One Day, One Internship » interactive media

Fanscape

Willy Franzen — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:17:21 +0000

It’s the longest day of the year and the official beginning of summer! (At least for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere). The only bad thing about it is that from here on out the days are getting shorter. I don’t like that. Now, the only way that I can come up with to tie length of the days with digital word of mouth marketing is the thought that it’s probably easier to generate buzz in the summer because people get out more with the good weather. And that’s my segue into Fanscape, a Los Angeles based marketing agency. They know that word of mouth is the “#1 influencer of consumers when making a purchase or behavioral decision,” so they’ve decided to focus entirely on marketing that enhances word of mouth. You can’t just get people to talk about you (please do tell your friends about One Day, One Job—seriously go tell a friend today), but there are many ways that you can foster “targeted WOM conversations with the individuals, influencers and gatekeepers who inhabit the online social media landscape,” and Fanscape knows all about them.

Are You Part of the Fanscape

Fanscape must generate pretty good word of mouth for themselves considering that their clients include MTV, Doritos, AT&T, Electronic Arts, Hotels.com, Monster.com (yuck, bad word of mouth is all I hear), Hilton, Kia, and plenty more impressive names. Now, a lot of people who talk about word of mouth marketing are full of it. They give all kinds of advice, but can’t provide and results or measurement. That’s not the case with Fanscape. If you take a look at their Services page, you’ll see that they’ve engineered the word of mouth marketing process to an impressive degree. They appear to be extremely sophisticated, which means that they’d be a great place to start your career. You can find their internships here. You’ll see that they’re currently looking for unpaid interns in Business Development – Creative and Strategy, Business Development – Research and Proposal, and Marketing. They should be great learning opportunities, so go look a the descriptions for all of the details.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your take on word of mouth marketing?

Fast Horse

Willy Franzen — Thu, 13 May 2010 15:35:16 +0000

Telling you about a new company every day is just part of what we do—our blog is filled with articles that will help you land an internship. If you haven’t read my post on One Day, One Job entitled How to Use Facebook Ads to Make Employers Hunt You Down, then you need to do that right now. I’m bringing that up specifically because this morning I came across a guy who used Google AdWords brilliantly in his job search. (You need to see this!) And if you love these creative marketing ideas, then you’ll love what Fast Horse does. They’re a Minneapolis, MN based boutique consumer marketing agency with expertise in non-traditional marketing. Their clients include Coca-Cola, Odwalla, Radisson, and Marvin, and they’ve eschewed a traditional corporate website in favor of a blog format.

Get on a Fast Horse

Fast Horse doesn’t seem to have a portfolio page, but they do have an Our Work tag for blog posts that show off what they’ve done. One of my favorites is the short movie that I’ve embedded below (RSS and e-mail readers will have too click through).

Another quirk about Fast Horse is that they host their Careers page on Facebook. Well, it’s not exactly a Careers page. It’s more “a resource for aspiring professionals seeking internships or entry-level positions in advertising, graphic design, marketing, public relations, interactive, etc.” But it’s also how they recruit their own entry level talent. They’ve just announced their Summer Intern Search on both the Facebook page and the Blog. This position is reserved for students who will hae graduated by mid-June, and it is paid. The really interesting thing is that they’re only accepting video applications, and they’re letting their Facebook page’s Fans/Likers/Whatever Mark wants us to call them these days, make the final decision on which of the top 3 applicants will get the position. This is a really cool idea, but I worry that it’s a discrimination lawsuit waiting to happen (I’m not a lawyer, but I did major in Industrial and Labor Relations and took Labor Law). Anyway, if you’re interested, you can find all of the details here.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think about Fast Horse’s approach?

AudienceScience

Willy Franzen — Fri, 07 May 2010 16:14:33 +0000

I was really tempted to cover a high frequency trading firm today after what happened yesterday (please, if you do anything today, take 15 minutes and read a couple of articles about yesterday’s events). I decided it against it, but if you are interested in HFT jobs, check out our post on Jump Trading. Instead of talking about financial markets, we’re going to stick with this week’s unintentional theme of science, kind of. AudienceScience is a Bellevue, WA based digital media company that focuses on taking a scientific approach to online marketing. Their approach puts an extremely strong emphasis on behavioral targeting and moving beyond a demographic approach to advertising.

Science Without the Lab Coat

I guess if I really wanted to link AudienceScience to the May 6th Panic or whatever you want to call it, I could mention the fact that their clients include Wall Street Journal Digital, Financial Times, Nikkei.com, and a number of other brands related to financial news. I’ll bet they collected some really strange behavioral data across those sites yesterday. In case it’s not clear, AudienceScience is very much an advertising business. Their value proposition is all about ensuring that they “deliver your message to the right audience, at the right time, in the right place,” and they’re using extremely sophisticated technology to do so. To get a better feel for the kind of work that AudienceScience does, you can check out their Case Studies or take a look at AudienceTargeting.com. And what about careers at AudienceScience? While they’re located in Bellevue, WA and have offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City, their only internship opportunity is for a Media Development Intern at their Santa Barbara, CA office. There’s no word on whether it’s paid or not, but it looks really cool. I can’t say whether AudienceScience will have any other internship opportunities in the future, but they’re worth watching for.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about AudienceScience?

