My first day at Tribal DDB Vietnam started a bit later than planned…

The evening before they took me to a club in Saigon to celebrate my birthday. Within no time I was standing on the VIP-deck, surrounded by bottles of Veuve Clicquot and Ketel One Vodka. The next thing I remember was waking up with a big headache and a mouth drier than the Sahara at 10:30 AM in my hostel (Instead of 9:00 at Tribal DDB’s office). I guess there are people who had a better start on the first day of their new job.

Anyway, I couldn’t do anything about it anymore so I took a motorbike to the office and arrived around 11:00 AM. One of the responsible persons who gave me all the booze – Thuymi Do (Digital Strategy & Social Media Manager) – was also in the office. Her smile when I entered the building was priceless. Luckily she had informed the rest of the company about my birthday, which was probably the only excuse for not getting fired on my first day.

I got introduced to my new colleagues and Daniel Gordon Jones (CEO) briefed me on a very big assignment for Heineken. Perfect. I couldn’t have been in a better mood for that. I dropped my stuff in the creative department and started to scan the brief. Five minutes later it was already lunch time. Great! We went to a local place called: Bun cha ha noi. That was actually my breakfast.

When I got back I was alive again and started with originating ideas for Heineken. Around 5:00 PM I got a big surprise. A custom-made birthday cake, and happy birthday songs by my new colleagues. Awesomesauce.

Tribal DDB is a new hub in the Vietnam ad-scene but already became South East Agency of the Year 2012. I can understand why, because the people here are very dedicated. For example, Jet Dela Cruz, one of the Associate Creative Director’s I’ve worked with, stayed awake for more than 48 hours to edit a film. After that he came back to the office because he wanted to review my ideas. Crazy!

Some of my ideas are going to be presented to Heineken. One of them can become pretty epic so I hope that it’s going to work out. Oh and I also did a little short copy task for Heineken. I wrote a heading for a print-ad, and it got approved. Yay!

During my internship and even the whole weekend I stayed at Thuymi’s apartment. A massive expat building with a swimmingpool in the garden and yes, a little pig on the terrace. The perfect place to prepare my TEDxTeen talk. I haven’t slept a lot lately because I’m working in the daytime and crafting my speech in the evening/night. I’m not complaining or anything but I could use some rest. Luckily I’ll be in the air to New York City this Wednesday for about 21 hours so then I have enough time to chill out.

Tribal DDB, thanks for the hangover, my birthday surprises, and the amazing brief for Heineken. I wish you all the best with kicking even more ass in the ad-business.

I’m not going to settle down now. Tomorrow I’ll start a new internship here in Ho Chi Minh City. I’m going to help out Saigon Children’s Charity for two days. An NGO that helps disadvantaged Vietnamese children to get an education and a fairer start in life. Rock on!