When Melissa Heuschkel gave birth to a little baby boy, she struggled to find that perfect name. So, naturally, she did what any sane parent would—she sold the right to name her child on eBay. I have a feeling little “Golden Palace Benedetto” (the $15,500 name given by Golden Palace Casion) is not going to be too happy with Mama Heuschkel when he grows up. But while eBay has a myriad of bizarre auction items that often leave us scratching our heads, item #270392380113 might top the charts.
On May 19th, world-renowned advertising agency Crispin Porter and Bogusky opened the bidding on item #270392380113—40 of their summer interns. The prize package included a creative presentation developed by the interns over a three month period consisting of strategies, recommended brand positioning and concepts; everything but production or finished advertising material. The auction started at $1, and by its close on May 27 the Oregon electric motorcycle company, Brammo Inc., won the bid for $17,655, a sum to be divided evenly amongst the interns.
Now wait a second. Auctioning off intern labor? That just doesn’t sound right. Maybe it’s the protective intern side of me speaking here, but the 1600s and Slave Trade kind of come to mind. It’s degrading enough having “Intern” as your alias all summer, now Crispin’s equating their interns to just another wacky piece of Virgin Mary Toast sold on eBay? And when the going rate for an intern is typically a John Hancock on a form granting college credit, why would anyone fork over $17 grand for intern work? However, unlike an auctioned piece of “Britney Spears gum” which you can put in a plastic box, place beneath your “Baby One More Time” poster and stare at (classy…), buying a batch of 40, well qualified, CP&B interns was actually a smart move for the young company.
A typical intern strategic plan probably falls in the price range of “lucky to even get looked at”, but when it’s the product of interns working at the birthplace of the Facebook Whooper Sacrifice and the infamous Whooper Freakout, there is some serious added value. The auction’s success can be attributed to the fact that eBay newbies CP&B have successfully branded themselves as creative masterminds and left the rest of the advertising world thinking, “Dang, I wish I had thought of that.” The “Intern Auction” has generated a huge amount of buzz for the agency in the news and across various social media outlets—a beautiful thing in advertising.
Brammo Inc’s “Intern Auction” win has also landed them a lot of publicity. Not only has this young electric motorcycle company captured the attention of the motorcycle inept, like myself, they’ve got us hooked, constantly checking their website for updates on their new intern advertising. Although initially $17,000+ sounds like a hefty price to pay (well maybe just for someone making $0.00/hr), it actually only amounts to about $1/hr. When you can’t afford a Whopper, 40 Whopper Jrs for a fraction of the price is not a bad trade off. This is a great start for a company searching for ways to gain more creative exposure.
As an intern at CP&B I’d be ecstatic. Not only do they have the opportunity to work on an important summer project, they’re generating their own personal exposure and at the end of three months pocketing a solid $465 extra (looks like the starving college student might actually be able to eat one month).
But while many summer interns, like myself and the other fabulous BG interns, are not getting auctioned off on eBay to create high profile strategic plans, I’m finding that the jobs we do are no less important. Its exciting to see how our research gets transformed into a brilliant creative campaign, or how wheeling around a candy cart on a Friday afternoon can provide the needed sugar rush that sparks the next idea behind an ingenious new client pitch (…at least I’m going to imagine that’s what happens).
Thanks Mack! This is a great post.
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