I’m Lottie, a 15-year-old student from Cheshire. This week, I’ve been at Hop&Co. for my Year 10 work experience. I’m currently studying for my GCSE Media qualification, which I love, and knew that I wanted to spend my work experience week gaining some insight into the world of PR and marketing.

Monday

Arriving on Monday, my first day, I’ll admit I was a bit nervous. I was reassured when I walked into the office though, and everybody was so welcoming and friendly. After meeting the team and being taken on a guided tour of the office, I got straight to work finding relevant daily news articles relating to each business that Hop works with. The team then briefed me on drafting a blog post for the National Pizza Week website. I’ve not done anything like this before, so I wasn’t sure where to start, but the team gave lots of guidance, and I soon got the hang of it. I drafted a blog focusing on TV characters’ favourite pizzas.

Tuesday

My second day in the office started with the daily news reviews again, which I enjoyed now that I knew what I was doing. This was followed by creating some Instagram posts for Hop’s social media channels, which helped me to learn new skills using a tool called Canva. My afternoon was spent drafting another blog post, this time for the Hop&Co. website, on the reasons why a marketing agency can help your business flourish. 

Wednesday

Wednesday kicked off with a new task - the team got me researching ideas for promoting the Hop brand on TikTok. As a teenager who uses TikTok every day, this was right up my street, and I really enjoyed it.

Hop HQ is in a brilliant location in the centre of Bramhall, which allowed me to go into the village for lunch and shopping every day. 

Thursday

After gathering the daily news articles again, I spent Thursday continuing with my TikTok task. I created a presentation on Canva with all my ideas, which the account manager would later present to the wider team for approval. I’ve really enjoyed using new tools and learning new skills this week. I’m sure they’ll come in useful in the future.

Friday

On my last day at Hop, I drafted a blog post for the British Sandwich Week website. This one was all about different types of sandwiches. It was tricky at first because I wasn’t sure what to write, but I asked lots of questions and the team gave me some handy tips about how to research information and lay out my article. I’m looking forward to seeing the blog articles I’ve written this week go live on client websites!

I really enjoyed my work experience week at Hop&Co. I feel like I learned a lot, and I had a great time, too. It was super interesting to see how everything works in a PR and marketing agency. I’d like to say a big ‘Thank You’ to Becks and the team for being so lovely and making my week so successful.