Intern Profile: Rosie Siman

Work starts at 9:30 for the interns although the rest of the office gets there between 9:30 and 10 (which gives me a little bit of slack time to pick up some coffee from Sbux right across the street if necessary). They have set us up with our own company email, so the first thing to do is check email and make sure there are no outstanding requests from my team from the day before. Because everyone has a company Blackberry, it's not unusual to notice an email from the wee hours of the morning.

After that, time to start cruising the internet. Everyday the interns compile what we like to call The Daily Download. I read and copy articles about what's going on in pop culture. For example, today's DD includes an article on Lindsay Lohan getting arrested, an article from Billboard.com announcing that Rihanna made it 10 weeks atop UK Singles Chart (beating out Gnarls Barkley), an AdAge article bashing Dell's new color campaign, and an article on hyper-caffeinated Americans. We include some commentary on each article, and try to make it humorous so that everyone wants to read it.

Throughout the day, we're talking about trends in pop culture. We focus primarily on Fashion/Beauty, Celebrities, Music, Movie/TV, Automotive, Technology, Marketing/ Advertising/ Branding, and finally, the Miscellaneous section. Each category is picked based on our clients. Translation launched Sean John, P. Diddy's fragrance, and continues to work in the fragrance world. If for some reason there was an article talking about celebrities launching fragrances, if it wasn't in the daily download, we would still be responsible for sending it on to the rest of the company, or at least the people on the beauty account.

Another part of research involves checking out brands we're competing with. Translation is the agency of record for Proctor and Gamble's Oral Care. Research for them could be anything from looking up potential spokespeople to buying close to $100 of toothpaste from Duane Reade to compare trends (Yes, it has happened...).

The morning research usually lasts until about lunch time although often times an Acct. Supervisor or Acct. Executive will grab us for a conference call with the client. Each intern is on a different account: Beauty: Estee Lauder/Sean John Fragrances, GM, P&G: Oral Care, and the technology acct I work on (Due to confidentiality agreements, I'm not allowed to give the brand name... But who knows? Maybe you'll see Translation in the news soon!). We usually prepare for a couple minutes before jumping on the call, and I take notes in the Translation branded moleskin notebook everyone around here sports.

And when we're not on conference calls, we're usually brainstorming. Brainstorms begin with blackberries/cell phones turned off. Then a package of rice cakes next to a bottle of hot sauce are placed in the middle of the table. An idea is either bland like rice cakes, or it's hot and spicy like hot sauce. Because we're a smaller agency, most brainstorms include everyone who is able to come. We talk briefly about the problem the brand is having, and then start spouting out ideas. At Translation, ideas from the interns get used and written down as much as anyone elses. We're in college- We're the demographic they're trying to market to. So we understand how Facebook works and have ideas about a brand can enter the social network scene (and yes, my bosses have seen my facebook profile. In fact, I had to print screen shots detailing certain aspects. Ha ha!)

On some days, I'll spend the afternoon photoshopping pictures to go into a presentation for the client, and on some afternoons I'll be creating micro presentations for the client based on a certain aspect of our strategy. (Gotta love powerpoint!) The day is pretty much non stop, and if I'm not working on something for my account, there's usually another account that is in need of help.

Yes, some days last later than 6:30. In fact during my first week, I pulled an all nighter at the office with my team. But as far as an internship goes, it's as close to real life as I've seen. I'm not staring out my window all day bored out of my mind; Instead, I'm completely involved in the work Translation completes. I'm not the one making the million-dollar decision, but I have seen every bit of work that goes into that million dollar decision.

Word of Advice: Get to know the people you work with. I had an internship with CAA - Creative Artists Agency, and all I did was file and work on ticket counts... while getting minimum wage. I wasn't the happiest person, and I got a LOT of paper cuts. But I got to know the people I worked with, and when Live Earth happened in NYC, CAA got me 10th row tickets.