Interning at Bozell is like eating at Superdog in Ames. If you’ve never been to Superdog in Ames, let me explain…

Layer 1

It’s all about the layers. The first time you go, it’s awesome. The experience will take you aback. You think to yourself, “Wow, I knew I really loved hot dogs, but THIS…this is awesome.” I knew I liked advertising: it’s fun, creative and you get paid to manipulate people. But I didn’t know advertising like this. It’s a sweet office, the people are incredible and you get to play with neat things.

Layer 2

Your second time through, you find out that some hot dogs are served topped with chili and potato chips. “Yes sir, I’ll take that.” After the first couple weeks of introductions and meeting our client for the summer, you dive in to the enticing unknown. You learn the ins and outs of working on a real campaign. It’s exciting but holy crap, this isn’t Campaigns class anymore. The stress starts melting over you like the goopy meat-sauce on your proverbial dog. Heartburn.

Layer 3

Despite your discomfort, you inevitably go back for more. It’s too good to pass up. This time, you’ve got a roster. You know what you’re getting yourself into, and you come equipped. There’s no easing into it; it’s more of a throw-you-to-the-sharks method. But you’ve got your team. Not only your fellow bait (interns), but also every other person that works at the agency. They keep you afloat. There is no doubt in my mind that I would have epically failed had it not been for the ad-savvy people surrounding me everyday. They are the Tums to my gut-bomb.

Layer 4

It’s a mixture of emotions. What just happened – WHY did I do that? I knew it would hurt. I knew it might burn. But my God it was amazing! This summer was exciting, incredibly frustrating, scary and so worth it. I got to hang out with some of the coolest people I have ever met. I worked with probably the nicest client to ever enter agency doors and I had a blast the entire time. We put out real work that they are actually going to use. I remembered why I love advertising.

Maybe Superdog wasn’t the greatest metaphor to use to describe my internship at Bozell. Chances are you’ve never eaten there. Who goes to Ames anymore?!? But I really feel like Bozell and the dog shop have a few things in common: they are about the best you can get within their respective fields, I love them both and they’re always better after you knock back a few.

Thank you to everyone that I worked with throughout my time at Bozell. I truly did have a blast and learned a ton (more than I probably ever cared to). I will miss you guys very much!

“Why the hell did you choose MEDIA? Get out while ya still can.”

It would be normal to hear this sentence on your first day if it came from a designer or someone in brand navigation, but these words came straight out of the media department.

My thoughts then: “What have I gotten myself into?”

My answer now: “One of the best summers, yet.”

Today is officially my last day of “real” work before I move to Spain to teach English for a year. I can’t believe the summer has gone by so quickly. I could’ve sworn just yesterday I was graduating from college in Texas with degrees in Advertising and Spanish. Now, here I am finishing up my media internship at Bozell. Man, does time fly or what?

I am excited for this next step in my life. I’m trading in the “professional world of advertising”, a term I use loosely considering the environment of a typical ad agency, for the more relaxed Spanish lifestyle.

I am NOT going to miss waking up at 6:30am and getting home at 6:30pm.

I am NOT going to miss having my morning and afternoon caffeine.

And I am definitely NOT going to miss my 45-minute drive to work.

However, I am going to miss the spunky, creative people.

I am going to miss the crazy media department ladies.

I am going to miss bonding with the interns.

I am going to miss learning new media.

I am going to miss the chaos of an advertising agency before a big presentation.

And I am definitely going to miss Fridays at 4.

I’ve had a great time this summer, and I can’t wait to get back to advertising after my year abroad. I’m going to travel while I’m young and take full advantage of my curiosity, adaptability, health, and most importantly, my youth! I know I’ll still be thinking about advertising abroad because it is so interesting to see the way other countries promote and sell products.

So, why did I choose MEDIA? Because I love it. And I’ll be looking for it everywhere I go. Even if the advertising is in another language.

Bozell, this is not “adios.” It’s “hasta luego.” See ya later advertising!

