Notes from an Advertising Executive

By Joe Grimaldi
Chief Executive Officer
Mullen

Here are some thoughts from Joe Grimaldi who is the CEO at Mullen. Mullen is a renowned advertising agency with locations in Massachussetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan. As a huge supporter the internship program, Joe actively engages with interns on various occasions. He speaks to them during their first week during a lunch and learn session, judges their final new business presentation, and loves to get to know them in the cafeteria.

1. What do you feel is the most differentiating feature about Mullen’s internship program, and how has this benefited the students, and the agency?

“We care about the education the interns get and put time, energy and senior management involvement into it. We need the best people to come into the business if we are to be a competitive industry, and the best way to do that is to help shape them. It’s an industry cause.”

2. Did you intern anywhere before you started working? If so, where? What was it like?

“No. I got lucky and walked out of school in Manhattan and into the media department of a top 5 agency.”

3. Name one trait you love to see in your interns, but feel you don’t see enough of?

“Two things, actually: 1) Being a sponge that absorbs everything with unbridled enthusiasm and organized thought. 2) The ability to voice original thought and ideas in a way that is not easily dismissed by people with significantly more experience.”

For more internship related tips, visit the InternshipRatings.com advice column Take Note

Internship Ratings of the Week: Focus on Mullen

InternshipRatings.com offers potential interns unique inside-information that will allow him or her to make a better informed decision about applying to a specific company. The free expression section of the rating is equally as important as the questions because it allows users to get a more detailed idea about the company. It is a way to learn about specific departments, horror/funny stories, specific responsibilities and other aspects of the experience. Each week, we will highlight a critique that offers meaningful insight (good and bad) about the intern world at Company X.

This week, I will feature a post about Mullen, a communications agency (specializing in Advertising, Public Relations and Marketing) renowned for its business approach termed collective entrepreneurialism. It has grown to become the 22nd largest communications firm in the United States. It is based in Wenham, Mass., a suburb of Boston. Mullen has a well established internship program that has already received more than 200 applicants for Summer 2008. 

The anonymous brand planning intern who worked at Mullen last Summer had the opportunity network, gain an understanding of the Advertising industry and meet other college students. Networking with company employees and co-interns is important for future endeavors, such as applying for jobs. The fact that Mullen encourages employees and interns to interact is a fabulous quality of its summer program. This person enjoyed weekly catered brown bag lunches (my mouth is starting to water) for her department. In addition to this, there were other events like ice cream/pizza parties and intern kickball. Events like this demonstrate a few great qualities about the company and its summer program: 1) It is invested in its employees and openly appreciates them 2) It establishes camaraderie among interns and employees 3) It wants to cultivate an internship program that differentiates itself from other similar communications firms by giving interns perks 4) Activities such as these allow Mullen to gain a greater sense of a person outside of the regular bustling office scene...think of an interactive interview process. 

Another positive aspect of Mullen's program is its focus on teamwork. At the end of the eight-week experience, interns are separated into teams and must create a new business pitch for a client. The presentations are judged by principal members of the company--in this case it was the CEO, COO and New Business Director. This opportunity enables interns to combine all of the skills they have learned throughout the experience and gain feedback from accomplished professionals. This project seems invaluable because of the skills you can perfect (ie public speaking, strategic planning and teamwork). It is more useful for a future career than any mock proposal I have had to turn in at school. I also agree with the post in that "the fact that such high profile people invested time in the internship program speaks to the culture at Mullen." 

If you are interested in reading the rest of the rating, please click on this link.

--Stephanie