This agency wants its interns to eat, breathe and sleep advertising — literally

In exchange for having a cheap place to crash, the interns will work during the day. The only house rules: don’t drink all the beer in the mini fridge, don’t feed the pet Chihuahua and don’t bring the party home. The agency is hoping that its unusual method will attract interns from across the globe that are not only creative but also worldly.

“If you want to make it in the industry, you have to eat, breathe and sleep advertising — so why not offer them that option?” asked Sander Tacx, CEO at Havas Boondoggle Amsterdam. “And the people who look for a place to stay at Airbnb tend to have the same profile we were looking for. They are adventurous and open-minded, the qualities we want in our interns.”

Since launching Wednesday, the intern program has received more than 50 applications from South Korea to Switzerland. It hopes to have several teams of interns across several weeks, rather than a single team over the course of a few months.

“It’s work and fun and a sneak peek into how an ad agency runs for them, as well as a sneak peek for us into, let’s say, what the Argentinian work sensibility is like,” said Menno Schipper, creative director at Havas Boondoggle Amsterdam. “We want to be able to learn from as many of them as possible.”

During their stay, the chosen interns will work with the Havas Boondoggle staff on projects and briefs for its clients, including the likes of PSA Peugeot Citroën, Heinz and Disneyland Paris. While the program is geared toward creative interns at present, the agency hopes to extend it to the accounts and strategy departments in the future.

“We expect the program to continue till at least the end of the year,” said Tacx. “Or at least till Airbnb lets us.”

Image courtesy of Havas Boondoggle Amsterdam.