Her name tag reads Client Service Manager, but Saskia prefers to describe her job as Out Of Home Expert at Mediabrands. “All advertisements that you come across outdoors, and which therefore do not appear on TV or radio, in magazines or online, are part of my work domain.” They include bus shelters, gyms, toilets, advertising panels on the street, at the cinema and many more.
To her great delight, many of her customers are car brands. “I love cars. If, while zapping, I come across a TV program in which they’re restoring classic cars, I’ll watch it.” Unfortunately, there is no classic car gleaming in her garage, but there will be, one day. Saskia is crazy about Morgan, a British car brand that is pretty much the archetypal classic car: a convertible with an elongated bonnet and headlights that resemble eyes. “I can already see myself cruising around, with a picnic basket on the luggage rack.”
For Saskia, it’s the friendly atmosphere that makes working at Mediabrands so enjoyable.
“It’s important that a company does what it says. People come first here. I’ve experienced that myself. When I suffered from burnout, Mediabrands sent me to a psychologist and there was an openness to talk about my problems. My reintegration process has been calm and managed with care.”
Personal growth
After twenty years, Saskia still feels that she is evolving as an employee. “Feedback from colleagues confirms that my self-confidence has grown. It’s great that there is room for personal growth, which allows you to function better as an employee. I pass on this message to young colleagues: invest in yourself, it pays off. My first presentation to a customer was not a pleasure. It was stressful, but I did it anyway, and I learned from it. That’s what counts.”
Saskia is good at analysis. Show her something new and she will immediately want to know all about it and share the info with her colleagues. “I’m upbeat and positive. Sometimes I get carried away by my enthusiasm. I realize that it can be a bit overwhelming for some people.”
The periods when there were lay-offs were less positive. “Mediabrands is a multinational. When things went badly in New York and customers were lost, it trickled down to Brussels. You could feel that insecurity in the workplace. Seeing people leaving was hard, but it created a bond for life. And you knew that there would come a time when the drive would return. I derived inspiration from that.”
When it comes to something she would have liked to do better, Saskia thinks back on her early days. When she joined Mediabrands at the age of 25, she had no experience in the world of advertising. “I trained as a lab technician in biochemistry and had worked in retail, but I pretended to know what I was doing. That’s dumb because you don’t do yourself any favors. The more questions you ask, the faster you evolve.”
Renovation company
When Saskia is not at work, she spends time in the company of her friends. Enjoying an aperitif with them gives her pleasure. She is a regular at the gym, but after buying a house last year, her workouts are limited to renovation work, which she does herself as much as possible. “I fell in love with a town house that needs a lot of work. I’ve had the roof repaired, but I sanded and painted the wooden fascia boards myself. I just climbed up the scaffolding and got to work. I tore out the kitchen, sanded down the walls and built a low wall.”
”superpower — home renovation
It wasn’t a leap in the dark: Saskia knows she’s a good handywoman. “I watched videos on YouTube about how to do it, and then set to work. Sometimes it failed at first, but after a few tries it worked out fine. That got me thinking: if things ever go wrong in the world of advertising, maybe I can start a renovation company.”