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STATEMENT OF PURPOSE FOR SUMMER INTERNSHIP IN ADVERTISING


paragautkar09 1 / 1  
May 9, 2011   #1
(NOTE: This is a statement of purpose, i have written for applying for a summer internship in an advertising agency although i don't have a background in the communications field. The proper nouns have been replaced with words like XYZ, AaAaAa, BbBbBb, ACE etc. I request you to take a close look at the structure, grammar, and any sort of mistake in the expression of the essay. All suggestions and criticism are welcome. If you feel you have better ways to express certain ideas in the essay, please let me know. Also please reply to this post asap. The essay has been intentionally kept informal considering the industry i need to appeal to. Any contrary views are welcome too)

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
It all started when I was a 5 year old kid. While in kindergarten, I strongly felt that I should get my surname changed. I felt it was utterly uncool. Also its phonetic ambiguity made many incurious and creative souls to come up with their own version of its spelling. Whenever I spoke my name out, it invariably evoked reactions like "What?", "come again" etc. Irritated by such reactions, I used to ask my father to get me a new and better surname. While he used to laugh it off, I used to try and invent new surnames for myself just for the sake of making it sound trendy and recallable. This is how I developed my first vague insight into the concept of brand equity.

Later in life I dropped the idea of changing my surname. But I definitely started seeing things around me in terms of the intangible values they carried. And since then, I have had this burning desire to create; create something that rebelled against the conventional school of ideas, something that stood out from the crowd, something that created the right impression. Right from my craft and origami assignments to my illustrative scrapbooks and modelling assignments in the primary school, everything had something that differentiated it from the others' work and fetched me its due appreciation. Eventually, as I grew up I started developing a taste in films, cinematography, music, visual communication and spatial design.

I was good in academics; hence I could make it to the best college of my hometown and one of the premium government engineering institutes of India, ACE (A**** College of Engineering, Nagpur). Currently, I am pursuing Metallurgical and Materials Engineering and I am in the final year of my undergraduate studies as of now. When I entered college, my passion did not take too long to show up, and I forayed into the creative world of ACE right in the first year itself as an organizer of BbBbBb, the annual cultural festival of ACE and subsequently as an organizer of CcCcCc, the annual technical festival which happened to be central India's largest. I made my first advertisement, a poster for an event called DdDdDd during my second year in the college. My creativity and aesthetic sense immediately propelled me into the cream of the creative community of ACE. What followed next was a series of different posters, flyers, brochures, banners, logos, t-shirts, typography etc. designed by me for various events. Later, I was chosen to hold a post in the CcCcCc 2010 core committee as the treasurer. My experience as the CcCcCc treasurer largely aided my understanding of human psychology and teamwork in addition to the finance management skills. I also conceptualized and executed the first ever TEDx event in Nagpur which received unprecedented media attention. Eventually, I realized that the common strings that bind all my activities were creativity, ideas and people.

During my third year in college, I came across a television show called "Storyboard" by Anuradha Sengupta on CNBC. This show, which deals with advertising, media and branding, subtly touched the chord of my heart. Everything I did all through my life, suddenly started making sense, suddenly found application. Later I started following other similar shows namely "Logo" on UTV Bloomberg and "All About Ads" on NDTV Profit. I became an avid follower of the major advertising forums on the worldwide web, read case studies of various advertising campaigns and watched more and more TV commercials. And all these endeavours intensified my craving for this field even more.

Advertising seeped into me gradually all through these years. And now that I am 21, I feel it flowing in my veins and arteries. Much of the inspiration came not only from the creativity involved in making the commercials and designing campaigns but also from the effects it has on the society at large. I was particularly intrigued by the effect caused by the "Kuch khas hai hum sabhi mein" campaign for Cadbury Dairy Milk in 1994. Before this campaign the commodity was perceived as a reward or bribe for the children. The situation was so bad that adults were actually afraid to be seen in public with a Cadbury in their hand. This campaign unshackled the child inside the adults and the results were phenomenal both in terms of sales and brand. This case study along with many others made me even more curious as to how these commercials are conceptualized and executed to get the desired results.

I believe, watching one's work impact the life and thinking of the society is the driving force for anyone in the creative profession like advertising. According to me, broadly speaking, advertising is all about steering the perception of the people (consumers). The amount of thought and creativity that goes into creating this perception is truly something I need to learn. I would like to briefly point out some of the qualities characteristic to me. They are

- Passion for knowing people and delighting people
- Desire to be different and to make a difference
- Good understanding of the Indian mentality
- Good graphic designing and image processing skills
- Desire to learn different means of communication
- Good perception and ability to evaluate philosophies and phenomena and draw analogies and apply them in day-to-day decisions
- Decent drawing and sketching ability
As an intern, I wish to get an exposure to copywriting, art direction and film making as a part of a live advertising campaign assignment. I assure you that my experience as an intern at your organisation would deeply expand my horizons as a creative professional and help me explore myself and contribute to the organisation with my fresh and raw ideas.

