The Brandtern Experience

The other Brandterns and I recently got to participate in a photo shoot for Gabriel Brothers , one of Gatesman+Dave’s clients. The experience was very insightful, and once again taught us many things that a student is unable to learn in the classroom. We had many different responsibilities including ensuring that the talent signed photo consent forms and shadowing the Art Director while also observing some of the creative aspects that go into capturing the perfect images for the client. My primary duty was to collect and gather enough behind-the-scenes video and still shots to generate content for our client’s social media outlets. Prepping before the shoot began was beneficial because my objective was to collect quantity and variety.

Knowing what shots I lacked and who I wanted to interview was huge, but you have to be prepared to adapt when necessary. An example of just such an occasion was during my final interview of my two day experience. I wanted to interview this younger model who was extremely well spoken for his age, but I had to tweak the questions that I had drafted for the older models. It was a rewarding experience seeing how much time and effort actually goes into organizing an event such as this, and learning how difficult it is to keep everyone involved on schedule. Check back soon to see our client’s video if you would like to see how a photo shoot works first hand with client/talent interviews and more!

So we mentioned before that we got the opportunity to help brainstorm for a client ad! We thought it would be easy but soon enough we ran into what we now call “Creative Block.” We set up a camera and documented our struggles, our frustrations, and finally our triumphs. Check it out!

I got a steam burn today. That sucked. But other than that, the client photo shoot I went to today was awesome! Yeah, I had to steam some clothes to get out the creases, and no I didn’t know what I was doing (thus the burn), but being a part of the hustle and bustle of the shoot was really cool. I assisted the client in picking out outfits and accessories, I helped to position the models, and I got to eat free lunch! Best of all I got to be on set for all of the shoots. That was definitely my favorite part, shadowing our Art Director Matt and understanding the thought process that goes into every set and shoot. I really picked his brain about everything: from this photo shoot, to other types of shoots, how he determines what shots are needed, how to turn them into ads, and even just about Art Direction and his background in general. It gave me a lot of insight!

This internship has opened my eyes up to other possibilities for my future, from Account Management to Social Media. It’s been a wonderful experience but lately I’ve been struggling to decide what aspect of agency life I want to be a part of. But talking to Matt helped to reaffirm the path that I started out on. Even though going into the creative side of things can be extremely challenging and taxing, it is constantly exciting and rewarding. So for now, I’ll keep travelling down the creative track. But then again, I am the girl who changed her major four times her Freshman year, so who knows what I’ll change my mind to next week.

So we realize you all are busy and honestly, we may have gotten carried away with writing so much! So we’re going to start keeping our posts shorter, writing less and showing you more. So to kick that off, here’s a video we made (inspired by the California tourism ads – ads give us inspiration so we’re obviously in the right place) about how The Brandtern Experience isn’t your average internship!

    “This week has by far been the busiest and best week yet! Last week we were presented with a client Creative Brief for an ad and were asked to help with the creative brainstorming process. This is exactly what I hope to do with my career, so I could hardly contain my excitement. I did contain myself though, I didn’t want to look crazy jumping up and down, even though that’s what I felt like doing!
     I love coming up with new ideas, so in our brainstorming sessions, I was in my element. On Tuesday we met with the Gatesman+Dave creative team to go over our ideas. The two ideas that stood out to our Creative Director were ones that I had come up with! They helped us to figure out which concepts to push and which to veer away from and then sent us back to the drawing boards. Later, Sam, one of the creative team members, came to check up on us. Trust me, we didn’t have Cannes or Addy winning ideas, but we were heading in the right direction. Sam pointed out the ones he liked and again quite a few of those were my concepts! He said he would show and explain the good ones to the Creative Director and they would take over from there.
     This whole experience was huge for me. In the back of my mind I’ve always had some doubts about whether I have what it takes to be a creative. I know this is only one project and it takes a lot to prove yourself as a creative but getting positive feedback on my ideas was encouraging. This opportunity has sparked an even stronger fire to pursue a creative career! I can’t wait to see the final product of the ad and I really hope we get to help with a project like this again soon!”
-Kelsey


