StrawberryFrog's Chief Strategy Officer chats with YouIntern.com (II)

Ilana Bryant is the Chief Strategic Office at StrawberryFrog, one of the most influential independent agencies worldwide. She was kind enough to answer some questions about planning, strategy, StrawberryFrog and internships. In Part I, she discussed her agency and its take on planning.
In Part II below, she discusses internships, how students can prepare for a career in strategy and planning, and how to get noticed.

YouIntern: Let’s move to interns. What does StrawberryFrog look for in young talent?

Ilana Bryant: In strategic planning, I look for people who are masters of both logic and magic.- fusing the business skills and creative skills. Being articulate is important because this industry requires people who can inspire and persuade others on the strength of their presentations. Interns tend to be self-starting, entrepreneurial I think your attention is drawn to interns who speak to you personally and connect with you. No matter what discipline you’re in.

YouIntern: What can interns do, in terms of classes, projects, books they can read, places they can do – what are things that people can do? Rather than assume that people are born with that ambitious, creative, entrepreneurial skillset, and also not saying that people can train themselves to think that way, what are some things that people can do to get that competitive advantage?

Ilana: The first thing I would say is to do your research and your homework, and be targeted. Be focused, like a laser beam, on the task, rather than try to reach out to everyone. Nothing ever lands on my desk that hasn’t been personalized to this agency or to me. That’s what gets through. It’s fundamentals of Communication 101 – you have to do things that are particularly tailored to your target audience and your goal. The second thing, and I can only speak toward the strategic discipline, is that I’ve hired interns on the strength of their books. There was one person that we hired who kept sending me really intelligent emails and just said “I want your opinion on my book.” I thought “this girl has chutzpah, come on in.” She had no planning experience but she came in and had some great ideas. She really connected with me and thought through the work.

YouIntern: What do you see as the role of interns at StrawberryFrog? What would they do, what have they done?

Ilana: It’s as much as they can take on. Regarding their strategic capabilities, I can say that two members of the planning department were hired as former interns. Part of it was during a pitch and just saying “let’s see what you can do.” They took on so much out of their own initiative, made themselves part of the team and offered so much of their own skills and ideas.

YouIntern: What about the role?

Ilana: The role is really to assist key strategic functions (insight gathering, research, ideation etc) but also be part of the overall team – so the scope really depends on your skill set and how much you want to contribute. I’m not going to say that you’ll never Xerox, or that you’ll never spray-mount stuff, but let’s face it: I spent the first year of my life spray-mounting stuff until my eyes got glued shut, and I had a graduate degree! So you’ll do some photocopying, but you also might come up with the ‘big idea’ for the project and present it to the CEO.

I think it’s very sad that internship are crucial to get a foot in the door, but really are only available to those people who are privileged enough to afford it and not burdened with heavy student loans. Internships in advertising are usually in expensive cities like NY, San Francisco or Miami. I would encourage your website to think of ways to enable people to take internships, whether through a scholarships or fundraising applications (like Obama’s site) or helping interns to find economical room shares in these expensive, far away cities. I’ve had interns walk to work from Brooklyn! (editor’s note: StrawberryFrog is located on Madison Ave. That’s a long way).

One last point: let’s face it, there’s a firewall. Be creative. I’ve heard about the G.I. Joe doll that was sent from agency to agency as a resume. Or the creative team that rented the office next to an agency CEO and sailed paper airplanes with their resumes on it into his office all day long. It can be a gamble, but most of the time, it’s going to get through.

And enthusiasm. Hone your message and tailor your points to the place where you’re interviewing. There are great places you can go. Why here? And tell us what you have done! Don’t spend the interview talking about what the agency has done. I’ve also had a couple of resumes come through that took a very human approach, just talking about who they were and what they liked, in a way that wasn’t standardized or very business-like. Even having humor in there helps. Obviously it’s risky but if you’re entering the communications industry, take a chance!