Brainstorming & Stormy Nights

Week three was full of daily thunder storms that I luckily avoided each and every time. During this week I was able to sit in on a brainstorming session for the naming of a cause marketing idea. Here are a few tips I learned from the account supervisor who organized and moderated the meeting:

1. Send homework questions for everyone to answer a day or two before. It helps get the session started with ideas instead of a lot of silent thinking.

2. Try to think up idea buckets that are relevant to what you believe you will end up with. This will organize your thoughts and help those involved generate ideas as well.

3. After all ideas are up on the boards, give participants dots or markers so they can note which are the top 3 ideas.

4. Finally, and I guess it should be first, make certain all the right people are invited. For this session there was creative, strategic, account, client and public relations present and fully participating.

Week 3 also involved a lot of work on the new business pitch I mentioned before. The dynamics were great with my team members even though I ended up I putting in more hours and had to become more of a manager rather than remain a fellow intern. Once I was able to gather information and advise the team players who needed it on what they needed to do, I was then left with putting the presentation together. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining as everyone has to learn at some point. However, it is just frustrating that I get called out for working overtime because of others not delivering their portions of the project. In the real world, this happens and I am okay with it. But in the intern world, this is a no-no since OT may cause the company to go over-budget. So now I have been told not to work over 35 hrs a wk (what agency employee REALLY works as little as that EVERY week???) and that I must take a day off in order to offset the extra time earned.

So what have I learned from this project??
First, don't be afraid to step on toes especially when it's obviously team members don't know what they are doing. I tried so hard not appear as if I was trying to take over (believe I didn't want to do all the work myself), that I was a know it all (this was harder only because I had a better understanding of what was expected of us thanks to Brandcenter training) or that I wasn't willing to let my team members to learn that would be beneficial to them such as using an IMS database. With all my trying, I realized a little too late that because all were more than willing to do stuff, I should have taken the initiative and showed them what needed to be done how to do it as well.

Most importantly I realized that even though the agency wanted to provide "a real agency experience" by shortening our time to work on the project (the client had also given the agency less time), that did not mean to work like one would in an agency. We were expected to work on our primary accounts and the new biz pitch and get it all done within a total 70 hours or 35 hrs each week. So from this I learned, it is better to eat hours and not get paid, than to document the truth and be "talked to".

For those of you who are in the ad business and even those of you who are not, is it realistic to put different requirements on an intern than on an employee, but still expect a similar quality of work? Then again, maybe that's it. Maybe the agency wasn't expecting a high quality of work from the interns and this was just a way to take us through the motions of a pitch.

Drinking on the Job

During my second week at big agency I had the pleasure of using some of my valuable graduate school training. Scott P. would be proud...I used IMS / Simmons, read media flow charts, and looked at TV rotations without blinking an eye.

I had the opportunity to be a stereotypical ad intern as well. I needed to print out 10 copies of a presentation for a client meeting the same day. Now in true fashion I must see how well my Brandcenter training specially delivered by Prof. Just does me. I have one week before a new biz pitch and the team doesn't really have much done.

You know you are in advertising when you get to leave work early, go to the bar, and drink on the job for the sake of research. I will say the time at the bar was the most productive time for the team. Let's just hope the momentum continues.

SIDEBAR: I'm not necessarily worried about my ability to do the work, but I am concerned about being able to motivate the rest of the team. This is an area of improvement for me. Although I have managed people for years, it was brought to my attention that I still have much to learn. It took a few weeks after receiving the feedback and at least one book on leadership, but now I know what I lack. I must develop my ability to quickly identify what drives individuals. Once you have this key, you can use it motivate and encourage. I am a HUGE cheerleader and have been told by many that I seem to know what to say at the right time. However, this is in my personal life. I still wonder why it never crossed my mind to blend the two. I've always tried to keep the two separate. But you know what? Now that I am trying to blend some of my personality into what I do for a living, why shouldn't I blend my values, traits and common sense, too?

Starting from Scratch...

Well you know those trade emails that I catch up on every now and then when I get behind? Well, they are all gone. I was planning to read a lot of them as many were interesting to me. Unfortunately, I had a problem yet again with an Apple product that caused me to loose all my saved emails. It's a real bummer as I have no history on my important sent emails nor do I have the memory to remember the various articles I wanted to read in more detail. So if you know of anything interesting that I should go back and read. Please let me know as I have much to learn.

Thanks!

Still Smiling

I have successfully completed my first week at my New York internship. If you don't know I am working on a great account and so glad I am. The size of the account, talent on the team and work being performed will offer me experiences I desire out of an internship.

Unlike some interns I have spoken to so far who work not only at my agency but also at a number of other agencies, not many had a ton of stuff to do this week. I have been assigned 4-5 different projects. Three are thinking projects and two are more busy work, but nonetheless will allow me to better understand the client and the advertising history & process that much better.

In addition, I will have two additional projects working in groups with agency interns. The first project is a pitch. I can't tell you who the pitch is for due to confidentiality reasons, but when the gag order has expired I won't mind sharing the details. The pitch project has 7 of us working together. My group has 3 account people, 1 copywriter, 1 art director, 1 broadcast, and 1 planner. We range from a history major working in advertising for the first time to a person who took time off between high school and college to decide on his path and now nothing will stop him. I think we have a strong, interesting group.

Another reason why I look forward to the group summer projects is because it will give me an opportunity to become a better leader and team player. You see, I can become intense. I'm passionate with my work and have high expectations of myself and those who work with me. I have always been one who will do whatever it takes to get the job done...that will never change. I just have to figure out how to transform my drive into motivation for someone who may not be as driven as me.

If you have any tips...definitely send them my way.

A Twist on Education...

Now that I have finally gotten my laptop back, I am taking the time to catch up on emails specifically from the ad trades. I had been saving the Ad Council Creative emails since the beginning of the year because I really wanted to take the time and absorb the content. As time permits, I will share with you my thoughts on the various campaigns I come across. So this will be the first of many.





I like the concept of the campaign as well as the "Tough" and "Foreign Languages" executions. "Algebra II" was humorous, but seemed to confirm a kid's fear that the topic is too hard. So I saw the intent of the commercial and the message communicated in conflict. "Biology" made me focus more on the twins' costumes and distracting echoing voices than the message.

To learn more about the campaign concept, watch the interview with Eric Cosper, Shawn Gauthier and James Rothwell of Publicis New York.