Having spent the last three years studying law, I decided that donning the wig and gown weren’t quite for me and started looking for a different industry where I could be more creative. Though I didn’t get a place through the Creative Pioneers scheme, Different were very kind in letting me do a two week internship with them which has been the most beneficial two weeks in my working life!
On my first day, I was introduced to my mentors, Tori and Claire, who made me feel very welcome and introduced me to the rest of the office. To say they have such heavy workloads which sees them working well past 5:30pm some nights, the Account Handling team were remarkably chipper and the majority of my first morning was spent discussing what Lara fancied for lunch, sidelining other trivial topics like the Olympics Opening Ceremony.
On my first afternoon, I attended the weekly ‘Traffic’ meeting which was an insight into how the Creatives and Account Handlers interact and how both prepare for upcoming work with respect to deadlines. I also had the opportunity to attend some client meetings which were eye-opening with respects to the client-agency relationship. When my poor mentors were swamped by e-mails, briefs and trips to London to see clients, others in the office were happy to give me work to keep me busy, which I really appreciated!
On the Friday of my first week, I got to go to a shoot at Benfield and it was interesting to watch the crew dress the set. Of course, every day can’t be jetting off to watch adverts being made and I did my fair share of research – although the light and cheery atmosphere at Different never made it feel like a chore.
As I don’t live locally, it meant a 6:30am alarm, which stopped being so painful by the end of the first week – although I found myself in bed by 9pm most nights, wondering how I’d ever cope in the real world if I didn’t have the steady supply of coffee and cake I became accustomed to at Different!
I got to see a variety of work Different was doing over the course of two weeks, including clients such as Barker and Stonehouse, Benfield, DFDS, Drayton Partners, Loreal and Lycetts; all of which carried different demands while juggling their briefs.
Suffice to say after my two weeks at Different, I’ve definitely decided that advertising is the DIFFERENT career path I’ve been looking for!
Kris with Client Partner Tori
By Kris McGee
University of York Law Graduate
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