Category: French West Vaughan – Joshua B, Elle H, Zoe K, Anne L, Michael S

Overall, I think that the time spent at FWV was insightful because it reinforced my interests in business, marketing, and design. What I enjoyed the most about the internship is all the new information I learned- most prominently, how many moving parts go into an agency like this (PR, social media, paid advertising, account management, creative work, etc.) I learned the difference between working in an agency and in-house, an agency being someplace that works with a lot of different businesses and works with many teams while an in-house business typically only works for that one business. This information helped me decide what I think would be a good fit for me going into the workforce. Additionally, I thought the very brief meeting with two people working in the Creative Team was impactful because it helped me learn the scope of design work, which includes building consumer profiles, developing a company identity, and of course, designing things such as logos, websites, flyers, etc. I highly recommend interning somewhere that is involved with something you’re interested in especially if you’re on the fence about it- because what you learn and glean from that experience can truly play a major role in deciding what is best for your future.

Here’s an example of an advertisement designed by the creative team for Burger-Fi!

At our last day at FWV, we compiled contact information for reporters independently and shadowed meetings. A few days ago we sat in on a meeting where FWV team members and a client brainstormed storyboard ideas for a safe driver advertisement. Today, we got the privilege of attending a shoot for the advertisement! The storyline was based on the idea “don’t play with death”, and the video contained shots of the grim reaper playing by himself because no one was “playing with death”, AKA driving carelessly.

Here’s a picture from the shoot!

Today we had what I consider to be our most engaging meeting yet- we got to learn about equity in the workplace and research how to incorporate support for people into advertising without exploiting pride for monetary gain. We focused on pride month, Juneteenth, and men’s health month, compiling articles for the employees at FWV to read and make sure to avoid things such as rainbow washing and other performative behaviors. Our task was to look into entrepreneur David Meltzer’s Ask Me Anything podcast for a client. We created a list of possible questions for the client to propose that lie within the typical scope of questions asked.

Here’s a picture of Devil Meltzer!

Today we shadowed a meeting about possible marketing strategies for one of the biggest FWV clients, Pendleton Whiskey. This meeting gave us some insight about the collaboration involved in advertising at an agency- between teams, between FWV and influencers, and between the account employees and FWV team members. The highlight of the day was our independent task- finding influencer candidates for the ABB Formula E account. They’re looking for influencers to attend and bring attention to a race they’re sponsoring in NYC. This was interesting because it allowed me to see the what qualifies and disqualifies influencers from being asked about sponsorships, what types of people they look for, and how they market products through posts and trusted influencers.

Here’s a picture of us after finishing finding the candidates!

On the first day at FWV, we learned all the basics- vocabulary, background, key components of an agency, etc. One insight that stood out to me was that they run a “fully integrated” campaign, which means they work on all aspects of their company. For example, they are currently planning social media campaigns, influencer campaigns, press releases, pitches, and a music festival. Some other main clients include Wilmington Beaches, Town of Cary, Wrangler, Greenville NC, NCDOT, and APPA. They manage all the PR and advertising needs a company could have by being composed of 4 teams- the social team, which manages social media accounts and influencers, the paid media team, which manages all advertisements you pay for (billboards, radio ads, paid boosting on social media and sponsorships, etc.), the creative team, which manages design campaigns and all creative aspects of advertising (graphic design, videography, etc.), and the account team, which is PR focused and manages client communications, press releases, pitches, etc.

Here’s a picture of everyone in our new cubicles!

Today was sadly my last day at FWV. This morning, we got an opportunity to finally put together a full-fledged PR pitch. Alaina sent us some examples of real pitches, and we had to put together our own. Essentially we were sending a letter to a travel journalist about Wilmington, and FWV wanted us to put together a short list of reasons why Wilmington was a good destination. In addition to this, we also researched a variety of travel reporters in general, and compiled a list for the Travel & Tourism team at FWV. After this, we met with Abigail and Sarah to go over some influencer marketing basics. This presentation provided a really strong overview of the various aspects of influencer marketing, and it was really interesting. It gave specific statistics surrounding influencer follower requirements, and payouts. In the afternoon, we travelled to the NCDOT shoot happening in Cary. At the shoot, we got to see the production team in action, which was awesome. We also talked to the producer who gave us some insight into the industry of producing, and how the business works. Overall, this was probably one of the coolest days of the whole work experience, as we got to see the creative team in action, but also got to see the work of all of the other teams coming to fruition. I really valued my time at FWV today, as i got to learn even more about the field of influencer marketing, and I got to put my PR skills into practice.

Here is a picture of a drone used in the video shoot.

I’m extremely excited to learn about PR and marketing at French West Vaughan in downtown Raleigh! I’m interested in creative pursuits, particularly design and how it intertwines with marketing. I’m curious to see how a fully-integrated agency functions and what makes it different from in-house marketing firm.

Here’s a picture from the FWV website listing a few clients they have- hopefully I’ll be working on some of those accounts!

Today was yet another fun day at French West Vaughan. In the morning, we started off with another social status meeting. Social Status meetings are essential for day to day operations at FWV. After this, we met with Erin. Erin told us a little bit about her work for FWV, but mainly she took us through the plan for the GHSP and NCDOT. Erin said that FWV is working with the NCDOT to extend their Booze it and lose it campaign, along with their Click it or Ticket campaign. These two campaigns are extremely important, as they have save many lives in NC each year. Erin was taking us through a storyboard for an ad FWV will shoot for the NCDOT later on. After our meeting with Erin, we met with Deegan to take headshots. Deegan was really nice, and gave us some insight into how she got into the video/editing industry, and what her job is like on a day to day basis. In the afternoon, we met with Scott. Scott is in charge of all paid media for FWV, and he took us through the FWV BurgerFi campaign. THis was really cool, but also really scary at the same time. Scott showed us how FWV had geofenced off a FiveGuys in order to target BurgerFi ads to people who had walked into the FiveGuys. I was unaware google could do this, so it left me a little stunned. Later, he also showed us that google has a huge list of information about you that it can sell to advertisers. However, none of this identifies your name, so it technically protects your privacy. Overall, this was a really fun day, and I think my main takeaway is that ad agencies know a lot more than you think they do about your online activities.

This is an example of an ad that FWV was running for BurgerFi