So I am no expert on landing internships but I have 3 seasons and 4 internships under my belt so far and find that I’m pretty great at staying organized during the intense application season. Here are my top 5 tips for you during application season this year.

1. Keep a tab on your browser for interesting companies.

During the year you may find companies you find worth working for. Having this tab allows you to bookmark any company’s website you may want to apply to in the future. It also gives you easy access to any companies you have already applied to. All you need to do is drag the web address into the folder. This way when you start to apply for internships in Jan-Mar you don’t have to start from scratch searching for companies, you’ll already have compiled a list.

2. Save your resume and cover letters as PDFs with your first name, last name and year
Formatting is super important when it comes to resumes and cover letters. If your document is out of line that could be a big problem. Saving the file as a PDF ensures that the way that you see it on your computer will be the way the employer will see it on theirs. Make sure to include your first name, last name and year on the file. Recruiters receive tons of application materials so getting a file that just says, “Resume” or “Cover letter” won’t help them. Including your first and last name and year will allow them to match the two documents for the future. The year can help distinguish past cover letters from current or future cover letters to the same place.

3. Create a folder for all of your cover letters with each document including the company’s name and year.
As you probably know, every cover letter you write should be unique to not only the company you are applying to but also the position in which you are applying for. Make sure you keep organized by creating a folder just for your cover letters. Here you can keep every copy of all of you cover letters for reference. I would include the original document with the company name and year and the PDF version as well. Another suggestion would to keep cover letters organized by year in separate sub-folders. Before your interview make sure you re-read what you expressed in your cover letter. Sometimes interviewers will address topics you discussed in your cover letter and you want to make sure what you expressed then matches what you explain in your interview.

4. Create a spreadsheet that includes all of the companies your apply to
Often when you apply to more than 4 companies things can a bit crazy. Create a spread sheet to help you stay on top of each application.

• Company name
• Position(s) you applied to
• Person you sent you application materials to or recruiter
• Company website or recruitment site
• Application deadline
• Date you submitted your application
• Any alumni that work for the company’s contact information 
• If sent follow up email & the date
• If you’ve received interview 
• Interview Date
• If you’ve sent a thank you letter & email after the interview
• Response

5. Prepare a “Thank You” letter and email template prepared for right after you interview.
After every interview you should send out a thank you email AND letter (snail mail) to the person(s) you interviewed with. It is helpful to have a template set up in advance so you can have a quick response. Make sure there is still room the add personality and information about the specific interview in your letter. Things to include in the template:

• Space for interviewer’s address
• Space for interviewer’s name
• Company name
• Specific position
• Restate key information about yourself and your interest in the position
• Mention any takeaway from your interview
• Your signature

I wish you the best of luck this internship application season. May the odds be ever in your favor.

As this semester reaches the end I find I am proud of myself for surviving what has been some of the most challenging few months of my life. No, I did not fight in a war or deal with severe emotional trauma but I did overcome a semester of pure craziness. Never before have a I felt so tested academically, emotionally and physically. The semester started off pretty rocky after a disappointing spring semester and an upsetting summer experience. An awful internship evaluation left my confidence shattered. Even though this semester pulled me in a million directions, in the end I feel confident that no matter the results I pulled through like a champ. 

A highlight of my semester was that it was going to be my chance to step outside the communications school more and experience some classes outside my comfort zone of IMC land. One of those classes included a sociology class, Contemporary Global Issues. At first I didn’t really like the class for a few reasons:

1. I was eager to share my thoughts but heart broken when others didn’t agree
2. We talked only about the problems in the world and never spoke about the solutions. I often  felt completely helpless every time I left class.
3. My professor graded me really hard so I did TERRIBLE on my first 2 papers

By the end of the semester I LOVED this class. I was SO glad my professor was a hard-ass on me because it pushed me to produce not good work but GREAT work. She pushed me to think harder and provide stronger arguments for my thoughts. The class got me to think in a way I had ever thought before. Even though this class has no direct correlation to my career plans, I know that this was a life changing class I’m so glad I took. The concepts I learned in that will stick with me for a very long time. I’m almost a little sad that I waited this long to take a sociology class because I truly enjoyed it. I can guarantee I will definitely be taking a class with that professor again in the future, no matter what she is teaching.

