To commemorate my time on death row, I feel like reminiscing over what happened in these 3 beautiful months of working here. “What was I convicted for?”, you may ask. I’ll tell you later.

The Shoots

Parting the clouds of tragedy, you will find the rays of gratitude I have for the entire team. We are a team that, despite all odds, keep on pushing towards what they want to achieve, with a smile on their face. A special shout out, however, goes to Ed, our head of creative and brand. 

Imagine being inducted into a company that works completely different from every other company you’ve worked with. Everything is online, heavily technology-oriented, different from the classroom. Everytime you enter a meeting, it feels like you’re sitting around a council. It was alien to me. 

One day, I got a message from Lisa, “Ed has a shoot, care to join?” 

I indulged myself.

It was my first true example of how the agency operates, seriousness when needed but it was fun. It was not the typical “It’s my job, ugh work” kind of feel. Ed himself used to say “Why would you sign a contract that has work in it?” His careful setup of the photoshoot, yet his willingness to try new things, even suggested by interns and his clients, is a revolutionary method of working. He explains his thought process on light and shot composition, like a professor, to someone who only had a middle school level of physics. 

Yet I understood every single bit. 

He applauded everyone for their contributions, always.  He would remark how clients brought him food. It seemed to be a standard from what I’ve seen. He thanked Sarah for adjusting elements in the photos, the models for doing what they were told to, me for figuring out how we were going to set up the next shot. I thought they were standard issue things, mundane. Yet he was grateful as if it was the biggest favour for him.

Thomas’ style of working is different. He is more of a director, funnily enough. He orchestrates what his actors do and makes sure every actor gets his/her time in the spotlight. His ability to extract the best from people is something of myth. All whilst carrying a smile and passion into the work. A director, obviously, has his vision of what the final product is, yet he permits others to show their magic. It all unfolds into a symphony of work that, frankly, is indescribable. 

It just works. 

It is Thomas in his element. Again, he is grateful for every interaction, he is serious yet he jokes around.

These shoots were my favourite part, simply because they are the physical manifestation of what Switch is. Passion and gratefulness, condensed into whatever that their client needs with an expert’s touch.

The blogs

Funnily enough, I’m pretty sure this came about by accident. Elise, our content manager, and Luke, our marketing manager, had mentioned that they needed someone to write blogs for Switch. “I wrote like a few blogs before, so why shouldn’t I?” I figured. So I took on the challenge and after both of them had given me the go ahead, I met the blank page and my thoughts.

I thought it would be like the assignments at university. Regurgitate the notes from class and blanket it under sources so it looks like you did “research”, maybe adding something a bit extra and in a few hours you get an A. 

I could not have been more wrong.

It becomes a nuclear fusion of you and the outside world, not knowing the end result. You quench your thirst for knowledge, originality, and teaching. It’s like when you order something at a restaurant that you don’t know will soon become your favourite dish, everytime.

I barely scratched the surface of what blog writing really is. Yet it’s intoxicating. You end up in a spiral of pages and papers, trying to make sense of what’s in front of you. The job then becomes, “How do you make it entertaining and understandable by even people who aren’t even in the sector?”

The self-expression that comes from this makes me writhe with joy. Your opinion, based on facts and research (championed by Luke), can contribute to something bigger than yourself, even bigger than the company. It can move people. This expression, that goes beyond words, beyond everything you do, is something to applaud.

That’s one of the many things Elise taught me in writing and what the internal team loved my writing for. To be OK with expressing your informed opinion, cause the right people for you will listen.

A side note on Dr. Eggman

As part of my mission in the internship, I wanted to speak to EVERYONE in the agency. Hence, I started meeting other people in the agency. There was Andrea, head of design, Lisa, head of Client Services, Ernesta, Social media manager (More on the others in the next section) but I was dodging Rik, our CEO. He barely spoke in the group chat. I never saw him in my meetings. He must’ve been doing super CEO important stuff that’s so important it determines the fate of the universe.

So I swallowed my pride, and decided to book a meeting with him, among his stacked calendar, hoping his graciousness would accept my plea for interaction. It was met with acceptance, somehow. 

Fast forward to the day I had the meeting. Ed, after the shoot, had invited me to a brand meeting. Accidentally, I forgot that I was supposed to meet Rik. Oh God, I was gonna get a mouthful cause I was wasting his important CEO time. Ed saw me distressed and simply replied “Just tell him you’ll be late, he’ll understand.” It was the stuff of treason back where I used to work. Anyways, I leaped into the abyss, to be met with a “No worries, lemme know when you’re done”. Bottom of the barrel, telling the top dog to wait. Blasphemous.

I realised then that the company revolves around the people. Structures and hierarchies exist, that much is obvious. However, it’s democratic. It’s not a case of “I’m CEO, I am the master of your fate”. Titles here are simply a formality here, to put on your CV and to show what you’re good at.

After scrambling to get home, I hopped on the call with Rik. Normal introductions aside, the first question from him was “What do you find that is ****** annoying about the company?” Absolute dedication and the guy wants to take all the blows needed to get this company to where he wants it. My type of guy. 

