Ben Horder, age 23 and from Chepstow, will work as Media Production Assistant whilst Steffan Mitchell, age 21 and from Carmarthen, has taken the position of Client Side Administrator at S3 Advertising in Cardiff.
The Advertising Design students benefitted from receiving advice and on the job training through the S3 Academy, which was launched earlier this year to provide interns with valuable professional experience.
Ben fixed his sights on a role with S3 after members of the company delivered a presentation about the advertising industry at the University of South Wales and was thrilled when he was offered a work experience opportunity through the S3 Academy.
S3 Advertising’s CEO, Matt Jones, was so impressed by his talents, work ethic and enthusiasm during his placement that he decided to offer him a job before he’d even graduated with first class honours.
Ben explained, “Before I finished my course I already knew that I wanted to work within the creative field as an art director or general creative, working on creative concepts, storytelling and producing high quality work. When S3 offered me a role as Media Production Assistant, working with the video content producer, they provided me with the chance to do exactly that.
“The feeling of having a job secured before I had even finished university was just incredible, and I was nervous but excited to start learning and proving myself in the industry. So far it’s going really well and as my confidence starts to grow I feel my creativity will too. The role offers more than I expected and working with such a great team has made me settle very quickly. I really appreciate the chance that I had to attend the S3 Academy and am extremely grateful to Matt for giving me such an amazing opportunity.”
Steffan decided to grab S3’s attention by designing a fictional coffee brand called ‘Wide Awake Coffee’ and promoting the imaginary coffee shop on social media, and was thrilled when his efforts succeeded.
The campaign featured a specially designed logo, branded coffee cups and eye catching imagery and was so convincing that S3’s CEO, Matt Jones, placed an order for his entire team. Instead of being annoyed when the drinks failed to arrive, Matt decided to track down the student behind the ingenious scheme and then offered him a job.
Steffan said, "I really wanted to work in Advertising but it's a very competitive and popular industry so I knew I'd have to do something to stand out. After meeting S3 when they came to do a talk at my university I realised that really wanted to work for them, so I made up a fake brand and essentially harassed them on Twitter. Matt came in to do a presentation at my university so he spoke to my lecturer and found out I was behind it, and then they offered me an internship. But before I'd even started my placement they offered me a job, which was amazing. Now I’m part of the media team and it’s my responsibility to support client’s accounts management, create visuals and design materials for online use. I thought that working for S3 would be good, but it's just so much better than I ever imagined.”
CEO of S3 Advertising Matt Jones said, “Ben really impressed us during his work experience placement and on the last day he blew the whole team away with a video he’d produced about our company. It was clear to everyone that he was a very talented and keen student and that he’d be a great asset to our company, and fit right in.”
“As a company we are bombarded with requests for work experience and job opportunities, so it does take something outstanding and unique to stand out from the crowd. The Wide Awake Coffee campaign was definitely an unusual approach and a great way for Steffan to show us his breadth of skills and get our attention. He demonstrated that he has great ideas and that he will go that extra mile to achieve his goals, and we knew he’d be perfect for our team.
“Our plan has always been to secure the most talented people from the industry and attract the highest calibre of candidates, whether they are just starting out or already gained valuable years of experience. As the business continues to grow and we go from strength to strength we hope to open up more opportunities for young people looking to gain skills, experience and a foot on the ladder of their chosen career path.”
S3 Advertising www.s3advertising.agency is a 360º 21st century, independently owned advertising agency based in Cardiff which specialises in creative, digital, social, web design, web development, media planning and buying at a local and national level.
