Simply put, the creative idea was for prospective talent to text Harry an idea in 6 lines or less that would change the world.

Why social good?

For Harry, if you have the gift of creativity, you should use that gift for good, because what's more inspiring than using your talents and ideas to help the Earth?

Channeling his values of happy, hungry, curious, Harry was looking for ideas that not only would help our clients solve real business challenges, but also impact change.

Prospective interns would be able to double down to get the chance to work on client accounts but also get the opportunity to put their "social good" ideas into action.

We created an application process where candidates could pitch an idea directly to our CCO Harry Bernstein via text message, regardless of their discipline (account, strategy, creative, etc). To launch our call for interns, we filmed our CCO tagging a wall in NYC with his mobile number, and posted it on Instagram and other social channels, asking interns to text him an idea around global change. We also had him handwrite flyer-like ads that were scanned and placed on billboards, bus shelters, and wild postings around 14 cities across the US. The application process was open for two weeks, and during that time, our CCO answered each text, provided feedback, and got to know each candidate in the process – making recruitment more personal than before. After vetting the best ideas, our CCO followed up with select candidates and offered them the internship.

Within a two-week submission window, Harry received over 2000 texts that spanned 47 states in the US (including several US territories), and 43 countries (and 400 texts in the first day alone).

Harry made it a priority to answer the texts as often as he could such as during meeting breaks or after hours.

We received countless ideas, applause for our program idea, and even suggestions on how to improve the industry. By sidestepping the traditional recruiting process, we we were able to reach the highest group of talent in our agency’s history, with a prospective talent pool that represented 26 different majors and 83 universities across the globe.

In the end, we found 40 interns to fill our 2018 class across all disciplines that start the program in June, and we’re going to help bring the best ideas to life.