I’m an intern. What does that mean, exactly? Well, if you’ve never had the pleasure of interning for a company, you probably have a picture in your head that looks something like this:
Young, seemingly hungry girl wakes up at 5:45 a.m. with a call from her boss saying she’ll be at the office in thirty minutes, and she had better have her coffee waiting on her desk. Young girl throws clothes on as she rushes out the door, realizes her sweater is on inside-out once she reaches Starbucks, gets to the office at exactly 6:15 a.m. and is greeted by a frightening crow of an old woman (probably tapping her foot with arms crossed). Girl repeats above process until she returns home at 11:45 p.m.
Maybe you have had an internship and I’ve just regurgitated an entry from your diary. I hope not. I’m lucky, you see. I’m interning for a small advertising agency run by people who care about each other (and even lowly interns). And believe it or not, I’ve yet to be sent on a coffee run.
They want me to get the most out of my experience with them, and that’s why they’ve assigned me a semester-long project. This blog is my project (I want to be a copywriter, so why not write?). It’s going to be dedicated to all I learn and experience at my internship during the next four months. I work three days a week, so my blog entries will probably be divided up into three little blurbs. My goal is to post an update every week with my key takeaways & random jottings-down. I hope I’ll be able to look back on this and laugh at my naiveté. And since the internet is a big place, I realize there’s a chance that someone else in my position might stumble upon this blog. If you’re reading this and saying, “Yes! That’s me!” then I hope you enjoy.
Have you ever tried to name something? What’s in a name? If you had to give yourself another name, what would it be? Why? I’ve had the task of brainstorming names twice here, and it’s always a challenge. You’re supposed to read a packet of information, pull out the most important bits, and give birth to a name. It’s like when you’re trying to name a pet. Pretend you’ve had your cat for about a week now. You’re probably picking up on some of his unique character traits. Maybe your cat is all about food, or sleeping curled up on your stomach, or maybe he’s one of those cats whose meow sounds like a bark. What are you going to name him? It’s the same predicament when you’re naming a company. You’ve really got to understand them. You don’t want to plague them with an “Apple” when they’re really more of a “Willard.”
Here’s something I’ve heard time and time again: “It pays to be your own editor.” You should be able to proofread regardless of your profession. Pretend you’re a crazy person when you proofread. I do. I read every sentence backwards and mouth the words to myself. It’s worth it. Mistakes are money.
When you don’t have much to do at work, you can always be self-educating. Don’t use a slow day as an excuse to spend four hours on Facebook. There’s way too much to read up on in the advertising industry. There are new ways of reaching people being developed every day, and if you want to look good in an employer’s eyes, you should probably know about them. I personally look at Creativity Online, Best Ads on TV, Ad Week, Ad Age, and Ads of the World. Sometimes looking at these weekly doesn’t feel like enough. Keeping up with the world of advertising is like learning a foreign language. You’re always going to feel a little behind.
