Learning Through Research: What My Semester-Long Project Taught Me
Hello again! For those of you who don’t know me, or haven’t read my previous blog post, my name is Andrea Cicio. I’m currently interning at Braithwaite Communications, a marketing, branding, and public relations firm in Center City.
When I come into work at Braithwaite, I get a firsthand glimpse of all the services the account executives offer to their clients. As much exposure, and even knowledge, I gain of the tasks involved in each project, I always wonder how each service offering is developed.
Braithwaite’s two internship advisors gave me, and the agency’s other four interns, the chance to find the answer to that question. Each intern was assigned to research a particular service offering and propose best practices the agency could implement.
I chose to research best practices within branding. This semester long project gave me the chance to learn not only the ins and outs of Braithwaite’s perspective on branding, but also the process of creating and maintaining a brand’s identity.
In order to tie my findings to Braithwaite’s current practices, I made my recommendations within the context of their branding model, called Brandalytics. For each point of the model, research [talking to those who work for and use the organization’s services] architecture [building the brand’s identity], validation [gaining client approval] and execution [spreading the brand’s new message through social media, public relations and marketing efforts], I used my research to suggest ways for Braithwaite to brand themselves internally, brand their clients and to validate the effectiveness (and also make suggestions for ways to strengthen each step within the Brandalytics process)
Presenting my findings and recommendations to Braithwaite’s staff was a true learning experience. In our industry, being able to give an engaging, informative presentation is a necessity. Having the chance to present in a professional setting was an excellent way to get a feel for much of my future work in advertising. More importantly, being able to receive feedback on my presentation has encouraged me to improve my presentation skills and to know the work I presented is valuable to the agency.
