My first Internship

​I am Inés Mencos, a design for Art Direction student who has started a DPS internship in McCann in Madrid. For those who don’t know, McCann is a worldwide advertising agency with offices around the world. However, for me, moving to Madrid is coming back home. Having started the 9th of September means I have not yet had time to grow in the company, yet it has made me realize a few things about the industry.
 
I have been accepted as a full-time Trainee, which means I am able to participate in briefings, attend meetings and present ideas for designs. This week I undertook two briefings with my ‘tutors’ – An Art Director and a Copyright – which meant I would be able to attend and participate in brainstorm sessions and meetings with the clients. The first brief consisted in creating a sports campaign that alluded, yet not mentioned, the Olympics that are coming up; a challenging brief. I am not a great sports fan which meant I was useful as I represented a target they were trying to reach. This campaign has great cultural connotations as sports is a huge part of Spanish culture (just as I am writing this the entirety of the office floor is grouped around five computers watching the basketball game). However, sports is part of our day-to-day life, its in our language, the way we live, and the way we feel about our country. Even though you don’t watch sports, you live it some way or another. Yet, besides football, other sports don’t have as much finances to promote their work, which is why this campaign is so culturally emotional.
 
Working in advertising means you always have to be on top of news, behaviors, and debates. Taking into account actual debates and facts when creating campaigns and advertising spots is fundamental to avoid backlash or create opportunities in earned media for brands to interact with actual themes and debates, facing the future. That a brand faces the future is basic in its communication as it will help it grow commercially, politically and socially. It is also necessary to be on top of advertising trends and movements; to encourage action, to promote open-mindness and inspire social action. It is crucial to remove a brand from forwards-facing political interaction, it can greatly and negatively affect its perception, which has the ability to harm it economically as working in an advertising agency means you have to distance your personal political opinion if it can interfere with the brands’, and if so, speak up before taking up a project.  Collaboration is key, in communication you are never alone, and a good team is needed for achieving results, brainstorming in the workspace, and learning to leave work in the workspace is something that I challenge with often.
 
Having returned to Spain after 3 years of living in the UK is an interesting adaptative experience; to get used to a different work and study environment, timetable or cultural relationship to work is an interesting challenge to undertake during this DPS year.

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