What I’ve Learned Interning at a Digital Marketing Agency for Three Weeks

Just starting second year at Manchester Met University, I have been interning at Mosquito Digital for three weeks now as part of a unit called ‘Agency Life’. This is a six-month long work experience in which we choose a company to work with as part of our course and then work as an intern under a mentor’s guidance.

There was a good handful of companies involved in the unit, but Mosquito Digital felt like the right fit for me right now. An award-winning digital agency, the in-house mentor had a ‘tell-it-like-it-is’ approach to communication and made it clear there would be no spoon-feeding. This is exactly what I was looking for: a challenge.

Life Gets Mucky, Turtlewax UK, Mosquito Digital Client

There are students that go to Uni to better their lives, of course, but they’re not willing to really work that hard for it, and there are those who get stuck in and are motivated to soak everything up. This is me.

And an award-winning straight-talking no-spoon-feeding digital marketing agency was exactly what I wanted and needed.

I started three weeks ago, three weeks earlier than the rest of the course, as projects were under way and it was all hands on deck. This is what I’ve learnt so far about interning in a digital marketing agency:

1. It’s a welcoming atmosphere. Yes, Mosquito have won awards and are a fantastic agency with big clients, but they’re still human beings. They understand that everybody starts somewhere, and they most probably started out as graduates themselves.
2. It can be stressful. Because you are working for a client, certain demands need to be met. There are deadlines, so many deadlines, and there is so much work that goes into one project, and it needs to be done with great quality.
3. You don’t photocopy things. I’ve literally not touched a printer or a kettle in the office, because I’m not lumped with doing pointless jobs around the place. Researching, writing articles, social media marketing and updating the back end of a new website have been some of my jobs over the past three weeks.
4. You get to see things before the public. It is so exciting to see something as it is being made, still in its early form with its bugs and wrong colours. Of course everything is confidential, but getting to see these prototypes makes you enthusiastic about getting that project out for the client.
5. It makes you excited for the future. Although you’re not a permanent fixture, it makes you excited to think that when you graduate you could work in a digital marketing agency full-time, and actually make a living from it!

If you’re wondering whether Agency Life or unpaid work is worth it, just think about when you graduate. Literally thousands of young people with the same degree is going to be applying to the same places you want to work. And the only thing that puts you ahead of the competition will be your experience. Do as much as you can, and never take the easy route.

What You Can Learn From Free Burritos

Last week Manchester’s newest burrito chain Chilango opened up its restaurant on Oxford Street to a queue of hundreds of people, predominantly students, who were waiting for one thing and one thing only: free burritos.

The Manchester Evening News had stirred excitement with the promise of free burritos all day and, as poor students coming to the end of their academic year, this was a dream come true. Among students it is consensus that there are only two ways to perfect happiness, and that is either pizza or burritos.

From before the doors opened at 12pm, the band started up on the corner (face-painted with sugar skulls) and the queue began. People were recording their wait on Snapchat and Twitter, dancing to the music and whatsapping their friends desperately; “where are you?! The queue is moving! Quick!”

At the door customers were given a menu for future visits, and they got to admire the brightly coloured graffiti and posters inside while a girl passed down the queue to keep up the morale and tell people what they could order. Mexican wrestlers and dancers then entertained the crowd, and the service at the counter was record fast (27 seconds). At their tables, people were taking photos and sharing on social media their free meal of the day. After they had eaten, customers were often a taste of nachos and dips on their way out, and then they were tweeting their experience.

All in all, this event has given the new restaurant a mammoth of exposure on its first day. What can be taken from Chilango’s success is that the event must have enough to keep people interested and to share on social media. Not only for the purpose of social media, but it must be something that customers will be getting their friends to go with them, an experience that the group can each share, and this will mean more social media marketing between them, free publicity.

DO PEOPLE REALLY PREFER TO BUY FROM ETHICAL COMPANIES?

Last month the biggest data leak in history exposed how the wealthy have been keeping their taxes nicely hidden in offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca, instead of paying them like the lower working class folk of the country. And after it was revealed that David Cameron’s father had dealt in tax evasion with the firm in the past, the Prime Minister found himself revealing his financial details in a bid to regain the public’s confidence. Even though he was quick to cool the public’s anger, their trust in him has decreased to 21% compared to 29% in February, whereas the trust in Jeremy Corbyn has risen from 26% in February to 28%.

It is clear from this crisis (if the 5000-strong protest in London for Cameron to resign is to be considered alone) that people don’t like secrets and don’t like being lied to, and a company does so at their own peril if they choose to pull the wool over their customer’s eyes.

For a client project with a company well known for its transparency, cosmetics brand Lush, research group Banana Moon asked students at Manchester Metropolitan University questions on product quality, company policies, and company reputation to identify whether a company’s corporate social responsibility and sustainability policies affect buyer behaviour.

With consistent ethical behaviour comes increasingly positive public image, and a lack of corporate social responsibility, by comparison, may damage a firm’s reputation and make it less appealing to stakeholders. A positive moral image will lead to long-term growth, cost and risk reduction, and an anti-capitalist sentiment among other benefits.

The Results

59 students answered the survey, 83% shop at Lush 0-3 times a year, stating that the main reasons for choosing this company are that they like the products (41%) and they like that Lush don’t test on animals (30%). Just under half (49%) claimed that it does matter to them where the ingredients are sourced, and 37% claimed that it doesn’t matter to them. When it came to company reputation, 72% claimed that having ethical policies helps to maintain a positive image (although the majority of respondents don’t know any specific policies).

50% of respondents claimed that they would pay more for a brand with an ethical reputation, and 45% claimed that it really depends on the quality of the product. The survey also revealed that respondents shop at Superdrug and Boots which offer cosmetic brands at a cheaper price. They also claimed that the ethical and sustainability policies of these cheaper cosmetic companies don’t affect their buying behaviour here. This could suggest that ethical and sustainability practices are benefits expected of a higher cost product and not expected of a lower cost product.

The results show that customers do consider a company’s reputation in terms of their ethics and sustainability practices. With the analysis on students, 95% aged 18-24, it could be argued that they are on a budget with little disposable income to spend on bath and shower luxuries, and the majority shopping at Lush 0-3 times a year, they see the brand as a ‘treat’ further distinguishing it as a luxury.

The survey concludes that the corporate social responsibility and sustainability practices do affect buyer behaviour, but the customer may be forced to prioritise product cost if they are on a budget regardless of their ethical standpoint.

Jess Pagan