This semester I started to realize that many of my professors never let me off the hook when I produce good work. I feel like they often see something inside of me that I can’t even see and push me to do better. In the end I am always grateful for the motivation but I don’t know how they know that I’m going to respond in a positive way when they give me intense negative feedback? How do they know I won’t  just giving up? Am I that obvious? Do they really know that negative feedback will just ignite that drive to prove them wrong or is it all a guessing game?

This semester I’m also proud of my ability to balance every commitment I’ve taken on, from serving as president of both AAF & RHA, to Director of Communications for Spirit Week, while working 20 hours a week and more. It has been an absolute pleasure dedicating all of this time to every organization and office, regardless of how much sleep I missed out on. I would never give back the hours I spent contributing to everything this semester and I will absolutely miss all of it while in London. When I return things won’t be the same and that does make me sad.

This semester even offered a small moment with a boy. A boy I was totally into. But well. It happened and then it didn’t…

Anyway, this is the end of Fall of 2012. I’m looking forward to the spring semester IN LONDON! 21 DAYS! 

This weekend I attended the Advertising Women of New York (AWNY) Career Conference at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. This conference is an opportunity for students to gain more information about the industry of advertising and the many different areas in it. The two-day conference included agency visits, keynote speakers, clinics and workshops. Even though this was my second year attending the annual conference that did not prevent me from learning a lot!

We kicked off the conference with two agency visits. The first was to the Ithaca alumni packed agency G2. There we got to ask questions to the many alumni and get a tour of the different departments in the agency. While walking around the agency, I couldn’t help but find many parallels between G2 and McGarrah Jessee. After, we headed over to McCann NY and met an IC grad who’s an account manager there who gave us a presentation about the company. I found a connection to McCann’s ideology of “The Truth Well Told”. Essentially during the strategy period they reveal both a consumer truth and brand truth and build campaigns based on these two concepts. These truths can be both negative or positive. As I learned while taking Advertising Copywriting and Art Direction at school, great campaigns possess a type of human truth that connects to your consumer. When the target audience sees your ad they should feel some type of a emotional connection.

The keynote address on Saturday morning by Mary Baglivo, CEO of the Americas at Saatchi & Saatchi, contained a ton of great advice and motivation. She particularly stressed that everyone who plays a role in advertising must be creative in some way. This includes taking data and information and using empathy and creativity to create a relationship between brands and consumers, creating Lovemarks. It’s not just about getting consumers to like your brand but getting them to love and respect your brand.

Saturday afternoon brought some really great workshops. I first attended a workshop about interactive/digital/emerging media. At first I thought the session was just gonna be a promotion for the company that the presenters worked at, iD Media, but it soon turned into a very educational experience as they delved into new areas of emerging media. They stressed that digital media strategists must “be on top of a trend”. They have to bring ideas to their clients and not have their clients bringing them ideas they saw competitors doing. They also discussed the use of SMS call to actions. This basically calls the audience to text vs. sending them to the company website, Facebook page or a microsite. SMS call to actions sees a 3.7 times greater response than sending viewers to a website. Using SMS also gives companies a ton of information about those who text including their phone number, area code, the type of phone they use, and provider. They can use this information to form a database and use for future SMS promotions. An example of this that I’ve experience is a promotion my mall did using SMS. Since the original promotion I have received numerous texts regarding different events and sales taking place. Yesterday I got a text informing that Santa has arrive at the mall.

The next workshop I attended was presented by Suzanne Powers, the VP/Global Strategy Officer for Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B) on account planning/strategy. This was by far my favorite workshop because it further convinced me that account planning is the area I want to pursue in advertising. She walked us through what account planning is and the methodology behind CP+B’s account planning. Some key takeaways were:

• “Always know your audience”
• Account planners “Make it up as they go along”
• “Speak in human speak”
• Account planners are curious and daring
• “Find the right questions rather than the right answers”
• Account planners seek truth, insight and relevancy
• Account planners spend more time ask WHY? rather than what. 

