A newbie’s year: Riding with the marketing team’s wave of rethinking and reinventing 

Dianne Zarina G. Savillo, CDN Digital’s multimedia specialist of the marketing team, goes to the phases together with the team as it reinvents and rethinks concepts and ideas to better suit the clients and readers’ tastes amid the pandemic. | Dianne Savillo

(As CDN Digital turns two this month, we give you, readers, a glimpse of the people behind the news stories, the graphics, the programs of one of Cebu’s leading online news portals. )

MANDAUE CITY, CEBU, Philippines — Excitement, consternation, determination, and relief.

This was what Dianne Zarina G. Savillo, CDN Digital’s multimedia specialist, experienced as she greeted and lived through the pandemic year 2020. It was a year of firsts for her, too — having her first professional job and her first year as a working adult.

“Being a fresh graduate in 2019, my work as a Multimedia Specialist for CDN Digital’s marketing team is something that would serve as the fresh start of my 2020,” Savillo said.

She was excited to work and eager to learn the ropes of the trade.

Things were looking up for her as she was introduced to the company’s preparations and work for in time for the Sinulog Festivities in January. Then things took quite a turn with the sudden announcement of first case of COVID-19 in Cebu.

Things, which were challenging for her as she, a newbie, adjusted to working as a professional and her being an outsider from Cebu because she is from Negros Occidental, just became doubly hard. Despite this, she still harbored her enthusiasm for the job albeit a few gears off.

“I was still learning the ropes with work, language, and lifestyle, and with the looming pandemic, I fear of not being able to familiarize myself with work and to know my colleagues more before the possibility of a lockdown,” she said.

Then the company implemented a work-from-home setup in March to protect employees from the virus. Everyone has to adjust to the new work scheme. 

Savillo, however, was excited about the idea of working at home, but to her consternation, the situation eventually gave her a reality check. 

“The idea of working from home is something that I was excited about. The demise of the daily commute laden with traffic and the trappings of office life are a cause of celebration for me, (but) not until I realized how difficult the setup is for someone working in advertising,” she said.

“Coming up with ideas for advertising is difficult to do alone. That’s why brainstorming with a team is essential because with the virus outbreak there are just a lot of things that need to be done that require teamwork,” said Savillo, who was determined to hurdle these challenges with the marketing team.

CDND’s marketing team then started to rethink and reinvent ways to deliver content to the readers and clients.

“It was a tough experience at first due to the challenge of distant communication, not to mention that our team consists of members coming from different cities and provinces. For that reason, we have to take some considerations when it comes to field productions,” she said.

The marketing team also adapted to the changes like holding meetings and webinars to connect their ideas and plans for executions.

“The advertising team even managed to introduce a live interactive session and hold new campaigns with the clients despite working remotely. Eventually, everyone managed to cope with the current setup and has been able to meet the requests of our clients successfully for almost a year now, said Savillo, who felt relieved that she and team had managed to get over the hump and produce quality content to readers and clients alike.

Looking back at the challenging year, Savillo could not help but be grateful for having the opportunity to work and to grow with CDN Digital.

“From our bosses, editors, reporters, content creators, and colleagues, it is all thanks to the team’s hard work and cooperation that CDN Digital was able to survive and would continue to forge ahead to provide quality content,” she said.

“My work with CDN Digital is truly a memorable one, and I look forward to CDN’s growth as a leading online digital content and news provider in more years to come,” Savillo said.

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Dianne Zarina G. Savillo is a multimedia specialist of CDN Digital’s marketing team.