So I’m coming up to the end of my 5-week internship at OMD UK, and it’s been a real hoot. From visiting Facebook’s headquarters (where the speed of the lifts resembles Detonator from Thorpe Park) to designing the interior of a Heinz-style bus I’ve had a hugely varied and informative experience.
As expected with a creative media agency, the attire at OMD UK is fairly relaxed. Having not anticipated this I turned up in a full suit and looked more out of place than a corn flake in a bowl of coco pops. So the next day I promptly came in wearing jeans and sure enough became an official OMD coco pop.
The Omnicom Group feels like a giant creative octopus, with each leg being a different department. At the start of the internship I was pretty muddled but now I’ve finally got to grips with all of the departments (but don’t test me…). I’ve travelled along quite a few of the legs, joining Talon, Simbiotik and Drum and learnt a lot about them on the way. I’m very grateful for the sewage leak at Simbiotik at 4pm which led to the closure of the office and thus a necessary pub visit.
I thought OMD UK was quite a small agency prior to arriving but straight from my first meeting with the likes of PepsiCo and McDonald’s it was clear OMD UK is a real humdinger in the media industry. I don’t want to speculate but this could be all down to the hot desk system. The equality and fairness of it all creates a perfect harmony of happy employees. Or maybe that’s not true at all and OMD UK’s success is actually down to its friendly atmosphere, talented and hardworking individuals!
One of the nicest things about my time here was seeing my work travel a different route rather than straight to the bin. Often the case with interns is they’re given dummy tasks since they can’t be trusted to do proper work. However, I was definitely trusted (for the better or worse) at the agency and it was great to see some of my ideas propagate to official decks.
I’ve met a great deal of talented, friendly folks here and I thank you all for aiding this intern along his way. Big thanks to Gareth Orr for putting up with my occasional tardiness and my odd facts.
I’d like to leave you with one last fun fact; the official inventor of the fire hydrant is unknown because the original patent was burned in a fire. Irony at its fiery best!
