Through a recent contest, Internship King may have collected the most comprehensive ranking of advertising internships yet. With over 60,000 votes and nearly 2,000 internship reviews, their “Top Ad Agency Internship” competition will come to a close tonight. NY-based social media agency MRY (formerly known as Mr. Youth) leads the pack with 17,500 votes at press time, with Campbell Mithun and Erwin-Penland trailing a few thousand votes behind.
Visitors get to vote 25 times (per day!) from a top 40 list decided by Internship King’s industry panel. This bizarre voting system means maybe MRY just has the most friends and the biggest families, all of whom they mobilized to bring the agency gold home. But that’s valuable in itself—the company’s got social clout, and they’re not afraid to leverage it.
Contest intricacies aside, this effort has given Internship King some solid publicity. As the year-old company grows, students seeking agency internships will have an increasingly informed research tool, and companies will have to do a better job of creating educational, enticing work experiences.
Keep track of the contest as it nears the end. I hope the prize is a champagne and ice bath, so I can live vicariously as Manhattan’s temperatures rise. More likely, MRY (or a dark horse candidate) will just get the simple honor of sweet victory.