GSD&M Idea City

Willy Franzen — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:42:50 +0000

This morning I was reading a blog post about why interns should be paid (which goes nicely with my article on the legality of unpaid internships), and I noticed that the guy who wrote the post happens to work at an ad agency that pays its interns. Since paid internships in the ad industry are always in demand, I figured that GSD&M Idea City was worth a look. I learned that they’re based in Austin, TX (I feel like a lot of companies that are hiring right now are based in Texas), and that they are one of the bigger names in the industry. In fact, from 1987 until 2007 they were “one of two agencies that held the Wal-Mart account” according to Wikipedia. That means that they helped “build Wal-Mart from $11 billion in sales to $312 billion.” The agency has since moved on, but their client list continues to impress.

Live in Idea City

Another cool thing that I learned from Wikipedia is that GSD&M stands for the agency’s founders’ initials or “Greed, Sex, Drugs, and Money,” which all can be key factors in an advertising campaign. There isn’t much detail about the company on their website, but you can take a look at the work that they’ve done for clients including AT&T, BMW, American Red Cross, John Deere, Southwest Airlines, and quite a few others. It’s great stuff, and if you’re an ad nerd, you’ll love it. Assuming that you do love their work, then you’ll probably want to check out the GSD&M Idea City Careers page. Right now they have 12 internships posted, and they’re all for Fall 2010. That’s right—getting a highly sought after internship requires planning ahead. That doesn’t mean that you can’t find a last minute Summer internship, but if you want the best opportunities, you should be looking at the Fall already. The internships at GSD&M Idea City include opportunities in: New Business Development, Studio Art, Information Technology, Account Service, Broadcast Production, Communications, Creative, Creative Project Management, Graphic Design, Marketplace Planning, Media, and Media (Chicago, IL). You can apply for all of the positions online, so get to it before it’s too late to apply for a Fall internship.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you been to Idea City?

LibreDigital

Willy Franzen — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:52:02 +0000

Considering that I’m a total Apple fan boy, it’s a huge surprise to me that I’ve only mentioned the iPad twice on this site so far. I’ve had some time to play with the device, and it really has impressed me. As someone who not only reads a ton of books but is also writing one, I’m really excited about how the iPad and other digital reading devices are going to change the way that we consume media. I’m also a little nervous about it (which is why I’m still buying hard copies—they also look good on my bookshelves). Still, it won’t be long before most of the reading that we do will be done on screens. LibreDigital is an Austin, TX based company that has been preparing for that day since 1999 when they were founded. Their business is all about helping publishers and producers get their content in the right formats and then distribute that content electronically. They even already have a way for publishers to get their books on the iPad seamlessly.

Be Libre, Be Digital

While we’ve watched many major companies flounder as they try to grasp the concepts and changes surrounding “new media,” LibreDigital has been expecting these changes for years. They’ve been ready, and they’ve been building their brand as the goto place for publishers who want to go digital. They’re already working with “six of the top ten U.S. trade publishers” and “eight of the top ten newspapers,” so the strategy has worked. Now that the world of digital media is really getting exciting, LibreDigital has a prime opportunity to grow their business. Hopefully this will mean lots of internship opportunities in the near future, but for now there’s only one posted on their site—QA Intern (no word on whether it’s paid or not). You can see the full description here, and if you want to apply, you should send your cover letter and résumé to recruitingmgr@libredigital.com. You may also want to try reaching out about other internship opportunities that aren’t on the software side.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read eBooks or are you holding on to your hard copies?

Firstborn

Willy Franzen — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:33:59 +0000

Here’s another one from Fast Company’s list of “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies.” Firstborn is a New York City based digital agency with “a knack for hard-core programming most of its hipster colleagues can’t match.” By combining advertising smarts with a firm grasp on technology, they’re taking the art of advertising to the next level. Firstborn claims major clients like Ford, SoBe, Aflac, and Wrigley. But they’re not just making commercials. They’re creating interactive experiences that combine branding initiatives with user generated content. Firstborn has been around since 1997, so they’re not new to this Internet thing. That’s why they’re the ones putting out the kind of stuff that gets true ad geeks really excited. Beyond Firstborn’s portfolio, you can also get a more in depth look at how they work by going through their case studies.

Be Firstborn

I could keep yapping about Firstborn, but if you really want to get to know them, you should look at their work. Then you should check out this video that they made for their internship program. It’ll give you a look at what it’s like to work at Firstborn and what they expect from interns. (If you’re a subscriber, you’ll have to click through to see the video.)

Like what you saw? Then you should check out Internships at Firstborn. Right now they’re looking for interns in Software Development, 3D Motion Design, and Design. The positions are paid and last 3-8 months. You can find application instruction on the individual postings.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Firstborn’s portfolio?

