This week they added a new soldier(intern) to the War Room(the 8x15 ft space where these soldiers do battle). Regis likes to take a few afternoon breaks in the War Room. He says it "re-energizes" him. Whatever that means.

Regis, who is originally from Brazil, is in charge of generating media in Spanish speaking countries. He is especially busy right now due to the World Cup. Regis must get really nervous when Brazil has a match because whenever they are on TV he goes home sick. Weird right? He may be getting sick due to the fact that he eats a Whopper from Burger King every single day. He's head over heals for them for the sole fact that they are flame-broiled. Sometimes we like to push his buttons and tell him that they are made of rat meat or that Wendy's and McDonald's bugers are so much better. He flips out. He bought us all coupons for a free Whopper last week and it all started to make sense. The guy has a lifetime supply of these coupons.

Some positive results came from the event I pitched last week. AP Newark picked it up. Felt good. The blog research is finally starting to mobilize. Today and yesterday I initiated a dialogue with the bloggers to see how they would feel giving an honest review of our product on their blog in exchange for a free trial of the product. So far people have been very receptive.

Pitching the bloggers was the tricky part. A superior to me on the team blasted a press release to the entire list with out me knowing. This might have had a negative effect on the outcome. Bloggers are not journalists, a press release is not going to work. I back tracked through the list and sent personalized emails to each blogger and the results showed that it was more effective. Our next step is to ship the product to the bloggers.

I came across an article that made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. It was titled Entry Level Devils. The article ties together Interns, The Devil Wears Prada, The Hills and PoweR Girls. Using the characters from these movies/reality shows the writer supported her theory that my generation, Generation Y, has a false sense of entitlement. Is she nuts? I dont even want to use myself as an example to combat her theory because I'm one of many that are husting to open doors for themselves while the student loans pile up. The subjects she used to support her topic made her aguement very easy. In an e-mail I told her,

"I know for a fact I am not the only student with loans that scare the shit out of me, a part time job, an internship and a good attitude. If you ever want to write about how the “other half works” I will be able to give you plenty of subject topics."

So far no reply.

Good Talk. See you out there.

Week three has been slow. Continued researching blog. My list of possible outreach is up 30, give or take a few. This work is not extremely difficult but when I look at the computer screen for extended periods of times I go cross eyed.

I was also able to get my feet wet with writing news releases. The event is a celebrity golf tournament and the angle that we are pitching are the odds from Vegas for each participant. Kind of easy due to the fact that once you write the first one the others easily fit the same format. All you have to do is change the name, title and some other facts.

Besides the blogging, which i dedicate most of my time to. I have done such things as...

1. Fax media advisories to news assignment desks
2. Followed up those faxes with e-mails
3. Followed up those e-mails with phone calls
4. Made some copies
5. Arranged to have copies of videos and DVDs made
6. Ordered back copies of a few magazines and newspapers

I stumbled across an article on Business Week's website that listed the "Top 10 Intern Mistakes". It is a long article so if you feel like reading it just click on the link.

Overall it was a good week. Although I would like to receive more challenging assignments.

I have made some solid progess on the blog research. I was able to meet with an account supervisor who seems to really know what she is talking about when it comes to blogs. My list of blogs for potential outreach is growing by the day especially after I was introduced to sites like feedster, technorati, pubsub and bloglines. It makes searching the blogosophere alot easier.

Most of this week has been devoted to researching these blogs with an occasional proof read here and there. Hopefully I can have a solid list ready by thursday after noon so I can start figuring out how to pitch them come Monday morning.

I was also asked to compile a few media lists this week. Piece of cake. Speaking of cake, we had a birthday in the office this week. Someone had the cute idea to get a cake for the birthday boy. An intern was put in charge of ordering the delicous ice cream cake and collecting $5 from everyone in the office, even the unpaid interns. $5 is exactly what it is, $5. Due to the fact that I had just met this guy a week ago and have said less than 10 words to him I feel like a simple happy birthday would suffice. Nonetheless, the interns ordered the cake, picked up the cake and helped to pay for the cake. Bushleague if you ask me.

