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Alexandra Watson
With bounding enthusiasm, Alexandra Watson, New Media masters-candidate-intern extraordinaire, began her first official day at Launch two weeks past.
Her superpower — the ability to discern media consumption habits of the world’s most elusive prey in the Ahab’s quest of advertising. Her research interests include digital & social media strategy, influence within social networks, online metrics & analytics, and cross-cultural communication (which she researched for 5 weeks in India last summer).
She is above all else, a loving mother of two girls and a dedicated wife. Currently she is working on her Masters at SMU in Dallas. Before returning to school she worked in the financial services sector with non-profit organizations. She also has extensive experience in database management, database marketing, CRM, and business planning.
To see if she even has any free time, and if so, how she likes to occupy it, read on:
Q: If you were a toaster, what would you toast, and to what degree?
A: Sesame seed bagel, well-toasted. Practical and filling but a bit different.
Q: How do you feel about the pending robot apocalypse?
A: As long as the robots will need an analyst for their data, I’m okay with it.
Q: Hobbies?
A: Photography, scrapbooking, painting, singing, Lego games on Xbox 360 with my kids.
Q: Favorite copywriter intern?
A: Definitely Matt L.
Q: What is your ideal vacation?
A: A week at a beachside resort with my family in a place we’d never been to before. Hawaii, Puerto Rico, or somewhere on the Mediterranean would be great.
Q: Favorite inspirational rocket/space related saying?
A: “I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.” (Og Mandino, American essayist & psychologist, 1923-1996)
Q: Best film adaptation of a novel?
A: The Count of Monte Cristo (new version). The movie was better. In the book his revenge goes on for years and years.
Q: What is the best weather?
A: Cool and cloudy. With a chance of meatballs.
Launch welcomes Alexandra and Alexandra welcomes Girl Scout cookie orders. The form is on her desk. Check out her blog at blog.strategyrockstar.com.
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Matthew Lindner recently joined Launch as an intern writer. Shortly thereafter, he was handed an assignment, which necessitated the use of the third person in its execution. Shortly after that, the universe exploded. This is his story.
Matthew is a native Texan and currently a Masters student at SMU in Dallas. His area of expertise is random; not in the sense that his expertise is varied, he just excels in generating random thoughts.
His free time is spent on the Internet experiencing how others experience the world. Being a child of the Ritalin generation, he enjoys video games, movies, and the company of like-minded people, but only in spans of 45 seconds. Rather than long walks on the beach, he prefers to stay indoors and contemplate the structural integrity of specific buildings in the ever more likely event of zombie or genetically re-engineered raptor outbreaks. He also has an OkCupid account, if anyone is interested. Let’s be honest after all that you really shouldn’t be.
Spoiler alert: There is more information about him after the jump. If you want to be surprised should you ever meet him in person, or if you just don’t want to know any more about him, please do not continue. I’m sure he’ll understand. <– See what I did there?
Capote Goes to India.
Q: Do you have any Internet aliases?
A: Yes. I can’t tell you who they are. That would be dumb.
Q: Do people often tell you that you look like Philip Seymour Hoffman?
A: Yes, as well as Star Wars Kid, but I don’t think it was a compliment.
Q: You seem to be fairly well acquainted with nerd culture.
A: Is there a question in there somewhere?
Q: Do you have any vices that could be used by agents of a foreign government to gain leverage over you?
A: Not unless Diet Coke counts.
Q: What would you do for a Klondike bar?
A: Absolutely nothing.
Q: Your nickname is December?
A: Yes
Q: Why?
A: I lost a meter-stick duel.
Launch is happy to have Matt aboard, and, with any luck, will still be so after reading this. You can view his website at iamdecember.com.
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Caitlin Christopher, the 2010 summer account service intern, acquitted herself quite nicely and has joined Launch as a full-time account executive. Caitlin, a recent graduate of SMU and the Temerlin Advertising Institute, joined Launch in June and became a valuable team member. Caitlin is the 5th intern to graduate the program with a job offer, joining current staffers Ashley O’Beirne and Megan Kelly, now both grizzled ad veterans.