Laughlin Constable

Willy Franzen — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:56:30 +0000

Today’s company has nearly pushed me to plagiarism. I love their tagline so much that I want to steal it and make it my own. Instead of “Our business creates ideas. Our ideas create business.” I’d use “My job is to create ideas. My ideas create jobs.” Ok, it isn’t perfect yet, but I guess that’s why I need to stick to coming up with my own ideas. Laughlin Constable, owner of the slogan, is a Milwaukee, WI based creative agency with locations in Chicago and New York City. When you look at their client list, you won’t see the long list of huge brand names that hire some of the other agencies that we’ve featured. That’s because Laughlin Constable has a thing for the underdog—they “help brands challenge bigger brands.” For their clients execution isn’t enough. They need big ideas that can help to challenge the status quo.

Laughlin Your Way to an Internship

Laughlin Constable takes a “full circle” approach to branding. They know that’s the only way to do it right. You can’t have one group doing PR, another focusing on advertising, and another on social media. Branding needs to be coherent and concerted. That’s why Laughlin Constable’s services include Advertising, Design, Digital, Media, PR, and Planning. Despite what I said about Laughlin Constable’s fondness for the underdog, they do actually work with some big names like McDonald’s, HBO (check out HBO’s internships from yesterday), Kleenex, and Master Lock. To get a sense of what Laughlin Constable has done for these clients, you have to go no further than their Work page. So, what about internships at Laughlin Constable? They actually don’t have any positions posted on their Careers page, but they do have one posted here for a part-time paid Digital Intern. Additionally, they have a Facebook page and a Twitter account dedicated to their “Cool Jobs.” This provides a perfect opportunity for you to reach out the people at Laughlin Constable and find out about other internship opportunities. (You may want to look around LinkedIn to get a feel for what other kinds of internships they offer.)

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Laughlin Constable?

HBO

Willy Franzen — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:52:00 +0000

It’s the ultimate premium channel. The one that separates the haves from the have nots—at least when it comes to cable packages. HBO or Home Box Office is the pinnacle of cable television. Ok, maybe I’m going a bit far, but I remember how excited I was when one day HBO was suddenly part of my family’s cable package. The cable company made a mistake, and I was now able to watch all kinds of great movies in the comfort of my own home (and without having my mom take me to Blockbuster). Of course, HBO, which is based in New York City, isn’t just about movies. Their original programming is one of the key reasons that they have more than 40 million subscribers in the US. HBO’s series past and present include Arliss, Sex and the City, Entourage, The Sopranos, Fraggle Rock, and plenty of others. Then there are their documentaries and sports coverage. It’s why people pay extra for HBO (and Cinemax, its sister station): high quality programming without commercials.

Do You Get HBO?

What many people don’t realize about HBO is the role that they’ve played in the history of cable and satellite television. TV used to be free. Then people started paying for cable with packages of channels. Then HBO came along and people started paying extra for individual channels. It almost sounds like the evolution towards paid content that we’re seeing on the Internet; however, I’m not sure that anyone is constantly innovating like HBO has done in the television industry. They were the first to transmit digitally. The first to encrypt their satellite signal. The first to broadcast in HD. The first to offer premium video on demand. HBO knows what their customers want before they want it, so they’re continually able to stay ahead of other premium channels. It will be exciting to see how HBO transforms as more and more content moves online.

Now, what if you want to be a part of the future of HBO? You’ll have to head over to their Careers page, which is hosted by Time Warner, their parent company. Right now there are 44 openings, and a few of them are internships. Unfortunately the Time Warner applicant tracking systems is a total piece of crap, so I can’t link you directly to the internship postings. The posting for HBO Internship is based in Los Angeles, CA, and it offers unpaid positions in Films Development and Production, TV Development and Production, Legal, Casting, Media Relations, Finance, and Participations & Residuals. There is also an NYC based posting for their 2010 Undergraduate Technology Internship. I find it hard to imagine that they don’t have general internships in New York City too, so you may want to reach out to internships@hbo.com to inquire. It’s unclear if you’re supposed apply online or send your résumé and cover letter to the aforementioned e-mail address, so you may want to try both.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you get HBO growing up?

Rosetta

Willy Franzen — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:44:44 +0000

I got a tip on this one from a fellow Cornellian (which is cool because a few of my friends from Cornell work at Rosetta). If you ever find a company that you think that we should feature, e-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com. We feature a lot of interactive marketing agencies because they’re usually pretty big on hiring young talent whether it be at the intern or entry level. Rosetta stands out because of their size and sophistication—they almost seem more like a consulting firm than a marketing agency, at least in the way that they present themselves. For instance, they recently become a “top ten interactive agency” by means of an acquisition. That seems so different from the image that most agencies try to portray, but it’s working. Through “dedication to client work within Consumer Products & Retail, Healthcare, Financial Services, Consumer Technology & Media, B2B, and Travel & Hospitality industries” Rosetta “has created enduring partnerships with [their] clients including Scholastic, Coach, Borders, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Nationwide, Marriott and Microsoft.” Those are huge names, so you know Rosetta, which is headquartered in Princeton with offices in New York, Cleveland, Boston, Chicago, and Denver, is capable of delivering results.

Relationships Matter

One of Rosetta’s key offerings is their suite of Relationship Marketing Services, which are focused on helping clients segment customers and offer “intelligent, personalized interactions across all online and offline channels.” This is just one part of the story, though. To get the full story on Rosetta’s offerings, you should take a look at this diagram. It shows how Rosetta walks clients through the marketing process—from creating the top-level strategy to using analytics to measure results. This means it’s not surprising that Rosetta’s internship offerings are as varied as their service offerings—their Careers page is titled “Graphic Design Careers, SEO Jobs, and Financial Services Consulting Opportunities at Rosetta.”

