Crash Course: 5 days in the world of PR and advertising

This last week, I’ve been interning at i.d.e.a. as part of a program through my high school, Francis Parker. We are set up with internships in fields that interest us and shadow our sponsors for a week. Because my time at i.d.e.a. was shorter than what most of us spend in the “intern corral”, I only had thirty-five hours to learn everything I could about what the agency has to offer-a bigger project than I had imagined.

To be completely fair, I have been spoiled in my internship. Having my first PR and marketing experience at a place like i.d.e.a. is like none other. From the brightly colored office to the eccentric personalities, it’s clear that the i.d.e.a. brand stands on its own.

My 3 insights that I’ve gained from my week:

1. Working nine to five (or 8:30 to 3:30)

As a high school student, I had never spent a full day at the same desk working on a computer until this week; it's safe to say I started to get antsy (and I miss the days of recess and P.E.). As strolls to the copier and check-ins with my supervisors become my stretch breaks, I’ve come to the conclusion that what I do sitting at that desk needs to be something I really love. Most of the jobs I’ve been given this week involved social media, and researching within the channels or writing posts for them. Facebook is like an Internet gateway drug: its users are expanding to almost too many channels to keep track of. The influencer outreach in digital PR and the social media strategy that I’ve seen are more than just changing your profile picture at 8 p.m. (aka “newsfeed prime time”) when everyone is online, getting you more likes. Strategies much more complex than this, campaigns, and innovative ideas are propelling clients seamlessly into our minds and news feeds, across all different mediums. Experiencing the intricate process that takes a client from their communication problem to their marketing solution this week has been invaluable.

2. Does the creative team really have more fun?

Shadowing the different branches of the department showed me how people from each discipline come together to make the final product and drive a campaign with elements from everywhere. According to the creative team, everyone is jealous of them because they get to do the thinking behind pitches and showcase what the agency can do, putting a face to the words and putting the brand's best foot forward. Together with graphic design, video editors, and media, a final product is put together and released and then the PR team makes sure that the public knows it’s there. I wouldn’t necessarily say that the creative team has all the fun; rather, all of the branches work together bringing different talents to the table to produce great quality work.

3. What sets i.d.e.a. apart

The main reason I’ve been so spoiled this past week is because so few agencies are as comprehensive as i.d.e.a. and pull it off so seamlessly. On just this one floor on a corner in Little Italy, endless streams of ads, media releases, videos, research, strategy, commercials, and more are being pumped out 24/7. There is never a dull moment in here, whether everyone is watching the “Harlem Shake” video for the millionth time, or talking about fresh concepts and strategies for the newest clients.

How to fit in with creative, funky, interesting, hip agency-types

            Before I started my internship on the reputation team of i.d.e.a. I interned for a U.S. senator.  Three months of pencil skirts and business suits later, the only lesson I learned about how to get along with people was how not to step on anyone’s toes. Head down, keep the talking to a minimum and remember these people are not your friends. So, when I stepped into i.d.e.a. for the first time and set eyes upon the orange walls, brightly colored couches, blue jeans, and the blue streaks in lovely Melina’s hair I was just waiting for a twister to come take the house away. This was no Kansas, no traditional closed-door office environment with too much individual ambition to fit into a team.

           

            At i.d.e.a. things run a bit differently. Meetings take place in corners with fuzzy white stools and bright orange couches and there is just as much enthusiasm over the men of the company growing mustaches for the Movember campaign as there is in landing a new client. You are just as likely to hear laughter across the main area, as you are to hear words like “productive” and “efficient.” Here, the music ranges from indie rock to electronic ambient, from old country to “Hip Hop Fridays.”  The receptionist isn’t a receptionist, but the Office Queen. And that she is. At i.d.e.a. individuality is not frowned upon, but celebrated and each person brings his or her own distinct spark to the job. Sometimes, though, all that camaraderie can be intimidating. From knowing the proper etiquette when someone with a bike is coming into the elevator at the same time to remembering to wear your costume on Halloween (i.d.e.a. people take Halloween very seriously), here are some tips on how to fit-in with creative, funky, interesting, and hip agency-types:

            First of all, there may be an “I” in i.d.e.a., but there is no “I” in team. And you know what i.d.e.a. really stands for? Team. People here like working together. Collaboration is key and to have any success at the company you have got to get on it – the team, that is.  Get to know the people in your department. No one likes a player who’s not sure who to pass the ball to because they don’t know who they are playing with.

