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Youre probably not going to get an internship in marketting without being in a marketting program in college or university.
You may be able to get an unpaid internship if you know someone in the business, but most likely theyll be filling all the spots with fresh college grads, or people doing their placements for credit.
Your best bet though is to look into colleges or universities that offer advertising and find out which are the best, and then apply. The upside to this is even if they dont allow you to intern for credit, theyll probably have placement assistance once you graduate, so finding a job will be pretty easy.
Do you know which you'll want to do, writing or producing? I've worked in marketing for the past 5 years in IT and 3 of those doing creative support so I've known people that do both and writers seem to spend more time in the office than producers. Producers spend a lot more time doing just what their name suggests, running around making sure shit's in place to get things done and keep it running smoothly.
Either way it will be tough to get a job in this field and advance without a degree. Most of our interns tend to be in their early twenties as they're just graduating college/university so if you're fresh out of high school that's going to be something they're probably going to look at. To add to that, they might not even consider you unless you're in college although I'm not sure on this and it might vary from place to place. I have several friends that were able to get a job in our agency because they knew someone there and I don't think I've known any of them that have been able to advance to anything close to a director level without a degree. And yes, you'll want a degree in marketing primarily although you might be able to pull it off with a general arts degree for the writing.
Generally speaking if you want to work for an ad agency you need a portfolio. Marketing degrees are good if you want to work in the marketing department somewhere, but if you want to write copy at an agency you'll probably want to go for a journalism/communications major as those tend to focus more on getting a portfolio together. I'm sure there are people who get into copywriting without a degree, but it's going to be a lot harder to get your foot in the door without one.
As far as getting an internship it's generally easier if you are a college student, but find out what agencies are in your are and call or email them and tell them you're interested in the field and see if they have or are willing to create an internship position. Also, email someone at an agency and ask if you can just sit down and talk with them about the industry. That's what I did this summer and I walked out of the meeting with an internship. Even if they don't offer you anything at least they'll have seen your face and that can be very beneficial down the road.
Getting a job in advertising is the most awesome job on the planet! However it’s 90% research 10% fun (but that 10% is A LOT of fun!). Most of the time it’s not just coming up with a crazy story to tell on TV, it’s about knowing who to tell it to, how to say it, when you say it and where. Because there’s a lot of research and media strategy to take into consideration, I’d pick someone with a degree (or shooting towards a degree) in the field over someone who didn’t. But seriously, doing a degree in advertising is a lot of fun, it’s the only place where the answer to a test can be “Coca-Cola”. Also, doing advertising campaigns as students is very helpful in understanding the holistic working of the industry.
That’s not to say that you can’t do this without a degree; all things in the advertising industry are learnable outside a classroom, but something you’ll get out of a classroom (other than training) is an invaluable list of contacts that can get you into places. God knows I wouldn’t have had half the jobs I got in advertising if not for insiders.
If you’re looking into being the guy that comes up with the actual campaign per say (writing ads and such), it’s my experience that most of the time it’s the copywriter and the graphic designer shooting ideas at each other after receiving a brief (basically the run down on where the product stands and who it’s gonna be marketed to), account managers pitch in too. If you plan on doing this, keep in mind that the hours are long and thankless. The stress is higher than any other job causing this industry to have an unusually high burn-out rate. So, if you’re tough enough, creative enough and strategic enough, c’mon over to the coolest job you’ll ever have!
Edit:
If you feel a rush of moxy come over you, get a media directory (I have no idea who hands them out in the U.S.), they contain a list of all the media agencies, including advertising agencies with their phone numbers. Fax them your info, mail it to them, make a post card. Do something to get them interested in you, and when they call, take what ever job they give you. Once you’re in, you’re set for life. The smaller the agency, the better your chances.
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You may be able to get an unpaid internship if you know someone in the business, but most likely theyll be filling all the spots with fresh college grads, or people doing their placements for credit.
Your best bet though is to look into colleges or universities that offer advertising and find out which are the best, and then apply. The upside to this is even if they dont allow you to intern for credit, theyll probably have placement assistance once you graduate, so finding a job will be pretty easy.
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Either way it will be tough to get a job in this field and advance without a degree. Most of our interns tend to be in their early twenties as they're just graduating college/university so if you're fresh out of high school that's going to be something they're probably going to look at. To add to that, they might not even consider you unless you're in college although I'm not sure on this and it might vary from place to place. I have several friends that were able to get a job in our agency because they knew someone there and I don't think I've known any of them that have been able to advance to anything close to a director level without a degree. And yes, you'll want a degree in marketing primarily although you might be able to pull it off with a general arts degree for the writing.
As far as getting an internship it's generally easier if you are a college student, but find out what agencies are in your are and call or email them and tell them you're interested in the field and see if they have or are willing to create an internship position. Also, email someone at an agency and ask if you can just sit down and talk with them about the industry. That's what I did this summer and I walked out of the meeting with an internship. Even if they don't offer you anything at least they'll have seen your face and that can be very beneficial down the road.
That’s not to say that you can’t do this without a degree; all things in the advertising industry are learnable outside a classroom, but something you’ll get out of a classroom (other than training) is an invaluable list of contacts that can get you into places. God knows I wouldn’t have had half the jobs I got in advertising if not for insiders.
If you’re looking into being the guy that comes up with the actual campaign per say (writing ads and such), it’s my experience that most of the time it’s the copywriter and the graphic designer shooting ideas at each other after receiving a brief (basically the run down on where the product stands and who it’s gonna be marketed to), account managers pitch in too. If you plan on doing this, keep in mind that the hours are long and thankless. The stress is higher than any other job causing this industry to have an unusually high burn-out rate. So, if you’re tough enough, creative enough and strategic enough, c’mon over to the coolest job you’ll ever have!
Edit:
If you feel a rush of moxy come over you, get a media directory (I have no idea who hands them out in the U.S.), they contain a list of all the media agencies, including advertising agencies with their phone numbers. Fax them your info, mail it to them, make a post card. Do something to get them interested in you, and when they call, take what ever job they give you. Once you’re in, you’re set for life. The smaller the agency, the better your chances.