My Time at Icon - insights from Intern Laura

For the last few months, Icon was grateful to have Laura work with us as an Intern as part of her Uni course. In her last week, we asked Laura to let us know what she learnt at Icon and to share some insights of what it is like to be an intern at Icon.

Why did I do this internship?
Hi, my names Laura. Being in my second last term of university, with only 2 subjects left, I decided it was essential to get some experience under my belt. Having already undergone three years of uni, I still had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Uni, although providing in-depth knowledge of marketing’s theories and concepts, didn’t provide the real world experience necessary. I needed more. I needed to know the underlying differences between each marketing function, how businesses worked, what interactions with real clients were like and what did I actually enjoy and dislike?

Luckily enough, I scored myself an internship with Icon Visual Marketing. To my advantage they run a full-service marketing agency, handling everything a business needs to devise, set and implement a marketing plan and strategy. I knew this would be the perfect place to get my head level with what the marketing industry has to offer, and generally how a business as a whole works.

Of course my first day was quite scary. I was heading into a workplace where I knew no one, and was feeling unsure about the quality of my skill set. Luckily, my worries quickly left as I was warmly welcomed by the whole team, and was quickly put to work (Which I love, since I always need to keep busy). 

My first couple of days involved meeting the teams and discovering essentially, what Icon had to offer. I was placed with Alex and the marketing team, who were my point of reference throughout, providing me with valuable insight and feedback.

What did I do?
Sitting with the various groups and watching their work process was the initial step to find out which areas I was interested in, and how each of the groups interact. Whilst IT and accounts were already out of the picture for me, learning more about the creative, marketing, production, digital, web, operations and other business service areas was essential.

Each of the team members were kind enough to go out of their way and guide me through their practice, and show me how each of their jobs differed. I was given a few research tasks to undertake which helped the marketing team develop competitive analysis, and marketing reports. Gaining this first-hand experience helped me put my marketing knowledge into practice.

Being involved in many strategy meetings enabled me to learn more about the clients, what Icon had to offer, and generally all the tiny details which go into a marketing job. Being able to see all the concepts and theories which I learnt in uni, be applied in a real situation was one of the best things I gained from interning at Icon. Social media, consumer behaviour, the 4 P’s, everything became clearer. Watching how each of these aspects interacted, how they should be measured and maintained and how critical workplace and customer relationships are, became vividly evident through the entire experience.

I was also lucky enough to help out in production quite a few times during my internship. Although it’s not necessarily related to the side of marketing I’ve been interested in, it was a good time filler, and immersed me in the entire business.

As time went on, I was slowly being involved in more marketing activities. Making briefs, helping review work and providing my own ideas on how to improve current jobs. As I was constantly involved with most areas of the business, I was slowly guided towards where I wanted to head in life. Being part of a real business was a turning point, where I critically started thinking about which aspects I liked most, or didn’t enjoy so much.

Was it beneficial?
This experience was definitely one which provided me with the right tools to exit into the workplace with. One very important aspect I learnt was the value of a good managing director. Joe would come in and liven up the place, creating a comfortable workplace. His positive reinforcement and constant checking on how I was going really helped me feel welcome.

Overall, it was one of the most beneficial experiences I had undertaken. I now know where I want to head in the future (and it’s not where I was initially heading), and have a stronger understanding of the importance of working in a place that you love and with people that only motivate you.