Kate Szostak ’12Journal #1
I am finishing up the fourth week of my internship at BBMG, where I was able to dive into a project right away, as my arrival at the agency coincided with BBMG taking on a new client. On my second day, I participated in a client kick-off session led by BBMG co-founder Raphael Bemporad. It was a great way to understand the BBMG philosophy and their process when learning about the core values and aspirations of a client. Since then, I have been analyzing the information we gathered, and working with the BBMG team to develop the brand and marketing approach.
Each team at BBMG is a combination of strategists and designers. It has been interesting for me to observe the work of the designers, since their skill set is so different from my own. The atmosphere at BBMG is one of collaboration, and the office — located in Dumbo — is more of a studio and is an inspiring place to work. It was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal series, “Office of the Week.”
Right now, I have four different projects in the works — I thrive on variety and multi-tasking. All of my clients are on the for-profit side, which has been particularly interesting for me since I have a background in the public and nonprofit sectors. This vantage point is ideal for exploring the intersection of business, sustainability, and social issues — an interest of mine, and one that I was able to explore this year in classes such as Finance and Sustainability, taught by Bruce Usher, and Business Innovations in International Development, taught by Antony Bugg-Levine.
Journal #2
There are only three weeks left of my internship. This week was exciting because we were able to present a deliverable to the same client we brought on board my first week here. We developed a marketing strategy and also presented an analysis of our research and findings. I presented with the team, which speaks to the effort that BBMG has made to give summer associates meaningful roles. The client will be taking some time to compile feedback, but their initial impressions were very positive.
Another interesting project I am working on involves gathering and analyzing insights about a particular brand from the Collective, which is the BBMG proprietary online community of “new consumers” — individuals who are concerned about the impact of the products they use on their health, the environment, their communities, and their families. The Collective is an amazing way to test ideas and gather information from consumers. I was able to identify clear themes and trends regarding this potential client.
Finally, last week we had a group innovation session to help one of the project teams generate ideas for an account. Everyone at the agency participated and the supportive setting made it easy to present ideas. It was refreshing to think really creatively for a few hours and see how others approached the same challenge in different ways.
