Summer is here and celebrations are in full swing as the industry gathers at Cannes. As we toast to the past year, we also want to welcome the amazing new talent already hard at work in our New York office. Our newest JWT Summer Interns are Kevin Chenault and Katie D’Andrea, as well as Rachael Podbielak who is returning for her second summer. Over the next three months, they’ll share thoughts on interning and agency life as they report from inside our Strategic Planning, Account and Corporate Communications departments. Read on to meet our awesome interns.
Hey everybody,
My name is Kevin Chenault. I’m from New Rochelle, NY and a rising junior at Harvard. This summer I’ll be interning at JWT in the Strategic Planning department. I have only been at JWT for two weeks now, but my time here has been great. I’m learning a lot, and still have so much more more to learn about the ad industry.
As a planning intern I have learned that a planner needs to be able to wear an assortment of hats. In order to make great work, a planner must be able to observe, distill, persuade, create, inspire and influence. Mastering all of these skills is certainly not a walk in the park because it definitely takes a lot of hard work and time, but what makes this Internship program so great is that you learn the craft from the best in the business. Better yet, they will gladly share their experiences and insights about the profession.
This is the beginning of great summer and I look forward to sharing with all of you what it means to be a Planner and more importantly what it means to be apart of the JWT team.
-Kevin Chenault, Planning Intern
Hello everyone!
Katie here from inside the walls of JWT in Manhattan. Before I embark on my senior year at Yale University, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to join such an amazing, world renown ad agency!
I am interning in the Account Management department on the Zyrtec team for ten weeks this summer. On the Zyrtec campaign, specifically in the digital space including the website and Facebook app, I have already learned more in my first two weeks than I can begin to illuminate. Coming from a liberal arts background, my coworkers welcomed me with an “Advertising and Zyrtec 101,” quickly pulling me up to speed on the zillion projects going on. The core account team is abnormally large, especially when combined with the planning team, creatives, and project managers, yet manages to feel close knit because of the constant interaction, collaboration, and genuine adoration for one another.
I admire JWT’s ability to foster its professional, productive, and fun atmosphere, which I might add is the trendiest office building I have ever seen! Thus far, I’ve learned to ask any and all questions, never say ‘no’ to any task, and that working with individuals who are inspired, bright and passionate about their work is contagious.
-Katie D’Andrea, Account Management Intern
The train rolls into Penn Station and the morning commute begins. I pass exhausted, unenthusiastic men and grumpy, overworked women nursing their steaming coffee. No one seems excited to go to work… except for me.
The thought of calling what I do here at JWT “work” sounds a little depressing. The word conjures images of boring paper pushing and monotonous daily routines. What I do at JWT is quite the opposite. The Corporate Communications department is constantly buzzing with the next big project or in some cases, the next big emergency. Every day is completely different from the next and there is no option of focusing on one thing at a time. The key is to multi-task efficiently or to get out of the way.
Since this is my second summer interning at JWT there was no need to readjust to the intern life. I jumped into the program two weeks early and began tackling a web-based program called Sysomos. With this analytics tool I broke down the past year’s readership information for JWT’s social media. Every project I work on involves a variety of different technical skills and creativity, and teaches me something new. By the end of last summer I learned more than I had ever imagined I would, and I know there is still so much to learn. With the summer just beginning, and a great set of new interns this year, JWT has a lot in store for me. Stay posted to find out how the summer program progresses.
-Rachael Podbielak, Corporate Communications Intern