CapsuleBlog

Account management internship open

Now that our lovely current intern is heading back for his final year of school, Capsule is seeking a marketing and account management intern to work 3 days a week at our downtown Minneapolis office. We’re a fun, vibrant and hardworking bunch and we expect the same of our interns.

Our interns gain invaluable experience and access to Capsule’s huge network of connections, plus a monthly stipend. The usual internship period is 3 months although this may be extended depending on performance.

You will be involved in all aspects of account management - ensuring clients are happy and projects are on time and on budget, as well as other projects such as naming, Capsule marketing activities, and administrative tasks (you didn't think you could get an internship without administrative tasks, did you?!).

Please send resumes to yvette (at) capsule (dot) us - thanks!

I become a parent, you become an account manager.

Your faithful (yet irregular) blogger is soon to join the ranks of befuddled first time parent, and Capsule is seeking a temporary stand-in.

It's primarily an account management position, beginning in mid October. Essentially the job involves keeping projects running smoothly by liasing between clients and the creative team. Bachelor degree required as well as the usual excellent communication skills. All levels of experience considered.

Please send expression of interest to [email protected] for more information.

On the creative brief

I've often wondered how other agencies handle the creative brief. As I prepared to write another one this morning for a new project, I decided to do a quick online snoop. I came across this link that claims to compile brief templates from quite a few big namers. We can't be sure of how recent these are, but skimming through the various files, I was amazed at how different they are from each other. Some are starkly simple, others are almost as complex as a tax return.

So are we supposed to find a happy medium? Is the brief just another way of ensuring the client understands the scope of work? Should they be scrapped altogether?

There are no universal answers here, because the individual agency's culture will determine the role, format and deployment of the brief. The most important thing is finding whatever it is that works for your creatives, account managers, and clients. Some like to have every little last detail set in stone before Illustrator is opened. Others prefer to allow the process to unfold more organically.

One of the huge benefits of being a smaller agency is the flexibility. There's no ten-deep hierarchy, allowing much more nimble nimbleness (weird word, that nimble). Like other elements of agency process, the creative brief convention should be regularly reviewed to make sure it remains workable. Add some nimble, take some nimble. But don't overuse nimble.