I sincerely hope to have a mutually beneficial association with you through the summer internship and project work opportunities provided by your organization and to contribute my best towards making a successful endeavour.

XYZ
VI Semester, B.Tech.,
A**** College of Engineering,
Nagpur.
Contact No. +91 99999 99999
linmark 2 / 328 7  
May 9, 2011   #2
Interesting experiences and your essay is chock full of information.
As an aspiring advertising person, you have most probably heard of the term "big picture." Never make an advertising without it. This also applies to your SOP - which has so much info that one can read the whole thing but come out without a clear big picture. Of course, the "big idea" is clear i.e. I am a good candidate for your summer advertising internship - but it's important to supply vivid and engaging pictures too.

Also, your close (listing your positive characteristics) may not be necessary if your preceding text does its job (no need for overkill.) After reading what you wrote: "is the driving force for anyone in the creative profession like advertising. According to me, broadly speaking, advertising is all about steering the perception of the people (consumers)." I was left with the question DRIVING FORCE WHERE? STEER CONSUMERS WHERE? Your essay will benefit from answering that.

As such, please take these as one person's qualitative feedback:
1) I would skip the first two paragraphs on your changing your surname. I am not sure it adds much and definitely does not provide a compelling example on how you improved your "brand equity." I am afraid it can come off as self-indulgent and laudatory.

2) Likewise with phrases like "everything had something that differentiated it from the others' work and fetched me its due appreciation." (watch out for absolutes like "everything" - will cause the reader to challenge you...)

3) Eventually, as I grew up I started developing a taste in films, cinematography, music, visual communication and spatial design. WHAT "TASTE" DID YOU DEVELOP? Taste is too abstract and it is not appropriate for you to add any self assessment qualifiers.

4) These need to be followed by an objective description of your results: as an organizer of CcCcCc, the annual technical festival which happened to be central India's largest. WHAT WAS YOUR CONTRIBUTION? I made my first advertisement, a poster for an event called DdDdDd during my second year in the college. WHAT WERE THE RESULTS FROM YOUR POSTER (attendance? comments? prize?) My creativity and aesthetic sense immediately propelled me into the cream of the creative community of ACE. What followed next was a series of different posters, flyers, brochures, banners, logos, t-shirts, typography etc. designed by me for various events WHAT WERE THE RESULTS? (anything measurable?)

5) Important sentence but something is wrong with the word "bind' when used with a plural (strings). May I suggest the past tense plural "bound?" Eventually, I realized that the common strings that bind all my activities were creativity, ideas and people.

6) - Good graphic designing
OP paragautkar09 1 / 1  
May 9, 2011   #3
Dear linmark
I am pleasantly surprized by your prompt reply. I am really grateful to you. I have planned to rewrite/edit the essay. But I have certain doubts:

1)I am feeling a little lost with your idea of 'the big picture'. Can you please provide with me an example so that I am able to understand the shortcoming in this essay?

2)Even i was dubious about including the first paragraph in the essay. But you mentioned the 2nd para too. It doesn't have much about my surname. Do you really feel the 2nd para is irrelevant? And if so, wouldn't that mean jumping directly onto my academics which aren't much of a concern in the context of advertising as a career.

3)I am gonna do away with the first para totally. I had read somewhere that ur sop's opening para shud hook the reader and create interest. Does it necessarily have to come from real life experiences?

4)Eventually, I realized that the common strings that bind all my activities were creativity, ideas and people. In this statement, the activities included past ones and the current ones. In this context, should I still change "bind" to "bound"?

5) A very trivial question- The bullet points were included so as to save the space that goes into explaining them in detail. Isn't the space much of a concern? If not, i would rather not list them but explain them. What do you think?
EF_Kevin 8 / 13,321 129  
May 10, 2011   #4
Eventually, I realized that the common strings that bind all my activities were creativity, ideas and people.

Eventually, I realized that the common threads among all my activities were creativity, ideas and people.
That is the idea that I had.

But yes, you need to use past tense, so you would use "bound."

sound trendy and recallable. This is how I developed my first vague insight into the concept of brand equity.

This seems awesome to me...

I almost always agree with Linmark, but with this one I feel like that personal intro is strong.

Balance it by getting right into theory after that. Go directly into citing sophisticated theory, and it will be full and cool... interesting.

I think it's the second and third paragraphs that should be condensed into 50% of the words to make room for expression of your plan and vision of the future.

I hope that helps!! You are doing well already!


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