What does your internship entail?

I am a part of the Mead Johnson Nutrition (MJN) team working under Adrienne Brown (Senior Director, Integrated Media). Each day, I attend all of the internal and client meetings that the team may have that day and I get to listen to how they communicate and operate together. Those are great exposure in just seeing how meetings in a professional setting run. Along with that, I assist in whatever the team may need help with, whether that be media plan sheets, pacing/budget documents, QBR slide assistance, etc… Those are a few examples of some of the tasks I’ve been a part of. I also engage with everyone around me in the office and learn about what everyone’s role is and how their contributions lead to success in the business.
 
 

What has been your favorite project so far?

My favorite project would have to be the current MJN Enfamil work regarding the core and allergy brands. While this has also been my biggest focus since I have been here, it has allowed me to see and experience so much regarding how RM goes about working with their clients and representatives. I’ve learned about how partnerships work in the advertisement agency, how ads themselves are tracked, and how we can leverage their data to determine optimal numbers for maximum success (performance and budget). As well as how quickly and frequently things can change within a campaign–meaning constant monitoring is required. I’ve just really enjoyed learning about all of the moving parts of our media and how they play together/off each other.
 
 

What do you hope to do professionally after college? How do you think this internship has helped you prepare for your post-college plans/career?

Professionally, I want to enter the business of the sports world. Sports have always been my passion, more specifically baseball, my goal is to be working for some type of business media job for a professional baseball team. Whether it’s more of a field job or behind the scenes, I want to be involved in that career field area. This could entail social media, broadcasting, campaign management, etc. I am not quite sure, but I am willing to explore a lot of options and see what is a true fit for me. This internship has of course prepared me better with many technical skills that will be useful: the programs I’ve been exposed to, metrics/budget tracking, and building business plans and seeing how they change for any given client. But along with that, I’ve been truly exposed to a professional workplace which was a first for me. Having to follow a schedule and juggle the responsibilities of a corporate workday is a skill in its own and this internship was great at helping me perfect it. Also, just seeing how people operate together and how things run has been very beneficial in my learning experience and those are professional skills that I will carry for the rest of my life.
 
 

What is your favorite part of the internship?

For me personally, I think the aspect that I’ve enjoyed the most has to be all of the people I’ve met and made connections with. There’s such a wide community here with all types of skills and backgrounds. Learning about what everyone does and where everyone came from was really interesting and getting advice from people based on their personal experiences was priceless.

What skills have you developed during your internship?

I’ve definitely improved on my more technical skills such as Excel while being here. With all of the media plans and budget charts, learning the most specific excel functions was crucial and that is a great skill to carry into the professional world. I have also acquired a better grasp on how a media campaign flows and accumulates the statistics that we track. (reach, impressions, frequency, etc.) Being able to go in and track a campaign and look at the numbers and be able to answer the why to then improve it for a target audience is a skill I have newly learned with Response Media and it’s been great.
 
 

How have you applied what you’ve learned in school to your internship?

The biggest thing for me was really applying the organizational and time management skills I learned from college to the professional setting. I quickly realized how important those are when trying to successfully manage a full-time role with responsibilities. Moreover, I was definitely able to apply CRM skills that I learned in school to this position. Mostly regarding the campaign tracking I witnessed-seeing how the ads for the brands we worked with reached the target audiences and how it reflected the budget we had for said ads.
 
 

What challenges have you faced during your internship and how did you overcome them?

I didn’t face any challenges per say, it was more just making an adjustment to a professional setting. Any issues I had, I had very knowledgeable, helpful people all around me to guide me and make sure I always knew what I was doing and how to do it. I think that’s another piece of this internship that I enjoyed so much–being around all these great colleagues allowed for a very smooth internship all around.
 
 

How do you think this internship will impact your future career?

This experience definitely was a jumpstart into how I may operate in the future, meaning, just by being exposed to this type of scheduling and calendar, I feel very much more prepared to tackle my first job in my career out of college. This internship experience helped me see so many aspects of a professional job setting for a first-time including communication, business expectations, and personal responsibility. So now that I’ve had this experience, I will be able to feel exponentially more comfortable and confident as I start my career endeavors.
 
 

What advice would you give to future interns at Response Media?

My advice would be to never stop asking questions. One of the biggest things I’ve learned here is that everyone at Response Media wants you to succeed. They genuinely care and want to be there for you in any way they can and want the very best for your future. Always ask the whys. Ask why you may be assigned to a certain task and the effects of it, if you’re unsure about anything, ask for clarification, never be afraid. At Response, there’s a lot of moving parts at all times and it can be easy to get lost or confused if you think you need help but don’t make it known. No question is a bad question here and being proactive enough to ask will only stand out in the best ways.
 
 
 

About The Writer:  Will Duncan

I am a student at Auburn University majoring in communication with a minor in marketing. I have a passion for sports and aspire to work my way into a professional baseball team’s business or media organization. In my free time, I enjoy playing baseball, exploring social media and film, and spending time outdoors.