30 students were selected from tertiary institutions to attend the first AdCamp at Google Singapore.

Insights about digital marketing were shared by the very best at Google Singapore. It was surprising to understand how a lot of “Googlers” (employees at Google) referred to Google as an advertising company. AdWords by Google is how Google makes most of its revenue as a company.

We got to learn insights about the life in a day of a “Googler” and how the transparency is such an integral part of the company culture.

One of the most important learning points of the camp was to understand how to make an effective sales pitch to a potential client.

Apart from AdWords, YouTube, Chrome and other Google Products, we learnt about important trends in consumer behavior (use of multi-screens), digital marketing and the rise of mobile marketing.

One of the most important learning lessons that I took back home was the importance of genuinely wanting to make a difference in the lives of people.
Everybody I interacted with Google definitely had the same shared value system. (To a large extend, it is self selecting and of course Google is extremely selective in the hiring process).

TGIF is one of the most interesting company cultures where Larry Page (CEO) has an open discussion with everybody in the Mountain View Head office. All Googlers throughout the world are invited to attend this conversation where they are encouraged to ask questions to the CEO. These questions can be quite challenging but it is so important for accountability to diffuse from top down.

I met a lot of interesting people who were full of life. It was a great time to interact with people from other schools and really understand different perspectives on marketing.

All in all, the AdCamp experience really inspired me to continue being a genuine person and not to be afraid of it.  There are companies like Google out there who truly appreciate you for who you are.