Meet the Interns: INDIE's Casper de Groot

Tell us about your internship; what are your main responsibilities?

My main responsibility is giving support to the strategy department by doing market analyses and giving them the right information to develop a strategy. But I’m also researching for new trends. Research our competitors. Trying to gain new input, by sharing my knowledge and insights about the younger generations (millennials, I’m one).

Do you have a dream account or brand you’d like to work with? Which one?

Not really a dream brand, I have figured out that the brand itself is completely different than the client who comes with it. It’s about the connection between clients and the agency. That’s what I like about INDIE. We are building special relationships with our clients.

Talk to us about the culture in your office, how has it impacted your internship?

INDIE is independent and open minded you will get the chance to be your true self. The culture is relaxed and there is no noticeable hierarchy, as in you can walk to everybody and ask something or talk with them. As an intern here I can really work on my strength and weaknesses. They give me the opportunity and space to share ideas and also to make mistakes and to explore interesting things. That is what I need as an intern.

What have you learned about the advertising industry that surprised you?

I often find it surprising how many parties are involved in making a campaign. And also how passionate everybody is about their jobs and really putting in their best effort. The crazy deadlines also surprised me. The pressure when something needs to be done, clients have the tendency to always want to have it done yesterday.

Choose a current popular advertising trend and tell us what’s interesting about it:

How digitalization is still changing our behavior and advertising has to become more personalized. There is a big change in how we interact with the internet. I’m seeing that brands need to make an effort to reach their audience. Only brands with creative or smart ideas will reach the audience more effectively. Brands cannot only push the advert through mass media like they did in the past and expect to reach the consumer. It’s because the audience has the power to choose what to see, when to see it. And I think that this means that we need to make advertising more interesting for our audience by making it more fun, creative or smarter and so more interesting for the audience to interact with the brand.

Imagine your dream job, where are you, what does a day-to-day look like?

I want to be a Strategic Creative Director. This is not a real job, yet (so far I know). It’s about being entrepreneurial and work agile, without any limits or routine. If I have clever insight I want to make it into a strategy or creative concept. I also want the freedom to make creative decisions and be part of the overall development of the campaign. It’s sort of a mix between: Art Director, Strategy Director and New Business Manager. I think that in a few years the traditional jobs will all blend together to create new jobs or functions that never existed before.

Are you considering another internship, or looking for jobs now? What are your next steps?

After I graduate I will have a Bachelor in Communications. After that I want to improve my concepting-skills. I’m thinking about getting a Master in Arts or doing a creative traineeship somewhere or follow a program at Hyper Island, Miami Ad School. I’m still not sure and have to figure out which next step will benefit the most. And than work somewhere I’m sure that this will be in advertising.

What is your favorite ad of all time?

That is a difficult question to answer. I really like the look and feel of the latest campaign from Holland Casino. Another favorite is the Make Money Work campaign from YoungCapital – it was that campaign that made me want to complete my internship at INDIE in the first place.