First day of work

Friday was my first day at the MediaVest Australia office. As part of the YouXplore program, the team member I'm shadowing is at MediaVest vs. Starcom, but the offices are in the same building and incredibly similar. The office itself is a 4-story building about one block from the water, with Starcom, MediaVest & Leo Burnett all neighbors. Contrary to popular belief about visiting Australia at the edge of summer, it is unfortunately pretty rainy right now. And it just keeps raining.

Sydney Harbour Bridge from the walk to work on a rainy day

The office is in a neighborhood called The Rocks, that borders CBD (the Central Business District). CBD is comparable to The Loop or Midtown, an area that is not necessarily tourist-infested, but very corporate. So far when it comes to Sydney geography, I've learned that no one goes to North Sydney (except to visit client offices or other corporations), and there is a large divide between the East and West sides of town.

OFFICE CULTURE
The office is one floor, open seating with Spotify blasting in the background at all times, a shared playlist projected against the wall and welcoming team members. There are about 25 people in the office working across 5-10 clients. Having not worked in a small office since my Argentina internship, it was eye opening to see the culture of a smaller community, where I immediately met the CEO & Investment Director.

Things are a bit more relaxed, and in true media fashion, we went out to both brekky (breakfast) and lunch with fabulous views at restaurants called Pier 8 & Bar at the End of the Wharf. The Spotify reps even gave me my first vegemite experience.

MediaVest office in Sydney

PROJECTS
The team I will mainly be supporting during my time here is the regional EA (Electronic Arts, video games) team, who acts as the hub for 15 markets in APAC (Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, etc). As one of the largest teams, it is only six people, which is definitely a difference from the US. One interesting fact is that outside of Australia & New Zealand, all other markets buy their media in USD. The tools and research are all very similar, with different names and suppliers. Since the strategy & insights teams have a lot of other projects, it looks like I'll have the opportunity to work on projects for Kraft Heinz as well, so it will be exciting to touch CPG too.

PEOPLE
Similar to the US, advertising agency staffs are pretty young, with the majority of the office under the age of 30 years old. The title structure varies slightly, with the same general career trajectory. I met the whole office in pretty much 10 minutes, to later get to know them better over lunch. One of the first questions asked was if the Trump situation is as bad as it sounds on the news, and if people actually talk about it or if the news makes the situation sound more drastic than it is. Another fact I quickly learned is how influential London is on Australian & the advertising culture here, as another large market that makes it a lot easier for Australians to obtain a visa. Many have visited and/or worked there. The last piece I found fascinating was how it was culturally acceptable for random sales reps to just pop by the office to hang out and catch up with the teams, without time on their calendars. While that is not unheard of in NYC & Chicago, it would generally be frowned upon or analyzed as a move with hidden intentions.

My first vegemite experience at Pier 8, a popular brunch spot located in the same building as Yahoo's Sydney offices. Australians joke that vegemite looks like Nutella, but the company I was with for breakfast (brekkie) did a good job spreading it lightly with butter to make it manageable. The fresh fruit and yogurt entree was a nice touch too :)

More observations will come after exploring the essentials of Sydney this weekend!