Call and Answer: Some Happenings at Work
After my embarrassing ticket fiasco on Tuesday evening, I was worried that the week was shot. But there have been some exciting developments on the internship front, including a quasi "promotion" and a chance to talk to the head of the advertising department.
David Hamilton is the Advertising Director for Interview Magazine, and I usually only get a chance to quickly say hi before he hurries off to a meeting with clients or with Sandra Brant, the publisher of Interview and the 2 other magazines that are located in the office: Art in America and The Magazine Antiques. But last Friday, I had a chance to have a real conversation with David.
The interns are given an office that overlooks the entire advertising department...we could feel like we are special and privileged, but the office is actually quite isloated from the department because everyone else has cubicles where they can stand and talk to each other. Anyway, I was sitting in our office on Friday looking at a magazine, and David comes in. I got really nervous all of a sudden because I was worried that I might have been doing something wrong this whole time, and he was coming to correct me. I think it was because I didn't know why he would talk to me otherwise. He stand down across from me and asked me how I felt the internship was going and what I was learning. I relaxed for a brief second, happy that I wasn't being a "bad" intern, but then I got really nervous again because I had to actually explain things that I have learned. Why am I so stressed out all the time? I don't know...
So I explained that I was loving the internship and that I was learning a lot (all the right things to say, but also true). I told him how I really liked learning about ad placement and what sort of thinking and rationale goes behind the advertising layout of a magazine. Marie was showing us how Interview is really careful with ad placement, and they tend to color coordinate advertisements with editorial pieces. So, if there is a photo shoot for the magazine that uses a lot of bright pink, the headline text for that piece will also be in bright pink and then an ad that ulitizes bright pink will be placed before or after that piece. It creates a very aesthetically pleasing package. I find this so fascinating because for The College Voice, I love doing layout and design. Although we don't have a lot of choices concerning aesthetics and color-coordination (since it is black and white), to see how not just how each place is specifically organized but how the magazine as a whole is completely thought-through and organized is so satisfying. It's like putting the pieces of a puzzle together...it appeals to my logical, mathematical and the creative sides of my brain.
I told David that I was really interested in magazines as a whole, and this internship was exciting because I got to learn about the business/advertising side of publications, whereas at school, I mainly do editorial and design. He told me about his college experiences (he went to Dartmouth), and how he wanted to have that small, liberal arts experience. He told me how he got into his job and some of what it entails. It's insane. He has to be constantly updated and informed on all the newest news in advertising including partnerships, ad campaigns, what the competitive magazines are doing, etc etc. He always has to have that information immediately at hand, which means somehow, it is all stored (neatly or messily) inside his brain. Now, I do not have the mind for that. Yes, I am able to remember a lot of random things and I have a knack for useless trivia, but I could never constantly stuff my brain with crucial information. I don't think I would ever sleep!
Marie is going to help me set up an "official" interview with David, so I will be able to post a question and answer session which will probably make a lot more sense than what I have written above.
So talking to David was the first big highlight of the week, and the second bit of exciting news is that I get to cover for the Advertising Associate...which means, that I get to sit in a cubicle and actually be responsible for 2 of our senior advertising employees: Renata, who is in charge of our Jewelry and Fashion accounts; and Dan who is in charge of our beverage, tobacco, and entertainment (films, CDs, etc) accounts. The woman is doing this job over the summer, Wei-Sing, has to leave for 3 weeks, and Marie asked if Brittany and I could cover for her. Wei-Sing trained me yesterday and there is a lot of stuff that goes into being an Advertising Associate. Not only do I have to field phone calls and emails, I have to be in charge of constantly updating the ad sheets (which is a list of the advertisments that ran in the most recent issue that includes page number and positioning in the magazine), and running searches on where our clients are placed in competitive magazines. I also have to do expense reports for both Renata and Dan, make reservations for them if they are entertaining guests, compile folders and informational packets for them when they go to meetings, and send out magazines to potential clients.
This, needless to say, is an incredible opportunity. There is a lot of responsibility on my plate right now, and I cannot wait to step it up. It has been really slow lately for the interns because there is a lot of administrative, nit-picky things that only the actual advertising employees can do. So we have been doing some mailings, a couple of internet research projects on blogs and ad placement, and I have been doing some messenger stuff (which means I get to ride on the subway and deliver packages). But with filling in for the Advertising Associate, I actually will have a steady stream of work.