Executive Internships 2016: Erica Chiarello

In the final semester of the Temerlin Advertising Institute’s MA in Advertising program, students work in an executive internship with a Dallas agency. Read Erica’s story below:

Erica Chiarello: Commerce House

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My executive internships have allotted me the opportunity to work with clients like the Nature Conservancy, National Basketball Referee Association, and Mariano’s Hacienda. My first executive internship, taught me the value of direct marketing and how important it is within advertising to create personal relationships with your target audience.  As I begin my second executive internship at the Commerce House as a social media intern, I am learning how to properly engage with consumers.  My internship entails writing blog posts, social media entries, and working on video content to promote Mariano’s Hacienda and draw attention and humanize the NBA referees. I chose TAI because of their executive internship program and it has far exceeded my expectations.  My executive internships have allowed me to take the information that I have learned in class and apply it in a real world setting.  I am fortunate to have this opportunity and to work with such amazing people and clients.

Executive Internship 2016: Diana Herrera

In the final semester of the Temerlin Advertising Institute’s MA in Advertising program, students work in an executive internship with a Dallas agency. Read Diana’s story below.

Diana Herrera: Legion Advertising 

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At Legion, I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside the creative and the strategic team on four accounts – Bimbo Bakeries, Marinela, la Sabrozita and Money Gram. I have designed digital, traditional ads, promotional material and written copy for social media.  I’ve been very fortunate to intern for such a great company that allows interns to feel like employees and not just buy Starbucks for everyone. I have presented to clients and my ideas have been heard and implemented.

 

Executive Internships 2016: Colleen Welch-O’Brien

In the final semester of the Temerlin Advertising Institute’s MA in Advertising program, students work in an executive internship with a Dallas agency. Read Colleen’s story below.

Colleen Welch-O’Brien : Mary Kay Inc.

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I am interning at the global headquarters of Mary Kay Inc. in the Global Corporate Integrated Brand Marketing department in Web Content. My responsibilities include: the global adoption analysis for both Web and Social Media, competitive monitoring and reporting, campaign tracking, and updating and refreshing product content.

I love coming in to work every day and I feel that I am a valuable member of the team, even as an intern. My ideas are always listened to and everyone has been incredibly nice. I’m so happy to be working at Mary Kay Inc. because I am able to apply my love of different cultures and research on a daily basis.

 

Executive Internships 2016: Yiyang (April) Yu

In the final semester of the Temerlin Advertising Institute’s MA in Advertising program, students work in an executive internship with a Dallas agency. Read April’s story below.

Yiyang Yu: The Hall Agency

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In the Hall Agency, I’ve had the opportunity to design official website pages for our agency and some logos for Shakespeare Dallas as a graphic designer. It is fun to design for the plays. I read a lot of different stories regarding to the plays and have gotten a lot of inspiration from them. I also really enjoy exchanging my ideas with all my colleagues. We come up with ideas together to build our own websites and it makes me feel like we are working as a real team.

Executive Internship 2016: Preston Barrett

In the final semester of the Temerlin Advertising Institute’s MA in Advertising program, students work in an executive internship with a Dallas agency. Read Preston’s story below.

Preston Barrett: The Richards Group

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I am currently an intern at The Richards Group in the Brand Management Department. While I am predominantly working on The Home Depot account, I’m doing projects for other clients as well.

In my internship, I work with people across all different disciplines within the agency to complete my projects. I’ve been involved in various phases of the process of launching different ads across different mediums (including radio, TV, print, and online). In addition to participating in weekly status meetings and participating in competitive analysis, I also have been able to listen in on recording sessions, attend a shoot, and conduct Home Depot store audits.

While the variety of work is very engaging, working with different clients has been a great experience because not only has it given me experience looking at advertising in different industries, but it has also shown me the intricacies associated with working with different size clients.