My Bozell internship was a good one although I initially had a tough time going from hanging out at the beach everyday to hanging out in my cubicle every day. Once I overcame my west coast withdrawals I settled into things here.  Every day I came in I was given real design duties rather than normal intern duties like giving coffee. Instead I was able to work on many client projects like logo redesigns, newspaper ads, and invitation layouts. The biggest project of the summer was the intern project, which I really enjoyed doing because we were completely set free to make it our own and come up with all of our own design solutions. It was a lot of work but I learned a lot and feel that the experience of completing a full campaign was very good for me.

Besides the actual work, I really enjoyed being around everyone in the creative department. Everyone was very helpful and easy to work with. If I didn’t understand something or didn’t know how to do something there was always someone to help me out.

Over the course of the internship I got to know the other interns very well, as we worked closely with each other on our internship program. They were really fun to hangout with and I hope to keep in contact with them after the internship. At least so I can keep them updated on how the surf is.

Éire Slán, Hello Omaha!

By Meghan D’Arcy

Choosing to intern at Bozell was a big decision. I was a 25-year old former high school English teacher living in Ireland. I had just spent a year and a half earning a Master’s degree in English Language Teaching, something I was fairly certain I no longer wanted to do. I missed Vermont, my home state, but I didn’t know if I was ready for the inevitable settling down that would come along with returning home. I had no idea what to do with my life or where I wanted to be.

I had met with Matt Dugan, the owner of Shadow Productions, a small three-man ad shop in Burlington, Vermont, in 2005 during my senior year of college. I wasn’t sure I wanted to get into teaching and I had often thought about the advertising world. So I thought he would be a great person to reach out to again while I was home from Ireland for a visit. As usual, he didn’t fail me. He met with me and we talked about the benefits of my Master’s degree in the advertising industry, my resume and my lack of ad experience. He told me I’m a veritable Renaissance woman, a jack of all trades, and I couldn’t help but wonder if I was a master of none. I was beginning to feel like my life up until that point had been a random hodge podge of experiences, none of which were giving me focus and pointing me in a particular direction.

Matt assured me that it’s okay to have varying life experiences – they only make me a better writer. I was skeptical, but I allowed him to continue. He explained that I had the education and the drive, all I needed now was the experience. He gave me the names of businesses and contacts in the Burlington area to talk to about internships; he said he would serve as my reference should I need one. I was excited for this next step in my career quest.

You’d be surprised how few internship opportunities there are during a bad economy in a city of 38,000 people…or would you? Well, I was certainly unprepared for the obstacles that lay ahead, but I contacted ad agencies at a ferocious rate and finally Bozell turned up in one of my many agency searches. This is actually quite surprising considering Omaha, Nebraska is not even remotely close to Burlington, Vermont. In fact, it’s 1,173 miles away. This didn’t faze me at all. I contacted Robin Donovan, one of the three managing principals, who told me to send my resume to Kevin Hutchison, Partner in Charge of Brand Navigation. Things move quickly in the ad world, and within days I was preparing my exodus from Limerick, Ireland and was anticipating my arrival in Omaha.

Its 10:27 AM on the day of our final intern project presentation. There are many questions flying around, “How many books do we need?” “How much time do we have?” “Is the powerpoint done?” “Are we getting Jimmy Johns?” This was pretty much our normal routine: last minute work and concern for lunch.

The Bozell internship exceeded its expectations. Just as promised, throughout the summer we worked on real projects for real clients. Everyone around the office was very helpful and willing to answer questions when asked, even right now as they are helping us finish our presentation books.

I have heard of a number of internships that only entail meaningless tasks and office work and probably deserve to have a post on What a Crappy Job. The structured program and hands on experience that Bozell has provided is second to none when it comes down to preparing students for life inside an ad agency.

I enjoyed this summer because of what I learned from the resident social media guru, and also because of the relationships that were formed with the other interns (cue sappy music). Getting things done wasn’t always pretty, but they got done none the less. I’m very grateful for the opportunity that I was given this summer at Bozell and for the people who made it such a fun experience.

Now that this blog post is done, its time to get back to work.

