Media agency MEC Ireland has launched a new collaboration with the final year Advertising & Marketing Students at IT Tallaght.
In a difficult marketplace where job opportunities are becoming increasingly challenging to secure, the agency said it wanted to launch a programme that would give the best graduates an opportunity to kick start their career and gain a foothold in the industry.
In their final year, the Advertising and Marketing Communications students are required to complete a year-long module called Advertising Portfolio Design which entails a significant amount of work and is the equivalent of two modules in each of two semesters. Each student is assigned a role (Account Handler, Account Planner, Creative, Marketing Manager) and is put into a team.
There will be two groups this year working across two live MEC client briefs. The first briefings took place at MEC on October 26th and was delivered by Pladis Marketing Controller Niamh Twyford (pictured with IT Tallaght students above) for Jaffa Cakes. The second brief was a Vodafone youth brief delivered by Jack Gilligan who leads this part of the Vodafone business at MEC.
The project will give the students a chance to work on a live brief and present back to both Pladis and Vodafone clients, MEC Account Leads along with their lecturers in May 2017. There will be two “Shining Star” awards presented after the presentations and the two winners will be awarded paid summer internships.
“We are delighted to collaborate with the college and give the upcoming talent in the industry the opportunity to work on real life client briefs, both gaining exposure and being given the opportunity to present themselves to both MEC and some of the top marketing individuals in the industry,” says Aoife Holfler, deputy managing director of MEC.
