School's started, and the dust has barely settled in the 'choir loft' area of the building where we keep our interns. This year's group was one of the most vibrant we've had, and we're missing them already. So much so that we put together this video tribute to the Intern Olympics. One of our most cherished traditions at Moosylvania, the competition is complete with crazy mascot costumes, insider trivia and speedwalking.

2009 Intern Olympics Blog Post from Randy Lutz on Vimeo.

 

Following a valiant effort by all participants, Tyler Davis, an Account Service intern, emerged victorious – making this the second straight win for an intern in the grapes getup.

On the final day of our 2009 internship program, we brought together the leaders of our agency to offer candid advice to our fledgling marketers, as we send them out into the world.

Gus, our president, encouraged them to be proactive 'gunners', because natural talent will only get you so far. Our VP of Creative, Lynn, shocked them with stories of a time without computers, telling them to stay ahead of the technological and cultural curves.

Then Mike, a seasoned veteran of the industry and a CD, gave his advice in a less expected way...

 

Words Of Wisdom from eric flinn on Vimeo.

(After pizza paired with serious advice, we let loose with our beloved tradition of Intern Olympics – rest assured those photos are still to come.)

It has long been understood that a blind date lends itself to awkward moments. However, Moosylvania’s blind date-style interview ended with a great opportunity for our personalities to shine through. Our second date, the first day on the job, started with a bang. Now that the nerves had settled, we sat down with an outdoor picnic of KFC and Ted Drewes Frozen custard! We knew it was a match made in heaven – we were then ready to take the next step.

Meeting the Family
During the first week, Sarah Shockley (Senior Copywriter and Moose Mentor) had been talking with her intern Randy Lutz when he asked, “who this ‘Sarah girl’ was anyway?” Moosylvania in many ways operates like a family in that we all come together and put our all into every project. With loving and sometimes tough-loving support, we find a way to challenge ourselves and grow each day.

Getting Comfortable

Sure, our mentors had to hold our hands during some early stages. But, once we started to work on communication, we connected in a way that neither of us saw coming. Overall our mentors see this year’s batch of interns as “eager and full of initiative” (Rachel Hamblin: Copywriter), “humble and truly happy to be here” (Ryan Doggendorf: Art Director), and “excited to be here and have a passion to learn” (Erica Thurston: Account Services).

We have been settling into our offices and personal desks quite well. Maybe a little too well at times as Marc Goone (Account Services Intern) said he has been tempted to hang-glide from the interns’ workspace in the loft to a hanging light on the ceiling of the agency. Some of us interns have taken quickly to our new responsibilities. Laura Hoeman (Art Director Intern) is located by the only phone available to the interns, and the power seems to have gone to her head a bit. Our choir loft location might be a bit of a climb for mentor Ryan Doggendorf (Art Director), as he admits to getting out a breath after climbing the stairs a few times.

Becoming Equal Partners
As Moosylvania interns, we don’t just sit here and look pretty. Our input is taken seriously, and we are allowed to take the reign on tons of projects. We also get to see what our roles will be in this crazy fast-paced agency world.

“I was very much surprised that we were allowed to sit in on client presentations…I’m (also) allowed to answer questions and speak with the clients themselves.” (Kayleigh Kozemczak: Account Services Intern)

“I appreciate all the hard work that goes into working as a team, and I now understand just how gratifying it is to write something that may actually be out there on the shelves or in the magazines one day.” (Jill Towerman: Writer Intern)

“I’ve learned not to throw away an idea. I show people everything I have been working on because someone may have an angle on it that I did not think of.” (Daniel Shinn: Art Director Intern)

Building Memories
Our first day on the job, we set out on a scavenger hunt to scope out the latest point of sale promotions in grocery and liquor stores around St. Louis. Next, our mentors told us that we must learn the Moosylvania Anthem in order to gain entrance to an important meeting. “That was one hot track we dropped,” said Laura Hoeman. Another favorite memory is getting to know more about client Dean’s Milk by making mouth-watering smoothies and shakes for all employees.

What’s Next?
With summer almost over, we are looking forward to participating in the annual fun-filled Intern Olympics and seeing the projects we have worked on come out in the real world. Just like most summer romances, time flies when you’re having fun, we’re just here to enjoy the ride.

One of our diligent account service interns, Tyler, was searching on a popular marketing blog “AdFreak” and discovered a great internship promotion. Little Debbie snack cakes was sponsoring an “Intern Hero” contest in which a company’s interns could send in a picture explaining why they need and deserve free muffins. And guess what Little Debbie sends five winners every day? FIVE BOXES OF FREE MUFFINS!!!

Early Monday morning, Tyler sent word to his fellow interns suggesting that this as something right up Moosylvania’s alley. They all responded with great enthusiasm and began looking at some of the current winners. Like the motivated and ambitious interns they are, they went into extreme brainstorming mode right away to figure out how their submission could stand out from the rest.

In the end, they couldn’t think of a more perfect solution than to pay homage to the beloved children’s book, If You Give a Moose a Muffin. After crafting their own version of the story, they threw on some iconic Moosylvania T-shirts and made it happen.

After teasing the interns through ambiguous tweets all day long, Little Debbie finally posted “If You Give a Moose Intern a Muffin” as a winning entry! Expecting five boxes of muffins in the mail any day now…

Oftentimes, recent graduates’ first interviews feel a lot like blind dates – change your outfit 10 times, get lost on the way and spend the entire time trying to dry your sweaty palms without drawing attention to them. Then leave without ever getting show off the ‘real you.’

Turns out, interviewers often feel the same way, and this frustrated the leaders of our Moosylvania Internship Program. We wanted to find a better way to evaluate potential interns, so in true Moosylvania style, we threw out the rulebook.

For the second year, our Application for Temporary Residency (a.k.a. internship) started with a written marketing assignment and one-minute personal video. From You Tube spoofs to true film shorts, we see the personality, creativity and hidden skills of potential interns through the video portion of the application.

(Among the great videos we received was Account Service applicant Ashley Hancock's stop motion masterpiece – yes, we do require creativity from our account people!)

 

With a stack of great applicants to choose from, we didn't want to simply invite top applicants for one-on-one interviews – we wanted to really get to know them. So this year we asked them to participate in a unique workshop, code-named Moose U.

Some applicants showed up with more personality showing than others – this is Marc Goone’s tribute to his favorite Moose client.

Of course, we started off testing their pancake-catching skills at an agency-wide breakfast before we got down to business with these 12 talented students. Here, senior Art Director Joe Wieneke demonstrates proper pancake catching technique for the internship applicants.

 

Part learning experience, part interview, the focus of the half-day session was on an intense work session. Working against a brief astonishingly similar to one we’d worked on ourselves, the students were broken into two groups and challenged to develop a marketing plan and big idea within a mere three hours.

Approximately 30 intelligent questions, 20 minutes with a member of their target and four pizzas later, both groups presented well-constructed, smart plans with exciting big ideas.

 

At the end of the day, they got a glimpse into the agency world, including high-pressure timelines and collaborating with people of vastly different backgrounds.

From the sidelines, we got a better view of their knack for marketing, enthusiasm and leadership skills than an interview alone could have given us.

We also saw them get lost in the process and let their personalities shine. And yes, we did fall in love with a few of them, and we can’t wait until they start their summer with us.