We are well into the 2010 Bozell Summer Internship and we have an amazing class of interns. By this time, I have gotten to know each of them well. They each bring different talents and ideas to our office. At the end of the summer they will each be writing a blog post that discusses their time and what they learned here at Bozell. But, today I want to take a minute to share a little about our interns with you. That way, when you read their blog posts later, you will know who they are and where they are coming from.

We currently have six summer interns. They are (pictured above from left to right) Kevin Jones, Meghan Crowley, Christine Dobel, Meghan D’Arcy,  Ian Hutchinson and Mike Sammons.

Kevin or KJ is the social media intern for the summer. He is currently pursuing his masters at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Everyone says that he looks like Zach Galifianakis and he is just about as funny. He brings a ton of creative and interactive ideas to every project that he works on.

Meghan is our media department intern. She recently graduated from TCU with a degree in Advertising/Public Relations. As the media intern, she plans campaigns for a variety of companies and makes sure that all those great creative ideas actually end up on TV, the radio and more.

As our account service intern, Christine makes sure that everything gets done. Christine attends Creighton University and is our only Omaha resident intern. She is a planner extraordinaire. She writes the creative briefs, she plans meetings and handles all the client communication. Basically, Christine gets things done.

Meghan D’Arcy is our copywriting intern. She has become an invaluable resource, proofreading, writing and coming up with killer concepts. Meghan started a little earlier than the interns, in March. She had just moved back to the states from Ireland, where she was finishing up her masters degree in linguistics at the University of Limerick.

Ian, is one of our art director interns. He is currently pursuing a degree in graphic design from Chapman University. He moved back to Omaha to work with us this summer and is taking a break from his ongoing work for Dim Mak Records in Hollywood. Beyond being a gifted designer, Ian entertains us all with his West Coast celebrity sighting stories.

And last, but not least is our other art director intern, Mike Sammons. Mike is currently working towards his bachelor degree in advertising from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Mike is a natural leader who has taken the UNL ad club to the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) for the last two years. In fact, this summer he led the team and they placed fourth in this national competition.

Every year we get tons of applications and one amazing class. This year is definitely no exception. We are really lucky to have the new ideas, energy and excitement of the 2010 intern class. If you are interested in interning or working at Bozell. Check out Bozell’s Career page and keep reading this blog. You can also check in with Bozell and ask us questions about the internship on our Facebook page and Twitter account.

Thank You!!

Our application process for interns has been closed for about a month, but I wanted put up a quick post to say thank you to everyone who applied to the Bozell Summer Intern Program and thank you to everyone who shared the link for this site with someone else. We have received applications from so many talented young people. Thank you so much for your time. You are the future of this business. It has been really refreshing to talk with many of you and to see so many new and interesting ideas.

Our next intern drive and formal application process won’t be until late in Fall of 2010, but in the mean time we are still looking for the best and the brightest. We are looking for talented students to help us as interns year round. So, if you were not chosen for our the 2010 Bozell Summer Internship Program, and you think that you have what it takes in the one of the following fields:

1. Copywriting
2. Art Direction/Design
3. Social Media
4. Public Relations
5. Account Service
6. Media
7. Web Development

Then drop our intern coordinators an email or a call. And tell us why you want to work at Bozell. You can also ask former Bozell interns about their experience on our Bozell Intern Facebook Group.

Internship Coordinators:
Will Flavell
wflavell@bozell.com
(402) 965-4360

Nicole Frazier
nfrazier@bozell.com
(402) 965-4351

Thanks again everyone for making this a banner year for the Bozell Summer Internship Program.

Best of Luck,

Will Flavell
Intern Coordinator

This job takes the phrase “living on the edge” to a whole new level. Even watching this video my heart was racing and my anxiety level was rising! Any person who does this job for a living must have a lot of guts (big cahones)and no fear of falling to their death. I would have to say this would not be a fun job. Crappy is the word to be exact. I think most people would do exactly that in their pants if they were in Mike’s position.

The picture says it all. Driver’s Education Instructors have a crappy job.

You have seen the TV shows and movies about Crime Scene Clean Up, like Sunshine Cleaning pictured above. But it is a real job that real people perform and it is crappy.

Image from MovieWeb.com.