Thomas Nitti
COM’20 | Communications (Advertising)
Campaign Management Intern
CCD: Tell us about your work experience. What were your responsibilities?
TN: In my time at the Ad Council, I worked on six different campaigns at once: Brest Cancer Awareness, Bullying Prevention, Diversity and Inclusion, Learning and Attention Issues, Jobs and Employment, and LGBT Acceptance. Each one brought different challenges, whether the issue was as simple as the wording of a tagline, or as complex as rearranging targeting parameters to nail down an audience.
As a Campaign Management Intern, I sat in on every meeting I could, including with clients, partners, sponsors, and top-notch advertising agencies! There was seldom a boring day, and each workday came with a new task. My role was very flexible. One day I could be pulling and analyzing donated media data and preparing PowerPoints for a client presentation or sponsor, the next I could be discussing creative directions for our upcoming campaigns!
Finally, all of the interns worked together to create a pitch for a cause that the Ad Council should support. The other Campaign Management interns and I were tasked with navigating the proposal process and bringing all of the pieces from our different departments together. In the end, we came out with an amazing campaign proposal for Men’s Mental Health!
CCD: How did you get the position? What resources at BU or elsewhere did you use?
TN: I learned of the position through a friend of a friend of a relative and then applied on the Ad Council’s job board. BU Career Services was great at helping me clean up my resume and taught me a lot about how to write a great cover letter that definitely helped prepare me to apply.
CCD: What was the best thing about the experience? What was the worst?
TN: The best thing about my time at the Ad Council was the flexibility. I was able to join campaigns that I was interested in and passionate about, which really helped me engage with my work.
The worst part was that the same flexibility could be a double-edged sword. There is so much great work going on at the Ad Council that it’s easy to want to get involved in all of it, but without proper time management it’s also easy to get overwhelmed if you let yourself.
CCD: What was the most memorable moment of your experience?
TN: The most memorable moment for me at the Ad Council was when the rest of the interns and I presented our proposal for our Men’s Mental Health campaign to the whole organization. We had been working on it for the majority of our time there, and to see it finally brought to life was amazing.
CCD: What advice would you give to another student about making the most of an internship or job experience?
TN: The best thing you can do to make the most of your internship is to be honest with what you’re looking for. If there’s something that interests you that you want to learn more about, ask about it. If you want to get involved in a project or improve your skills in a certain tool or task, ask about it. Every workplace is different, but the only way to make the most out of the opportunities available to you are to take initiative.
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