Derek Wong: Saatchi & Saatchi Internship

Summer 2011
Duration: 8 weeks
Position: Idea Management Intern

I can confidently say that advertising is the most exciting, creative and fulfilling industry in the world. Spreadsheets and accounting? Go ahead count your beans in a corner. Investment banking? No thanks, I’d like to keep my soul. 

This summer was my first agency stint at Saatchi & Saatchi, one of the world’s largest and prolific advertising agencies with over 140 offices in 80 countries. I was interning at the Los Angeles office (a bit of a misnomer, it’s actually in Torrance) and our client was Toyota. We had an entire 5 floor office with over 400 people dedicated towards creating exciting and innovative campaigns. 

The Saatchi Worldwide slogan is “Nothing is Impossible” and my 8-week experience definitely reinforced that notion. As an Idea Management intern I was thrust into the non-stop, hustle-bustle of client and intra-agency interaction. What exactly did I do? 

From making post-mortem reports for Leadership review, previewing scripts for Super Bowl spots, and creating an enormous 400-slide competitive analysis deck, it was a busy summer. But an amazing one at that. There was catered food for meetings, hip game rooms with pool tables and leather sofas, fresh popcorn at 3 o’clock everyday, an agency-wide sneaker contest, and even a few concerts. 

Plus, between all that stuff our Intern Team raised over $1000 to support the Revlon Run/Walk and the fight against women’s cancer, AND created a day-camp program for abused, neglected and underprivileged children.

So what are you going to do with your career? I’m sure any IT company can fit another cubicle, accounting will always be “stable”, and every business needs a bookkeeper. But for what I want to do and where I want to work, my ideas and creative juices don’t fit in a cubicle. 

www.saatchi.com/