Luca | Master Communications, Media and Creative Industries

WHAT ARE YOUR APPRENTICESHIP MISSIONS?

I am currently a student in the Master's degree in communication, media and creative industries. I chose to do my second year of the Master's program as an apprentice. During my gap year, I did a 6-month internship at the Marcel Agency (Publicis Group) which led to an apprenticeship contract in the "strategic planning" department.

When I started my job, my functions were similar to what I had done during my internship, i.e. a lot of research and strategic analysis. But quickly, I was trusted, and I became more autonomous. I was then given assignments with more responsibilities and a position closer to the clients.

Today, I am almost autonomous in all the steps of the creative process that require expertise in strategy: upstream research, writing, and presentation of a creative brief to the teams of copywriters and art directors. Then, I exchange directly with the creative teams on their ideas, to improve them and select the ones we will present to the clients. This also involves justifying our choices and selling our ideas. In parallel, I also work on internal projects or follow-ups for our clients, such as advertising monitoring, writing a training course for the agency, an internal newsletter (Ok Zoomer)... In addition, I have already had the responsibility of supervising research topics, but also the writing of a trend report or the writing of a competitive review (analysis of all communications of a sector over the year).

I had the chance to work on brands such as Buffalo Grill, Orange, Oasis, DS automobile, Vivatech, Courtepaille, Dolce Gusto, Amazon Prime, Doctors of the World, and some others...

WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS APPRENTICESHIP?

At first, I wanted to work in the video game or animation sector, but I realized that I would certainly learn more in the world of communication agencies. Internship positions there usually offer a high level of responsibility, which allows for faster progress. I've always been passionate about creation and environments where ideas flow, so the advertising agency finally suits me quite well, even if it was something I hadn't considered at first. And even if I had to give up the entertainment world (temporarily), I wanted to go somewhere entertaining. Marcel was the perfect agency for that: young, intense, demanding, and above all hyper-creative. It's not the only one that fits that description, but it was a great choice. Another reason why I chose this apprenticeship is simply that it was the place where I had already done my first internship, which went very well. For me, it was the opportunity to come back to an environment I knew and where I knew I could progress even faster without having to deal with an adaptation time at the beginning of my contract. And it worked out very well indeed.

HOW DID I FIND MY CONTRACT?

To tell the truth, it was on the recommendation of my academic supervisor that I agreed to meet a former student of the master's program who is now the head of Marcel's strategic planning department when I was looking for an internship. At the time I was quite lost in my orientation. She made me understand that an experience in a creative agency was surely what I needed to continue to progress. And the internship naturally led to an apprenticeship contract.

WHAT DOES THIS EXPERIENCE BRING TO ME FOR THE REST OF MY PROFESSIONAL PROJECT?

After 18 months spent as a Planner in this agency, I can say that I made a good decision. I learned a lot during this long period. Much more than I imagined. I have gained my ability to analyze and think. I learned to create better, to write better, to really work in a group, to listen to my intuition but also to never listen to this intuition! I learned to understand the creative and digital world, to navigate it, and I grew. I feel like I have a better, more informed, and synthetic view of the world. The hindsight, abilities, and skills I developed during this internship will allow me to access even more exciting and rewarding positions and projects in the future.

ANY ADVICE FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE HESITATING TO CHOOSE AN APPRENTICESHIP?

An apprenticeship is a much more binding contract than an internship. A year is a long time. I think it's a format that will work better for those who already have an idea of what they want to do next and are comfortable with where they want to spend the next 12 months.

You learn faster, and you're more likely to have a permanent job, but you also project yourself more quickly into working life and a career.