Crispin selling off interns to highest bidder
The rap against Crispin Porter + Bogusky is they work you to the bone. For those interning there, it gets worse: They sell you to the highest bidder. Well, not exactly. The Boulder, Colo., shop is using eBay in an unusual attempt to auction off three months' worth of services from its interns to clients. The idea is that Crispin interns have been involved in some great work for Burger King, Microsoft and Volkswagen, although the description doesn't detail exactly what role they played. Crispin will funnel the proceeds from the auction directly to the interns, promising bidders that "world-class advertising can be yours for a fraction of the going rate." Alex Bogusky tells us: "We always split the intern time between the agency accounts and a pro bono account that they really dig into. We thought it would be fun to throw it open a bit and at the same time get them paid. The internship pays minimum wage but why not a little bonus too? Our hope is all of this will continue to raise the profile and the value of the internship. With over 40 summer interns it's like getting a mini CP+B." The fine print says what clients will get is a presentation and strategy, not actual production or any, you know, ads.Bidding ends May 27. As of Tuesday morning, there had been 22 bids, raising the price to $4,250. —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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May 19, 2009 in Crispin Porter, Interns, Morrissey | Permalink |
Comments
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That is so clever! I love it!
Posted by: Liz | May 19, 2009 8:17:57 AM
Interns are worth something? Haha...why don't people pay them then...
Posted by: Stuart Foster | May 19, 2009 9:47:15 AM
Do you think that this is more for the buzz effect for Crispin or strictly "for the interns?" I mean it is definitely generating a buzz like no other on the internet. I blogged about it today on our company blog:
http://www.aircheese.com/article/brand-name-interns-the-new-prostitute
Posted by: Saini | May 19, 2009 2:26:00 PM
So clients pay CP+B, who then give that money to their interns. Doesn't that just make them... underpaid employees?
Posted by: Cory O'Brien | May 19, 2009 3:13:27 PM
yawn.
Posted by: jtopping | May 19, 2009 3:22:12 PM
Did you say "great work"... For Burger King, Microsoft and Volkswagen... Surely you jest... Anyway, this idea was done months ago by Sam Ismail in London for the Saatchi auction... Once again, CP+B leads in the un-original stakes. But you have to admit... Their PR machine sure beats the shit out of their ads.
Cheers/George
Posted by: George Parker | May 19, 2009 4:52:57 PM
Interesting timing. If you missed Sam Ismail's original post, here's a revisit and a great keynote made April 22: http://www.samismail.com/blog/2008/04/saatchi-saatchi-come-back.html
Posted by: Dino | May 19, 2009 7:42:38 PM
George Parker, Sam Ismail (pretending to be Saatchi) was auctioning off a job as an intern at the agency. Crispin is auctioning off the work of its current interns to advertisers. Besides the words "auction" and "intern," what do these two scenarios have in common?
Posted by: Drop | May 21, 2009 1:51:49 AM
