The Dream Internship: Group Two Advertising

My name is Ashley Simpkins and this past semester I was lucky enough to intern with Group Two Advertising as their Account Services intern. Group Two is a full-service advertising agency that specializes in marketing for home builders. To say that my time with Group Two was amazing would be the understatement of the century. Not only was I able to gain valuable experience from the four account executives at the agency who acted as mentors to me, but I was also able to work within the other departments. This was something that I am very appreciative of because I was able to learn more about myself. As I worked with the social media team on platforms such as Pinterest and Twitter, I quickly learned that social media work is not something that I see myself pursuing. This is extremely valuable information for me to know moving forward so that I can remain confident in pursuing the Account Management track that I currently am.

After this internship, I have learned that I definitely prefer working directly with clients and creating advertising campaigns whether it be for upcoming events, increasing brand awareness, etc. Essentially, this internship entirely re-validated how perfect I believe the Account Management track is for me. One of my favorite tasks that I was given over the course of the semester was creating Excel documents where I would write an in-depth competitive analysis for new clients. These were incredibly useful when our agency was given a new client. I would search online as if I were a prospective home buyer and search things such as, “Custom Home Builders in Tampa, FL.” I would then view the websites of the competitors who appeared in my search results and break down their strengths and weaknesses from how many move-in ready homes they have, to how easy to navigate their website was. These were always highly appreciated by the account executives because they had a quick reference to read and learn about their new client’s competitors.

One of my favorite aspects about Group Two was the people who work there. Each and every one of them help to create a warm and welcoming work environment and I consider that to be a very important aspect when it comes to finding a company that I would like to work for in the future. I was able to truly see my future self in some of the account executives and that was a very reassuring feeling for me. Working at Group Two is a decision you will not regret as long as you always dive into projects and continue to ask your colleagues what you can do to help them. Although this is an unpaid internship position, they do provide a very generous check at the end of your time with them that acts as their way of thanking you for all of your hard work throughout the semester.