alpha Kilo encourages graduating students to apply for their in-house employee-ships. Successful candidates are given an opportunity for full-time employment on the spot!

A Trip to the IDEA Summit

Written by: Glenesha Grant

Early in October, our program gifted us FREE passes to the IDEA Summit! It was an amazing opportunity for us to get a glimpse into the world of advertising! The panels were amazing and very informative. Personally, only after three weeks of classes I was able to understand the advertising lingo that was being thrown around during the panels.

And speaking of panels….

They were AWESOME!

The three panels that I went to were:

 Mediacom & Group M Session: Have your Cake…And Change too!
This panel was so cool! It explained the relationships/roles between agencies and clients and how agencies need to be more transparent with each other.

We are All HUMANS First!
This panel was my fave~!! 

• It connected with me on a personal level; discussing  the lack of diversity within the Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations industry. 
• This was a big reason I got into get into advertising because I could see that some ads were getting into controversy issues with racial/cultural groups due to their lack of awareness and understanding of such groups.

Creativity By Numbers? The Ageism Debate
This was my second favourite panel!!

• It opened my eyes to issues regarding ageism within ads! 
• A cool tidbit from the panel; By 2021, there will be a huge trend with the Baby Boomers generation wanting to be healthier. So, advertisers should watch out for that!

Not only were the panels amazing, we got to see a cool installation too!

It was a wonderful time and I am thankful that our program was able to provide us with the opportunity to go to this event! There are even MORE events that our program is providing for us to learn about advertising industry, network with future employers and co-op opportunities, and to express our opinions!

Check out our Instagram page to see all the cool things we are doing inside AND outside of classes!

^Btw Sheridan College is a proud sponsor of the IDEA Summit, so you will get to meet some grads there! Hello NETWORKING~!