When it was time to assemble in the "kitchen" to sing happy birthday like a bunch of idiots there was no knife or candles. Someone made a great comment that instinctively made me clench my fists. "We have 4 interns and we can't even get candle's for a birthday cake." I felt like saying, "Listen, this is your friend and your idea so if you want to put 25 candles on a delicous ice cream cake and sing happy birthday than go buy the (expletive) candles yourself." They sent an intern (who ironically was the same age as the birthday boy)to get a knife to cut the cake. I was embarrassed for him. No lie, I did not say a single word during this whole ordeal. I figured that if I opened my mouth someone would have ended up crying.

Don't get me wrong, no job is below me. I've been a busboy, a waiter, a landscaper and a bartender. I've taken more shit from more people than you could imagine. Why? Because after it was all over I had there money in my pocket. This internship is not paid. It is for credits. So I have to look at it like a class. I am here to learn. Not to buy cakes for unappreciative ____________ (insert your own curse word here).

After the whole ordeal was over the four of us (interns) were sitting at our desks quietly discussing the situation when, and the timing was perfect, an account coordinator walked in. He was holding the dirty knife we used to cut the cake by the handle as if it were a dirty diaper and asked, "Can someone bring this upstairs." Unbelievable.

First things first. Mondays suck. Luckily today was a fairly quiet day in the office.

Last week I was asked to compile a list of websites that we could possibly use to launch our client's new sports drink. After reading the research that our agency had done on the client and the market I figured that it was best to target fitness websites but more specifically endurance sports (i.e. cycling, running, skiing). I passed the list off to another team member who expanded on it and set up a meeting with one of the account managers.

The acct manager had a few questions about blogs. To be honest i didn't have all the answers to but I tried to answer all of them. He then gave me the next step in the process which was to "narrow down" the best 30-50 blogs pertaining to our client.

Let's get this straight. I am far from a blog expert nor do I claim to be but what better way to learn than to dive right in. I'll let you know how it turns out.

(p.s. If anyone can provide me with information as to how to go about this I am open to all suggestions.)

The agency that I interned at during the fall semester decided to open a new firm, one floor below, to accomodate their smaller clients. I was given the oppurtinity to make the move as an intern to a smaller but fast growing agency. I jumped all over it.

The difference in size was the first difference I noticed. The previous internship has around 75 people working. The new office employs 8 people and 4 interns. The atmosphere is extremely team oriented. My past experice allowed me to hit the ground running.

I am one of four interns currently working. My first thought was that I would need to do something to seperate myself from them because in the long run they are my competitors.

Each morning when we arrive we are asked to research our clients and find any media impressions that have been published in the last 24 hours. This task is relatively easy when utilizing "Google Alerts".

Our first day consisted solely of myself and another intern putting together press kits for a client launch. This task should of taken us 1 hour at the most but because of a spelling error we needed to undo all of our work and start from the beginning. Twice! What are you going to do?

Throughout the week we kept a close eye on the coverage of our client's launch. We scoured the internet, compiled a clip book of all articles and called newspapers to request print versions of these articles. Mindless work but definitely necessary.

During my last internship I was fortunate enough to pitch different media. I quickly became very comfortable doing this and actually enjoyed this. Unfortunately I dont see myself getting this oppurtunity this summer.

The agency is in the process of planning a launch for a new sports drink. I was asked to compile a list of different fitness/sports websites that could possibly help publicize the podcasts.

As for reading I came across an article in Brandweek that was definitely relevant to the direction that public relations is heading. The article explained how Sprint sent new cell phones to top internet bloggers along with six months of free service. The article questioned if this was just another form of payola or clever marketing. Sprint did not ask for a necessarily favorable review and the bloggers said that they would only give an honest review. In fact one blogger said that if sprint responded to his unfavorable review by rescinding the gift he would post that letter on his blog. This proves that the public relations industry has yet to crack the blogosphere. Pitching a blogger is a delicate area. Bloggers can write about whatever they want and however they want to. Persuading a blogger to mention your product goes against the foundations that blogging was founded on. Blogging best characteristic is that fact that it allows everyone yo have a voice.

I am currently on my second stint as an intern at a public relations agency in NYC and entering my senior year at Seton Hall University. To receive credits for interning I am required to e-mail my adviser weekly, informing her of the kind of work that I am doing. I decided that instead of sending an e-mail to her weekly I would post a blog. This tactic would therefore kill two birds with one stone. I will fulfill my internship requirements while at the same time become more familiar with this wild blogging phenomenon.