CHONG TRENICE
Background of company
I was assigned to work with Hush Teabar, which is a social movement that champions social inclusion and mental wellness. Led by the Deaf and people recovering from mental health illness, this silent Teabar hopes to bring self-care and inclusion to every workplace and community. Building an empathetic, resilient and inclusive society, one cup of tea at a time. Specifically, I was assigned to work on the "Hush@Workplace" aspect of the Hush movement which targets the working community as workplace stress and mental health issues are becoming more prevalent in society today. My job scope encompassed personally undergoing the Hush@Workplace experience by bringing a refreshing session of experiential empathy and mental wellness to the workplace. These sessions aim to impact the growth and development of staff to build a healthier, happier and more inclusive workplace.
production and elaboration of deliverables
For WOW, my group and I were mainly focusing on the outreach and marketing projects of the company. We had several tasks to do in order to enhance the the company's marketing and outreach strategies. So far, they already had some ideas about a mood board with their content from their events, updating their testimonials and updating their marketing slides. However, the company did not have much outreach strategies and ideas at the moment. Hence, we brainstormed together for new outreach and marketing ideas, and managed to come up with an idea of a new poster and three marketing videos that they would upload onto the company's Facebook.
It was decided that Faith and I would focus on the 3 marketing videos to be made, the new poster and the revamping of marketing slides.
Chee Hong and Alvin, two of my other group mates, focussed on posting and editing pictures for their Facebook page, updating their testimonials and creating the mood board.
As all these tasks could be done digitally, it did not require much physical resources, though it did require us to work together as a team to consistently maintain the company's image and branding throughout all our different marketing and outreach ideas.
We had several meetings to discuss what was the main message of the company we wanted, the rationale behind each of the tasks we had, and each step we took. Our mentor showed us the importance of maintaining the image and branding of the company, as she questioned every single one of our moves to make sure that we knew our rationale and the message we wanted to tell the public. She explained to us the importance of being consistent in order to attract and work with more partners, as well as to maintain good relationships with the public and other partners. The slightest inconsistency in branding or messaging would spoil the raw essence of Hush and could be detrimental to Hush's branding.
We were eased into work as we only had to revamp the slides for the first few meetings. Faith and I worked on the slides, updating their statistics, messaging, and tweaking the presentation to make it easier to understand and more aesthetically pleasing. We paraphrased and changed quite a few parts of the slides, making them more concise while still maintaining the quality and effectiveness of attracting customers. We also helped Kay, one of our mentors, think of marketing strategies on their social media platform.
Furthermore, after properly understanding the rationale and messaging of the company, we worked on a document that outlined the company’s target audiences, and what the company could do to further reach out to these target audiences. After vetting our document, our mentors guided us to focus on workplace and office workers as our target audience
For 2 weeks, our mentors met us consistently, questioning us about the company's messaging and branding. After that, Faith and I had to start work on the marketing videos that was targeted at workers. The purpose of these videos was to encourage the emphasis on self-care of office workers for the well-being of their mental health. We realised that the videos we were to make needed to keep strictly to the company's branding, and so we went through several rounds of discussion before we knew exactly what we wanted to put across and showcase with these videos. When choosing potential partners to work with, we focused on companies which demonstrated that they took their office workers’ health very seriously and saw the potential in working with Hush through a Hush session.
We worked closely with one of our mentors, Ning, for the production of the three marketing videos. Before the execution of filming for the videos, Faith and I had to come up with a video proposal. This was after the many rounds of discussion with the mentors, especially Ning, as she has an eye for detail and constantly reminds us how important the company’s branding and essence is. We thought of the various themes for each video, and came up with general outlines for 5 different marketing videos, each having a specific messaging related to the theme. After hearing our suggestions, the mentors put together our ideas for 5 different videos, and wrote a revised proposal for 3 marketing videos.
The filming process had to be carried out quickly after Faith and I read through the final proposal. For filming, we visited the company's office in Potong Pasir, where we could work closely with the deaf working for the company, as they were cast in one of the videos. One video was a skit between two of Hush's deaf Tearistas and the other was a video showcasing how a typical session with Hush was like. The third was a video on self care, featuring the releasing of emotions with the help of a cup of tea. The filming of videos took place over 2 days, and for this we worked closely with our other mentor, Kay. We had to film each scene multiple times, experimenting with different frames and angles. However, halfway through filming, we were told by our mentor that one of the deaf Tearistas felt left out when amongst us, and did not feel very welcome when we filmed with him. Though we genuinely thought that we were trying hard enough to include him, we felt deeply apologetic about it. From that day onwards, especially on the second day of filming, we took note of how we spoke to him, and tried our best not to treat him differently, being especially friendly and nice to him.
Through this incident, I realised how patient and understanding we have to be with the deaf. Although we might think that we are being friendly and inclusive already, we have to always remind ourselves of how they might think and feel, and take the extra step to be friendly and nice to them. Working with the deaf especially for this project gave us many chances to empathise with them, and think in their shoes. This really opened our eyes to the lives of the disabled.
After filming, I had to edit the videos. As Faith did not have the software, I edited all three videos, while Faith helped Chee Hong and Alvin out with their videos. Through editing the videos, the mentor Ning really opened my eyes to how much I have to pay attention to details. From zooming in to multiple frames, slowing down different frames and cutting 2 seconds off just to cut the video short, I worked with my mentor very closely to finish the production of the three videos. At first, I never understood why every single detail had to be elaborated on, and why the mentor was so specific on the fonts, the words and the spacing of words in the video title.
