What's Working at Small to Mid-size Ad Agencies (Home)

“Help!  The interns outnumber the staff!”  I heard this (pretty funny) comment from a creative director at one of our Second Wind member agencies…but he did not mean it in the pejorative sense.  The agency is looking to become a major creative force over the next few years.  They have a very engaged owner and a very credible creative director.  They also have a strong base staff of account people and creatives who, by and large, share the “creative agency” philosophy.

One thing these folks do differently is to host a large number of interns each year.  Of course, many agencies bring in student interns each year or semester to help them leverage their personnel in creative, research, account service and other agency areas.  This is not a bad thing.  Hosting interns each semester helps the agency AND the interns.

But this member has something different in mind.

In their effort to build a first class creative environment, they scour the art schools for the best talent, then bring them into the agency for a few months, based on semester schedules–but that’s not all.  When they find promising people, they make deals with them to work as paid “intern/freelancers” for the rest of their school time.

This group of interns, consisting of both semester students and students who just want to get experience at a highly creative agency sometimes outnumbers the 14-person permanent staff of the agency.  All of the interns are art, copy or account-planning oriented, and all report to the creative director.  The CD says it’s the most exhilarating thing he’s every done. 

“To [consistently] have all of this fresh talent around with ideas galore is just what we need.” he states.  “What I am looking for is ideas and new ways of approaching and thinking things through.  For that there is nothing better than young, inquisitive minds.  I can take care of the editing needed, or eliminate the lunatic fringe.  The ideas are king at our agency.”

Smaller agencies employing LOTS of interns to bolster creative?  Sound like a plan to me.