Mattie has been at Medialab for 2 years, moving up through the ranks to become an Account Director. Working across 3 clients, she has an interest and expertise in OOH, cinema and partnerships. Let’s hear about her Locked down day in the life…

7.00am

I tend to get up at about 7 (I am not a morning person), and normally I’d walk to work, but for now I’m going for a stroll along the canals around Maida Vale in the morning. It’s the time of day that I call friends and family at home in Australia as everyone is awake! I’ll try to fit in a quick workout if I’m feeling energetic.

8.00am

After speaking with friends and family, I’m back into the house and at my desk to login, check urgent emails and sort out a to-do list for the day.  There’s also breakfast (Granola and fruit or similar) and about 5 cups of coffee in between all of this. What I do miss about life outside of lockdown is Pret, and those little Muesli, yoghurt fruit situations – I’m trying to recreate them but the result is really lacking…

9.00am

Everyday, the 9 of us in our client team touch base over Zoom. I really love the team catch ups (I do happen to be part of the best team in Medialab) just to see everyone and see what we’re all up to. I suppose with limited contact, when you do speak to someone on a video call, the chat inevitably carries on for longer than usual – something I’m finding across most Zoom calls in general! In our 9am, we’ll see who has capacity and what projects need resource etc. as everything is changing massively day to day with different clients.

10.00am

This morning we had the mid campaign review for the British Red Cross. This #PowerofKindness campaign has been amazing to work on and has been a great reaction to the Coronavirus situation in the UK in supporting and encouraging volunteers and donations. Also, we managed to get our ad on the Piccadilly Circus lights, which was massive for me – I rode down on my bike to see the campaign when it first when live, which was a really cool media nerd moment.

The review was looking at our progress so far and mapping out next steps. It was a really interesting meeting because we’ve had to be super agile with this campaign (updating channels and targeting as we see the consumer attitudes shifting with Covid updates) and it’s taken some really excellent teamwork across all sides to keep it rolling in a positive direction. British Red Cross are such an iconic brand for the UK in moments of crisis, so I’ve definitely felt the pressure of trying to do the charity justice!

Midday

The daily LabLive midday address where one of Medialab’s directors will spend 10 minutes talking to the whole company on Workplace, which is something I’ve found really helpful. It breaks up the day, and we get to hear what is going on in other teams. Much like our Friday MediaTed, which gives someone or a team the opportunity to talk about an initiative or recent work they’ve done.

Lunch

Once I’ve watched the address, I’ll tidy up emails quickly and then try to find some leftovers. I’m a terrible cook, so it’ll be something that one of my housemates has cooked for us from the night before. I basically take this as the kick off to my afternoon of grazing – lockdown has really developed my appreciation for all the blessed work that SnackaJacks do… Lunchtime is also another chance to step away from the laptop and go for another walk – really hoping this weather stays as nice as it’s been!

2.00pm

This year, Flis (Business Director) and I have joined Bloom, which is a network of women working in marketing. It gives women in the industry an opportunity to talk to one another, regardless of seniority, share experiences and build a strong support network. And we’ve just launched the mentoring programme, so now I have a ‘mentee’. I was joking with Suzy, our Director of Growth, the other day, as she is my mentor which makes her a grand mentor… Not sure she found it as funny as I did…

So I had my first monthly catchup with a woman who works at another agency as an Account Executive. We’ve been teamed up based on our interests/strengths, as I’ve done a lot of OOH and am working overseas; something she is keen to do. We talk about how things are going generally, what we’ve been up to and the industry itself. Bloom has been great, and now under lockdown there are plenty of virtual events where we get to interact with women in different sectors of the industry and in different stages of their careers.

4.00pm

As the end of the day nears, I finish off with some admin stuff, before joining another Zoom. My typical day tends to be about 50% Zoom calls, so it’s often a quick dash from one to the next. Trying to work on my Zoom backgrounds where possible, my personal favourite is placing myself amongst the flames of the ‘everything is fine’ meme.

6.00pm

After a final tidy up of emails, I’ll logoff. My housemates and I will then make dinner (I say ‘I’ll make dinner’, but the reality is that I’m a much better sous-chef and wine pourer). If it’s a sunny day, which it has been recently, we’ll sit on our balcony/window ledge and bask for a while before heading inside to find something on Netflix.

If you weren’t at Medialab, what would you be doing?

An Olympic snowboarder. Like one of the ones that never makes the podium but just lives off that lucrative Red Bull sponsorship.