Here’s something you don’t normally see… the words of an intern. And why is that? Because interns are generally taken for granted, unpaid and picking up the scraps - the general goal is just to be able to say ‘I interned here and it was so great!!’
Hi, I’m Jade. I’m currently undertaking a Bachelor of Communication and Media, majoring in Marketing & Advertising, and I’m interning as a Marketing Assistant with Banter Group. Let’s hear it!
As a young woman finding my feet, with a very broad outlook on my future, I’m so grateful that Banter Group welcomed me with open arms.
Initially, I approached Banter in Year 10 for work experience, this is where my venture into marketing began. Fast forward a few years… now I come into the office at Mittagong one day a week, and I never fail to feel part of the Banter family. This is the internship university students probably dream about, and I’ll never be able to express how grateful I am for the experience. Being an intern, but being treated like a mutual friend? It’s crazy, but it’s my normal.
Banter has always nurtured my growth, and it’s been incredibly helpful as I work through university; I’m constantly learning new things, and then seeing it in action in the workplace. This double bind has me feeling one small step ahead and contextualises what I’m learning.
A lot has changed since my first week here. I started off with some small fun tasks including an Insta post about doing work experience at Banter, and my first blog post; contrasted with this blog post, the growth will speak for itself. Now that I’m in the office regularly, my tasks have stepped up quite a bit.
My favourite ongoing task would have to be the social media updates. I play a relatively large role in pulling together an outline of all the latest developments in social media platforms. Banter’s social media team relies on that info to give the agency an edge - and so they can pass on the latest to our clients to keep them up to date too. I enjoy wrapping my head around the latest features and watching Instagram continue to chase TikTok.
When I’m at university, and the topic of internships comes up, it's not very often I hear people talk positively about internships they’ve done. It’s all about the writing on the paper to say, ‘Yep, I did this.’
Okay, sure. But what did you get from it? On the one hand, I’m applying the concepts I learn at university to my work at Banter; and on the other, I’m applying strategies I’ve learned at Banter to my studies. What more could you ask for?
Here are some examples.
You could say I’ve been making media
My latest ‘Making Media’ project is what we call a digital artefact, which is essentially anything you can create on the internet. I’ve decided to go with a TikTok platform and report on the processes and strategies of creating the content. I’m going with the topic of fitness, self-improvement and a bit of general fun. It's quite flexible, but I’m posting with the intention to encourage people to go after what they want to do - whether they have in mind going to the gym or posting content, I’m here to encourage and support it.
So what gives me the upper hand here? I’ve seen and worked on content creation and management behind the scenes. This knowledge has set up the fundamentals for how I plan to run my project, and I couldn’t be more excited to start producing to see how I handle doing it on my own.
Learning the principles of marketing
A bit more on the topic of university. I’m currently loving MARK101 - the approach to learning is amazing! This semester I take part in what we call workshops, where we learn how to work with a group to put together a presentation in an hour and then deliver it together. The tasks require us to look at marketing situations and consumers in the real world. Here's what we’ve been tasked with so far, along with some highlights from the presentations.
• Analyse the cosmetics and beauty industry, and conduct a market analysis of this industry. Is this market worth entering as a new organisation?
• Explore consumer motivation within the fast food industry and identify the main motives (benefits) a marketer could satisfy.
For these workshops, we predominantly use professional IBISWorld industry reports, which show key statistics and analysis on market characteristics and operating conditions, current and forecast. But we also get to have a bit of fun with creating assets such as consumer profiles. I think this practical approach to marketing is really setting the tone for the kind of work I would love to get into in the future, as well as building my knowledge of big industries and public speaking skills.
So basically it’s a blur
I must say being a uni student is full on; week after week, my life is a blur of study, internship, retail job, exercise, and a sprinkle of social life. I think things would be different if I lived on campus; but the cost of LIFE at the moment? I’ll stick to my family home, thank you.
It’s just going so quickly… we’re almost at mid-semester break again, and before I know I’ll be throwing my grad cap in the air. So I guess I’m really just trying to make the most of it because everyone says university was the best time of their life. Anyway, I’m confident that between my degree and support from this internship, I’ll come out the other side with a strong sense of direction and what I need to take me through my career.
See you around!
