Notre Dame University
Faculty of Humanities
Department of Mass Communication
Internship Report
Company name:
Rouge Inc s.a.r.l
(Syoufi Str. Ashrafieh- Beirut, Lebanon, Tel: (961) 1 612561)
Supervisor:
Mr. Raymond Merhib
Start Date for Internship:
November 18th, 2005
End Date for Internship:
February 3rd, 2006
Submitted to:
Mrs. Gloria Mattar
by:
Naja Faysal
#2002-8058
(Zouk Mosbeh, Lebanon, Tel: (961) 3 923956)
Course:
Internship in Advertising (ADM481)
(Fall 2005)
Report Date:
February 25th, 2006

TABLE OF CONTENT:
I. The Company’s history
II. The company’s departmental organization
A. The function of each department
B. Channeling of business between departments
III. The project/job handled at the company
A. Analysis
B. Conclusion
IV. Bibliography and References
V. Agency’s evaluation of the student’s internship (Attached)

THE HISTORY OF THE COMPANY
Rouge Inc is now a local full service advertising agency that caters to all the
communication needs of their clients. It is located in Achrafieh, in the heart of the
city, which, enables the company advanced networking for their local clients.
For a long time Rouge Inc has been the associate to Bates, a worldwide
advertising agency that used Rouge as its offices in the Middle East. In 1999, Rouge
and Bates Worldwide merged and started operations under the same management and
the company was renamed Bates Rouge.
In January 2004 Bates Worldwide was sold to WPP. WPP is a multi billion-
dollar corporation and it is a mother company to a number of worldwide agencies
such as JWT. After WPP bought Bates, once again, Rouge had another major
transformation; it separated itself from the Bates group and once again reestablished
itself as a local advertising agency. Now as an independent agency, Rouge Inc has a
ranking of 4.5 to 5 million dollars and their major clients include Group Mediterranee,
SNA and Mercedes Benz.
THE COMPANY'S DEPARTMENTAL ORGANIZATION
A. Administration
The administrative department consists of the Financial and the
Human Resources Department. The Financial Department deals
with all the "cash" from the payroll to financial statements to
the delivery of reports to the management and the government.
The Human Resources department deals with “the people”. Its
main task is to recruit the right people and keep all those in the
company satisfied.
B. Commercial Department
a. Account Handling
They are the backbone of the agency; they are the direct
contact for both the agency and the client. They run the day-
to-day as well as long-term operations of the client. Without

them, the company will not be able to fully comprehend the
needs of the clients.
They maintain a positive relationship with the client and
guarantee satisfaction for both their client and the internal
departments.
b. Planning and research
This department consists of marketing personnel and
advertising experts that conduct and base their conclusions on
specialized research procedures. Without them a creative
brief cannot be written by the account handlers. They set the
platform to every brand according to the client's forecasts and
the agency's recommendation to where the brand should be
going in the long run only.
c. Media
At Rouge Inc they deal with a company called Starcom that
specializes in media buying.
C. Creative Department
a. Concept development
At Rouge Inc a concept is developed in teams. Each team
consists of an art director and a copy writer. The team
receives a creative brief from the account handlers. This brief
sets the pathway of development for the creative team. The
creative team then brainstorms within the guidelines of the
brief and they come up with a concept for the given project.
After the concept is approved by their supervisor or team
head they create sketches of the campaign.
b. Production
There are two types of production departments, print and
TV/radio.
The print production department deals with the finalization of
the sketches given to them by the creative department. After
the approval of the concept and the sketches, the production
department perfects the 'sketch' and it is turned into 'artwork'.

When this artwork is completed it is ready for publication in
the given media assigned by the account handlers.
The TV/radio department receives a storyboard or radio script
from the creative team. They coordinate with external
production houses and studios to complete the sketch and turn
it into a TV or radio commercial ready for airing.
c. Management (traffic)
The traffic department is the gateway to the end product.
When an account executive or director sends a brief to the
creative department it has to go through traffic. Traffic rates
the urgency of the job and puts it into the creative system
according to its importance. The department assigns the
creative team and deadlines. It then coordinates with the
production department for finalization of ‘sketches’. Any
changes in briefs or meetings conducted between the creative,
production and account handling departments in the agency
are to go through traffic.
THE JOB HANDLED AT THE COMPANY
From the beginning I believed that my internship should be an opportunity to
get into the real business. My purpose was to get an opportunity to practice various
advertising principles in the real world. In addition, to provide me with a wide
understanding of how advertising agencies operate.
My internship took place at the Creative Department at Rouge Inc. It was a
great experience because I demanded real opportunity to learn. I unlike other trainees
did not spend hours at the company entering data, scanning documents, filling out
questionnaires, and sometimes "distributing coffee". I believed that I was there to
learn and I was able to tell this to my interviewer.
Mr. Raymond Mirhib, the Creative Director of Rouge Inc was my supervisor.
During my interview, he felt my ambition and desire for a training period that would
prepare me to handle a challenging job later on. Thus we agreed on making it
beneficial for both parties.

In the first 2 to 3 days, I toured the agency. He introduced me to the creative
department team and showed me the offices and the role of each. Afterwards, we were
sitting and discussing the agency's operation and how the departments are organized
in which they serve the agency's main goals. He explained to me that success is a
result of hard work. Thus, gaining a 'pitch' requires working hard to convince the
client that we have the "magic stick" for his communication problems.
After knowing how Rouge Inc runs and who the main clients are, I observed
how the creative team behaves, thinks, what they do, and how they sit together to
brainstorm. I had the opportunity to sit with them a couple of times, while they were
brainstorming on a specific campaign. Due to confidentiality, I cannot write about the
clients and the campaigns because this may affect the agency that gave me a training
opportunity.
Later on, I handled important briefs in which they were working on, I was told
to challenge the brief and create a better one. At this point, Mr. Mirhib told me: "Now
you are handling the Account Executive job". In fact, that's what happened, I worked
on 3 briefs, I read them carefully, I did the research, and I rewrote them. I changed
major parts of the briefs and I was able to defend my ideas through backing them up
by research; For instance, in one campaign I did a big change in the target group
profile because I was convinced that the target segment they mentioned was not
precise. On another campaign I came up with a new USP that really works much
better. I also made a detailed overview on the brand, client, consumer, and the
campaign itself. The briefs were really challenging because they were different types
of products and services. Thus, each one required different strategies.
After working on the Creative Brief, my next step was to develop the "creative
concept". I attended the brainstorming sessions with the creative team and monitored
their sequence of thought. I kept tabs on their progress and developed one in parallel,
which I later presented to Mr. Mirhib of which he gave me constructive criticism of
my work. After I gained approval of the concepts, and since I have the technical
capabilities in both Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, I proposed layouts.
At this stage Mr. Mirhib gave me the chance to explore art direction. He gave
me important information on how to improve my skills in art direction. He told me:
"the more you get exposed, the brighter your ideas will be, both conceptually and
visually".

By this, my internship ensured a quality circulation of the departments in the
agency, where I developed briefs and was involved in the creative executions. Hence,
making my internship a great experience…
REFERENCES:
• Mr. Raymond Mirhib
Creative Director
Rouge Inc