            Secondly, consider optional dress-up for Halloween mandatory (lesson learned). Participate in company activities. You think the six-foot something shaggy dog looks funny with whiskers painted on his face? Wrong. You do. Your knit sweater and jeans will get you nowhere when the rest of the staff ranges from Cyclops to Dracula.  

            Another step to fitting in is to keep some pop culture references at the ready. When in doubt, pull a quip about Ke$ha out.  But don’t forget these people are in the know about all kinds of interesting things, from viral YouTube videos to current political affairs – and how they apply to the industry. You have to be on your game to keep up.  

           

            Hip (and environmentally conscious) people ride their bikes to work. There is one elevator at i.d.e.a. That means you might just run into this dilemma: do you let the bike go first into the elevator and risk being squished into the sliver of space between the bike and the elevator doors or do you run ahead to get into the elevator first? Answer: take the stairs. After eating all the candy at Melina’s desk, you know you could use the exercise.   

            Lastly, people here smile a lot. No fake-smiles. The real kind, the kind that reach the eyes. Don’t try to fake it. If you do, people here are like sharks. They’ll smell the fake smile on you from a mile away. My advice: find a real reason to smile. 

So what did we learn? The culture at i.d.e.a. is not for the weak. Participate, keep up to date on the world and know your team. The world today revolves around networking and making yourself adaptable to all different kinds of outlets, social media sites and industries. The key to your own success might just be hinged on the people you meet here. Make the time count, make yourself memorable and remember to have fun. Fun people recognize the quality in others.

It’s not high school anymore. This time fitting in is for keeps. 

Cheers from the intern corral, 

                 Jenni Macc 

                 PR intern 

The Anatomy of An Agency

I have to admit that before my senior year, I had never even considered working at a marketing or advertising agency. Maybe it was because there has always been the idea of a corporate lifestyle or maybe it may have been the lack of general knowledge of agencies in general. Whatever the case may have been, I had no idea that I would intern at a fully integrated and creative marketing agency like i.d.e.a.  and absolutely love it. Before visiting and working at an agency, the types of jobs available at an agency were simply elusive to me.

In school, there was only a few times where someone actually described what types of jobs are available in the marketing communications agency world. While the popular TV show, Mad Men glamorizes the agency life, it only briefly scratches the surface on the type of jobs that someone can do in an agency. As a current graduate, I think it’s important for graduates to consider working at an agency. After talking with the team at i.d.e.a and doing some research on the opportunities at agencies, I’ve decided to take the time to enlighten those who are unfamiliar with the jobs that make up a marketing or advertising agency.

The different types of jobs at agencies:

Account Management-The account management team is a highly organized team that is responsible for the communication between clients and the agency. They work with every department and touch almost every project to ensure the strategy and the work for the client gets finished from inception to the final results of the campaign. 

Planners- The planning team is responsible for the research, business insights, and consumer behavior insights that will shape the strategy of a marketing campaign for a client.

Media- The media team is responsible for the strategy of the media, which includes negotiating, scheduling, and buying of the media that will help bring the campaign to life. 

Public Relations – The public relations team is responsible for maintaining communications for the client. This may include media outreach, press releases, social media, or any touch point of communication between the company, its stakeholders and customers.

New Business- The new business development team is responsible for prospecting and winning new business for the agency. This team or person helps the agency grow by growing relationships with companies who outsource their advertising, marketing or public relation functions. While there is a new business team dedicated to pitches, the entire agency comes together to create new business success.

Creative- The creatives are responsible for taking the strategy and making it come to life visually. The people on this team are artists, copywriters, graphic designers, digital designers, programmers, or anyone who provides creative input on projects.

Production- The production team actually creates television spots or videos. They often work closely with the creative team in order to get the creative vision across. This team is often made up of production editors, directors, camera people or others with technical production skills.

Administrative/Finances- Every agency needs people to make it run smoothly. This team can range in different types of jobs from the office manager, accountant, billing manager, finance manager, IT personnel, Human Resources to everything in-between.

