Emily Sweeney ’12Journal 1
Three weeks ago, I began my internship at BBMG, a brand innovation firm focused on bridging sustainability and health with technology and communications, located in DUMBO, Brooklyn. With breathtaking views of the Manhattan skyline and a beautiful, completely open office, which just won The Wall Street Journal’s “Workplace of the Day” award, it is no wonder creativity oozes from BBMG’s approximately 20 employees.
BBMG was founded in 2003 by two friends, Mitch Baranowski and Raphael Bemporad, who met in 1990 while they were teaching assistants in a utopian literature class at the University of Texas at Austin. Since then, Mitch and Raphael have grown BBMG into a team of designers, brand strategists, project managers, and other creatives who are all focused on designing branding and marketing experiences that help their clients communicate their social mission in a new, innovative way. The company’s clients include large, multinational corporations, global NGOs, mission-driven businesses, clean tech start-ups, and social enterprises.
During my nine-week internship with BBMG, I will be splitting my time between business development and nonprofit client work. My work with Morgen, the business development manager, has included researching potential clients, finding appropriate contacts, and constructing emails that explain the possible value add that could come from partnering with BBMG. I may also be assisting in client proposals and helping write case studies that can be used as examples with future clients.
In addition to business development work, I will be spending the majority of my time working with Mirm, the vice president, and group director of philanthropy and social enterprise. Her current clients include both large and small nonprofits that touch a variety of causes. So far, I have attended and participated in brainstorming sessions for the implementation stage of a client’s new brand, helped write and construct brand houses and marketing plans for another client, attended a photo shoot, and helped plan a webinar that transformed BBMG’s latest report, UNLEASHED: How New Consumers Will Revolutionize Brands and Scale Sustainability, into a relevant report for the philanthropic community. I have learned about strategically communicating, branding in an increasingly transparent marketplace, and working with an array of clients. I look forward to learning more, and adding value, over the weeks to come.
Journal 2
After one month at BBMG, I accompanied Mirm, the senior vice president of philanthropy, and Scott, the creative director, to a web redesign kickoff meeting for one of New York’s largest nonprofits. The purpose of the meeting was to brainstorm with over 20 of the nonprofit’s employees, including all of those involved with marketing efforts, on the look and layout of their new homepage and the design of the site. During the four-hour meeting, we strategically walked them through multiple brainstorming and user-profile sessions until we had a clear picture of their master vision for the new site.
The meeting began with a recap of their new brand messaging, which is meant to capture the mission and actions of the nonprofit in a straightforward, colloquial way. With excitement about the updated brand permeating the room’s atmosphere, we moved on to discuss how to effectively communicate this new message through the organization’s website. In order to gain insight into how to do this effectively, we began with a brainstorming exercise where we asked the employees, “How should the site be perceived?” and, “How should it make visitors feel?”, and quickly jotted down their responses, eventually agreeing on the top five.
Next, we moved on to a profiling exercise, where we asked the employees to team up and put themselves in the shoes of six potential site visitors. With specific questions that prompted the nonprofit members to discuss what the site visitor would be looking for, and what he or she would need to achieve the goal of the visit, we asked the group to put themselves in the shoes of the potential site visitor. With this information, the strategy team would be better able to create content and the creative team would be more equipped with the knowledge to build an effective site.
As the meeting participants brainstormed and shared, I was excited by the impact this insight would have on the new direction of not only their website, but their entire brand. As I typed up the notes after the meeting, I could almost see the new site in my mind, and I now have a better understanding of all the work that will go into making that image a reality.