So we got to it, the proverbial back and forth of amendments to company structure, which later went on to discussions on his role, hobbies, to music tastes, to then the penultimate reason why I joined Switch. 

To try and find a purpose for this 21 year old kid.

Life is really, REALLY what you want it to be. There is so much to do, so many things to be, where even to begin? I just want to land somewhere where I can say I am ok. The confines and security of school are eroding, then you’re exposed to the harsh winds of life and as Ed once said in a brand meeting “the slightest change in behaviour done now can completely change your life in 5 years”. The worst part is, you don’t know how you will end up.

And what did Rik say to all this mental catastrophe? “Just do something, it’ll come to you.” It’s that simple. Just that. In doing, you find purpose.

Thank you Rik.

The People

After being with people for 21 years, you start to pick up things. Things like, physical cues, habits, behaviour, frame of thinking etc. These elements, given my current conundrum of life’s purpose, will somehow automatically translate into lessons and philosophies in life. 

In addition to the essay above, I have learnt the following things:

Andrea – First of all, thanks for the help with the Warhammer and personal design things, you were absolutely amazing to talk to. Mainly, I learnt that it is important to stay young and creative. It keeps you fresh and interesting.

Camille – Aw Bruce. We had a lot of fun on those multiple projects. To me, you are the personification of persistence for what you love. When you wanted something done, you even worked around the clock. From boxes and bottles to even working when you’re abroad.

Ernesta – That hour call was eye-opening. It was mainly that even through misfortune and problems that destroy plans, something can be made of it. Call it resilience to the world. Your life is something from a novel.

Fabian – I also learnt something from you. The importance of having fun and connecting with new people in new countries. To explore new lands and especially, eat. A lot.

Kathleen and Melissa – Two of the moms of Switch. You both taught me kind of the same thing. To be versatile and work towards solutions for everything. Having children and managing a personal life must be ridiculously hard. Yet it fuels your work and your ever changing list of jobs.

Lisa – Funnily enough, my neighbour. Constantly working towards organising and improving processes. Reports, spreadsheets and more reports. Not only is it just a lesson to embody self improvement but also that you don’t just recruit a great group of people, you create a great group of people.

Luca – The runner. Your work has spades of knowledge to learn from. I really found your coaching career more interesting though. Someone who not only does it but teaches as well. The importance of inspiring others and fuelling the next generation, especially at such a young age. Inspiring haha.

Luke – I wish I had met you before in my life. Well, you have taught me everything, inducted me into Switch. The importance of staying curious and constantly learning, through reading, watching and listening to everything in life. That everything is a teacher and life is to be discovered, one bit at a time. Also, Lords of the Rings is peak fiction.

Maria – I wish I could have talked to you more. Even after natural disasters, you somehow stay with a smile on your face and make everyone laugh. It is a secret to behold.

Fanny, Kim, Laura (And Luke, and Ernesta again) – All of you showed me that just because you are born somewhere, doesn’t mean you are confined to living there forever. There is a whole world to explore, with heaps of exciting projects, cultures and people to work with.

Whilst I tried getting lessons from everyone and listening to their songs of life, it is there where I committed my crime. I did not listen to everyone’s story. Their approaches, their struggles, their joys. Simply because I did not have the time or luck to meet them for that long. There are only fragments of it, like an ice cube from the entire iceberg.

The essence of Switch

That is the essence of Switch. Not just that it’s a world class agency filled with talented people but it IS the culmination of these peoples stories that make it somewhat possible to communicate the company’s story. That’s what makes it world class, the harmonious energy, the positive can do attitude, and the fun of it.

What and who I didn’t mention, like helping with leads, helping PM and marketing organise their structures and reports, the bits of design, Pjazza Kinnie and helping round on menial tasks wasn’t boring. However, fitting everything together is like the proverbial equivalent of condensing a supernova into the palm of your hand.

It is something that will not be able to fit in one blog, nor two, but will echo throughout the strings that my future work will play for the rest of my life. 

I never intended this to be a blog post like my other ones. Whether it ranks number #1 on google or if it’s so good that it goes viral means nothing to me. It’s whether I get to the person reading that is my sole intention, through emotion or through logic.

If all of this has not convinced you to join Switch, I don’t know what will. It will challenge your perspective on everything and make you question even the fundamentals of your own existence. However, whatever the experience will strip you of, it will adorn you with garments of the finest quality.

The post Ranson’s Requiem: An Internship Story appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Not the first rodeo

This phenomenon of double releases has happened multiple times before in cinema and other platforms like video games. It has been dubbed in the Cambridge dictionary as – Counterprogramming, when two completely different things are available at the same time, to attract an audience. Some notable instances of counterprogramming include:

• Mamma Mia! And the Dark Knight on 18 July 2008
• Animal Crossing: New Horizons and DOOM Eternal on 20 March 2020 
• Warm Bodies and the SuperBowl XLVII on 1st February 2013

Barbenheimer was one of the larger-scale cases of this phenomenon, during the social media age (although “gimme gimme gimme a Dark Knight after midnight” should’ve been a thing in my opinion). This can mean more deliberate attempts at counterprogramming down the line, following this massive success.