Working at The Richards Group has been an excellent learning experience for me to learn about working with accounts within an agency. It’s a very fast-paced environment, but I feel that has helped me realize just how much I’m able to accomplish. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed how much I’ve been able to learn and experience, and am excited to continue my internship!

Executive Internship 2016: Jingxue (Snow) Wang

In the final semester of the Temerlin Advertising Institute’s MA in Advertising program, students work in an executive internship with a Dallas agency or office. Read Snow’s story below.

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I am working as a graphic designer intern in SMU Office of Student Transitions and Orientation. My office provides programs and services to support new students and families in transition to SMU. I am responsible for creating SMU AARO online magazines that everyone can download from SMU Official Website. I also design a variety of digital and print materials, such as e-blasts, posters, Keynote and PowerPoint templates, binder covers etc.

I enjoy this internship very much. It makes me feel involved with the SMU culture and community. Also, I feel I am helping hundreds of students and parents gain better experiences in SMU. Since my schedule is very organized, I am able to have my own time to learn more skills and improve my abilities.

How to Succeed in Advertising (and Life): Lessons from Ad Team

PN%20PHOTOWritten by: Peter Noble

Advertising is a team sport. And being successful in this arena isn’t just a matter of having ninja-like InDesign skills or being near-clairvoyant in media planning. Success is built on a foundation of basic personal characteristics and abilities.

Having coached 10 Ad Teams that competed in the National Student Advertising Competition (including two National Championship winners), I’ve found three essentials that contribute to personal and professional success — Focus, Accountability, and Communication. Each of these is important on its own, and when combined, they become a powerful base for navigating the world of teamwork.

FOCUS
It’s very easy to get distracted in today’s multi-screen, information/entertainment-rich environment. Multitasking isn’t the answer. It simply doesn’t work. When you divide your attention among several tasks at the same time you can’t effectively focus on the task at hand. Multitask planning is the solution to juggling multiple obligations. Prioritize and plan your work to fully engage in each individual area. Focusing on what’s important at the time allows you to give your work the full attention that’s necessary to do your best work within the required time allotment.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Trust and confidence on teams are the glue that holds everything together. If you accept an assignment, you have to deliver. Your and your team’s success depends on it. Delivery is measured both as a process and a product. It means that you get the work done in an efficient, friction-free manner, you submit high quality work, and you absolutely get it done by or before the agreed deadline. When you own the work and you deliver on quality and timeliness, you earn the team’s trust and confidence.

COMMUNICATION

It’s ironic that despite the fact that we’re in the business of communication many of the common problems in a team environment are rooted in miscommunication. Effective communication starts with a clear understanding of what needs to get done, how it’s to be accomplished, and when it needs to be completed. Once that’s established, communication throughout the process of the work is essential. Simple things like asking for additional resources and providing updates on milestone events can ensure success.

Focus, accountability, and communication aren’t the only elements of success in this business, but mastery in those three basic areas will give you an edge in this fast-paced competitive environment. The same benefits apply to success in life.

 

TAI Senior Ashley Eschert Shares How Internships Have Prepared Her for a Career in Advertising

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Ashley Eschert (BA Advertising ’16)

Temerlin Advertising Institute (TAI) senior Ashley Eschert shares how internships with two top Dallas-based agencies–The Richards Group and Canonball Creative–have prepared her for a career as an advertising search planner. Read about her experiences here.

Ashley is one of twenty students that has been selected to participate in Praxis, SMU’s award winning and highly selective Ad Team. Ad Team participates in the American Advertising Federation’s (AAF) National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC). Each year, 200 universities around the country complete in this competition by producing and presenting a comprehensive integrated marketing communications plan for a national client. This year the client is Snapple. Ashley and her Praxis teammates will first present their plan at the district competition in Lubbock in April 2016, and hope to later present at the national competition at Disneyland in June.

Read about last year’s Praxis success here.

