It’s not just ads that are taken seriously at Clearcast. We’re big believers in working with our local community and this summer was probably our busiest one yet for the CSR planning team and the staff taking part. With all that activity there wasn’t much chance to share the stories at the time, so we’ve broken them up into a special 3-part blog series. Something to keep us all warm inside as the Autumn blows in. First up, Teenage Kicks by Cass Coakley, Admin & Communications Executive.
For the last four summers we’ve been part of an internship programme with Haverstock School in Camden. This year we had 17 year old Husna and Tasnima with us, who spent the summer as fully fledged Clearcasters. They spent six weeks of their eight-week summer holiday hanging out with our Copy Clearance teams, Clearcast plus, IT, HR & Finance, Reception, Communications and the Operations gang. What else could a 17yr old want from a summer holiday?
Our copy clearance teams spent two weeks with the girls at the beginning of the six weeks. They attended the daily viewing and Policy & Copy meetings and even led a discussion, which is never an easy task, soon realising that they needed to keep their eyes peeled and heighten their attention-to-detail skills to be a copy executive. Husna and Tasnima drew parallels with their Sociology classes, explaining how the theories they learnt about needed evidence to back them up, just like scripts.
We made sure they experienced all corners of Clearcast, including contributing to our CSR programme which was their favourite experience over the 6 weeks. They attended The Whitechapel Mission to assist the homeless with computer-based tasks, such as applying for benefits and housing, which they wouldn’t have access to if it wasn’t for Whitechapel.
Attending our Agency Training course is a must for the interns and this year was no exception. They’d been with us just a week before attending training and big props to the Copy teams as these ladies were well informed. They got fully involved with the interactive exercises and even got a quiz question correct in the fastest time, outsmarting agency newbies. They told us they thrived off the chance to have a chat and network with agency folk but felt our choice of lunchtime music wasn’t trendy enough. Ahh to be 17…
Our Business Affairs manager Danny Turner gave the girls a run for their money and had them stumped on international clearances. A whole afternoon was spent researching how to obtain clearance for a TV ad to air in Switzerland and Australia…with no luck. It is a tricky task and I guess that is why you should always give Danny a call on 0207…only joking!
A subject more familiar to them lay with Ellie in the Comms department as the girls got creative and designed some more of our weekly #clearcasttips to post across our social media channels. Their digital minds grasped this quickly and their creative streak went even further. During their final presentation they revealed the new Clearcast logo they had been working on during their lunchtimes. Impressive.
Studying Media, the girls had a strong interest in advertising and all things creative. We sent them on lots of visits to Agencies and Broadcasters so they could experience the life cycle of an advert from its creation to its placement between programming. Trips to Krow and Karmarama got a shiny 5* rating for their involvement in the creative process and the goody bags, oh and the free food (a running theme). Channel 4 also hit the mark with their personal mug gift, welcoming aura and the free food (see!?).
If you’d like to learn more about our internship programme please visit: https://clearcast.co.uk/interns/
Watch this space for our next CSR themed blog which will talk about all the fun we had organising and playing in the Clearcast World Cup in June with The ASA and Channel 4. Spoiler alert: we didn’t win. We didn’t even come close.
