When I first made the decision to work in advertising (my fourth and final try at picking a career in college), I felt much like what I imagine an understudy at a community theater feels when dreaming of auditioning for Chicago on Broadway. I had this fantastic image of workaholic ad-people who all love what they do; eccentric and personable personalities, the right amount of quirkiness, and all working to create something fantastic. Perhaps I watch too much Mad Men (however, if you’ve seen Don Draper, you can hardly blame me. Call me, maybe?), but since working at Aria this stigma has proven itself true.
I’m currently reading Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer. In this text, Lehrer investigates the benefits of having different people with different specialties constantly interacting at large companies such as Pixar and other idea-breeding grounds like Silicon Valley. Whilst reading, I realized I have been seeing this first hand for months. Aria has people working from all different backgrounds, and all of our brains operate a little differently. The whole office is rarely completely silent. The office doors are open and so are the minds. The ability and opportunity to interact and get feedback from a multitude of fields all within a few steps of your desk, allow ideas to flow and constructive criticism to produce great work.
As an intern at Aria, I have had the opportunity to learn from just about every department in the agency. I’ve done everything from social media outreach, assisting with website building, working on SWOT analysis and position statements, and participating in brainstorm meetings. Free cocktails every third Thursday at our staff meetings definitely isn’t such a terrible perk either. While the experiments of shirt dying and lessons in OU vs. Texas banter have been enlightening, I have learned a great deal about marketing, specifically tourism marketing, since working at Aria.
Branding is what attracted me to advertising and it is also what drove me to Aria. While traditional marketing/advertising sells you on a product, Aria helps its clientele sell you an experience. The unique aspect about tourism marketing is that you’re doing more than trying to get someone to take a daycation; instead you are branding an entire city’s people and lifestyle – making it not only appealing to your audience, but capturing the image of all the different people living in the area. With tourism, you are creating a brand from something that already exists and is actually living and breathing. The brand isn’t created to appeal to a certain group of consumers; instead one must take the aspects of a town that were created naturally and not for the purpose of advertising and make it purposeful. That, to me, is fascinating.
As I enter the next phase of my time at Aria, I am looking forward to learning more from the industry we are in and from those around me. Also, before taking on an internship or any other role at Aria, there are a few things you should be mindful of (don’t say I didn’t warn you):
