Left-Handers Unite!

Midway through week two now and I am beginning to get a better feel for the work flow.  Things started on a rather slow note as the start of this week proved to stay motivated and to stay on task even as some big deadlines loomed overhead.  Try as I may, I just could not get into what I was doing and Monday proved for the least productive day thus far here at McKinney.  Even collective brainstorming with my fellow creative interns had proven futile as nothing was getting done.  I think this lack of productivity can be blamed on a couple of factors:

1)  I get HORRIBLY distracted all of the time.  Sitting here at the computer—I can focus for maybe five minutes on something 75% of the time before I hit refresh on various blogs/message boards that I KNOW are going to either provide me with no new information or even more likely—new information that in no way, shape or form is pertinent to anything at all.  I am making a conscience effort for the coming days/weeks/months to really not allow myself to get distracted with trivial offerings (digital or not) and will really focus on not browsing the internet or things of that nature.  I mean—I enjoy what I do so it is not like it bores me at all—I just think that the problem lies more with a deep-rooted habit of continually bouncing from one thing to the next which is a complete hamper on productivity.  I managed to type off that last post in under an hour which for me set all kinds of work-efficiency precedents.

2)  We are young and inexperienced and just getting started.  In other words, there is this inclination when we get together to shoot the breeze and get to know one another better as this is all new to all of us.  I am hoping that a) soon we will run out of the "new" material to discuss with each other as well as b) we will get our act together and know when we need to get down to business and focus on the task at hand.

Moving forward with Monday, in the afternoon we had a "work flow" meeting with our supervisor that was a 101 crash course on the flow (for lack of a better word) of how ideas materialize into final products for clients.  As said, it was very brief and later this week there will be a more in-depth look at this process.  Even still I believe that to fully grasp this I will just have to see it in motion/experience it for myself—not sit through a meeting regarding the subject.

Tuesday would prove to be a very long and busy day for myself and our team.  As indicated earlier, we had a deadline to meet today.  It involved coming up with a name for a spring sale that a particular client would be having in the coming months.  A meeting had been scheduled that afternoon for the team working on this project and we were surprised to find firsthand that we—the interns—were the only ones assigned to tackle this assignment.  Exciting but at the same time rather nerve-wrecking.

Now, we had been briefed on the subject and felt pretty comfortable with the progress we made on the name, however when we handed our list of suggestions over to a head copywriter for opinions, he literally only saw one particular idea he liked and suggested we start over from there and come back tomorrow to go over these new results with him as well as the Group Creative Director (GCD.  AKA, the guy who approves every decision for client concerning all things creative.)  This was devastating to me personally as I had been over the brief multiple times—really picking it apart and immersing myself in who the target audience was and what they were looking for.  Nothing I had developed dealt at all with what this copywriter had envisioned.

So it was back to the drawing board then.  We labored the rest of the afternoon on ideas that were related to said theme and eventually had to go home with not much more than a list of ideas for each of us to figure out on our own at home.  Apparently homework still seeks me out 150 miles from home.

The next morning us interns arrived a bit earlier to consolidate our ideas to present to the copywriter as well as the GCD.  To my relief, he not only liked a few of our ideas, but also suggested we approach the subject from a different angle—essentially the angle we took the first time around but got shot down by the copywriter.  It was a small confidence boost knowing that I had not taken the brief the wrong way.  A couple hours of revisions later, we had a list of sale names that were to presented this afternoon to the client!  The work did not stop there however as we had to immediately switch gears and make some progress developing headlines for another client.  I relish the fact that they treat us like actual employees here.  We get constructive criticism from very seasoned employees and are treated as adults.  But we have this assurance too as whenever we have a question or concern, it is treated with respect as while we are adults, we are still learning the ropes and understandably we can't be expected to know how everything works.

Now, time to tie this entry back into the title.  I have noticed in meetings that a high percentage of people working in the creative department here is left-handed (in a room of 4 people, 3 were left handed.  This is not just a one time occurrence either.)  A few other things worth noting:

-Nine to five does not exist in the slightest sense here.  Most people don't come in until 10ish, and don't leave sometimes till well after six (I can only comment until that time since I have not stayed later than six myself but I can speculate on the subject.)

-People run on coffee.  Thanks to my mother, I have done my absolute best not to a dependancy on coffee.  When she comes to visit me, the first thing she does is check the cabinets for coffee and when none can be found, goes to the grocery store and makes the purchase.  This addiction she has scares me and I have thus sworn the beverage off.  Here, I fully grasp the fact that I must be in the minority.  That stuff is brewed around the clock, and people almost always have a cup in hand.  Perhaps sleep is not an option for these people I suppose...

-Stares officially end meetings.  Yesterday as we waited to end a conference room for a meeting, we approached the door and found the room still occupied.  Being new here, we just waited patiently outside the door assuming people would clear out when their meeting was finished.  Well, apparently they were just not doing much of anything because a "real" employee who was attending our meeting just walked up to the door (everything is glass here) and stared at people through the glass.  Literally not one minute later the room was vacated for us.

These are the "brand towers." This is where above story took place.

-The best way to motivate people still seems to be food.  At least for the creatives—allow me to elaborate:  While McKinney is a full-service agency, for a variety of reasons (everyone here is busy, technological limitations, etc) there are times that another agency is called on to aid with a project.  These agencies from what I have observed tend to be very specific to one task (web design, sound design, programming, etc) and very much want to be your "Go to guy" when you need assistance.  So there are all of these presentations throughout the week where a spokesperson will come and present their case as to why you should choose them.  As a full service agency, the business is split into departments (creatives, analytics, management, the list goes on) and only relevant departments are invited to these presentations as they are the ones who decide if their services can be utilized.  And what better way to woo people than with good food.  This roughly translates to me tagging along as I fall under the creative hood to all of these demo's where food is catered to us.  So two to three times a week I get free food in addition to learning/seeing something new!

Thursday proved to be a shining example of how unique my position is over my fellow interns in the form of my ability to devote all my time/resources to McKinney.  The workload was a bit lighter today and as such that allows me to work at my own pace to meet my deadlines as well as immerse myself within McKinney and continue to gain valuable insight into agency dynamics.