McCann Erickson

An Intro to McCann

We like to think we're a friendly bunch of people, 265 talented individuals crammed in to a unique Art Deco Grade II building that used to be a car park! We're all committed to finding the perfect blend of diligence, insight and creativity that will help nurture our brands. Whether it's a widget, telly ad or documentary film, we work together to find the right cultural connection and communications solution for all our clients' brands. It's not always plain sailing, but it is a lot of fun.

At McCann, we take our graduate training really seriously. It is after all where we hope our future Managing Directors and Heads of Department are going to come from, so it's in our best interests that we train you well.

The truth is that there is no magic formula; no secret to the success of a McCann Graduate. We actually like that you will all be a bit different to each other but what you will all have in common is bags of raw promise.

We have a fantastic, award winning training scheme that will cover your first three months but that's just the start. Beyond that we stubbornly stick to a single aim for the entire duration of your career at McCann: to fulfill your potential in whatever way suits you best.

Training for Super Heroes

We cram as many things as we can into a jam packed twelve weeks. You learn about strategy, creative work, media planning, digital, production, PR and much more. It doesn't end there, as a founder member of the IPA's Continuous Professional Development scheme you will receive training at all stages of your career.

We do all this because we want you to gain an understanding of how we like to work and want you to feel confident that you're going to be a valuable member of your accounts from day one. You'll also hopefully have fun along the way and will get to know all the people that you're going to be working with - a difficult conversation that you might have to have in the future is made a lot easier if you've had a beer with them.

Key aspects of our training include:

1. Experience in all departments - this means you realise from the start how hard everyone's job is, not just your own.

2. Access to our World Group Partners, for example: Universal McCann, our Media Agency and Weber Shandwick our PR Agency.

3. A chance to demonstrate your learning and ability in a business pitch to management.

4. We want you to be happy - you get total emotional and practical support from the training team and your mentor.

The Best Bit of Advice for a New Grad?

A Day in the Life of a Planner

Chris Gallery, Account Planner

6.45 – Alarm, SNOOZE…briefly think it's Friday before remembering its Tuesday and I have a busy day.

7.45 – Finally stop pressing snooze and actually get up.

8.32 – Bring a copy of presentation I've been working on to read on the Tube…choose to read The Metro instead…page 5 introduces us to the Cat Man…an American guy who has tattooed his face, had his teeth filed and had surgery to look like a tiger…apparently he works in an office and says he is no different to anyone else except for looking like a tiger…interesting.

9.34 – Catch up with the MasterCard team. Talk about the Cat Man for a bit. All agree Jon is probably weirder than the Cat Man.

11.02 – After spending the morning tweaking the presentation, we go and meet our new client, The Black Farmer (Britain's only black farmer apparently...), to present him our strategy. It goes well despite Kuba's beard proving to be a distraction…

1.08 – Lunch at desk, have a bit of time to read The Irish Times online, catch up on what’s going on at home…economy crap, weather rubbish, football team improving…no wonder I don't feel home sick here.

2.11 – Need to finish a MasterCard presentation for tomorrow. Put on headphones to help concentrate in case Harris starts talking (read: shouting)…

2.46 – Harris starts 'talking' to someone…need bigger headphones…

4.01 – Catch up with MasterCard team to go through the presentation. Raady from Universal McCann goes on a 15 minute rant about how wrong everything is…I shut off and wonder who should make my fantasy football team this weekend. By the time I start paying attention again Dave and Raady have reached a conclusion that everyone is happy with….

5.20 – Catch up with Black Farmer team, everyone agrees with the creative brief…all signed off, ready to brief teams tomorrow…

6.03 – Conference call with Black and Decker NY team. Need to talk to them about how to research the new global creative work. First things first though, ask them if they have heard of the Cat Man. They haven’t, but agree Jon is weirder.

7.00 – Go across the road to the pub to celebrate the end of Tuesday. Randomly, Jon spots Cat Man walking across the street and calls him over, 'Hey Cat Man'…after 10 minutes of conversation we’re not sure who's weirder any more, Jon or Cat Man, it’s a close call.

Cat Man...

A Day in the Life of an Account Exec

Account Executive, India Woolridge

8.15am: Fact for the day: when policemen are trained in high speed chases they are taught to look four cars ahead to quicken their reactions/speed. Apply the same logic to cut through the shuffling commuters - quite effective until another businessman with those stupid rucksack on wheels trips me up.

