My Marketing Mentor Experience: Channel 4’s Content Creative Scheme

Posted In: About Us by Connor,
April 5, 2024

Over the past 16 weeks, our Media Account Executive Chloe Fletcher had the opportunity to work with three amazing individuals who joined Boutique on a work placement. In this blog, she reflects on her responsibilities as a mentor.

Late last year Holly, Scott and Jenny started their journey to complete Channel 4’s Content Creative Scheme. This is a paid training and placement opportunity provided by Channel 4, offering individuals a head start into a career within creative digital media.  After finishing 8 weeks of training, the three of them came to Boutique to work alongside us for a few months. They were given the opportunity to work within the industry and try several different roles within. A few of us were given the chance to work closely with them, taking on the role of a mentor, guiding them through Boutique and being a helping hand. 

As their work placement has now come to an end I thought it was only right to look back on the past few months and my experience as a mentor. 

Why did you want to become a mentor?

Having joined Boutique as a newbie to the marketing world, I knew how intimidating it can be, especially when everyone is an expert in their field, and you have no idea what marketing even entails. I am now two years into my role within the media team and I love it. I love showing people what I do and what media involves, so I knew I wanted to be a mentor to allow me to share my knowledge. I also wanted to make sure that my mentee, who was Scott, was able to settle in well and felt comfortable. I know how I felt on my first day, I was so nervous, but everyone was so lovely and welcomed me in straight away, and I wanted this for Scott! I wanted to be a friendly face for him and welcome him to the wonderful world of Boutique.  

What did your role as a mentor involve? 

Throughout the few months, the three of them moved around the different departments, so when Scott wasn’t with the media team, my role was to check in with him regularly. My role wasn’t to manage Scott, but more of a helping hand if he needed it. I was there to make sure he was comfortable in his role and with workloads, but most importantly to ensure he was happy during his time with us. 

We chatted most days and I kept up to date with what he was working on, listened to any concerns he had and offered any advice where needed. Once a week we met in the office, for a more in-depth chat. We had time to chat about our personal lives, build a good relationship and learn about each other – for example, he has the sweetest cat! It was important for me to check in on him and how he was feeling, not just his work. 

Did you work with Scott on any other occasions? 

As I mentioned above, they moved between the different departments, so when Scott and Jenny joined the media team for a few weeks, I worked with them closely. I got to show them what I do on a day-to-day basis, and what clients I work with. We even shared with them a brief from one of our clients and asked them to produce a media plan and present some creative ideas. They both had a passion for being creative so we also asked them to create some outdoor mock-ups, this was great because we will be able to use them in the future and present them to clients. 

What were some highlights across the few months?

I really enjoyed my time working with Scott, Jenny and Holly. It gave me confidence in my ability and made me realise how much I know and have learned in such a short space of time. I’m a people person first, I love meeting new people, so it was great to create new relationships and guide them through their time at Boutique. I like to think I made a positive impact on their time here, especially with Scott, working so closely with him over the past few months. Scott wanted to share the below comment which put a smile on my face: 

Chloe was always there if I needed support or just someone to chat to. I love how passionate she is about her job, and how she was always happy to share what she was working on. Chloe explained things well and shared her knowledge in an accessible and easy way to understand!

It was also great to see their passions coming through, for example, Scott was really into creative video editing, and he produced two videos during his placement which were fantastic, in fact, one was posted to our socials. It was also great to see Holly’s passion and newfound love for PR, which is why she is still with us in the permanent position as Junior Account Executive! 

I hope we have the opportunity to do this again in the future, it was a great experience and I would love to be a part of the process again. It has been a learning curve for me and has given me the chance to step out of my comfort zone and step up to the challenge. You can read more about their experience on our website, in fact, you can check out Scott’s blog here.