Most advertising and marketing agencies offer some, all or even more than the opportunities I’ve listed above depending on the size, nature, and agency itself. Although most agencies have similar structures and positions, what is most important to understand about agencies is that every agency is uniquely different. What works in practice for one agency may not be the same for another agency. The people at one agency to the next may be completely different from one another.

From my time at i.d.e.a, I’ve learned that agencies are vibrant, creative, and chaotic workplaces that help bring companies to life to reach their audiences. I.d.e.a. has given me the chance to surround myself with some of the best and most creative people in the world and has changed my perspective on the workplace I want to work in after I graduate. I encourage those who are unfamiliar with agencies to take some time to take a peek inside the world of agencies and consider an opportunity with an agency like i.d.e.a. It just may change your life. 

Signing off from the intern coral permanently (& sadly!)

-Kristie

It's been great :)

When I first started studying advertising, I joined the San Diego Ad Club and began looking into ad agencies in the area. I was immediately attracted to Bailey Gardiner and the work that they did. One of my goals as a beginning creative professional was to eventually get an internship at Bailey Gardiner. After a few years in school, countless hours working on my portfolio, and a few internships . . . I finally felt ready to take a shot at getting that internship at what is now known as i.d.e.a.

To make a long story short, I was ecstatic to be joining the i.d.e.a. intern team and to have the opportunity to work with the most talented and fun group of creative individuals in town! The i.d.e.a. team is by far the most exciting group that I’ve ever worked with!

During the short (but super sweet) time I’ve spent as an intern at i.d.e.a., I have learned many things. Here are a few of what I perceive to be the most important lessons I’ve learned:

1.     Always have fun! – the i.d.e.a. team always has a good time with everything they do. It’s a very exciting environment, and that is really inspiring to interns that are hoping to someday work in the ad world.

2.     Don’t be afraid to ask questions. – I’ve found that everyone in the office is always willing to answer questions and offer advice. This type of support is invaluable to young professionals, like myself.

3.     There’s no such thing as too much coffee. – Hence the Keurigs and      7-11 across the street. Perhaps you ate too much at lunch or didn’t get enough sleep last night . . . either way, coffee is the answer!

4.     Melina has the best seat in the office (the candy holding seat) – The best part about filling in for Melina during her lunch or at the end of the day is eating the candy! I will surely miss the endless supply of York Peppermint Patties and Reeses.

5.     i.d.e.a. doesn’t mess around when it comes to special occasions – Halloween in the i.d.e.a. office was a blast! The costumes were entertaining and the Halloween spirit was contagious. There were a wide variety of costumes ranging from Gary Warewolf and Heisenberg to a creepy clown and a pig in a blanket.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at i.d.e.a. and I’m sad for it to already be over. However, I am thankful for the people that I’ve met and the things that I’ve learned in the process. I couldn’t have asked for a better internship experience, and I’d like to thank everyone at i.d.e.a. for making my goal of working with them a reality. I am going to miss everyone, especially my fellow interns in the corral. Best of luck to everyone!

- Kirby Darland (cintern1)

Interactive Advertising Right Thur!

Well hello there! Being that I am the new ad intern 2 I know I have some shoes to fill. While reading some of the posts from previous interns, I gained some inspiration on “how to blog”, as well as some insightful things about this awesome agency called i.d.e.a.

From Classroom…

My previous quarter at the Art Institute, I was enrolled in a class called “Interactive Advertising”.  The class consisted of learning new and emerging technology as well as creating a case study for a client we got to choose that integrated some kind of interactive tech. I chose AVIS, and created a case study/ campaign with my fellow classmate  (i.d.e.a intern too!) Kirby. The problem I chose was simply parking. We created a campaign that included layer technology and an app that allowed AVIS customers to reserve their parking space through our mobile application. Any who, the class really got us to learn about all the fast moving technology that was emerging in this industry we call Advertising.  One of the things I noticed was that I was hearing about all these cool gadgets, but wasn’t really getting the chance to see them in real life action.

…To Real life

About a week or so ago, I was on my way to my hometown of Hawaii. A nice 10 - day getaway to lie on a beach, drink and eat all that Hawaii has to offer (Note to self, never weigh yourself while on vacation). On my travels there I had a layover at LAX. As I strolled and people watched through the hectic airport halls, I came across this lady touching a billboard that seemed to be interactive. Right away I whipped out my iPhone and started to discreetly video tape her playing with this billboard. After about a minute of trying not to look like a complete creepo, I waited till she was done, so I could play and be the one being recorded. The billboard was a matching game of traveling icons with a time you had to beat. As you can see in the picture below I was clearly horrible at this game.

