An Owl in the Big Apple: Interning at IPG Health

My name is Jared Lopez, and I’m a senior at Temple studying advertising with a concentration in art direction. I’ve been a huge fan of the arts ever since I was a child but didn’t think there was any place that was stable enough career wise to make pursuing my dream worthwhile. This changed when I found out about the world of advertising and the career path of art direction.

I started an internship at IPG Health in one of their full-service agencies, Neon, on June 9^th. IPG Health is a huge healthcare advertising conglomerate that’s comprised of many full-service and specialty agencies, some of the most notable ones being Area 23 and Studio RX, and some of their FCB Health branches. I was very excited to jump in, but the closer the start date got, the more anxious I became. Some of the anxiety I faced was due to me quitting my full-time job of 4 years to chase my dream. The rest of the anxiety stemmed from the fact that I have to wake up at 5AM to take the train into New York City from Philadelphia on the days I go into the office. Since starting, my world has been flipped on its head for the better.

What This Experience Has Taught Me

The rush of working in an advertising agency is as advertised, there is a lot going on at any given moment and there is a pace at which you are expected to work. While studying at Temple, one thing that I haven’t learned about is the healthcare and pharmaceutical side of advertising, which is such a big industry in the U.S. In one week, I feel like I have learned so much, not just about agencies, but about disease and treatments as well. I can’t go into detail about what drugs I’m working on or the projects I’m working on as it is sensitive information, but I have learned that there are branded and unbranded campaigns within healthcare advertising and why they both exist. Branded campaigns are focused on a particular drug, whereas unbranded campaigns do not mention specific drug names. Unbranded campaigns are used to spread awareness about a disease or illness that’s out there, and let’s patients know that there are treatments options available. It has also taught me to have a diverse skillset and that I need to constantly evolve myself as a creative.

New Skillset to Think About and Work Towards

One aspect of this field that I’m more determined to pursue is creating iconography. I’m working on a big project of creating new icons and collecting existing icons to create a library for the team I work with to pull from for their websites. I didn’t know that this was something that art directors could do, I thought it fell on product/experience designers to develop. This opened up a new world for me, to design icons that reflect symptoms a patient may feel.

Meeting People That Inspire Me

I have met so many great people that inspire me to push harder and be better within my craft. The obvious one would be my mentor who has taught me so many different things and continues to answer all the questions I come to him with. Not only that, but he gives me advice on what he would do if he were in my shoes. This knowledge is something so valuable and his mentorship is something that I am extremely grateful for.

The next set of people who have inspired me are the members within my intern project group, specifically the creatives. They are so talented that it’s scary, and it makes me want to work harder to get on their level.

Advice for Those Starting a New Internship

If you have a mentor, ask questions! The whole point of an internship is to learn on the job and to gain experience. Get outside of your comfort zone and ask to do things you haven’t done before. Don’t just do the things you’re used to doing and good at, put your best foot forward and try to grow within this experience. Talk to people and ask about their journeys, people love talking about themselves. Also, don’t be like me and decide to commute 2 hours to a different city. It somewhat works for me since I’m an early bird, but waking up at 5AM is not for the faint of heart.

Landing this internship has been a dream come true. I still can’t believe it’s real and that this is actually happening, but it makes me extremely proud of myself to know that out of over 10,000 applicants, I was part of the 1% that was accepted. I can’t wait to see what the rest of this program has in store for me!