Week 8: Uncharted Waters
I can’t believe it’s already week 8 of this project! The summer is flying by. I came into my internship with limited knowledge about branding, and I now feel as though I have a solid understanding of the inner workings within a branding firm. For the past seven weeks, I have shadowed the verbal branding team of Addison Whitney. I have learned about naming both pharmaceutical and commercial products as well as businesses. I’ve sat in on client calls and learned about the challenges of working with an external client. I have also practiced screening names for legal problems. I have definitely been surprised by how different my tasks are on a day-to-day basis. It makes this internship exciting and unexpected. For instance, one day I could be working solely on creating names for various clients. The next day, I could be sitting in on a client call and forming the powerpoints that are presented to clients.
I also didn’t anticipate how much fun I would have during my time at Addison Whitney! Everyone I’ve met is so charming and friendly; I love the office atmosphere. The office also has periodic events that are a break from work and add to the fun. This upcoming week, I will be participating in a trivia game during lunch!
This past week I got to attend an event hosted by the Charlotte affiliate of the American Advertising Federation (AAF) with several of my supervisors. AAF Charlotte is a non-profit that promotes a better understanding of the functions of advertising.
The event was held at a restaurant Uptown and lunch was served (yum!). A team from Wray Ward, an advertising agency in Charlotte, presented a case they have been working on for several years with Sunbrella, a performance fabrics company. The advertising team had worked with Sunbrella to produce and film a documentary called Uncharted Waters, in which the journeys of the USA sailing teams for the Olympics were showcased. Rather than focusing on the brand, they focused on the story and had the brand as an ever present background. So far, it has successfully increased the activity surrounding Sunbrella. I thought this was an ingenious advertising tactic. It first draws in the consumer and then presents them with the product. The website streaming the documentary also has content straight from the athletes as well as photos and insider videos. They showed several clips from the documentary that were very moving; I definitely suggest checking it out!
It’s hard to believe that I only have two more weeks with Addison Whitney, but I intend to make the most of them and continue learning as much as I can.
Until next time!
