Hi! I’m Sara Marijn, a second-year Communication Science at the UvA, who’s just finished an internship at the media and production company We are era NL. One might know the company by the name Divimove NL, as just before I left, rebranding took place 😉
We are era is part of Bertelsmann & RTL Group, and is a big player in the field of media across Europe. To summarize; their international and award-winning team provides their partners (brands, NGOs, creators) with a full digital media value chain that reaches the new generation. It has 8 offices across Europe, I was based at their office here in Amsterdam, but was also in contact with employees from the other offices.
My internship consisted of four months, starting February 2021 until 31 May 2021. My function title was Social Media, DRM & Production Intern. As the title suggests, I did get to do and work on a lot of different media-related projects and tasks. I was part of both the production team and the talent partnerships team. The first focuses more on the creative aspect of brand partnerships, the latter more on the strategic aspect. I worked on pitches for creators as well as for clients and brand partnerships deals, did a lot of trend- and market research as well as brainstorming formats and had to state influencers and brands that would work well together. I also got to be at video shoots for a music-related project the company’s working on.
I also got to learn and work a bit on the Digital Rights Management side, which had me working a lot in the back-end of Youtube, getting familiar with Youtube Analytics and claiming, asset id’s and channel analysis and optimization.
I had a lot of team meetings via Teams, as due to Covid-19 I worked remotely for most of the internship, getting to work at the office one day a week. Their office was really nice, it included meeting rooms, working space, and a small studio where creators in our portfolio came to shoot content. I’m grateful I got to meet most of the Dutch We are era team at least once. Normally there are also VrijMiBo’s, Friday afternoon gatherings at the offices, where you have drinks together to start off the weekend.
Although sadly I had to miss that, I had some virtual VrijMiBo’s, and also in other meetings, there was room to talk about how everyone was doing and my colleagues were always motivated to make things work well, despite the challenging teams we were in, which really helped me to keep enjoying the internship as well. Sadly, almost all of the meetings with clients and creators were virtual, while normally they’re held at the office. Although network-wise I would have liked to meet these people in person, I am still glad to have met and worked with them virtually. Working remotely was definitely a challenge, but also a valuable experience in terms of working and learning independently.
This internship helped me greatly to find out what, in the media industry, makes me enthusiastic and what fits me less. It confirmed my choice of domain for my thesis and potentially my Master. I think that it’s valuable for everyone to dive into a business connected to what you’re studying, to see theory in practice, also for theories yet to come to be able to relate that knowledge to practical situations. All the best to We are era NL, and who knows, we might meet again!