As I mentioned in the beginning of the post, Rosetta seems to have a strong connection with Cornell (and probably quite a few other colleges) based on campus recruiting. Interestingly enough, Rosetta doesn’t really have a campus recruiting page—just a former intern. From there you can find their job search function, which is pretty terrible. It does appear to let you search specifically for internships; however, your best bet is to look at their full list of job openings and scan for the word intern. There are currently five positions posted: Associate Consultant Intern, Account Executive Intern, Technology Associate Intern, Business Associate Intern, and Human Resources Intern. Rosetta also apparently offers co-ops, although I didn’t find anything about them. The way that Rosetta lists their jobs and internships is really a mess, so you need to take note that different internships with the same title may be in different practice areas. Additionally, single internship postings may be for multiple locations. They do have some nice pages on their Careers site like Meet Our People and Fun at Rosetta, but the whole thing is disorganized. I expect a lot better from a top ten agency. You can apply online for any of these positions, so forgive Rosetta for the lack of usability on their Careers site and see if you can help them move further up the top ten. Finally, there’s no word on whether Rosetta’s internships are paid, but it’d be a travesty if a company as big as they are didn’t pay interns.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Were you looking Rosetta Stone’s internships?

Organic

Willy Franzen — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:16:28 +0000

I hope the title of today’s post didn’t make you hungry, because we’re not talking about internships in organic food. Organic is a San Francisco based interactive marketing agency with a brand that has gained a lot of keyword competition over the past 16 years. Yes, people were eating organic back in 1994, but the word wasn’t nearly as common as it is today. Doing research on Organic is tough because the organic search results (excuse my SEO pun) have all kinds of other stuff in them (at least they own Organic.com). Either Google needs to get inside my head to discern my intent, or Organic is going to have to hope that artificial packaged, processed foods go back in vogue. Ok, enough of my ripping on their name—Organic was ranked by AdWeek as the #1 interactive agency in 2007. That fits in perfectly with my impression of Organic from browsing their website and looking at their work. In fact, I’m blown away by how good Organic’s website is. It’s easy to use, it’s full of information, and it’s gorgeously designed. Their corporate mantra is “Exceptional Experience,” and they certainly live up to it.

Live Organic

I’ve found that interactive agencies sometimes go too far with their websites. They get too fancy and end up making an unusable piece of garbage. The way Organic has built their website shows that they’re good at what they do. Beyond San Francisco Organic also has locations in New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Toronto. The company’s clients include Bank of America, Jeep, Nike, Guitar Center, and plenty more. I could tell you more about Organic, but you’re much better off visiting their website, because it does a great job of telling their story. Organic even does a great job with their Careers site—they even make a usually crappy applicant tracking system look good. The interesting thing about Organic is that most of their 40 job openings are at pretty Senior levels, but they do have a number of postings (one for each location) for their paid Summer internship program called “The Farm.” There are opportunities to work in areas like Delivery / Project Management, Creative, Technology, Strategy, Media and Marketing Intelligence, and the whole program looks awesome. They only want rising college seniors and recent grads, but if you fit the bill, go ahead and apply online.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Organic’s name?

AD:60

Willy Franzen — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:59:37 +0000

I’m not sure if it’s a trend yet, but it seems that more and more creative/interactive agencies are moving away from client work and spending more time developing products. 37signals used to be a web design agency, and now they develop web-based applications that help people get things done. Brooklyn, NY based AD:60 appears to be taking a similar path. They’re still putting a strong emphasis on their client work, but they also seem to have a lot of interest in developing their own products. The agency’s offerings include Web Design, Website Development, Mobile Technology, Marketing & Advertising, and Consulting, while their current internal projects include MyBankTracker.com and BankTwitter.com.

You:60

AD:60′s name comes from the philosophy that you often only have 60 seconds of opportunity and that “the best ideas and concepts can be communicated through the rapid visual medium without compromising quality.” Although they don’t have a portfolio to show how they’ve expressed this philosophy for clients, you can see it in MyBankTracker and BankTwitter. I like BankTwitter because it’s such a simple concept: it pulls in tweets about the customer service at different banks. You can easily browse these tweets to see which bank will best fit your needs or how you can fix a problem that other people are having with your bank. MyBankTracker is a bit more complex, but it still shows how strong visuals make all the difference. The goal of the site is to provide an “interactive financial information hub featuring bank reviews, financial news feeds and consumer-driven financial help,” and it does just that. If you like what you see on both sites, you should take a look at this PDF that gives the full scoop on AD:60 (the PDF has already been updated to include an iPad in it!) and then
head over to their Internships page. Their internships are paid, and they’re looking for Software Engineers, Designers, and Marketing/Advertising/Communications types. To apply for a position, reach out to them at jobs@ad60.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of MyBankTracker and BankTwitter?