It was only when I viewed the video over and over again to edit did I realise that the company had a certain image to maintain, and Hush’s raw essence always had to be showcased. Once an aspect of that was changed, viewers might misunderstand or have a bad image of Hush due to the inconsistencies in the maintenance of branding. The mentor apologised for being so harsh and specific, but she said being precise was necessary. I definitely learnt the importance of the maintenance of branding, and am very proud of the end product I have produced together with my group mates. The three videos not only allowed me to train up my video editing skills and taught me the importance of branding, it also trained my patience as a huge amount of edits had to be made, even if some were very small ones.
At the end of the month, our final deliverables were the three completed videos, the various proposals we did before, the revamped marketing slides. For Chee Hong and Alvin, they finished the mood board, revise testimonials for the company, sending out marketing emails and scheduling and editing marketing posts for the company’s Facebook.
THree Skills/ COntent Knowledge Learnt
The first skill that I learnt was already elaborated above, and that is how important attention to details are. Before this project, I never knew that details were that important, and I never knew the large impact it could have on the company’s image. I feel that through editing the videos, I really understood why my mentor kept stressing on editing the various frames and scenes very specifically, and why she would even ask me to repeatedly change the spacing of words or fonts that the words in the video used. As mentioned previously, I truly learnt how having an eye for detail, like my mentor did, is truly an important skill, and how much respect I have for my mentor Ning, for being so patient and making the time to really look through and edit every single detail about the video. By pointing these areas out, I could learn from my mistakes and better communicate the rationale and true messaging we are trying to bring across with the video.
The second skill I learnt was patience. Whether it is the video editing, the filming, working with the deaf or discussing with our mentors, I realised we really needed to slowly think things through and understand thoroughly what messaging we wanted to put across to the audience before actually executing and doing our tasks. Our patience was definitely tested throughout our different tasks, and I feel that through this month, we have really improved and grown as more patient people. Working with the deaf also taught us that we really need to pace ourselves as not everybody might be on the same page at the same time, and we need to make sure to wait for others. This is not only applicable when we work with the deaf, who need to take time to understand us, but also working with people that have different mindsets, different characteristics and different understandings from us.
The third skill I learnt was video filming and editing. I had to film and edit the three videos, filming one video by myself and editing all three. I learnt how hard it was to properly film a video as I had to try many different angles. Even more than that, ensuring that it brought across the appropriate message while trying making it look attractive to customers and the public was a tough task. I felt like a video creator for once, and I realised video editing is not an easy thing. I even downloaded a few apps on my phone, tried a new video editing software on my laptop, just to be able to access certain tools to edit different clips, then combining the various clips that I each edited. If my mentor were to change what she wanted, I would then have to edit once again separately then put them together again, transferring some clips from phone to computer and vice versa. I finally learnt how much effort is put into making a simple 1 minute video and have so much more respect for video editors. The speed, angles, frames everything plays a part in making a video, and through this experience I really learnt the hard work behind a simple video or advertisement I watch on television or social media.
two interesting aspects
The first interesting aspect was definitely the fact that we got to learn sign language. The first few sessions with Hush we got to learn the alphabet, various normal expressions and phrases in sign language. Afterwards, we even got to create our own expression for our name. I learnt to respect the deaf so much more, as sign language is literally a whole other language they have to learn. When I see the deaf Tearistas signing so quickly to each other, it amazes me as I can't even do the alphabet fluently! I feel that learning the sign language and interacting with the deaf was truly a new and interesting experience for me, as I could have never seen myself learning so many different expressions and phrases in sign language. I also have a newfound respect for the deaf, and look up to them so much more, for having the willpower and ability to learn a whole new language. Being deaf is certainly not a weakness, instead it just shows us how much more capable they are, and how we certainly are not limited to our current abilities.
The second interesting aspect was experiencing the flexible schedule with Hush Teabar. We didn’t need to report daily to the office, and instead, had small meetings with our mentors outside, and then worked with my group outside every single time we weren’t meeting our mentors. There was no rigid and strict timetable to follow. It was interesting as many other WOW! programmes had fixed timings. Our mentors explained that they wanted us to feel how it would be like working with Hush, hence allowed us to meet outside as long as we showed them the work we had done for that day at the end of the day. I am thankful that we had such a flexible schedule and comfortable work environment, as it made WOW! enjoyable, allowing us to learn and produce quality work, while letting us relax and not be to stressed out. It also trained our time management, as we needed to pace ourselves such that every single day we would have made progress. When we talked to our mentors, we also did not need to hold back any comments, and could be as open and comfortable to them as we liked. I really liked that aspect of our time with HushTeaBar and found this vibe and nature of working very interesting.
One Key Takeaway
The true takeaway I got through this experience is the interactions with the deaf and the whole experience of working with a company that is not just a typical company. This company aims to promote self care, the protection of mental health of office workers and general public, all through expressing ones emotions with a simple cup of tea. Just to understand the surface of this concept takes time and effort, as their messaging and rationales go way deeper than that. This experience, being able to work with the deaf, learn about the various values and themes, maintaining the branding of such a raw and unique organisation is one in a million, as this company is so special and unique. I hope the Hush brand lives on, as the message and what they are trying to achieve is truly inspiring, and I hope that one day I will be able to hear of Hush and hear people talking about Hush.
Learning sign language, being in such a comfortable working environment, being so open and comfortable with your mentors is not something everyone can say they have done. Working together with a small company that holds so much potential is truly inspiring, and I think the key takeaway of my WOW! programme is definitely the special experience I have had with this company.