Today was such an educational and successful day at McKinney Advertising in Durham! As soon as I walked into the office, I was given my own desk, a MacBook Pro to use for the next two weeks, and a personal key card to get me in and out of the space. They welcomed me as one of their own with lots of assignments and tasks to complete! Josh Eggleston, the VP Executive Producer, introduced me to the staff and updated me on McKinney’s current projects. We had a meeting at 11:30 to discuss the 14 commercial rips McKinney is currently preparing for a new pitch. Although I’m not allowed to discuss the content of the commercials until they are complete, I did have the opportunity to work with their real scripts and search for stock footage to use for their rips. This is an essential process of creating a commercial because it is what an advertising agency presents to their clients before actually going out and filming the commercial. I used a website called Getty Images to gather hundreds of clips and create a “mock” commercial which would be sent to the editors and then presented to the possible client as an outline.

Around 3:00, I realized I was getting pretty hungry, so I walked across the street to Only Burger and ordered a delicious Veggie Burger. McKinney’s location is phenomenal as it is right across the street from DPAC and the Durham Bulls Stadium. I’m walking distance to such fabulous cafes and restaurants, so I know I’ll never go hungry working at McKinney.

I decided to stay a little later and continue working on my assignments, so the day ended around 6:00 pm. I’m looking forward to continuing the pitch and starting a documentary later in the week!

-Liza