She spoke about how CP+B planners searched for the cultural tensions found around a brand. Based on this tension they design a strategy that taps a human emotion to relieve this tension. After explaining the CP+B process we got to try it out.

My last workshop was on account management and featured a panel of account executives, supervisors, brand managers, etc. from McGarry Bowen, MRM and Digo. Even though my interest in account management is fading, I gained a very interesting perspective from this panel and could compare it to my experience this summer as an account management intern. One things I learned about McGarry Bowen is that they separate their account manager not only by the clients they serve but also based on the medium they produce work for. For example, account mangers either work on traditional (print, tv, radio, out of home) or non-traditional (digital, experiential, interactive, social). I was a little turned off by this division because it almost pigeonholes their employees even though it also specializes them. It could be a double edged sword for both the employer and employees. 3 of the panelists had Verizon as their client at 2 different agencies. For some reason I always thought that a brand selects one agency and that is it. I always thought that a brand may choose to have another agency, like a specific digital agency, because they specialized in that type of medium. Well, during this session I learned that large company brands often will hire different agencies to also maintain a healthy level of competition. These brands feel it is better to have their work scattered to many agencies so they have some pressure on their current agencies and don’t have to start from scratch if they need to leave one of them.

Overall I had a great experience at AWNY this year. I made a bunch of connections and look forward to applying what I learned in the future whether that is right now at school or at internships.

For advertisers it is hard to know how many people are really seeing your tv spot. Yes, you know how many people are tuned in to a specific program on a specific channel at a specific time. Yes, you know how old they are and what area of the country they come from. You may also know their annual household income. But what advertisers can’t guarantee is that they person who have their tv on is actually sitting there watching and listening to the ad. They could be in the bathroom, in the kitchen, on the phone, walking the dog, who knows?

A couple of weeks ago, I purchased the October issue of Elle magazine.
1) I got it because Britney Spears was on the cover
2) Because it was a special double issue with an additional accessories edition

Even though I don’t normally subscribe to Elle, I paid $5 with high expectations for some insight into the ads in this different publication. Boy there were ads. SO MANY ADS! At times it was hard to distinguish between the actual content and the ads. Designer after designer, I was amused by the high fashion photos and began to think:
“Are these ads strategic?”
“Is there thought and research put into creating these ads?”
“Do these ads play any role on any other platform?”

As I flipped through the magazine I began to compare high fashion designer ads, cosmetic ads, and retail ads.

High fashion designer ads are edgy and attractive. The images of beautiful scenes and models draw the eye. I notice these ads, yes, but they rarely evoke the need to buy. I don’t see  Fendi ad or Channel ad and instantly visit the nearest retailer. I do think that these ads enforce the brand identity. These ads engrain the brand image into the audience’s mind and really establish the look and feel of the brand. High fashion ads can establish status or quality within the brand. High fashion ad usually contain very little copy and rely heavily on the visual art.

Cosmetic ads feature a very different look and feel. They display zoomed in shots of faces, faces displaying the product. Often the visual is bright or is high in contrast. In addition to the visual the ad often has loads of copy. This copy usually includes bold headlines and lines upon lines of details about the product with use of multiple different fonts to highlight different text. Additionally, there is typically a product shot and and a large brand logo. Even though these ads show gorgeous photos of beautiful models I believe there some strategy behind the ad from the placement of the logo and product shot, to the headline and the body copy. Cosmetic ads not only promote the brands image but really can influence or evoke the feeling to buy.

Retail ads definitely appear to be backed by the most strategy. They typically posses creative headlines, body copy, and layouts. They support both the brand image, and display a consumer promise. Retail ads often don’t demonstrate the same level of status or quality but provide stronger call to actions. Yes, retail ads will usually have great photography but feature either many or no products in the shot. The use of many products may try to showcase the many products the retailer offer. The use of no products may try to highlight the brand’s target consumer.

