The Backpacker Intern: Creative ideas in exchange for food and board

“I worked in advertising in Amsterdam as a creative copywriter,” explains Van der Heijden. “But after six years, I realised that I wanted to see more of the world. I was happy with my job. I had a great apartment; great friends in Amsterdam. But I had this feeling that there was more. So I decided to quit my job.” That was January 2014.

Since then, Van der Heijden – aka The Backpacker Intern – has travelled across five continents, visited over 22 countries and offered his creative services to at least 28 different agencies, brands and charities. And he is still going. Mid-April 2015 finds him on his sixth continent – Africa – interning for Ogilvy Cape Town.

“Everyone has been really friendly here. Chris [Rawlinson] picked me up from the airport and he immediately felt like an old friend,” says Van der Heijden. And it sounds, just by listening to him, that everyone he has come into contact with loves the idea of what he is doing. It’s because not only is his idea simple to understand; it’s also accessible.

“I made it simple enough to explain in a tweet. That’s a short amount, but with a tweet, everyone knows the amount of characters: 140.” At the same time, it forced him to be clear and focused about what he aimed to achieve. However, that doesn’t mean that everything was in place at the beginning of his personal project. 

After booking his first plane tickets, he realised that he didn’t have enough money to do all the things that he wanted to do. “It wasn’t smart thinking,” admits Van der Heijden. Fortunately, the solution came quickly. “As a creative, I always think in solutions. So I thought, what do I need on a trip like this to survive. I found that if I had food and a place to stay, I could do this for a while.” The next step was convincing people to buy into his plan. 

“Before I launched the video that would explain my idea, I knew that I needed to have something in place. So I arranged two internships, one at Amnesty International, the other at McCann World Group [in Bangkok, Thailand]. This was a strategic thought because it provided proof of concept. If I launch my project and people already see that I have two big names [on board] they will see it’s legitimate.”

“When I launched the video, it got picked up by Dutch media and I thought that was really great,” says Van der Heijden. This was also just before he was about to fly to Bangkok for his first internship. He wasn’t expecting what would happen next. “I don’t want to say it went viral but it definitely exploded. When I landed and checked my messages, I had something like 800 new followers on Twitter, a marriage proposal, and 400-odd job offers from across the world. It was really crazy.”

On day one of his project, he was approached by TEDxTeen to give a speech in New York City. He was also identified by the White House (yes the White House) as one of the Top 100 most influential travel bloggers and digital media outlets in the world. Add to that the attention that he has received wherever he has gone and you’ll get an idea of the impact that he has had.

However, Van der Heijden is not after the fame or accolades. It’s not even about making money. Instead, it’s about “meeting cool people, inspiring others and producing good work on the way”. “I could have gone backpacking for a year. But that could be quite boring. After two weeks, it’s all the same,” says Van der Heijden. Also, compare that to telling someone that you went backpacking for a year and worked at companies, brands and charities along the way. That is a completely different angle. That pricks up ears; gets conversations started.

And Van der Heijden is far from finished. Next up in his journey is Madagascar, where he will be helping HERi, a social enterprise. He also has Australia and New Zealand still to visit, a book to write about his experience and a ‘final’ internship to confirm. Knowing where he plans to end this project should get you to follow him. That’s just to see if he gets there. Looking back at what he’s achieved so far, I’ve no doubt he will make it happen.

For more information on Mark van der Heijden and his adventures as The Backpacker Intern, visit www.thebackpackerintern.com. You can also connect with him on Facebook and on Twitter.