The company behind this awesome technology is called Monster Media. They are an international full-service media company specializing in digital-out-of-home advertising. Basically these are the guys who create those crazy kiosks, storefronts, and anything that is probably catching your attention on a wall. One of their campaigns that I really enjoyed was for Cheerios. They created a vending station that was placed in the mall for kids and whoever to play a pairing game with their phrases. Participants were then given a box of cheerios that was dispensed from the machine and got to take a fun picture at the end. I found this to be really engaging with their target and remind them of why we love the brand Cheerios.

All in all, seeing this interactive billboard and actually getting to play with it really reminded me of why I love this industry and the excitement I have going in to it.

Cheers!

Keana - Adintern 2

Insightful Marketing Tips from Good Game Design

People are obsessed with games. And I’m not just talking about all those quote and quote ‘gamers’ out there.  It’s more than just the people who play xbox3 or wii; people now choose to interact with games on their mobile devices almost on a daily basis. From social games like Words With Friends or Draw Something, to games like Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds, people are interacting with games on whole new levels.  Why do people willingly choose to interact with games so much?

After watching two keynote lectures on good game design, I finally think I understand why everyone enjoys playing games in some form. What’s even more interesting about good game design is that it provides great marketing insight for us marketing people.  Here’s some great marketing insight I took away from the gaming world from Dr. Amy Jo’s keynote and Jesse Schell’s keynote lectures.

1.     Good Games understand their players: The Sims game is a perfect example of how game designers understand their players. Sims is designed as a life-simulation game that follows the gradual life cycles that people go through including both successes and failures.  A new Sims character will go through different life events depending on the choices and life that a Sim character makes, similar to the same choices people will make in their real lives. In Amy Jo’s keynote, she talks about how games understand their players’ different life cycles. As players move from a novice position to a regular player, their needs from games change. She advises that when designing a game to map out the different needs of players as they move from a novice beginner to a regular player to enthusiast.  Similarly, as marketers, we need to think about how to prepare our strategy to our target markets as they move through the purchase funnel. How we speak to a new consumer will be very different than how we speak to an avid fan of our brand. Just as it is important for game designers to map out the needs of their different players, we as marketers need to plan ahead for talking to different types of consumers.
2. Good Games interact with their players by teaching: How good does it feel to watch the stack crumble on Angry Birds and make it to a new level? Players enjoy figuring out how to get to the next level of difficulty. Jesse Schell made a point that people enjoy interacting with games because they always provide something new to learn or peak their players curiosity. Whether it is achieving a new level or a feeling of freedom, games provide people with those psychological needs. Although our brands/products do not always need to teach something new to our consumers, we need to think about teaching, as a fun & engaging way to interact with our consumers. Marketers need to remember that teaching our consumers through interactive campaigns about new products may lead to more engaged consumers.
3.   Good Games embrace intrinsic value like relatedness, and power: If you’ve ever played Bejeweled on Facebook, you’ll understand how intrinsic values like relatedness and power play a role in getting players to keep playing. After finishing a game of Bejeweled on Facebook, the application shows you your rank against people on your friends list. This ranking against people who matter to you versus beating strangers gives you a sense of power and relatedness to others, even if you have not interacted with them recently. Although the game itself may not change often, you may be more inclined to play as you see your friends beat your score.

In both keynote lectures, both speakers talked about how relating to people’s intrinsic values will always leave a lasting impression over extrinsic rewards. This is important point for marketers to understand, especially in our world of couponing, free promotions, and prizes. As marketers, we need to remember that our advertising, marketing, and PR needs to appeal to people’s intrinsic values like a sense of belonging, accomplishment, learning or greater meaning. Intrinsic rewards may lead to better sentiments with our consumers towards our brands/products in the long run than silly big prizes to extrinsically reward them. Is the reward system we are giving to our repeat consumers making them feel like they belong or apart of our brands or is it just an extrinsic prize for them?

So what do you think about these insights from great game design? Check out these great keynotes from Jesse Schell & Dr. Amy Jo on game design and let me know what marketing insight you have gathered from game design! 

Signing off from the intern coral –Kristie