Against the Grain: Alex Rich

To me, internships are a critical element to achieving a good job out of college. Without one, the only knowledge you have is what you’ve taken from class. Classes can only teach you so much when it comes to agency life. Having this internship has opened my eyes to the world of advertising and what comes with it. It has shown me the ins and outs, the do’s and don’ts and the etiquette that is needed in advertising.

I guarantee I would not have enjoyed my internship anywhere near as much as I did without a couple simple elements; management and the employees.

Management:

“The boss” is usually one to avoid in most companies. You see him or her walking one way, you immediately walk the other. Well, with Trilix, things are a little different. The management style is very down-to-earth and personable with each employee. You’re not intimidated by him or her, quite the opposite actually. Although you know they’re your superior, any day I could have walked into my boss’s office, sat down, and carried on a casual conversation. I loved this. I’ve worked for businesses where “the boss” is one to be avoided, but not here. The welcoming atmosphere and environment is one that is best demonstrated by the upper-level management.

Employees:

It has been a great time getting to know every single employee at Trilix. Being “the intern,” nobody treated me like one. I was respected like a full-time employee, given large-scale projects to work on and leadership roles at events. Some, regularly let me sit in on meetings with clients, vendors and other co-workers, just to get the feel for how things worked. My co-workers, along with the friendly management, are the ones who made it enjoyable to come into work every day.

Privileged. Thankful. Happy. These are all words that come to my head when I think back on my summer internship with Trilix. It’s hard to believe that it’s been three months since I first started. I couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity to work with such a great company. I thoroughly enjoyed every day of work and can honestly say I never had a bad experience. Thank you everyone in the Trilix crew, it’s been a great summer working for you.

When taking on your first “real” project as an intern, a lot of thoughts go through your mind, “Am I ready for this? Where do I start? I hope I don’t blow this,” but none can beat the rush you get when you realize it’s time to prove your worth. It can be scary taking on a project with such a high value to our company when you have never done anything like it before. It’s like being thrown into an ocean, not knowing how to swim, and having to fend for yourself. Well, with no arm floaties, I had to learn on my own.

I soon found out that meetings are critical to the success of a project. It’s so easy to get the right group of talented people together, each from different departments, sit down and come up with tactical options on how to complete a project in the allotted timeframe and within the budget. My one-man project quickly turned into a group effort. Unlike class up at school, I was able to delegate tasks to each department at hand that specialized in that particular work. The creative ideas went to our creative department, the press release and announcements to our PR department and the website specifications to our interactive/online team. With follow-up meetings, I was able to put together a great marketing plan for the project. What would have been a semester-long project in school was put together in a little over a week.

The implementation of the marketing plan would not have happened had the plan not been approved with oversight from the CEO, President, account executive and head of the research department. This was a little intimidating to say the least. Facing a panel of four of your superiors and pitching a marketing plan that was little more than an idea a week ago was not an easy thing to do. All in all, I thought the presentation went over fairly well. Of course, for being the first “real” project I have put together, there were a couple tweaks here and there. But the project got approved. (That’s gotta’ mean something right?) Overall, it has been a great learning experience putting together a “real” full-blown marketing plan. Now comes the execution…

After chatting with professionals in the field of advertising, I cannot tell you how many times I heard, “If you don’t have any experience in the crazy world of advertising, chances are you won’t be considered for a position.”  I suppose this is understandable.  I mean, why would agencies want to hire a person fresh out of college with zero knowledge of agency life when they could hire someone who has completed an internship and learned the ins and outs of advertising already?

Now, we’ve all been told that internships might not be the most fun and exciting work, but once you get over the standard intern “chores” of making coffee and printing copies, it is clear to see that no class can beat in-house experience.  Walking around the agency, seeing what people do on a day-to-day basis is something that is more valuable than any classroom project.  With only five days experience under my belt so far, it seems like I’ve learned more in those days than I did all semester at school.  Classes can teach you about typical advertising pieces like what a creative brief is or what a new business pitch should look like, but nothing beats hands-on experience.  This is why internships are so valuable.  You have the opportunity to watch and interact with people who’ve been in the business for years.  I’ve been able to sit in on new ad pitches, brainstorming sessions, vendor meetings as well as new client proposal pieces.  Everything is new and exciting.

Everyday I go into work excited to see what projects I will be working on next, keeping an open mind knowing that some will be better than others, but you have to start somewhere right?  With the World Pork Expo coming up next week, I know I’ll have my work cut out for me.  I’m taking every day one step at a time but eager to see what’s in store for me in the future.  Also, just for the record, I haven’t been the “coffee boy” or “copy guy” yet, but if need be, I’ll step up to the plate; after all, I am the intern…