ARNOLD WORLDWIDE
Samantha Burns

A Dean’s List student from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Samantha Burns majored in psychology with minors in business and communications. She belonged to Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society and worked in the past as an administrative assistant at Cheltenham Township Tax Office as well as for the United Jewish Appeal. Samantha studied management in the Turks and Caicos Islands through Boston University’s Field Studies program in marine-protected areas, and she traveled to Greece and Rome with EF Educational Tours. A reporter for the Brown and White student newspaper, Samantha requested an internship in event-planning, public relations, marketing and/or advertising and special events. In light of Samantha’s international experience, academic preparation, and past employment, the Washington Internship Program placed her at Arnold Worldwide – a prominent advertising agency in McLean, Virginia. Samantha was also accepted at the public-relations firm of Gallagher & Gallagher where she might work at the Pennsylvania branch during the upcoming academic year or next summer in Washington, D.C. Samantha and her friend Jessica Sardella, also from Lehigh University, applied to WIP in January of 2006, and they became roommates at Summit Hills in an apartment shared with other interns within a complex made available through the Washington Internship Program. Samantha had a phone interview at Arnold Worldwide and was accepted there on May 28; two days later, she was offered an internship at Gallagher & Gallagher. The first internship started in June. Samantha discusses her experience below:  

“The Washington, D.C.-area office of Arnold Worldwide is located in a building that holds eighty company employees, and this branch is part of a large advertising agency with offices in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and other cities internationally. Arnold produces print ads, television and radio commercials, billboards and transit posters, brochures, and interactive media like online banners. On my first day, a meeting was held with the ten other interns, and we were given a swipe card and folder of useful information. After a tour of the facilities, we were taken to our cubicles, each of which had a welcome sign on the door before our names. Right from the start, I appreciated the friendly atmosphere.” 
           
“I was placed in the traffic department while most other interns were assigned to account management. My department handles the flow of work throughout the agency. We deal directly with account-service production, media, studio, creative, and brand- planning departments. In general, a traffic manager creates schedules for advertisements in light of budget, approval, timelines, and distribution. Traffic managers deal with multiple projects, all with separate clients and due dates. New projects must be worked into the process, and any rush jobs are expedited through the system. Each time a request is changed, it must circulate for revision via traffic managers. Staff members and interns who work in this area must be well organized, efficient, and able to coordinate different tasks while prioritizing one’s own assignments and keeping other workers on task.”

            “Arnold Worldwide has a lot of big accounts, and I worked primarily with Amtrak, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Colonial Williamsburg.  For the first two weeks, I followed a mentor around the office while she delivered information and attended meetings.  When she was busy, I did her job myself. At first, it was overwhelming to jump into projects that had been ongoing for months, and I had difficulty watching corrections being made and never seeing the final product. It was also hard to keep track of which ads and team members went with which accounts. However, after a few weeks I became familiar with the whole trafficking process.”

“After two weeks at Arnold Worldwide, my mentor left the company along with two other people in my department. Due to a shortage of employees, I was temporarily made an interactive traffic manager! For a month and a half, I handled all interactive advertisements by myself. These ads are animated online, so I dealt with banners on web-pages and templates on E-mails. In the D.C.-area office, we create, develop, and design ads, after which I sent them to the Boston office for animation. Then the advertisements came back to me, and I was responsible for getting them to account service – the department in charge of client approval and delivery to other companies that post ads live. I worked with a woman in Boston who helped me figure out schedules and timing for animation, but I was in charge of making sure all interactive projects ran smoothly.”

“The most difficult part of my job was keeping track of all project changes, which can be as small as adding a comma to a sentence or as large as starting over from scratch on an image. Multiple issues usually arise on every account, and twice a day I produced a ‘hot-list’ of upcoming deadlines. I also created folders on my desktop and saved related information. This job required me to be on top of all developments and constantly interact with other people.”
 
            “One of the things I liked most about my position was working with many departments so I learned how the entire agency functions. As a psychology major, I initially wanted a public-relations internship and blindly entered the advertising world! Dealing with different personalities under stress – including creative minds versus account executives – drew upon my academic training. I also observed that the client comes first in this field. Although my hours were technically 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., I often worked from 7 in the morning until 10 at night when assignments needed to be finished.”

            “Before I became a manager, I helped with research on minority franchising and created a PowerPoint presentation to accompany it. At the time, Arnold Worldwide was hoping to gain Trex, a decking company, as a new client, so the interns participated in a commercial/video pitch. People from the company went to a house in Virginia where we hosted and filmed a large barbeque on a Trex deck, during which we were asked why we liked the product and discussed related matters. A volley-ball net was set up, and we enjoyed plenty of good food. Everyone had a great time.”
  
            “Arnold Worldwide ran a few informational meetings, held at lunchtime, that were specifically for interns. Topics included: ‘Brand Planning 101’ and ‘Account Management 101’; people from the company gave presentations and then accepted questions. All interns were invited to agency-wide meetings, and we were treated like regular employees. On Wednesday nights speakers were hosted, and we had drinks at 5 p.m. I attended a wonderful slideshow and lecture by photojournalist David Burnett whose work has appeared in Time Magazine and National Geographic, among other famous publications.”

            “The last day of my internship took place at the annual company outing. This year it was held at Dulles Gold Center & Sport Park. Games and teams were organized in advance, and it was followed by a big picnic. Arnold Worldwide has a slogan that the firm hires people with whom a person would want to sit down and have a beer, and the company’s social, engaging atmosphere made it pleasant – as well as educational – to work there.”

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