Grafik

Willy Franzen — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:56:10 +0000

Design matters. It’s the reason that Apple can sell devices that essentially do the same thing as those of their competitors for a significant premium. It’s the reason that you choose to trust one website over another. It’s the reason that you buy brands. Yes, functionality matters too, but that’s a given. Grafik gets it. They’re an Alexandria, VA based integrated marketing agency that appears to put a heavy focus on visual design. Their main service offerings are brand strategy, integrated communications, and interactive marketing, but it’s very obvious from looking at their website (and their name) that graphic design is a key part of what makes Grafik successful. Browsing through a gallery of their work only confirms this.

Are You Grafikly Inclined?

My one beef with Grafik is that their website puts design way ahead of function. They may impress with design, but their use of Flash makes it impossible for me to link to specific pages. Additionally, their Clients page has some sort of flaw that makes the content disappear almost immediately. Still, the experience on Grafik’s website is impressive—it explains why they have clients like the AARP and Accenture (I was able to spot those before the list disappeared). You’ll have to browse around their site to get a feel for what they’re all about. After you do that, you can navigate to their Careers section by clicking the About link; however, you won’t find their internships there. You’ll find them on Grafik’s Facebook page. They only have one opening now, but they don’t say what they’re looking for—I’d imagine it’s a Design Intern. The position is paid, and you can apply by sending a cover letter, résumé, and link to your portfolio to careers@grafik.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Grafik’s website?

ESPN

Willy Franzen — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:55:12 +0000

I have no idea how I’ve made it through nearly two years of posts on One Day, One Internship without featuring ESPN. I covered ESPN’s entry level jobs on One Day, One Job, but never took the time to look at their internship program. As you probably know, ESPN is the “worldwide leader in sports.” They’re a huge media company with multiple television stations, a magazine, and an enorous web presence—they also have branded restaurants. When it comes to sports coverage, there’s no competition; ESPN is king. They also have an amazing employment brand not only because they offer jobs and internships in sports, but also because of their awesome commercials that take place in their Bristol, CT office. I have to imagine that internships at ESPN are some of the most sought after internships out there.

Intern at ESPN

Looking for internships on ESPN’s website feels like a wild goose chase. Luckily, I’ve found the goose that laid the golden egg—if you consider an internship with ESPN a golden egg. Ok, it’s not as bad as ESPN’s Careers site used to be, but the problem is that they leave their old Careers sites up (there’s even one from 2002 that is still accessible). The site that comes up first in Google when you search for “ESPN internships” is not the site that you want to be on. ESPN’s new Careers site is ESPNCareers.com. This includes a section on Internships that is actually quite helpful—ESPN’s former Careers site was terrible. This page gives you a broad overview of the program:

Internships are offered in the fall and spring semesters and during the summer
Opportunities are primarily located in Bristol, CT and New York, NY. Limited opportunities are available at other locations, including Los Angeles.
10 weeks – 40 hours a week
Competitive pay
Subsidized housing is available on a first come first served basis for interns in New York, NY and Bristol, CT for students who live more than 40 miles from the ESPN offices in those locations

It also says that they offer internships in the following areas: Creative Services, Communications, Digital Media, Editorial, Finance & Accounting, International, Marketing, Production, Programming, Research, Sales, Statistics, and Information Technology. From there you’ll find a link to ESPN’s actual internship listings. The postings are all from the last month, so now is the perfect time to apply for an internship at ESPN. You can apply online, and you should note that their actual opportunities go beyond the categories and locations that I mentioned earlier.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you have trouble finding information on ESPN’s internships?

Lunchbox

Willy Franzen — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:51:18 +0000

Although Twitter’s search results are getting filled with more and more junk, I’m still finding that Twitter is a pretty easy way to find jobs and internships that wouldn’t typically be on your radar. That’s how I came across Lunchbox, a Culver City, CA based “full-service agency that specializes in creating complete-branded content packages.” Since I have no idea what that actually means, I took a look at Lunchbox’s portfolio to get a better idea of what their work entails. Basically Lunchbox helps build brands by developing new ways for their clients to introduce their brands to customers. It may be creating stuffed animals for Discovery Channel or designing a magazine for CMT. Whatever the challenge is, Lunchbox brings an amazing creative team that has worked in the past with some of the world’s biggest brands.

What’s in Your Lunchbox?

My take on interactive agencies like Lunchbox is that the best way to judge whether you want to work for them is to look at their portfolio. Not only should you consider the names that they work with—Lunchbox has worked with Pepsi, Nick at Nite, Walmart, Warner Bros., and plenty more—but you should also look closely at what kind of work they put out. I’m impressed with what I see from Lunchbox, but it’s up to you to determine if you’d fit in with them. Now, back to that tweet that I mentioned. There’s not much more to it than a mention of paid Social Media internships, and I can’t find any details on Lunchbox’s Jobs page, but I did find someone on LinkedIn who had a social media internship at Lunchbox. Some of Lunchbox’s job offerings include Back-End Software Engineer, Front-End Software Engineer, Interactive Developer, QA Analyst, and Video Production Assistant, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them take interns in those areas too. To apply for an internship at Lunchbox, my recommendation is that you reach out to them at jobs@lbox.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Lunchbox’s portfolio?

