Before the end of last semester, I was offered an internship with a Creative Supervisor at The Martin Group. We met at Starbucks for the interview, so I automatically had a good feeling from the meeting due to the relaxed environment. She described her job to me and it sounded exciting and intriguing and I couldn’t believe I got to be a small part of it. As my start date approached, I realized how much uncertainty surrounded the internship. I had never actually been to the office, I wasn’t sure what I would be doing and I didn’t know what to wear on the first day! I am not a person that does incredibly well with uncertainly so I was ready to get the first day under my belt and move forward.

My first day was almost like speed dating most of the agency. My supervisor had a schedule made for me to spend some time with a member of almost every different part of the agency. I am the design intern, but it is important for me to absorb as much information as I possibly can about the inner workings of an agency environment. I met with people from Traffic, Mechanical/Production Design, Public Relations, Social Media, Media Buying, Copywriting and Videography. Though this was a lot of information to process, each person made me feel incredibly welcome and I got the sense that they genuinely loved their jobs here. My last internship experience was a very different environment in every way and it was such a refreshing change to have such an eye opening first day.

Today is my fifth time at The Martin Group, so I am only beginning to settle in and start immersing myself in the agency. I have sat in on meetings, observed different aspects of the agency, done research and I am beginning a project that I will work on for the majority of my internship. This project will challenge both my creativity and my graphic design skills, along with teaching me a great amount of other things along the way. It is something that will hopefully become an asset to the agency as it coincides with the atmosphere of change that is currently surrounding The Martin Group.

Around Christmas, The Martin Group launched their new logo, tagline “a different brand of thinking” and some of their new branding materials on their social media platforms. Seeing these posts were very exciting and had me eager to start. I have learned that this has been many years coming and goes hand in hand with many more changes that the agency will undergo very soon. In April, the agency will move down the street in downtown Buffalo to a new building that they are currently renovating. Their current office is beautiful but clearly can no longer accommodate the growth that this company has and continues to experience. I am excited that I will be here this semester to experience the move and help them roll out their new brand, on top of the typical roles of an agency. This is an incredibly exciting time to be here to witness these changes and experience it along with them.

These are links to The Martin’s Group’s Blog, showing elements of their new brand:

http://www.tmgbrandfuel.com/hello-goodbye-brand-lessons/

http://www.tmgbrandfuel.com/martin-group-unveils-different-brand-thinking/

Today, an agency is no longer just an advertising agency. They all have integrated so many other aspects beyond advertising that referring to them as an advertising agency seems like the wrong term. The Martin Group defines itself as an integrated communications firm. I have only been here two weeks, yet it has been so eye opening to to see the vast amount of things they do to coincide with that term. Going forward, I am excited to begin utilizing my design skills and adding value to the company in any way I can. This environment is unlike anything that I have experienced before. Though it is hectic, there is something inspiring about being immersed among all of these creative people working incredibly hard at their craft. It is an environment that I could picture myself being a part of in the future and I am looking forward to everything that is yet to come.