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

MTV Jams; PR Intern Edition

If this blog was really responsible for feeding the interns as its name implies, we branding and PR padawans would be quite the emaciated lot, would we not? It’s about time we get some sustenance in the Intern Corral.

Forget the silly pleasantries that you may be used to. We “Interns of Summer 2012” prefer to do away with introductions and instead jump right into sharing the valuable knowledge we have so skillfully acquired by working fifteen whole weeks in the business (really hoping sarcasm is as big a hit with the next batch of interns as it was with us.)

All jokes aside, this post seeks to offer up a little advice to any reputation intern who happens to come across it. Your first PR internship can be an intimidating and overwhelming experience, especially at an agency as dynamic as i.d.e.a. I remember walking out of my first internal meeting and turning to my supervisor to whisper, “I didn’t know what half of those words even meant!”

So, in an attempt to better acclimate you to your first couple of weeks on the job, here are three simple tips based on what I’ve learned during my short time here at i.d.ea., each one accompanied by a song in order to drive the point home.

1. Call Me, Maybe? – Carly Rae Jepson

      

      I know what you’re thinking. What does a Carly Rae Jepson tune—despite being arguably the most culturally significant song of our generation—have anything to do with getting off on the right foot in the office? ‘Call Me Maybe’ kicks things off due to the fact that one of the things young communications professionals seem to be most uncomfortable with initially is picking up the phone and, well, actually communicating with media.

Alas, it is also one of the most important tasks for PR younglings to learn.

My intern colleagues and I often discussed the anxiety involved with the uncertain practice of pitching the media for our brand partners. That being said, someone who can craft and deliver on effective pitches is a huge asset to ANY agency.

Try to avoid wasting your own time with button anxiety. It’s like the three second rule at a bar; if you see an interesting looking girl or guy, you have three seconds to go over and talk to them; otherwise you’ll get too nervous and royally fowl things up when you do make a go of it. Have your pitch written down and well prepared, but don’t be afraid to veer from the script and simply have a conversation. Often the connections you create will be more valuable to your client in the long run than any single placement would be, anyways.

Pitching and “cold calling” may seem a little scary at first, but the more you do it the more confident and proficient you’ll become! Do yourself a favor and jump right in from day one.

Call me, maybe? No. Call me, definitely…and pronto.

2. Time is Running Out – Muse

Yes indeed, the days of having all night to do a press release “assignment” are long gone. Not only do things move fast in the agency world, but many different things are moving fast at the same time. It is the ability to juggle multiple accounts on the fly that will eventually earn us all an Account Coordinator position of our own.

Time management, therefore, is a crucial component of succeeding during your time as an intern at i.d.e.a. Yes, you will be a little slow at first, but really work to be efficient and thorough in everything you do, whether it’s clipping a newspaper placement or drafting a television pitch.

Although you won’t initially be able to control how long it takes you to learn and complete a project, you CAN control how you organize your day. Find a system that works for you and stick to it. Don’t only prioritize your schedule at the beginning of each day, but re-prioritize as different tasks and situations come up.

An article I read recently mentioned that the average worker takes their tasks and fits them into a daily schedule, allocating a certain amount of time for each, where as truly successful people work as hard as they can to finish their projects as quickly as possible, ultimately getting much more done. There is nothing worse than being average, so make your time work for you.   

3.  Express Yourself – N.W.A.

Without a doubt, creating specifically targeted messaging and a unique voice for our brand partners is a huge part of what we do as PR and marketing pros. With all the effort we put into creating a consistent persona for our clients, it’s a shame that we often forget about developing the most important brand of them all – our own.

Take a peek around the office and you will quickly see that personality is not something that is in short supply at i.d.e.a. From marathon runners to figure skaters; improv comedians to ‘Tra La La’ lovers, the people you will be working with have quirks and characteristics just as diverse as their many talents and technical specialties. At a creative agency like this one, the one who doesn’t stand out, stands out –and not in a good way.

Don’t be afraid to show people who you are. Having a unique and memorable personal brand is just as important as knowing how to craft a great press release or navigate the Twittersphere. At the end of the day, people like to be around interesting people, and interesting workers are the ones who get remembered and recommended…sometimes even hired.

Interact with your environment, take an interest in the people around you and make your presence known. 

Had My Cake (and ate it, too!)

Well, it's that time again for me to journey from the beach to the rockies. Honestly, it's not a bad transition. As a San Diego native I have definitely learned that "real" winter has its perks- cool fuzzy hats, lots of hot chocolate, snow days (or should I say school-wide snowball fights), and ridiculously fun sledding opportunities.

However, I must say I am getting pretty sentimental this time. Why? Because I had my cake and ate it, too. I am FULL. Although you could use that term literally, seeing as I made sure I got my fill of California burritos and In N Out this summer (Daniel, you can relate), I mean it figuratively. My summer at i.d.e.a. provided me with the best of both worlds: work and play. Really, in this bunch, they are the same thing. It is easy to wander into a big fancy office as an intern and feel like the odd man out, "that one intern", or the little helpless child. But while walking into this office, I realized it was simply a big room filled with weirdos (the good kind) and people who really are eager to teach me. Never did I feel lost or confused because everyone took actual time going in depth explaining projects to me, answering my questions, teaching me about active clients, and providing words of wisdom.