9am: Free breakfast at work. The student in me lives on and scoops up far more than I can eat, it is free after all.

9.15am: Catch up on emails whilst removing crumbs of toast from my keyboard. No wonder my computer is so slow, it probably digests more bread than I do.

9.45am: Make to-do list.

10.00am: Forget list as despatch window call to say I have a crate of wine delivered. Awesome! Declare my secret admirer to the team before skipping down to find it is just another box of coffee from my Nestle client.

11am: Arrange said coffee in ceremonial pile for brainstorm meeting with our planners. It looks like a Duplo creation I managed aged three. Good stuff.

12.30am: From building blocks to the real deal in one fell swoop. Review our Barclays Premier brand film which was shot in a branch we designed in Lisbon. It looks phenomenal. Excitement is tempered as I realise I need to sort out finances for this - boring. Call client to sort out but we're sidetracked and chat through their intranet pages I've been creating for them - yes this job has no boundaries; I am an account executive slash web developer extraordinaire.

1.30pm: Lunch for me and my computer.

3.30pm: Find myself trying to speak in Spanish. McCann in Mexico need usage rights on a Nestle ad urgently - try to reassure them saying I'm two steps ahead but not sure my broken Spanglish conveys police logic very well.

3.45pm: Catch up with fellow grad over coffee whilst reading through work experience applications. Should I worry that their CV's are better than mine?

6pm: Home via our local for a quick drink.

8pm: The words "just one more drink" echo gleefully.

***

7.30am: Damn the words "just one more drink"...

24 Hours with a Creative Team

Neil & Jay, Creatives

4:27hrs: BANG BANG BANG. Jamal from Addison Lee is early.

5:12hrs: Jamal wakes me up again. We're at Gatwick.

8.48hrs: Land in Oslo. It looks cold outside. I ask Jay if he's brought a jacket. He shakes his head and casually replies….

"It won’t be that cold"

9:25hrs: Shivering at a taxi rank, we wonder how long it has been snowing for in Oslo. It's -12 and 3ft deep in snow. Perhaps we didn’t appreciate how close Scandinavia is to the Arctic.

10:00hrs: Meet the guys from McCann Oslo. The egg-shaped office they work in is very impressive. And warm. They are working on a global brief for StatOil and want another pair of eyes that aren't Norwegian. We talk through some ideas. Everyone here speaks much better English than we do.

12:30pm: Lunch.

13:00hrs: We split into teams and start drawing up ideas. Everyone seems to be chewing furiously on some kind of seal blubber/tobacco.

15:30hrs: Final presentation. Our work seems to cause a heated debate, in Norwegian, between some senior planners. Maybe it was our drawing skills.

16:30hrs: The meeting is drawn to a close. Our Norwegian friends suggest we try a sushi restaurant on the other side of town. It’s already dark outside and the snow is still falling.

18:00hrs: After walking around Oslo for an hour, we finally find the sushi restaurant. We order some Cosmopolitans. Everyone in the place instantly takes us as a gay couple.

21:20hrs: Our waiter recommends another bar across town so we brave the blizzard and make our way over there. It's a sports bar surrounded by drunken Liverpool fans. Not ideal.

21:30hrs: TGI Friday's Oslo isn’t too dissimilar to the TGI Friday's in Covent Garden: lots of American tourists drinking whiskey and exchanging business cards. We stay there until last orders and argue about who had the best Vikings.

02:13hrs: Erik, the pianist is thrilled that we have bought him an entire bucket of red roses. So much so, he dedicates a song to us: Lady in Red by Chris De Burgh. We ask him if he does agency parties.

04:43hrs: Last orders. Erik accepts a sambuca with open, Viking-like arms and we salute his talent. Jay eats the head off a rose.

06:50hrs: Snooze button.

07:00hrs: Snooze button.

07:10hrs: Snooze button.

07:20hrs: Off button.

08:45hrs: The creative P.A doesn't sound too impressed with us. The flight we missed has been booked on non-refundable tickets and the next flight to London doesn't leave til 3pm.

09:10hrs: Our Creative Directors phone us.

09:11hrs: Our Creative Directors hang up.

18:30hrs: Back in the London office, we reminisce about Oslo. We'd love to go back there again. And if we do, we'll definitely take a jacket.