For the last twelve weeks I have been carrying out an internship at McCann London (for those who don’t know a huuugggge agency in London and pretty much everywhere else in the world). Here’s some thoughts that I shared with my Hyper Island crew members. Thought they belonged here as well.
The decision to go to McCann was based on the certainty that I was going to learn aplenty, and wanted to see how some of our Hyper thinking would roll in a machine. I went in with my eyes open, knowing that the agency is going through some big changes, and I was intrigued and inspired after my interview with Nick on how the leadership wanted things to look a year from now. I hoped that I could play a part, however small, in that shift, as well as work with some talented people across some solid accounts. Expectations shared and laid out, I was ready to jump in.
From the off, I’ve found everyone I work with refreshingly honest with a willingness, not ‘to learn’ perhaps, but to hear a different opinion. Plenty of people at McCann had been on the Hyper Masterclass, and, in large they were big fans of the schools ethos. It was nice to be able to share little ways, tools, approaches, methods directly into the McCann environment.. I think a lot of people’s understanding, and ultimately buy in, around change is by showing an alternative within context. I think.
So the accounts themselves. Besides helping out with reflection and feedback I’ve spent the majority of my time across around 5 pieces of work. It’s been a fantastic opportunity, and as the token intern it’s been a bit of a playground to try out different roles to identify and fill gaps in skills and knowledge. Days have been packed and as ever it’s been a challenge fitting everything in, but there has been plenty of support combined with considered feedback.
My role itself has been an interesting one. Due to a few of my ideas being picked up early on I’m now being brought into briefs as a Creative which is shifting what started off as primarily strategic role. I’m not too concerned as it’s been nice to step outside my comfort zone and a few of the recent briefs have been epic but I still find the wall between strategy and creative a difficult thing to get my head around. Not that this is unique to McCann by any stretch of the imagination – I remember John Hegarty saying something similar when he dropped by to say hello.
As I wrap things up I guess I’m looking forward to more responsibility and opportunity to see work I believe in from beginning to end. This huge change in context has helped both strengthen and redefine where I want to go. None of this means that I should let myself fall into the trap of wanting to be a part of everything, all the time. It’s tricky as to me being involved in and supporting as much of the creative process as possible is a good thing. It keeps things agile, proactive, experimental. I suspect, as with most things in life, that it’s all about balance. On a related note, and although horrendously unglamorous, it’s been a delight to be back home the last few months. It’s given me a renewed perspective on the divide between work and play (and reminded me that commuting is my worst enemy), things seem to be progressing.
For instance, from someone who often priortised the What rather than the How I’ve found myself fighting the corner of process, culture, patience and (above all perhaps?) a unified vision. Which is odd and a real step forward . None of this has been without real difficulty, completely different from our Manchester basement, but it is starting to feel just as valuable.
