Saturday 16 November 2013

Personal development and happy memories

By Simon Wright - Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

Yesterday marked 18 months since I finished my journalism degree at the University of Northampton. As I walked home on Friday from my 9-5 job in publishing, I started to think and reflect on how I have changed as an individual and how things have progressed because of the Uni experience.

When I look back at my three-year stint at University, it was a time where things changed again in the world, especially in the field that I studied in. When I was a fresher in 2009, one of the first lectures we had was about journalism law and I always remember one of the senior lecturers saying to us; ‘No journalist has ever been prosecuted for their work.’ That changed when the general public found out what Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks had been doing at the News of the World. That doesn’t mean their six-year affair which was revealed at the phone-hacking trial recently.

I had the chance to go to University before I eventually did make the step to higher tier education and that was in 2007. After a couple of visits to Universities a year earlier, I made the decision that I wasn’t ready to go away and study further. As an individual at the time, I didn’t feel like it was the right thing for my development and needed to grow more as a person and to realise what I really wanted to do. I’ve always believed that this was the right decision and a pivotal one at that.

Once I get settled into a routine or into a position, I get into a decent comfort zone. My lengthy stay in the former retail job I had at Clarks Shoes can vouch for this. However, if I had gone to Uni earlier than I did, I don’t think I would have lasted six weeks. Therefore, the two years I did at Milton Keynes College, studying media production were both valuable and essential to my future. I wasn’t there to socialise heavily and enjoy life outside of college, I was there to study, work hard and get the results required for my future goals.

Northampton gave me plenty of memories over three years
That eventually took me onto the Northampton journey (Avenue Campus pictured) and it is an experience I will never forget. The other day, I looked through some of the photos of the nights out and even the projects I worked on during the three years. Recently, I wrote a case study for the UoN alumni association so who knows – my words could be appearing in the next prospectus for upcoming students! I remember the good times but also the not so good times, when things didn’t go to plan or times were the façade I used to show started to see signs of cracking under the pressure. I nearly walked away once from it all halfway through second year and had another big wobble at the start of third and final year. It is in these periods where some self-assessment was required (nothing to do with tax forms by the way!) Did I want my degree bad enough to survive the testing challenges? As a harsh critic of my own abilities, the answers were to keep going and see where everything ended. Sacrifices were made to get back on track and I ended up with the rewards come graduation day itself.

I consider myself lucky to still be in touch with many of my course colleagues
Luckily, I have more or less stayed in touch with a huge proportion of the people (myself and three colleagues pictured) who were on the same course as me. It might be distant and through services such as Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook and even the ‘old-fashioned’ text message but it is better than losing complete contact – something that I have had to unexpectedly get used to from unlikely sources in recent times. The hope is that in the coming months/years, a reunion could be organised in the future. As a course, we knew how to work hard but also how to party at the same time. Now that I'm in a professional environment, my partying days ended a long time ago…but a small part of me would like to revisit this element just once more before the age catches up on me!

After graduation came the hardest challenge. It is almost a year now since an unpaid internship ended as a paid contract was offered, agreed and then rejected in harsh circumstances. The story behind all this will come out one day, perhaps in a future post on this site, maybe in the inevitable autobiography in around 30 years’ time but the people who did use my services for no pay in the year as a freelancer have been proven wrong. I now have a secure position until the start of summer 2014, on a solid salary and a role that is both enjoyable but also demanding at the same time. Even this week, I have had to take greater responsibility in a couple of consuming projects in my job. I’m honest enough to say it is demanding but keeping busy is important to my characteristics, especially having had to go through a personal loss myself in the closing stages of another landmark year (more reflection on in my yearly review in December.)

I do believe though that now, 18 months on from handing in that final project, the sad farewell to colleagues and friends on the journalism degree I did, I can assess where I really am with my background. I feel that I am a stronger person, a better individual, a more confident human being and accept much easier now both criticism and approach tasks with a lighter but focused attitude. All these skills were developed through University. If I had never gone, who knows whether I would have developed these personal abilities? While the Uni chapter is now firmly in my past, the happy memories and even the tougher times will stay with me for a lifetime.

Christmas adverts of today...and the past

By Simon Wright - Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

It is the time of year where the festive season is around the corner and it is time to be jolly. No-one likes a Grinch at this time of year. It is also this period where the shops go into overdrive as they launch huge campaigns to get us to shop on the high street or online and to grab our money for the presents you want to buy for your loved ones.

This involves advertising and it means that on almost every single commercial break on primetime TV, you will see a Christmas advert. They range from the stupid and ridiculous to the simple classics that always entertain us every year.

Having seen the majority of the big boys launch their commercial campaign already, I’ve come to the conclusion that the average Xmas advert in 2013 is disappointing.

Retail giant John Lewis has set the standard in recent years with powerful and heartfelt adverts that capture the attention of the viewers and more importantly, the shoppers.

However their 2013 advert (caption pictured), premiered last Saturday during the X-Factor on ITV falls well short of expectations. Had it not been for the big build-up, you would struggle to guess what it is actually advertising. Having cost a reported £7m to make, I have to consider it as a total waste of money. While it does show the love and caring side towards Christmas (advert below), it hints that the brains behind the campaign were struggling for ideas to promote the brand this year. The only advantage they have is the use of a decent soundtrack. Personally, I think Lily Allen’s cover of the Keane song ‘Somewhere Only We Know,’ is lame and dreadful but it is selling copies and being downloaded heavily. It is more than likely that Allen will have a number one to her name come Sunday night but it will her most fortunate success to date.


On Wednesday night during Coronation Street, supermarket chain Sainsbury’s launched their Christmas campaign which shows normal families enjoying the build-up and the actual day of joy and company. The campaign of home videos is for an upcoming documentary film called ‘Christmas in a Day,’ directed by an Oscar winner in Kevin Macdonald. The advert in terms of content is of good quality and the ending is quite joyous as two youngsters experience the thrill and delight of their father having returned home from combat in Afghanistan to be with family on Christmas Day. Unfortunately, the advert is too long at three and a half minutes and it won’t be remembered for that. At the two minute mark (advert below), there is a gentleman in his kitchen talking into the camera but eagle eye viewers spotted three food items from one of Sainsbury’s rivals in the Co-Op!


A Co-Operative spokeswoman said on Thursday: “It seems that our Truly Irresistible Christmas pudding, lemon torte and Christmas cake are so good, even Sainsbury’s can’t resist advertising them!”

It is an embarrassing faux-pas for Sainsbury’s, as they struggle to compete with the tried and trusted Tesco’s, a Morrison’s campaign with TV favourites Ant & Dec and ASDA, recently voted best supermarket for low prices for the 16th successive year. Even ALDI have made their moves into the industry with joyous promotional material (2012 advert example below).


Other commercials for the likes of Littlewoods, Marks & Spencer, Very.co.uk and TK Max pass by without hardly a comment, let alone a big fuss. My personal favourite this year actually comes from Sky. The advert shows a teenager with headphones almost glued to her ears looking pretty downcast at this joyous time of year. Her younger brother seems upset, so leaves a gift in her doorway and the generous idea works as she comes down with her family to watch some good Christmas TV on Sky Movies (advert below). It might seem simple and basic but it is an excellent effort from Sky, who have been rivalled by the likes of Virgin Media and more recently, BT in the past 12 months.


Christmas from the past
The Christmas advert has been on our TV screens for many years and there have been some real crackers down the past three decades. Here are some of my favourites, including ones from Woolworths, John Lewis, Boots and of course, the Coca Cola Christmas trucks.












I believe though that none of 2013’s adverts will be remembered fondly in the years to come.