This week we welcomed the lovely Leah to spend a week with us, giving up some of her precious summer holiday before going into her final A level year. This is her own account of the last five days in E1:

Approaching the office door early on Monday morning was certainly daunting but the tantalising aromas of toast, toast and… toast put me at ease. Alex and Nicola warmly introduced themselves and I was later given a tour of the office which, at first sight, looked like an art exhibition. It’s that cool.

This past week has been filled with meetings for Cravendale, Finlandia, Honda and a top secret new business project. However my most memorable moment was going to Wave Studios with Matt and Ray for the voice recording of the new 3 advert as part of the ‘Pay As You Go’ campaign. After being served food and drinks at its luxurious bar, we awaited the arrival of Alistair McGowan himself in the studio. His presence in the booth was surreal but his playful and powerful voice made the ad really come to life.  What I found most interesting was the attention paid to different tones, volume and character of his voice, changing the flavour every time. A couple of hours of detailed note-taking and various different recordings later, a glossy ad starring a cute pug and a hilarious voiceover was complete.

In the midst of fancy studios and meetings in library booths, my involvement with various projects, such Tesco and Stride, were stimulating and enabled me to find out what the brands stand for, who their target audiences are and their competition with other companies.

On Thursday afternoon I was asked to take photos of Mark and Paddy at the ‘Artstart’ talk at the Rich Mix cinema in Shoreditch. The ‘question and answer’ layout gave young people a clear insight into advertising from a creative perspective and what it takes to gain a foothold into the industry given our current economic climate.

(Mark is on the far left. Paddy is on the mic.)

So now my journey has come to an end. The positive and fast-paced energy at the agency is amazing and everyone I’ve worked with has been so approachable and friendly. This experience has inspired me to seriously consider a possible career in advertising. I am really excited to see everything that I have been a part of presented as finished products.

Thank you for having me, Wieden+Kennedy!

Fridays are always pretty cheerful days, but today just got even better. The chew-controlled game we created for Stride gum, Gumulon, has won first place in the Internet Advertising Bureau's Creative Showcase Awards for July. 

The Creative Showcase Awards celebrate creativity and innovation in digital advertising in the UK, choosing a winner and two runners up each month.

Kristin Brewe, IAB Director of Marketing & Communications, said: “Wieden+Kennedy’s terrific Gumulon campaign for Stride represents some ‘out of this world’ creative thinking by immersing players in the amazing adventures of Ace. This is a great example of rewarding product engagement through mobile apps and social sharing, something any brand should ‘chew on’ when evaluating how to work well in two of consumers’ favourite engagement channels—mobile and social.” Read more here.

Thanks, IAB!

Oh and if you haven't given Gumulon a spin yet, head on over to the App Store and download it for FREE.