Barbie’s aggressive approach

To get to their 162 million dollar opening weekend, they used a lot of unusual methods of marketing to target audiences, and not just their intended audience. A lot of it came through collaborations. Some include:

• Fashion brands like Forever 21, Zara, H&M, Aldo, Crocs etc. 
• Other collaborations like:
  • AirBnb for a recreation of the Malibu DreamHouse
  • Bumble for dating tips from Barbie and Ken
  • Ruggable for Pink machine-washable rugs
  • And god knows what other collaborations happened.

In their teaser trailer i.e the parody of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001, Space Odyssey, Barbie showed the world that the movie is not going to be a pink filled nostalgia cash grab. In a later trailer, they even mentioned the slogan “If you hate Barbie, this movie is for you”, implying that they wanted everyone to come and watch it.

The movie also generated a lot of hype on social media. They had AI filters to turn people into Barbie characters on TikTok. There were also countless memes and posts from users, especially from TikTok. According to Comscore, Barbie’s video views on Tiktok were around 243.1 million, compared to the 92.4 million of Avatar 2: The Way of the Water, one of the most anticipated releases of last year (This included content mentioning “Barbie movie”, “barbiemovie” or “Barbie the movie” or “Barbiethemovie” or “Barbie Pelicula”)

Barbie wanted everyone to be pulled into Barbieland, even those who don’t want to.

Silence speaks

Contrasting with Barbie’s colourful immersion, Oppenheimer was much more enigmatic in its approach. It certainly is tougher marketing the father of the nuclear bomb as a movie than the childhood dolls made by Mattel, and Oppenheimer’s trailers and teasers were limited in material, piquing curiosity rather than awe.

However, Oppenheimer has an advantage that few movies ever can use, which is their director, Christopher Nolan. You know, that guy who made blockbuster movies like Interstellar, Inception, The Dark Knight trilogy, Dunkirk, The Prestige and 50 other godly movies. When you have a director with such a reputation and track record, everyone is practically going to want to know what’s going on.

The movie’s Twitter feed (Or is it X?) in fact, mainly is composed of shots and teasers of the movie and its star studded cast with some reviews by magazines like People. In addition, there was an online countdown to the 78th anniversary to the first nuclear explosion. Much more lowkey and reliant on the cast than flashy tik tok filters, collaborations and much more akin to the traditional style of marketing a movie.

Fusion and Fission

Normally, two movies coming out on the same day happens to create a rivalry at the box office: the larger movie appealing to a wider audience, whilst the smaller movie would appeal to the underrepresented group that would not normally go to the larger movie.

However, in this instance, it endorsed more of a double feature i.e people watching them both. With the internet going mad on this with more memes, merchandise and user-generated content that most movies can hope to dream of. According to Wikipedia, Vue International stated that 20% of people who bought tickets to Oppenheimer also bought a ticket for Barbie.

This was further fuelled by the fact that some of the casts of both movies actively encouraged to watch both movies, with other actors like Tom Cruise jumping on the trend as well.

It works because they appeal to such different audiences and yet they both played off it. They both inadvertently played into the joke and social media further fuelled it with what social media does best. Both movies knew what their audiences wanted and in return, gave them engagement and revenue that exceeded expectations.

Multiple instances of counterprogramming happened before this, yet this one was the most prominent despite Oppenheimer having an enigmatic approach and the cinema yet recovering from the pandemic and with the problem that are Marvel movies.

What we can learn from Barbenheimer

This instance of movie greatness (yes, I have watched both and they are amazing) can be applied to businesses, obviously in different levels and depending on the size of the business, in the form of collaboration and memes.

Some events happen outside of your company that you have zero control over and still affect your brand. For better or for worse, reacting to these unexpected events quickly and creatively can foster engagement and give you an opportunity that normally few companies have the privilege of benefitting from. Outright ignoring the conversation around the brand can lose golden opportunities or even damage the reputation of the brand itself.

Memes on the other hand can be a way to create a lot of engagement with a company for low costs and yet show a human side to the company. It can help to build hype, build relations with people who interact with the post and make people feel like they’re “in on the joke”. When done right, they can be a method of achieving business objectives like no other.

Barbenheimer is not just a coincidence that happened to generate extra revenue. It is a case study that shows that through quick reactions with some creativity, you can help get increased awareness and engagement with your brand.

Meet the author

For the past three months, Ranson’s been interning at Switch and working on all kinds of projects. From campaign shoots to merchandising to manning activations and writing blogs, there’s nothing Ranson won’t do, with a smile and with the same boundless enthusiasm that propels him through gruelling gym sessions. A University of Malta graduate in accounting and marketing, he’s now looking to start a Masters and has about ten thousand ideas for a thesis hashed out in between gaming sessions.

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