     “Week 4 was very cool.  It was the first week for the fourth Brandtern, Skye!  I received a new project from the media department – I am to conduct a cost-per-thousand (CPM) analysis for both magazines and newspapers.  The media kits for all of the publications are gold mines of information including advertising rate cards and circulation data.  This project will probably take me a few weeks to complete because I have to contact the representatives from the publications to verify the circulation numbers that I need in order to calculate the CPM.  
     We also got 10 dollars to spend at Qdoba, so I know I will definitely be hitting up Taco Tuesdays in the future.  It is so tempting to have a Qdoba on the ground floor of the building.  I’ve been trying really hard not to give in, but with the gift cards, I can’t wait anymore.  I need tacos.
     On Thursday I hit the road with Hallie for a road trip.  Well I guess it was technically a “board trip.”  We drove around Pennsylvania with representatives from Lamar looking at the best locations to buy outdoor advertisements.  It was a little cramped in the Acura with three of us jammed in the back seat, but it was interesting to hear about the leasing side of outdoor and learn what characteristics make a billboard desirable and which ones to avoid.  I guess I never really thought too much about how much work goes in to deciding which billboard to advertise on.  We were treated to an all-you-can-eat buffet in downtown Clarion and I definitely took advantage of the all-you-can-eat rule!  But it was good food in a neat little restaurant and I had a full stomach the whole way home listening to the Lamar reps talk about the outdoor advertising industry.
     In other exciting news, we posted our first video blog onto YouTube.  The link will either be somewhere on the blog or on our twitter page @TheBrandternExp.  It’s a pretty cool video. Sadly, I had to re-film, yet again, the introductory video that we filmed the first week of the internship.  However, now that all four of us Brandterns have filmed our videos, all we have to do is edit the video and it should be up sometime next week.  I should say that I will not be doing any of the editing because I would have no idea what to do, so Kelsey has gladly volunteered to be the Brandtern video blog editor.”
-Sean

 
   “I just finished my first week at G+D. I have to say, I was a little nervous starting a few weeks after the other interns, but I instantly felt comfortable and welcomed. Dave, Kelsey, Sean, and I all helped to brainstorm and collaborate on ideas for a new client at the agency. I think it was a great way for me to get introduced to the other interns and allow us to all combine our individual strengths. Although I never saw the prior building where the agency was housed, this new space is very cool! I love the laid-back atmosphere and colorful walls (and having good restaurants and shopping across the street isn’t too bad either!). I started getting design opportunities on my first day, which was very exciting and a pleasant surprise. I have been able to help make revisions to previous projects, as well as help design new ones. I am very excited for the rest of the summer and all of the great opportunities that are ahead.”
-Skye

 
   ”When working in the PR department of an advertising agency being a jack-of-all-trades is very advantageous. This week I was asked to complete a wide variety of tasks, many of which I haven’t had to do in quite some time. For example; I had to finish up some coding for a client who is in the process of updating their website. The coding I was entering was very basic, but this was the first time I have done something of this nature since a class I took my junior year at IUP. My advice to any students that are planning to take part in an internship this upcoming summer; treat every class you take as if it was one of your core-curriculum courses. After all Confucius once said,’The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it; not having it, to confess your ignorance,’ and he knew what he was talking about.”
-Dave 

So, we’re all finally here! The trio has become a quad, I guess you could call us the Fantastic Four. We’ve all blogged about ourselves, but we figured you should get to know each of us a little better! So here’s a video from what the agency likes to call the “Getting to Know You” segment. So get to know us - we think we’re pretty cool!

“Hey! My name is Skye and I’m the creative & digital Brandtern for Gatesman+Dave this summer. I just finished up my junior year at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. I am currently majoring in Interactive Multimedia Design and minoring in Art History. I lived in Ohio for 12 years, moved to South Florida for six, and now I am back in Ohio for college. I love to travel, enjoy live music, and do freelance graphic design work for local bands, bars, and publications. I am super excited to be apart of this great ad agency and to work with such a talented team. This is my first internship at an ad agency and my first time living in (or ever visiting) Pittsburgh. I look forward to experiencing a new city, a new job, and new adventures!”
-Skye

Thursday we got the amazing opportunity to sit in on Gatesman+Dave’s Agency Day. First of all, we were told a week in advance that this was on the schedule and the reason the three of us were so excited in the first place is because we would be provided with a Burrito Bar! Free stuff is awesome, but free food is even better, especially for college kids like us!