Undertone Networks

Willy Franzen — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:01:20 +0000

The future of marketing and media is getting more results based, and that trend is going to continue as tracking technology progresses. Some people think that means that branding campaigns are a dying breed, but the folks at Undertone Networks would strongly disagree. They are a New York City based online advertising network that is helping Fortune 500 companies move their branding campaigns online. The trouble with doing this is that controlling your brand online is much more difficult than controlling it on tv, radio, or in print. That’s why Undertone Networks has developed an ad network that offers “Fortune 500 marketers an ad network where they [can] confidently and safely market their products and services without having to compromise their brand.”

Undertones of Your Career

Undertone Networks is bringing the sophistication of online advertising to branding campaigns. I’m not sure that I’d call it results oriented, but measurement is key to the success of campaigns. Instead of focusing on directly attributing sales or actions to specific campaigns, Undertone Networks is more concerned about driving brand awareness by obsessing over the quality of the audience that sees the ads that they serve. By only working with huge brands and trusted websites, Undertone Networks is able to maintain an intense focus on targeting. If they can’t deliver the audience that they think they can, they’ll happily refund the advertiser’s money. To get a better sense of how Undertone Networks works, you should check out their case studies or this interview with Alan Schanzer, their Chief Strategy Officer.

If you do that and like what you see, then you’ll probably want to take a look at internships at Undertone Networks. They’re an Inc. 5000 company and one of Crain’s Best Places to Work in NYC, so you know they’re the kind of place that you want to get your career started. Undertone Networks has a number of open positions, and a few of those are paid (stipend) internships. These positions include Business Development Intern, Online Advertising Operations Intern, Human Resources Intern, Online Advertising Intern (San Francisco), Online Advertising Sales Intern, Advertising Intern, Marketing Intern, and Media Intern . You can apply for any of these positions through Undertone Networks’ applicant tracking system.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Undertone Networks?

R/GA

Willy Franzen — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:51:34 +0000

It’s hard to imagine that a film production company could morph into “a holistic interactive agency built for a digital world;” however, that’s exactly what New York City’s R/GA has done. Now, film production and advertising aren’t all that different, but it’s still a big psychological leap from one to the other. Moreover, not many companies are willing to take a huge risk and move where innovation takes them. R/GA embraces change. They’re also really freakin’ good at what they do. Their clients include Nike, Verizon, IBM, Target, Bank of America, and a bunch of other extremely well known companies. They also have the best corporate website built in Flash that I’ve ever seen. Everything about it works—I can actually give you links to specific pages. Beyond that, the site does a fantastic job of presenting R/GA’s brand. It’s packed with information and has fantastic videos (they obviously haven’t abandoned film production completely).

Enroll at R/GA University

Everything that I’ve come across related to R/GA has impressed me. Their website. Their client list. Their portfolio. And even their Jobs page (powered by Jobvite—ok, I can’t link directly to the jobs, but the site is still very easy to use). Oh yeah, and don’t forget R/GA University. It’s R/GA’s take on continuing education for employees, and it includes six pillars: Professional Development, Industry Trends, Leadership Development, Inside R/GA, R/GA and You, and Work + Life Balance. They “believe that the broad base of courses piques curiosity and encourages people to try new things. And ultimately makes people more well rounded and better at their jobs.” Sounds like a great place to intern and learn on the job, huh? The only thing that disappointed me about R/GA is that they don’t have an internships page. They definitely have an internship program (proof: here, here, and here). I’m not sure if they take Fall interns, but they seem to offer paid internships in all kinds of different areas. Your best bet to find out more might just be submitting a resume through their Jobs page and seeing what happens (or you could always try LinkedIn for some networking).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you impressed with R/GA?

Sony Pictures

Willy Franzen — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:08:20 +0000

I’ve never really understood the idea of the “Summer Blockbuster.” Why would you want to sit inside and watch a movie when it’s nice and hot outside? I guess sometimes it gets too hot, and sometimes it rains, but I’d rather be outside. If you disagree with me, then you’re probably a big fan of Culver City, CA’s Sony Pictures. They’re in the business of producing, marketing, and distributing entertainment, and you’re probably familiar with some of their recent an upcoming releases like: Julie and Julia, Angels & Demons, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. They’re also responsible for Seinfeld. Since I’m not much of a movie buff, I don’t know if anyone actually cares what production house puts out a movie, but I do know that Sony Pictures’ end products seem to pretty darn good—they even made my favorite movie (about the outdoors, obviously), A River Runs Through It.

Picture Yourself at Sony Pictures

Sony Pictures is obviously part of Sony, but there are also a number of distinct businesses within Sony Pictures. There is the Motion Picture Group, which has multiple labels including Columbia Pictures, Screen Gems, and Sony Pictures Classics. Then there’s Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, which brings feature films along with tv episodes right into your home. You also have Sony Pictures Television, which is actually responsible for those tv episodes and other tv programming, and Sony Pictures Digital Productions, which does visual effects and animation.