TAI Graduate Student Spotlight: Snow Wang

Snow%20in%20Graphic%20Design%20positionIn mid-October, one of TAI’s second year MA in Advertising students, Snow Wang, began working in the Office of Student Transitions & Orientation. Here she is charged with graphic design projects for Recruitment Materials, Mustang Corral Graphics, Mustang Corral Compass as well as AARO Schedules and Student Transitions & Orientation Magazine.

Dr. Carrie La Ferle, Professor of Advertising as a Cultural Force and International Advertising, commented “How great it is when students are able to earn money working in positions that are also related to their field while also benefiting their university! It is just a win-win-win all around.” For more information on the MA in Advertising program, click here.

Justa vs. Whata: The Importance of Enterprise in Advertising

By: Alice Kendrick

KendrickAlice When I first moved to Texas, a friend introduced me to the iconic institution Whataburger. First, I learned I had to make a basic choice: theJustaburger or the Whataburger. 

Really? “Justa”?????? I thought why settle for Justa when you could have WHATA???

The Justa mentality won’t get you very far in the field of advertising. The notion of merely finishing a task or producing acceptable work is at odds with the ‘always on,’ iterative and optimization-seeking nature of the business. Advertising’s ever-changing, highly competitive and creative environment rewards the Whata’s — the enterprising — those who don’t consider completion of assignments as the end goal but rather strive to make the work better and best by repeatedly (iteratively) going above and beyond the proverbial call of duty.

My favorite definition of enterprising comes from the Oxford Dictionary:

“Having or showing initiative and resourcefulness”. Whata combination, right?

The example they give is “Some enterprising teachers have started their own recycling programs.” So, the teachers were not asked to initiate recycling programs; they did it on their own.

Initiative and resourcefulness – going above and beyond (and often in the face of shrinking budgets) – are traits that are highly valued in advertising, for it is the new, great, integrated, efficient, clever, impactful idea or way of doing something better that wins the day, the account, the prize. If you are satisfied with simply doing something per instructions, being a professional marketing communicator might not be the place for you. I was an ‘A’ student in college, but my first internship employer gave me a wake-up call about initiative when in his evaluation he wrote that although my work was of high quality, I was not enterprising. I actually had to look it up in the dictionary, as I thought the word involved making money. It means a lot more than that. That’s all I needed to hear, and I am forever grateful that he offered that candid assessment. I have never looked back.

empphoto_40815_1334870481I draw an enormous amount of inspiration as a teacher and researcher from our fantastic TAI alumni, many of whom are incredibly enterprising. A recent example is the award-winning advertising campaign for the movie The Book Thief, masterminded by our own
alumna Julie Rieger (’91), EVP-Media of 20th Century Fox in Los Angeles. Never one to be satisfied with a Justa-campaign, Julie flexed her enterprise as a student when she led SMU’s 1991 AAF National Student Advertising Competition team to its first national ranking. poster-large

In an effort to optimize the media budget for The Book Thief, Julie made history by negotiating the purchase of two consecutive blank pages in the New York Times, the second of which simply offered the movie’s URL www.wordsarelife.com. Arresting. Innovative. Shareworthy. On strategy given the movie’s message. Resourceful. Enterprising. You can learn more about how this Whata-promotion and our Whata-alum here.

So, how can students be more enterprising? Before class, not only read the chapter but also find your own examples of what’s being discussed. And share. If you really want to shock your prof, send an unsolicited (enterprising) email with a link to an article you think she might find interesting. This semester, two of my 57 students did that. Yes, I noticed. Don’t just fulfill the expectations for an assignment. Blow. It. Out. Of. The. Water. We will notice. So will your internship supervisors when you use your down time to create an annotated bibliography of current research and thinking on a subject related to an agency account. Knock their proverbial socks off. They will notice. And they will later write you a Whata-recommendation.

Just by writing this I’m getting my enterprise on. We may need to start a movement here. #upforwhata? #beyondwhata? #bethewhata? #taiwhata?

Dr. Alice Kendrick is a professor in the Temerlin Advertising Institute, SMU. The best way to reach her is akendric@smu.edu.