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While my time at Launch was brief, the amount of experience I gained was not. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of work I was given and the amount of my copy that made it to print. Not only did I get to write to my heart’s content, I also got to sit in on radio recordings, photo shoots, client presentations and, of course, fill plenty of coffee mugs (only for myself, though). Not to mention, I received great coaching from senior copywriters Kevin Byrd and Alex Slotkin.
During my first week, I may have been fooled into thinking a bathroom pass was a required hallway companion, but I also worked on my first brochure. I wrote copy for direct mail pieces, websites, a press release, blog entries, magazine and newspaper ads and even some tweets — on subjects ranging from babies to luxury automobiles. And to top it off, I have a sneaking suspicion that Launch Principal Diane Seimetz helped me land a full-time copywriting position, at Kolar in Austin.
Originally, I took the internship to further refine my writing skills, but I also learned HTML, how to work with voice talent, what type of sand to use for a beach scene, how to work with the account team and how a healthy relationship should work between agency folk and client marketing teams. Now that my time is winding down at Launch, I can say I’m glad I spent my summer here; the experience I’ve gained will prove invaluable.
A word to future Launch copywriting interns: if you want an internship where you’ll be thrust right into the action and treated like a young professional, Launch is a great proving ground.
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Art Director Madison McDaniel rounds out the Launch summer intern team (Copywriter, Account Service, and AD) as her student portfolio and design skills landed her the art director internship. Madison joins us from UNT’s Communication Design program where she also earned this year’s Launch Outstanding Achievement Scholarship for Art Direction. See for yourself how good she is on her portfolio site.
We gave Madison a break from computer layouts just long enough to ask some telling questions:
![Madison 1[5]](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4071/4700473992_2e6dbdceef.jpg)
Q: Are you an ocean
or lake person?
A: Ocean.
Q: Pen or pencil?
A: Pen.
Q: Favorite video game?
A: Mario Kart.
Q: Which platform?
A: N64.
Q: Favorite color?
A: Black.
When asked what her favorite flower was, Madison couldn’t think of one. (Perhaps this has something to do with her favorite color. After all, we’ve never seen a black flower.)
Q: Are you on Twitter?
A: Yes. @/_sealion.
Q: So you like sea lions?
A: It’s a Fiest song . . .
Q: So you like Fiest?
A: Yes.
Q: What do you want to accomplish at Launch?
A: I’d really like to go on a photo shoot, but I mostly want to immerse myself in the agency environment.
Well, good news for this small town (Brock, Texas), Johnny Cash-loving girl turned art director: she’ll become more immersed in agency life than she ever could have imagined. Welcome aboard, Madison!
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Caitlin Christopher is a Texan, born and bred. She was a dancer growing up, but now she’s a recent graduate of SMU, from the prestigious Temerlin Advertising Institute, with a major in advertising (and a minor in Spanish).
While in school, Caitlin completed an internship at The Richards Group, focusing in account planning. She also spent a summer studying abroad and visited Mother UK, Naked, Pentagram and Tribal DDB London. With that background, experience and eagerness to continue learning, Caitlin bested many other qualified candidates to earn the coveted Launch internship gig.
Caitlin may be an account service intern, but we tested her creative thinking with a round of Q&A.
Q: Paper or plastic?
A: Paper.
Q: Favorite nail polish color?
A: Fiji – by Essie.
Q: If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A: Greece. I’ve just always wanted to go there.
Q: What’s your favorite website?
A: Does Google Reader count?
Q: What do you want to get out of your internship at Launch?
A: I want to better understand the management side of advertising because my prior internship focused on account planning.
Q: What’s your favorite place in Dallas to get take-out?
A: Green Papaya. It’s like Vietnamese food, on Cedar Springs. Or Eatzi’s. (Eatzi’s, a former Launch client, is on Oak Lawn).
Q: What’s your favorite flower?
A: Stargazer lilies.
Q: What do you do in your free-time?
A: I dance a lot — in the car, sometimes walking down the street. Then I catch myself and realize other people can see me.
When she’s not dancing to a meeting, Caitlin is quietly tapping her feet under her desk.
Welcome to Launch, Caitlin.