If you’d like to intern in any of these businesses or the Corporate arm of Sony Pictures, then you’ll need to head over to SonyPictures.com. It’s not a particularly great Careers site, but it gets the job done. From there you can check out all of their posted jobs, where you’ll see internships in all kinds of areas. It appears that Summer internships with Sony Pictures are mostly paid, while Fall and Spring internships are unpaid. Since Fall is quickly approaching, nearly all of the currently posted opportunities are unpaid. These include internships in Television Special Events, Ad Sales & Marketing, Ad Sales & Services, Business Affairs, Marketing & Distribution, Production, Research, Corporate Communications/Creative Services, Field Publicity, Home Entertainment Worldwide Programming, International Networks, Marketing & Publicity, Television Digital Media & Global Ad Sales, Television International Marketing/Publicity, Television International Business Affairs, Television Post Production, Story Department, Television International Networks Marketing, WW Digital Marketing & Distribution, WW Marketing and Distribution/Creative Content, Music Affairs/Legal (Undergraduate and Graduate), Film Research, Strategic Marketing & Research, Publicity (New York, NY), and SPT Crackle/Programming. There is also a paid Technical Services internship. You can apply for any of these internships with Sony Pictures online, so get to it!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite movie to come out of Sony Pictures?

The FeedRoom

Willy Franzen — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:03:15 +0000

Having developed a product that relies on delivering video content, I know firsthand how difficult online video can be. Yes, any idiot can record something and upload it to YouTube for millions to watch, but it takes a significantly greater effort for a company to deliver an even slightly more professional video experience. Westborough, MA based The FeedRoom is a company that offers enterprise solutions for online streaming video and digital asset management. You may have seen their software at work on sites like PentagonChannel.mil and BestBuyTrueStories.com. It’s about 14 steps above publishing to YouTube, yet it’s nearly as easy to do for corporate clients who use The FeedRoom’s products, services, and solutions. If I had the budget for some serious enterprise software, I’d definitely The FeedRoom for Found Your Career.

Feed Your Career

Online video delivery is only going to continue to grow, and as expectations grow, YouTube isn’t going to cut it any more. The FeedRoom is primed for success as more companies decide that they need to get serious about video. The FeedRoom is already working with some serious names (The Pentagon!), and they seem to have the ease of use thing down. If you’re excited about the growth in the world of online video, then you might want to consider an internship with The FeedRoom. It appears that they offer unpaid internships year round in Digital Media Technology. They don’t go into a lot of detail about what that means, but they take interns in New York, NY; Westborough, MA; and San Francisco, CA. Take a look at what The FeedRoom is all about, and if you think that you’ll make a great addition, then send a cover letter and résumé to jobs@feedroom.com. Be sure to tell them what you’re good at and where your interests lie so that they can find the right place for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you impressed with The FeedRoom’s offerings?

SNY

Willy Franzen — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:15:30 +0000

Last week we took a look at internships with the YES Network, which was fun for me because I’m a huge Yankees fan. On the day that post went up, I got a direct message on Twitter from Charlie O’Donnell that said, “No SNY?” Since my buddy Charlie is a big Mets fan and the CEO of a very cool career related startup called Path 101, I had to give SNY a look—even if Interleague play, a Subway World Series, and Mets fans’ jumping on the Red Sox bandwagon has soured me on the team from Flushing. Still, the Mets are a big deal, they have a beautiful brand new stadium, and they even have their own TV network. SNY is “a 24/7 regional sports and entertainment television network that features up to 125 regular season New York Mets telecasts.” It’s available “in New York, Connecticut, most of New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania,” and it’s also “the official year-round television home of the New York Jets.”

Say Yes to SNY

Whether you’re a Mets fan, a Jets fan, or a Yankees fan who just wants to get into the world of sports broadcast journalism, SNY might be a great place to get your start. They’re relatively new to the scene (2006), but as long as they have the rights to broadcast the Mets games, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with in New York sports. To get an idea of what kind of internship offerings SNY has you can head over to their Internships page. All of the internships were posted in the end of May, so it’s unclear whether they offer internships in the fall and spring or only in the summer. All of the internships are unpaid, and they are offered in News, Operations, Production, Programming, Finance, Graphics, Marketing, Digital Media, and Information Technology. They have detailed descriptions of each internship, so check those out, and if they get you fired up, you can apply by sending a cover letter and résumé to intern@sny.tv.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a Mets fan?

Travers Collins & Company

Willy Franzen — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:51:30 +0000

“Go Local” is a pretty common buzz phrase these days. You’re supposed to eat local, shop local, and even study local. To some people this is a new idea, but businesses like Travers Collins & Company have been focusing on working locally for a long time (in their case since 1995). They saw a void in the Buffalo, NY area when it came to advertising, public relations, interactive and investor relations, so they filled it. Judging from the number of times “Buffalo” shows up on their client list, that seems to have been a smart move. They’re now “one of Buffalo-Niagara’s largest locally owned and operated integrated marketing communications firms,” as they have more than 40 employees.

Buffalocal

It’s always hard to differentiate between marketing communications firms, as they all kind of look alike. The easiest way to get a quick read on whether one of these companies is right for you is to take a look at their portfolio. It also can’t hurt that the “Buffalo-based agency won 24 of 63 Excalibur awards, which were presented by the Buffalo/Niagara chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.” If you like what you see, you’ll want to check out Travers Collins’ Jobs and Internships page. Their internship listings barely have any detail, but they do list points of contact in Public Relations, Advertising Account Management, Investor Relations, and Creative (there’s also a contact for Interactive on their Contact page). There’s no word on whether these positions are paid or not, and according to Travers Collins’ Twitter account, the deadline to apply for Fall internships is July 15th. Get moving!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you know anything about Travers Collins & Company?

