The Ad Council convenes creative storytellers to educate, unite and uplift audiences by opening hearts, inspiring action and accelerating change. For more than 80 years, the nonprofit organization and its partners in advertising, media, marketing and tech have been behind some of the country’s most iconic social impact campaigns – Smokey Bear, Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk, Tear the Paper Ceiling and many more.
The Raquel Zarin Summer Internship Program is a remote-first engagement and will run from June 1, 2026 – August 14, 2026. All interns will be paid $19/hour and are eligible to earn overtime. Ability to work East Coast hours is required.
Applications Due March 13, 2026
We’re looking for summer interns from around the country who will bring unique backgrounds, skills and perspectives to the Ad Council. Over the course of the internship, our interns will gain applicable work experience, contribute to real, client-facing projects, develop solid time management skills and learn how to maintain a healthy work/life balance.
You’re welcome to apply to multiple internship roles if more than one aligns with your interests and skills.
Once applications close, our hiring teams will begin reviewing submissions. You can expect to hear from us with an update by April. If a team would like to learn more about you, they’ll invite you to an initial interview to get to know you better and answer your questions. Offers will be extended during the week of April 20.
Analytics Intern
The Campaign Analytics team—part of the Ad Council’s Insights & Analytics Department—is responsible for understanding and interpreting performance of our social impact campaigns across media channels based on ad support and how effectively they drive audiences to take meaningful action. We analyze data from multiple platforms, translate findings into actionable insights, and partner with cross‑functional teams to continuously optimize campaign performance.
As an intern, you will support analytics needs across multiple campaigns while building foundational skills in insight development, data visualization, and storytelling. This role is ideal for someone curious, analytical, and passionate about using data to advance positive social impact.
Brand & Events Intern
This internship will be a part of the Marketing and Communications team, which plays a key role in creating, crafting and driving the overarching communications strategies for the Ad Council and its social impact campaigns. The team works to surround and support the Ad Council’s campaigns and causes through earned and social media, content development, talent and trusted messenger engagement, thought leadership and events. The Brand and Events intern will gain hands on experience, contributing to brand content and supporting the execution of key events. Given the nature of the role and the location of our events, we are only considering candidates who live in the New York City area.
Campaigns & Programs Intern
The Campaigns & Programs team oversees all aspects in developing fully integrated public service communications campaigns. Key areas of responsibility include working with internal and external stakeholders, including creative and media agencies, tech, media and marketing partners, nonprofit, philanthropy and government partners from the strategic planning phase through campaign production, launch, distribution, and program evaluation.
To learn about the campaign development and evaluation process, interns are fully integrated into the Campaigns & Programs team and are encouraged to attend both internal and external meetings, as well as activities like remote or in-person film shoots and consumer research when possible.
Creative Studio Intern
The Creative Studio is a small but mighty team that is responsible for producing and distributing best-in-class creative on behalf of our non-profit and government sponsors, as well as the Ad Council brand, including out-of-home (OOH) and print ads, social media graphics, web banners, infographics, event materials, and more.
Interns will experience the day-to-day process of working within an in-house Creative Studio, work with project management tools, meet with key stakeholders, and design pieces that they can incorporate into their portfolio.
Digital Media Intern
The Digital Media & Operations (DMO) Center of Excellence is our in-house team that oversees the Ad Council’s paid media program.
We are seeking a Digital Media Intern who is passionate about digital advertising and eager to delve into the rapidly evolving media and ad-tech landscape. This individual will support our team with the day-to-day management of our paid media campaigns, while gaining hands-on exposure to the media buying platforms in our ad tech stack, such as The Trade Desk, Amazon DSP, Vistar Media, Meta, YouTube, and Google Search.
The intern will also have the opportunity to conduct landscape analyses and research emerging trends to help inform future media strategies for Ad Council campaigns.
Media Strategy & Engagement Intern
The Media Team is responsible for all campaign media strategy, planning and activation, promoting our 30+ national public service campaigns. To best serve our campaigns and our media partners, it is important for Team Media interns to have a deep interest in understanding all media platforms (digital, streaming TV and audio, video, radio, out-of-home, magazines, newspapers, mobile and more) as well as in emerging media.
In addition to securing over $1B annually in donated media inventory on behalf of our public service ad (PSA) campaigns, the Mead Team works to develop strategic and custom partnerships with media companies that align with their Corporate Social Responsibility objectives. As an intern, you will work cross functionally to understand the critical role media plays in reaching our campaign target audiences and how we go about activating a campaign.
This intern will split their time between the Media Strategy & Engagement and Digital Marketing Center of Excellences reporting into one of our Media Engagement managers. You will learn about the core principles of media planning and activation, assisting with building and optimizing media briefs and plans, conducting media outreach and executing custom media partnership. You will also have access to media technology and tools to assist in your media research.
PR & Influencer Marketing Intern
This internship will be a part of the Marketing and Communications department that is responsible for developing PR, social media and influencer strategies to extend the reach and impact of our national campaigns.
The role will work directly with Creators for Good, our internal influencer marketing team, and the Public Relations and Social Media (PRSM) team to support paid, earned and owned media strategy, integrated communications and trusted messenger amplification as part of holistic Ad Council social impact campaigns.
The role also includes support of the PR team responsible for strategies that extend the reach and impact of our various national social impact campaigns through tactics such as messaging, media outreach and social media strategy, to uplift and amplify campaign messaging across a variety of media platforms
Both the Creators for Good and PR teams leverage the Ad Council’s established relationships in the entertainment, media, marketing, advertising and technology industries to identify and activate trusted voices for the nation’s most pressing issues to amplify the Ad Council’s efforts.
Strategy & Evaluation Intern
Housed within the Ad Council’s Insights & Analytics Department, the Strategy & Evaluation group is responsible for strategic research and planning of our campaigns, program evaluation, and best practices analyses. This includes qualitative and quantitative research on campaign target audiences and issues; national tracking surveys on behalf of campaigns that measure trends in awareness, attitudes and behaviors, digital and social media analyses, and other research activities as needed.
Interest or experience in market research, communications or marketing—either commercial marketing or social good marketing campaigns–is beneficial. Interns are encouraged to attend internal Ad Council staff meetings as well as some client meetings to learn about the campaign development and evaluation process. We also provide time and support for interns to conduct independent research on social marketing relating to Ad Council programs.