By Jalaja Ramanunni
In the movie The Intern, Robert De Niro played the role of a seventy-year-old man returning to work as an intern after realising the lull of retirement did not satisfy him. Ask anyone who’s been out of the workforce for a while, and you will hear about the effect of imposter syndrome and confidence gaps.
Publicis Groupe Middle East has redefined retirement with The Grand Masters internship for seasoned professionals in the UAE.
The Grand Masters internship program is designed exclusively for retired professionals aged 60 years and above. Networking and mentoring opportunities like these can increase hireability across the wider job market. Termed a ‘returnship,’ the initiative aims to provide meaningful opportunities for an often overlooked segment of society by reintegrating them into an inclusive environment. The program aims to generate insights that will help develop communications, advertising, media, PR and digital solutions for some of the Groupe’s key clients in the region. The interns’ tasks will include ideation and brainstorming with the team, insights mining, everyday mentorship and strategic thought leadership contribution.
The Grand Masters is one of Publicis Groupe Middle East’s two internship programs launched to upskill the industry’s capabilities with new outlooks and insights in the UAE. The other one is The Apprentices, which targets university students planning a career in advertising.
The second internship program provides opportunities for university students in a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree program and planning a career in the creative and media industry. The Apprentices interns can upskill their capabilities in the advertising industry and gain valuable hands-on experience in their field of interest. Their tasks include creative brief writing, creative ideation, and insights generation. The Apprentices is available to students 18 years of age and older and currently enrolled in an accredited university or college where an internship is required for graduation.
The design
The Grand Masters campaign’s design concept is based on the ‘Above’ and ‘Below’ principle to define age groups, utilising a circle as the primary shape to indicate inclusion in a community. The intentional use of the colour orange in The Grand Masters embodies the retirees’ energy and coolness. The circle above the line alludes to the growth they achieved and the opportunity to learn from them. Meanwhile, the colour green in The Apprentices’ logo embodies the freshness and rawness of youth. The line above the circle alludes to the opportunity to grow and stand out through the program.
Tahaab Rais, Chief Strategy Officer at Publicis Groupe ME&T says, “My dad’s stories are always insightful, as is his feedback on the work I’m creating. And I’ve always wondered why, as an industry that’s rightfully fascinated by youth, we don’t also tap into the ones who have come before us and have tremendous life wisdom. Consciously excluding their expertise and their world smarts is a missed opportunity by agencies and brands. They don’t believe they’re done yet. So, who are we to assume that? Hence, we’re focusing intently on consciously including them in our thinking process as part of our strategy community working on our brands and can’t wait for our work for those brands to get even richer with them becoming us. We’re also excited to cater to the next generation as well through The Apprentices program by creating an enriching and exciting opportunity for young students to experience working in a world-class strategic environment and culture.”
Sewar Azzouni, Head of Talent Transformation ME&T says, “When our core principle is to be a talent-first organisation, and our value as a talent-team is to drive with equity and meritocracy, it is natural that eradicating ageism and the stereotyping of age fits in brilliantly with the launch of these internship programs. Participants that are perpetual students of learning will be the protagonist in contributing and adding value to our talents, especially The Grand Master candidates who will bring in experiences, maturity, knowledge, capability and parental love. We are excited to launch this region-first internship program initially as a pilot in the UAE within the strategy and insights team, and we are confident that it will have a positive impact allowing us to recreate it across all our markets.”
