Internship Week 8: Another Productive Week

Well week 8 probably tops the list at suckiest week here. Yes, suckiest is the adjective I chose.

I know it is silly to complain about getting paid to sit on Facebook, Twitter, Buzzfeed and Mashable all day but that is exactly what I’m going to do in this blog post so feel free to stop reading if you think it’s silly.

I would say I’m joined by about 50% of the interns in this frustration. Advertising is unfortunately one of those industries where work is some what unpredictable. Unlike the jobs of a teacher who comes in every and teaches from 8am-3pm or whatever and presents a lesson in forms of periods, writes lesson plans and grades papers. Advertising experiences busy points and dry spells. During dry spells interns are the first the feel the grunt. With little for full time employees to do it is even worse for interns.

So here I am at week 8 feeling ridiculously bored. I’m ashamed to be that intern that is seen never doing work. It’s getting very difficult to look busy for 8 hours every day. I hate to hold this against my internship experience here but honestly I’m getting tired of being an intern in general.

Summer Insight Series Take Aways:
So each week we have a “lunch and learn” event with someone from the agency and all the interns where we have the opportunity to learn more about the area of advertising, the people who work at Mullen and their experience of working in advertising and at Mullen.

This week the session was led by Tim Cawley, SVP Group Creative Director. As a copy writer he was able to discuss some awesome advice that speaks on both a creative level and advertising industry level. Despite his experience in the creative department there is so much I took away from this presentation. He offered up:

6 Truths According to Tim: 
1. “Work for good people”
He basically expressed the importance of working for a great agency where you learn and do work that is great. No matter the salary, when you’re starting out you need to work under people that you understand and that understand you. Having a mentor at the early stages in your career also is vital.

2. “Anything can be great”
The example Tim mentioned was Cannes Grand Prix winner – Dumb Ways to Die. This was a campaign for railroad safety, created for Metro Trains. Sometimes it isn’t about doing work that is for the client with the biggest budget. It is about doing work that contribute to your agency’s portfolio. Each assignment must be treated like it’s the best thing you’ve ever worked on no matter what.

3. “Be Nice”
Clients tend to offer a lot of feedback and we forget that it is way harder to be the client. Be empathetic and a team player. Don’t point fingers because it take a team to produce good work. Advertising is a small business and you want others to want to work with you. Advertising is a “a business of opinions” and you want the one people have about you to be positive.

4. “You’ve got to sell your best work every time“
Nobody cares about your work more than you do. If you want to be known for your work, be on your work! You life is attached to the work you do. The money you earn, the car you drive, and the house you own all goes back to the work you produce. Don’t wait for others to make the changes or edits. Do them yourself.

5. “Use the ‘Uncle-in-law Theory'”
In advertising we often forget that we are selling products to average consumers, not other people who work in advertising. Go to places where these “cheesy idiots” go. Malls. Theme parks. Wherever. Keep working until your idea works for your consumer.

6. “There is no such thing as the perfect presenter”
There are many types of presenter. It is all about being able to defend your creative choice. Don’t BS. If you don’t know, say “I don’t know” or get the right person to come in a give the correct answer. Prepare to know as much as you can about your work. Talk from the heart about the choices you make.

Lastly, Tim reminded us:
– Advertising is “using art to trick the world into believing what a company wants them to believe.”
– We work as employees work for the advertising agency at the end of the day and they are the ones who sign out paychecks. We must produce good work for the agency as that will lead to good business, more clients, and awards which will lead to good business, more clients and more awards.

Wild card: A commercial from a campaign that Tim worked on that he used his awesome song writing skills for:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9q7_M5W0fE