Arnold Internship: Week 10

The finish line is in sight – the Arnold internship is winding down. A few days ago our team presented our integrated marketing communications strategy for BCBS as a final project. This was perhaps the most challenging and ultimately most rewarding part of my experience here because it allowed me to wear many different hats. It was just like being part of your own mini agency and we definitely had a lot of fun in the process, even going so far as making a video spoof of the typical day in the life of an Arthur DC (our fake agency) employee. Once again, I learned some valuable lessons along the way and wanted to share those:

Establish authority and credibility – Our team conducted 19 intercepts, 15 IMS analyses, read 43 articles and blogs, read another 40 surveys and reports, and conducted 5 in-depth interviews. And most importantly, we let our “client” know these things up front. Doing lots of homework early on made us knowledgeable in the subject matter and comfortable in talking about it. This makes our sell that much easier down the line.

Tell a story – Though we knew our pitch in it out, the outsider did not. A good narrative made the presentation easy to follow. Keeping the slides photo based and having only about 100 words of text throughout the whole presentation made our story even easier to follow. Some good free stock photo sites that really helped us with telling a story through pictures were www.sxc.hu and www.compfight.com

Little details matter – From how our presenters would transition speaking to how we physically arranged the room – no detail was left untouched. We even made sure to have snacks and drinks available, along with placecards with team photos and names. One thing I keep seeing in the agency world is that new business is much like show business. Everything has to be just right to set a good atmosphere.

Next week, I will post an overall reflection of the agency internship experience.