Salad’s 2016 Digital Day

If you haven’t heard of it, Digital Day was created to bring professionals and students closer together and introduce them to the potential of an exciting and challenging career in the world of digital. Surprisingly, up until the age they leave for university, students are still predominantly unfamiliar with our industry and the variety of roles that are up for grabs. So, we did our bit to try and tackle the issue with 30 AS-Level students.

To kick-off the day, we started off with a conversation to help to define ‘what digital is’. As many professionals will understand, the term ‘digital’ is frequently used but very infrequently explained. Simply put, we agreed that digital isn’t one thing and that it’s become our way of life. Digital weaves throughout our everyday lives and plays many roles to serve many purposes.

The day then revolved around the students forming teams to solve 3 real-life client briefs with prizes up for grabs. This year, the briefs focused on big and bold issues of health, education and money management set by Cancer Research UK, TATA Communications and Standard Life.

With limited time but limitless imagination, the teams quickly got themselves organised and began to share and progress ideas that utilised app development, VR, web and more! Needless to say, watching the students create ideas without the budgets holding them back was a joy!

Having been invited to the school by QE’s Business & Enterprise Teacher, Steve Collins, we asked him why he thought Digital Day was important for his students…

“It is so important for us to give our students a real flavour for what career prospects there are in the digital industry, particularly as it is a massive area of growth in the South. Having a partner like Salad to give a real-life industry perspective is invaluable and I hope this is the first of many opportunities for us to work together to give our students more exposure to the creative and digital sector.”

We had a fantastic afternoon and the students came up with some fun, innovative concepts. Unlike the usual lesson programme, this experience gave the students a chance to practise idea development and pitching – both vital skills for their career.

While we were there, we also took the opportunity to quiz the students about the way they engage with digital now and what they though the future held and this is what they told us…

*Keep your ears pricked for a comment about the future of toasters for a bonus point.

We’d like to say another thank you to Queen Elizabeth’s School for having us, to Mr. Collins for extending the invitation and to BIMA for arranging another year of fantastic briefs.

We had a great time and we look forward to next year!