Along with appreciating the things I was so generously taught, I am grateful for meeting such a hilarious and laid back crew. Who gets to listen to music and sing out loud at work? WE DO. I.d.e.a. is an office where you can step out of your comfort zone, be open and honest, be loud and silly, and do whatever will inspire you. With that said, one of the most important lessons I have taken away from my i.d.e.a. experience is: if it feels like it's work, you are doing it wrong.

SO, what about the work part? Oh, yeah. As Camila said while teaching me Google Analytics, "We don't just sit around all day picking out cool and funny stuff to advertise with." It's very true- I have learned that the world of advertising is much more complex than I thought before. It takes researching, data reports, analyzing, networking, studying, and so much more. The immensity of information fascinated me. Aside from the projects I worked on personally, I often took time out of my day to simply listen to the office, read reports I found laying around, and considered ALL that this industry takes.

Here is a summary of what I have gathered:

1. People who work in advertising don’t just sit around designing cool billboards and creating funny slogans.

2. Communication is the only way to success.

3. Consumers don’t really know what they want until you convince them what they want.

4. Either learn to adapt to the changes that are happening, or just call it quits.

5. It’s all about networking.

6. When you collaborate with people, you grow.

7. Studying from the success or failures of competitors will add to your successes and decrease your failures.

8. Research, research, research.

9. Be good to your clients and they will be good to you.

10. Feed your curiosity. 


Anyways, I would like to say thank you to everyone at i.d.e.a. who provided me with such a fulfilling experience. I will truly miss everyone and I am SO grateful being filled to the brim with knowledge, confidence, (italian food, office cupcakes) and happiness :)


Sincerely,
Jenna

P.S. Love ya, intern corral!

  

(+Daniel, Venice, and Lauren!)

A San Diego Summer

It started with a tweet.

Well, really, it started with me wanting an internship. Preferably, one that would allow me to migrate away from the sweat-stained state of Texas for the summer. So I researched for months, sifting through advertising agencies from coast to coast, looking for the right fit. I read reviews from previous interns online, browsed through work portfolios, studied agency Facebook pages, employee LinkedIn profiles, and, overall, elevated myself to an entirely new breed of stalker. THEN came the tweet. 

Multiple interviews, emails, and phone calls later, I got the position (thankfully) and moved to San Diego for the summer. Once here, it didn't take long for me to realize that this city is truly just as "classy" as the great Ron Burgundy himself asserted. From the beaches, to the food, to actually enjoying the summer weather (a foreign concept to a native Texan), San Diego was perfect for me. So perfect a fit, in fact, that I thought it should be renamed Dan Siego, in honor of its newest fan. Needless to say, that didn't catch on. 

Truthfully though, working with i.d.e.a. for the last 2 months as a Brand Intern has been an all-around awesome experience. I've learned far more than I anticipated and have been surrounded with and mentored by people that I genuinely really like. Here are a few highlights:

Educationally...

• On Day 1, I was given the assignment of creating a web report for one of the agency's many brand partners. Instantly, I realized that Google Analytics is actually extremely useful and a ridiculously relevant tool for monitoring a site's visits, page views, demographics, traffic, content, etc. Learning how to work with Google Analytics is definitely one of my favorite skills that I'll take away from this experience. 
• Working with the Media department and seeing how TV and Radio spots are purchased, organized, and executed has also been very eye-opening. I've enjoyed working with the different software programs and witnessing first-hand the dynamics of the relationship between the station representatives and the agency. 
• Another educational highlight has been catching a glimpse of how the agency and clients interact. By sitting in on meetings, brainstorming sessions, and the like, I've been able to see how my marketing/advertising academic background plays out in the real world work place. 
• Finally, as i.d.e.a. is a highly-integrated agency, I've seen how all the departments collaborate to deliver the end-product. From PR to Accounts to Media to Creative to Traffic, each division has a very unique and critical role in determining the functionality and success of this agency. 

Other...

• The Intern Corral has been good to me. Ever since the interns invited me to lunch on my first day, I've really liked getting to know them both inside and outside the office. They've made a Texan feel welcome. 
• Sam and I spent several days doing street team interviews for a couple of our clients. Wandering the streets of various highly-populated local areas asking total strangers questions is definitely a good bonding experience. Especially considering all the rejection. 
• Several of my supervisors (Michelle, Camila, and Alex) took us out for lunches and were very intent on getting to know us and making sure that we soaked up everything we wanted to out of our internships. I think it's rare to be more than just a nameless face shoved behind the walls of a corner cubicle while being an intern. Here, however, you feel invested in. It's obvious that these people care about our experiences and our overall success--both during the internship and in the future. 
• The candy box. Duh. Any loneliness at the front desk is quickly remedied by that infinite box of sweet goodness. 
• Hope laughing for unknown reasons. (John likes bananas?) 
• Oh, and yeah. THE PIZZA WAGON. It's even more genius than it sounds. Here's the gang:

So that's that. In just a few days, I'll be making the endless trek back to my humid homeland. I'll be forced to re-familiarize myself with this thing called "heat." I'll be buying books for classes. I'll be NOT eating In-N-Out. And I'll be counting down the days until I can come back to this place. Because trust me, interning here was definitely a good i.d.e.a.

Texas Forever,

Daniel