Miami Ad School Grads Dodd and Domergue Move Into MRM’s ‘Apartment’

Recent Miami Ad School graduates Jackie Dodd and Chase Domergue are holed up in MRM’s “The Apartment,” a bold staffing experiment designed to attract top talent to the agency.

The Interpublic digital firm handpicked five top students from portfolio schools for an internship program in which the quintet work for MRM while living rent-free in a loft apartment for six months.

The Miami Ad School grads--and the rest of the group--will live, commute, and work together on global accounts. At the end of the six months, the most talented intern(s) will be placed for full-time employment.

As MRM Exec VP-Managing Director Corey Mitchell describes it, the motivation for the program was the frustration that "nine times out of ten, the very best candidates would line up against name brands like Wieden & Kennedy and Goodby Silverstein Partners." It's a situation he believes comes down to two things: the difficulty of living in New York City on low intern salaries; and more importantly, "we don't have the magnetic attraction that Wieden and Goodby do, and we're working on that," Mitchell said. "We thought of this as a way to get them to try us out -- and they did."

In addition to working on client business, Miami Ad School alums Dodd and Domergue will--along with the rest of their cohorts--chronicle their experiences via Twitter, blogs and videos. The videos will be used to market "The Apartment" among the young creative community. (You can follow them at theapartment.posterous.com and @MRMers)

Read the whole story at AdAge.com