So the tacos and burritos were delicious and once we all finished eating and grabbed some chips and queso to munch on, the entire agency met in the Fishbowl conference room to hear a guest speaker and discuss the agency’s bright future! 

For all of us it was an truly an awe-inspiring experience. We got an inside look on where the agency as well as the entire industry of advertising is headed. We were inspired to constantly be on top of new trends, to always be on the lookout for experiences and opportunities, and most importantly to never settle for good enough.

Coming out of that conference room after the festivities and seminar had concluded (and we had gotten a free book about the Advertising industry – again, yay for free stuff!) we all went back to our desks with a new drive to work harder than ever and were truly thrilled that we had chosen to pursue careers in such a dynamic and exciting industry! 

     “It’s only Tuesday and I’ve already helped out with three separate real-client projects … and I can’t decide which one I enjoyed more. One project had to do with using InDesign and the Adobe Creative Suite so when that one was handed to me I instantly wanted to get started. It was great getting to sit in the “creative” section of the agency … that’s the area I want to be placed in once I graduate and find my first job. The other project was a social media project, which is perfect because I’m a social media addict. I don’t mean I check Facebook a lot - I mean I have an account for at least six different social media sites where I’m constantly checking my Klout score.  My current goal is to reach 3,000 tweets by the end of the summer. Needless to say, it didn’t really seem like work then when it came to helping with the social media for a client. I also got to research trends for the market that the client is in, one that I am very interested in as well, so all around it was a great project to work on. I worked closely with our Intern Manager Beth during the process and she said that I can continue working more with the social media aspects, so I can’t wait! All of this, and it’s only Tuesday of Week 3!”
-Kelsey

 

      “I just finished my third week here at the agency, and wow, this summer is flying by. This week the Brandtern program was in full swing. We continued to work on individual projects and finally found the concept for our first Brandtern campaign video channel. I can now see the importance of having a schedule in place at the beginning of the week because of how many running projects are taking place at the same time. Staying organized is a key part of staying on top of my work, but finding the happy medium in which you can stay on top of current work and still have room for new tasks is the difficult part. One of the most important things I learned in week three, in my opinion, was my first lesson in crisis communications. I have sat through lectures on this topic in the classroom, but seeing how the strategy and plans unfold on real clients was extremely beneficial. I’m beginning to gain an understanding of just what it takes to work in a fast-paced environment that is an advertising agency.”
-Dave

 

     “Monday presented me with the opportunity to look through more publications to find the tear sheets in each one.  These were national publication groups of magazines such as Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, and People that sold local advertisement space in their publications.  I have read through these magazines throughout my entire life and never really noticed that in a lot of them, there were advertisements for local companies or Pittsburgh area events.  I learned a little bit about how media buying happens. Then I was given my first research project of the year; I have to research how brands are reacting to the Facebook IPO that happened last month.  Previously I did not know too much about the IPO, but after researching I feel as though I am a lot more familiar with how an IPO works and what it means in the digital environment.  We also wrote a script for our first video blog, which I am very excited to start filming and editing on Tuesday and Thursday.
     On Tuesday I worked more on my research project and I am almost finished with it!  Then I made a trip to the old office which I have never seen before.  The majority of the rest of the day was spent filming the video blog. 
     Thursday was a very busy day for us Brandterns.  In the morning we finalized our first video for YouTube.  Now all that’s left is the editing (good luck with that Kelsey!).  Then we got a free Qdoba lunch!  I must have eaten four burrito bowls.  Then we had an agency meeting that was really interesting and motivational. After the meeting, we went to another brainstorming meeting for an outdoor advertisement.  It was really cool being a part of the idea generating process and the Brandterns were assigned the task of coming up with more ideas over the next week.  I can’t wait to see what awesome ideas we bring to the table!”
-Sean