Work Experience at Sponge: Behind the Curtain

At Sponge, we believe there’s always something new to learn (especially when there’s cake involved!). This week, we welcomed a work experience student, Scarlett, into our team to give them a behind-the-scenes look at life at Sponge. From seeing how our cakes are made to discovering the creativity, teamwork and care that goes into every bake.

We handed over the keyboard and asked them to share their experience in her own words. Here’s what Scarlett had to say about her week with us…

For my work experience, I decided to focus on companies that reflect on and take an interest in media (mainly because I find an interest in how companies market/advertise their products to consumers and what makes a successful campaign), which was the main reason why I took an interest in Sponge.

On my first day, I was dropped off by my father at the main reception, where I was greeted by the staff. I was given a small tour of the main areas where I would be working and was seated in a small lounge area. From there, I had a small conversation with the staff regarding my school life as well as my hobbies and was slotted into the media and creative departments (the staff were very kind and guided me on what to do for the first few tasks). For my first assignment, I was tasked with creating a mood board for ideas regarding their new recipe (for both the design and photography of the new flavour) before creating another mood board to decide on new flavour possibilities for future sponge cake lines. Following my research, I was given a small, brief tour of how the cakes were made by members of staff (specifically how the cakes are packaged and delivered to consumers, which was quite eye-opening regarding how many steps and staff there have to be to deliver a small cake either through Amazon or other mailing companies).

Over the past few days, I was given small tasks and briefs regarding both the design and layout of Sponge’s business along with its competitors and what they do and don’t do well in how they advertise their products (what I mainly like about Sponge’s brand is how they advertise their brand and future products; they use very well thought-out cinematography and language to grab the attention of viewers along with the main demographic they’re targeting to generate more overall sales). Additionally, I was given a more in-depth tour of how the cakes are made from batter to decoration. I was also shown how both machines and people operate at certain stations regarding what cakes are being made that day. From then on, I was mainly centred around the advertising of their new cake product and how they can get the most engagement from it. My main field of work was around Instagram posts, potential reels, and platforms that the product can be advertised on, as well as potential collaborations that could be launched alongside it that could generate sales.

Finally, I was also given creative freedom for some of my tasks (such as designing a future cake flavour, the overall design of the box, and finally a potential seasonal collection). I chose to create a circus-themed collection with a moving baby cake ferris wheel, a cardboard circus tent, and a cake carousel with tiny frosted horses and had sketched how the designs would look along with how they would be photographed. The team really liked my overall ideas when I had to present them and were extremely nice to me throughout my time at Sponge. If you ever want to choose to work here either for your work experience or for an actual job, I would highly recommend this workplace, and if I could, I would gladly rejoin the team.