Culpwrit

I started my internship at Ketchum in early June, and no two days have been alike. That’s why it’s difficult for me to describe a day-in-the-life of a Ketchum intern. It should come as no surprise that I enlisted my fellow interns to help me describe the typical day of a Ketchum intern.

Ketchum’s Chicago office has eight interns this summer. We all work on different accounts, but we come together for the big projects. Our days consist of a lot of monitoring and acting as the glue that holds everything together. Unlike some internships, we’re legitimate members of the account team. We do a lot of the small things that keep entire programs going. Creating briefing books, drafting client emails, and flagging real-time marketing opportunities for our teams are just a few tasks we complete daily.

The daily tasks are important, but a Ketchum internship is special because of the amazing things we get to do. I hinted at the differentiating factor earlier: we’re legitimate members of the account team. I asked my fellow interns to describe something they’ve done during their internship that they couldn’t believe. Here’s what they had to say:

Rachel Cox: Growing up in Des Moines, pork has always been part of my life. I can’t believe I get to work with a client headquartered in my hometown and in an industry that impacted much of my life growing up.

Robyn Wolfish: Serving as a community manager for a client’s Facebook page is an exciting responsibility. The page launched at the beginning of my internship, and it’s incredible to think that I have played a role in establishing the brand’s presence on social media.

Christina O’Connell: Getting to travel to New York for an editor media event has been the best moment of my internship. I feel like a valuable member of the team because I have had the opportunity to work across all aspects of this brand. Seeing the media attendees enjoying the event and our client receiving coverage after was worth the long hours.

Patrick Messenger: Entering my experience at Ketchum, I never thought I would be traveling to client events, communicating directly with the client and playing a role in actual creative planning. Well, that is what I am working on here at Ketchum. Outside of working directly with clients, I’ve had the opportunity to work with the business development team here at Ketchum. I work on developing case studies, new business pitches and finding new business leads. Oh, did I mention that my colleagues rock? Because of the awesome professionals I work with, I learn every single day.

Paige Wassel: I couldn’t believe I was asked to help Ketchum shape its future by working on the new business team. The new business process is long and filled with pitfalls, but it’s one of the most rewarding aspects of public relations.

Claire Fleischer: As a research intern, I was able to help every team develop strategy based on insights and trends. When I started at Ketchum, I did not realize how much of an impact research had on shaping the decisions and actions of other teams.

Jeff Campbell: Partnering with a celebrity has been the highlight of my internship at Ketchum. Being at the event in person allowed me to experience the best aspect of public relations: being a brand ambassador for your client.

Together: We worked an event that required us to wake up at 5 a.m. and become brand ambassadors for the day. Rachel was the only one familiar with the program, but we were all asked to help with this activation.

Adrian Villalpando, a 2013 graduate of the PRAD program at DePaul University, is an intern at Ketchum Public Relations working in the brand practice.