Week 10: Time Flies

Time flies when you’re having fun, and that’s exactly how I would describe my internship with Addison Whitney. I never expected that something labeled as ‘work’ could be so fun. Over the past nine weeks, I have learned a lot about the marketing and branding industry, especially in regards to verbal branding. My internship centered around the process of creating names for companies and products, which may sound like a very specialized skill. However, this process helped me gain new insight to problem solving. Often times, a name I created would run into an issue, be it trademark or url availability. Rather than scraping that name, I learned to strategically analyze it and determine how best to help it pass screens in order to continue in the process. This practice with problem solving is a skill I can take with me into any position in any field.

This past week was full of bonding with my verbal team. There was even a donut eating contest in the office! (I found out I can eat six Krispy Kreme donuts in 1.22 min!) I enjoyed getting to spend quality time with my supervisors. I learned more about the ins and outs of their positions as well as what made them choose Addison Whitney. Overall, everyone I spoke to during my internship said that they love the firm and that they like working there, which was wonderful to hear.

I’m definitely going to miss my time with Addison Whitney. I am grateful for the educational opportunity and the chance to grow as a professional individual. If I had to give a piece of advice to next year’s interns, I would tell them to never be afraid to ask questions of anyone in the office, even those who are outside of their department. That’s the best way to learn about the industry. In my experience, everyone is more than happy to answer questions; that’s why you’re there! For example, I expressed an interest in the marketing department, and the department heads organized an hour long meeting in order to tell me more about the marketing team’s day-to-day roles and answer the questions I had.

My main goal for this internship was to determine whether or not I was interested in the marketing and branding field as a potential career path. I would say I achieved this goal. I enjoyed my internship a lot and, because of that, I am considering pursuing that career path after graduation. I had also hoped to learn more about branding which I achieved ten-fold. I know so much more about verbal and visual branding, brand strategy, and marketing than I did at the beginning of this summer.

I’m so grateful to both Addison Whitney and WFU’s OPCD for providing me with this incredible summer experience. I’ve gained a great deal of knowledge and developed as a professional, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.