Honestly, I don’t really know how much strategy is placed into fashion ads. How much does the picture drive the copy? How much does the copy drive the picture? How does a brand decide to show the product or to show many products? Is the more strategy emphasized on the placement of the ad or what medium is place on?
These are the things that keep me awake at night.

Maybe it is all just luck.

I always joke with my friends that after college I’ll be the one that marries their career. That’s because I already am. 

For awhile I perceived that being dependent on others was a weakness. Success only comes to those who are self sufficient and go and get it themselves. Yeah, that may be true. I can’t rely on anyone to help achieve my dreams. No one is going to go out of their way to hand it to me either. I understand that. I guess I have learned that from observing others who have… shall we say, “failed”. But for a while I also thought that the greatest sign of dependence was being physically close to your parents. I believed that the only way to achieve independence was to be far away from the people who could catch you every single time you fell. That is what drove me to college out of state. That is what made going to Austin seem so perfect. This was going to be my chance to solidify the indpendence I hoped for.

It was this summer spent in Austin that I learned that it doesn’t matter how far you are from your parents, independence is achieved when you take responsibilities for your actions and make your own decisions. My independence was earned years ago when I took control of my life. My parents never held my hand when I was dancing 28 hours a week while maintaing straight As in school. My parents never did my student leader work for me. That was all me. I made my lunch, and did my own laundry from the time I was in junior high.

Being near the ones you love doesn’t necessarily make you weak or dependent. It makes you feel connected to those who care.

As I watch the 2012 Summer Olympics, I can’t help but get very emotional when I see the olympians awarded their medals. When they receive those medals I see the hard work that led them to achieving their dream. I feel emotion both because of the happy moment I am observing but also because of the doubt I feel inside.

Seeing these athletes being recognized for achieving a long-lived dream makes me worry I will never recognize what my dream really is. I begin to question, “Do I have big dreams for myself?” “Will I every achieve something so fulfilling in my life?”

Often I get very caught up in my day-to-day responsibilities and fail to step back and take note of the end goal. It isn’t so much that I want world fame or glory but I want to know that I will reach a level of satisfaction with my life choices and that I will someday value the hard work I’ve contributed. I want to feel as accomplished as an olympian. I know that I will never win a Gold medal but I need to feel confident that I will feel like I did everything I could to reach my fullest potential.

For now, I don’t really know what that is. It doesn’t make me feel like I’m not doing the right thing with my life but it makes me think about how I can fully succeed in the career path I have chosen.

Well folks, they’re back. The 2012 London Olympics have hit NBC and their affiliated channels for their 17-day appearance. Starting with the spectacular opening ceremony, the Olympics have already received a ton of buzz for their shocking wins, loses and more. But this year’s games stands out from the previous. For the first time ever, viewers can catch live streaming and hundreds of hours of additional content on not only their computer but on smartphones, and tablets. To think that during the 2010 Olympic games such technology as a tablet or iPad didn’t even exist. With the addition content come additional costs and additional ad time. Are you sick of any ads yet?

Working on the Shiner account here at McGarrah Jessee in Austin Texas has really opened my eyes to not only advertising beer but also the beer industry itself.

Yesterday, an interesting article was published by Advertising Age about how Budweiser is creating zip-code branded brews that hope to compete with small craft brewers. Check it out here.

It is interesting how this big beer company is even trying to target smaller specific locations just to compete with small local breweries. Why craft special beers tied to locations when you have a beer that is known worldwide?

While reading this article I saw a comment below it that mentioned a brewery located in Cherry Hill, New Jersey that named and brewed each beer for an exit on the New Jersey Turnpike. I rushed to their website and found the beer for my exit, Exit 9 – Hoppy Scarlet Ale. Then it hit me. Having something that is connected to where you’re from feels good. It feels like that successful alumni that went to your school that you always brag about. When I saw that Exit 9 christened beer, my cheeks became firm and a smile over came my face. It was a little reminder of my home and where I am from.

I am beginning to understand this connection that Texans have with Shiner. It is the beer that is connected to their home, to the place they live. Shiner is their alumni they like to brag about.