True Media

Willy Franzen — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:49:03 +0000

The world of media is getting confusing. You’ve got marketing, PR, advertising, communications, social media, and plenty of other areas that are escaping me right now, and they’re all converging. The lines are getting blurred between each of these practices, and that means that media strategies need to be tighter. That’s what True Media is all about. They area Columbia, MO based, independent, full-service media strategy and communications company, and they operate with a “media neutral belief combined with a holistic integration of social media, PR, interactive and traditional advertising.” It may sound like a lot of jargon, but what it really comes down to is delivering measurable results for clients, and that’s what True Media does.

True Media Internships

What it all comes down to is that media is about reaching your target audience. No matter what method you use, you want to get your message to the right people. If you’re trying to hire interns, this is a great place to do that. If you’re trying to reach retiring baby boomers, you might want to look elsewhere. True Media does the research to understand where to find their clients’ target audiences, and then they make media buying decisions based on those insights. Then they’ll analyze the effectiveness of the campaign and tweak it for continuous improvement. This is the future of business. If you want to be a part of it, check out True Media’s Internships page. They’re looking for both Media Assistant Interns and Interactive Media Assistant Interns at their office in Columbia, MO as well as in Calgary, Alberta. I’d assume that their Summer positions are filled, but they have a July 31st application deadline for Fall internships. There is no mention of whether the internships are paid, and they also don’t say how you can apply, so I guess you’ll have to do a little research to figure out to land one of these internships.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about True Media?

Free Association

Willy Franzen — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:35:23 +0000

I’m a sucker for a good design, which is why I spent months perfecting the new design that I launched last Friday on One Day, One Job (a One Day, One Internship version is coming soon). It may not knock your socks off, but, hey, we can’t hire a fancy design firm like Free Association. They’re a Brooklyn, NY based “team of designers, developers, and strategists who are dedicated to brilliance in the digital space.” And brilliance is what they deliver. They’ve worked with Microsoft, MTV, Mint, and more. I’m impressed by their work, and I think that you will be too.

Associate Freely in Your Internship

Free Association’s website isn’t loaded with text, but you should really be looking mostly at their work if you want to intern with them. You’ll get an excellent feel for who they are and what they do just by checking out the portfolio links on the left hand sidebar of their website (which also looks great). If you like what you see, then you might want to consider an internship in Design or Digital Marketing with them. You can find the details on their Internships page, and you can apply by sending a resume; URLs of your work with a description of your role in project; hourly, daily, and weekly rates; availability; and contact information to work@thinkfa.com with the subject line: “FA Job: Design Intern” or “FA Job: Digital Marketing Intern” depending on which position you want. I’m assuming the fact that they want your rates means that the internships are paid.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of Free Association’s projects is your favorite?

22squared

Willy Franzen — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:55:19 +0000

How do you feel about the intersection of friendship and marketing? I know that a lot people weren’t happy when Facebook Beacon started telling their friends what they were buying from other sites, and I also know that nobody wants their friends to go salesman on them (like with Cutco knives); however, word of mouth marketing remains one of the most effective vehicles to reach people with a message. That’s because we still seem to trust our friends the most when it comes to making purchasing decisions. But can brands become our friends? According to 22squared, a marketing agency based out of Atlanta, GA and Tampa, FL, “consumers want brands that act more like helpful friends than persuasive marketers.” I think that’s right, but it still sounds a little weird to me. Maybe we should look at Facebook again for the answer. Plenty of people are “Fans” of brands (like ours), which is very much like being Facebook Friends with them.

What’s the Big Deal About 484?

I don’t know where they got the name 22squared, but Google tells me that 22 squared = 484. I’m not sure what to make of that, so let’s get back to talking about how 22squared thinks that “the consumer is your friend.” They’ve actually developed a metric to judge how friendly brands are. You can calculate it like this:

Strength of Relationship + Number of Advocates + Maturity of Relationship = Friendship Factor %

I’m not sure where you get the inputs from, but if you click “The Work” link on 22squared’s Home page (I can’t link because it’s in Flash) and click through the pages, you’ll see the scores of many well recognized brands. Usually you need to divide by something to get a percentage, so I don’t know what this is all about, but I’d love to hear the science behind it. I wonder what One Day, One Internship’s Friendship Factor % is. I’d like to think that we’re a pretty friendly brand.

Anyway, if I want to keep your friendship, I need to get to the internships. Unlike 22squared’s entry level jobs which are posted on their Jobs page, 22squared’s internships are posted on their blog. These are unpaid (yuck!) positions in both Tampa and Atlanta, and you can focus on a variety of areas including Account Management, Media, Creative, Brand Planning, Digital/Interactive (Creative and Media), Broadcast Production, Studio, Information Technology, and Human Resources. You can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to HR@22squared.com with INTERNSHIP/ATL for Atlanta or INTERNSHIP/TPA for Tampa in the subject line. You can find all of the details about the internships here, so be sure to give it a good read before you apply.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How do you feel about brands as friends?