George Tudor-Price, Content Marketing Apprentice, shares his experience and what he enjoys the most about his apprenticeship here at Zenith UK.
Why did I choose an apprenticeship?
Having initially chosen to study Economics at Leeds, it’s fair to say that dropping out to pursue an apprenticeship raised some eyebrows. It’s now one year on and I can confidently say it has been one of the best decisions of my life.
I always knew that I’d like to gain experience in digital marketing and, whilst University life has its upsides, I realised that I didn’t necessarily need to study Economics (and pay £9,000 each year) to get my foot in the industry.
The past year at Zenith has enabled me to gain vital industry experience whilst there have been seemingly endless opportunities provided for both personal and professional development.
What’s special about a Zenith apprenticeship?
Working for Zenith has many perks but perhaps my favourite is the quality and frequency of internal talks and events, there’s something going on all the time!
Zenith regularly harness their partnership with Google to put on exclusive Google@ Talks. Not only have these sessions always been extremely insightful but also they never fail to attract the big names. Whether we’re talking about nutrition with James Haskell, becoming a mum with Fearne Cotton or mental health with Professor Green, they’re always highly engaging and have a really exclusive feel about them.
Another favourite session of mine is when The Guardian come into the office at TVC to speak about the year’s ‘Top Trends’.
My standout moment from 2019 however, has to be creating a Christmas-themed music video for the end-of-year Zenith Awards. My team were given a whole day and a small budget to create something magical. In the end, the final production from both teams was amazing and the whole experience was hugely enjoyable.
What’s the workload like for an apprentice?
I work for the content team on the NatWest account and the work has been a nice blend of data analysis and creative copywriting. One benefit of working for an agency is there is no shortage of work to be done so fortunately I’ve had the opportunity to work on several different accounts.
Going into the role it was my aim to prove to my team that I could do just as much as an exec hired through the graduate schemes. I didn’t want any special treatment just because I was an apprentice. This meant regularly offering to help on projects, including new business work, and occasionally staying late if needed.
In my experience, the only time when the workload can present challenges is when portfolio work and coursework clash with client work. However, with the right communication and fantastic support from my manager and wider team, these challenges were easily navigated.
Would you recommend an apprenticeship at Zenith?
Yes. I would definitely recommend the apprenticeship route to anyone looking to get into marketing and advertising. Publicis Media have massively committed to the programme with over 100 apprentices in the building and growing. This means that there are great support systems in place for Zenith apprentices – it’s great to know there are people you can turn to that are going through very similar experiences.
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