The second-year students of MICA, Ahmedabad, are all set to to return to corporate offices for their summer internships. With the significant decline in Covid-19 cases across the country, summer internships in 2022 were primarily offline. The students went through a plethora of emotions as they got to experience the offline work culture after two years.

For 2021-23, the institute witnessed an increase in the highest stipend offered to its students for the two-month summer placements. The FMCG sector offered the highest stipend at ₹3.5 lakh against ₹3.2 lakh last year, followed by the IT sector, offering ₹2.5 lakh against ₹2.4 lakh last year.

The media and advertising sector recorded the highest stipend at ₹1.6 lakh. Students were offered internships in sales and marketing, digital engagement, brand digital strategy, marketing, market research, business development, corporate relations, online marketing, strategic research, and market analysis.

Sharing his experience, a second-year MICA student Russian Bose, who interned with Apollo Tyres said, “My project  involved executing and analysing marketing initiatives with Sachin Tendulkar, Manchester United and other assets, along with scoping opportunities within rural sports, SUV and two-wheeler communities.”

Collaborative spaces

Madhu Mohan TS, Head, Corporate and Alumni Relations said, “Internships this year have offered the students an opportunity to interact, learn, and engage with the people in organisations which could be their future employers as well. This is a welcome change after two years of hibernation and being stuck to screens and screen time only. We are hopeful that this trend of hybrid model is here to stay.”

For Ira Kamble, working with the Council On Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW), a policy research institute, was an eye-opening experience. “I got to see how think tanks influence policy and public opinion and work on strategies for a sector still in the initial stages of its journey in communications. Given my passion for the climate action movement, I am grateful to MICA and CEEW for the opportunity this summer.”

Urvi Verma, who interned at Nivea, said, “As a marketing intern, I got the opportunity to work on launching a new product and take ownership of various aspects of the launch. Seeing my ideas come alive and physically seeing the campaign at the retail store was an unreal experience. I also got to help organise and attend a celebrity shoot for Taapsee Panu for the same product, which was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

For Pallavi Dwivedi, who interned with Disney-Star, the offline internship was a great way to engage with various  stakeholders and network. She said, “Working in a physical space allows for an immediate and collaborative environment that provides more avenues to learn. At Disney-Star, I have had the opportunity to speak to people from all the different departments that are a part of this esteemed organization, which has been incredibly enriching. In just eight weeks, I could grasp a lot about the world of media, entertainment, and business.”

Pivotal learning

Sharing her experience of offline mode, Krupa Mehta, who interned with The Coca-Cola Company, said, “There is no online alternative for human connection, and I could feel its importance when I started working on my project. As a marketing  intern working on a project as big as FIFA World Cup, it was imperative to align with multiple teams and stakeholders,  which would not have been successful virtually. And lastly, we leveraged offline events such as the iconic FIFA Trophy Tour in Bangladesh for connecting with consumers on youth passion points like football and music.”

For Anurag Khandelwal, Flipkart’s internship got the best out of him. He said, “Flipkart goes a mile ahead to ensure its  interns get the best out of their summers. We got to work on high-stakes projects with end-to-end ownership of our respective deliverables. Senior leaders regularly engaged with us on our projects, and their guidance was pivotal to our learning.”

Krupa’s last day at The Coca-Cola Company was the highlight of her journey. “We were made to team up with interns from other departments and interact with them in a relaxed setting. The idea was to create a seamless path with your dominos, and the team whose blocks took the longest time to fall would win. The activity tested our patience, creative and analytical thinking and brought us closer as individuals”, she said.