Connie Lim – 4A’s Multicultural Advertising Intern
The American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s) is the national trade association representing the advertising agency business in the United States. Under the 4A’s, the Multicultural Advertising Internship Program (MAIP) has helped jumpstart the careers of more than 2,500 students aspiring to become advertising professionals. Each year, undergraduate and graduate students are selected for the 10-week summer internship at 4A’s member advertising agencies nationwide in cities such as Boston, San Francisco, and New York City. I was lucky to be chosen as one of the students to participate in the program this past summer in New York City.
In addition to the internship, MAIP interns participate in a series of agency sponsored professional development workshops and seminars, which provide a deeper dive into the various advertising and media disciplines. Topics included Strategy, Digital Media, and the Evolution of Markets- all within the largest agencies in New York City. Each student was placed within a different agency for his or her 8 full weeks. My internship was a Media Planning role within PHD Media and I had the opportunity to work on some of their largest accounts like HBO and Google. I learned the ins and outs of media planning, which involves finding a variety of platforms for a client’s brand or product to advertise.
Working on the East Coast is a lot faster paced than on the West Coast. Interns are required to be a lot more independent and take initiative during their internships, and explicit direction is minimal. There are also a lot more perks to living in New York City; company sponsored events are always so much fun and pretty elaborate! There’s always something new to discover and someone new to meet – you can always rely on something interesting to happen in a city with 8 million people. Some of my best experiences include attending a Rolling Stones sponsored concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Going to the Museum of Modern Art on three separate occasions, and dancing at Brooklyn Bridge Park to the parade scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I’m hoping to move back someday!
Honestly, the best part of the program was all of the amazing people that I met through the program. I had two roommates, one from Philadelphia and the other from Dallas and we all got along so well. I met friends from all across the United States and we all still keep in touch and we have a great Facebook group where we update each other on opportunities and what’s going on in the Ad World.
