Long past the halfway point...

With less than 3 weeks left of my time in London, my entries on my actually internship have been kind of lacking. I have a tendency to want to write about London the city, rather than the whole reason I came on this program... the internship! So to recap, I'm working at a digital marketing agency called Head London. They're this really cool agency that basically helps other companies revamp their websites to be more user friendly or just look nicer in general. They've won a whole host of awards, so being able to intern there was definitely an intimidatingly exciting opportunity. (And yes, all those jokes about calling a business "Head"... they've thought of them all.)

The agency itself is in Soho, blocks away fromo Oxford Street (one of the most well-known streets in London for its amazing High Street shopping). The office is only 2 floors, converted from an old townhouse overflowing with about 25 people. They're so jam packed in the office that they're actually going to be moving into an amazing new space in September... after I leave. Nonetheless, the area is amazing with a good share of overpriced fancy restaurants and cheap sandwich shops for the less financially stable of us in the world. I'm used to working in a cubicle, wearing business attire, which is exactly the opposite feel at Head. Having no real dress code at the office means some people are decked out in high street fashion, others look like they're about to clean out the garage. Definitely a change from what I'm used to from past internships.

The main room of the office. No cubicles here!

With no design or technical skills whatsoever, my internship has been less focused on the building of websites and more in project management. Within my first few days on the job, I sat in on new client meetings, assessing their brand identity, target market, and just figuring out how the product worked.

The thing about a marketing agency is that because business is dependent on external clients, work is constant and overlapping. No client wants their website rebuild to take any longer than necessary, which makes our deadlines pretty hectic at times. Part of being an intern is fitting into each task or project and filling in the holes that others can't get to. This can mean updating a disorganized filing system or it can mean sitting in on a client meeting and taking notes. Thankfully, it can also mean taking on some more responsibility because there just isn't enough time in the day. 

The biggest challenge for me is deciding when to ask for more responsibility and when to try and find it myself. With such a busy office, sometimes my coworkers are eager to have an extra helping hand with their work, and other days they don't even have enough time to delegate. Once you get a handle on the office, it can be a lot easier to pick a moment to ask questions or another new project. Along with the more technical aspects of building a website, you also need someone to write all that witty dialogue that goes into a site. Since my normal supervisor was out of town, I ended up asking the head copywriter if he needed some help with any of the clients' websites, and he did! So now in addition to my normal roles, I'll be able to write for one of our more interesting clients (I may be a bit biased about that now of course).