Final preparations are underway for students from this year’s DIT masters in advertising studies to make their ‘search for creative intelligence’ pitches to industry leaders. Divided into two agency teams, AdGrad 17, pictured, will present ad campaigns based on briefs from two clients. This year it’s the turn of not-for-profit organisations, Focus Ireland and the Children’s Medical & Research Foundation (CMRF) at Crumlin Hospital.
Each team sees the students take on traditional agency roles across all disciplines to tackle the communications challenges presented in the briefs. The pitches are the culmination of the MSc students’ academic year. Rosie Hand, who heads up advertising studies at DIT Aungier Street, says the course covers all aspects in agency work – copywriting, radio and TV production, design, client service, strategy and developing insight.
The class boasts a group of lecturers with a wealth of agency experience, including Conor Ferguson, Jonathan Forrest, Shane Holohan, Yvonne Tuohy and James Dunne. The class also had a chance to address real briefs and present them to clients, such as SVP. Programme co-ordinator Rosie Hand says the pitch is a chance for this year’s class to show the industry what they’ve learned and what they have to offer.
“The pitch and the course itself are a well-worn path in adland,” Hand told AdLib, “with many of its alumni expected to attend in the hopes of spotting new talent.” The pitches will be staged in the campus at DIT Aungier on June 8. More on the event can be found on adgrad.ie, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by searching AdGrad17.
Hand says some of her students have already signed up as agency interns. They should be interested in a study by Chemistry which shows that not every agency treats young, aspiring adlanders with the respect they deserve. The research found that of the 140 young people interviewed, most of them are not happy campers.
Over half were not paid at all, or just had expenses covered – despite doing the same job as a paid employee. One in three felt unfairly treated. Working for free is seen by many interns as mandatory on their career ladders. Duties included menial office tasks and demands to collect dry cleaning or picking up the kids from school.
Colm Carey writes about interns and why adland should show them the right respect in the May issue of Marketing.ie… also, read about what TV3’s Virgin Media Solutions is up to
