Tag: abroadinternship

Intern Life: The Conclusion

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Having wrapped up my Internship with Interbrand Shanghai this past week, I’ve left with many valuable lessons and takeaways. I would be interested in seeing the differences between Interbrand Shanghai and Interbrand New York. Having never worked on the agency side before, I found I like working on the internal company side a little bit better in this particular case. However, if Interbrand had more fashion clients I think I would have been more engaged. I have found through my Internship experiences that liking the company or clients that you work for is major to your everyday in-office happiness. Going forward, I may focus on finding a branding agency with more fashion-heavy clients.

In regard to working for the Strategy department, I found challenging and beneficial at the same time. I really enjoyed coming up with branding ideas for companies but didn’t enjoy the analytical process once you came up with the branding ideas. I’m not a very analytical thinker, so this proved difficult, using numbers to back up the ideas.

In regard to China-specific internship struggles, I found that language barriers are harder than you may think –  Being in an office with co-workers that didn’t all speak English or spoke limited English proved difficult, especially sitting in meetings for several hours that were fully in Chinese definitely tests your patience, listening skills, and communication skills. While there were other Americans within Interbrand Shanghai, all of them were of Chinese descent and were fluent in Mandarin.  I found over and over throughout my internship that going the extra mile in regard to details is key. Doing a little bit more than asked, especially in regard to research or ideas always paid off.

Overall, my internship at Interbrand Shanghai was a great experience and it was really interesting to see how an international company works in another country and the differences between New York and Shanghai. However, I’ll be happy to get back to an office that I understand the meetings and lunch each day is never a mystery.IMG_9048

Intern Life: Update #2

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Internship Update 2:

Slow weeks aren’t always a bad thing. After following a rather hectic week of brand strategy meetings and brainstorming sessions, this week has been slow as we have been waiting on updates from the legal and financial teams so we can move forward with our projects. This has given me time to observe the office environment and notice how other teams work and operate together.

Workplace culture is definitely super different here, with long lunch hours and flexible deadlines – but the work hours are definitely much longer so that time is factored in. Tea is drank like water, with people refilling their cups often and the things eaten for breakfast don’t look anything like ours.

Hopefully I’ll follow up with a more riveting Internship update soon.

Intern Life: Week One

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With week one behind me and week two halfway over, I am fully adjusted to Shanghai as a city and the daily commute to my internship. Interning at Interbrand has been a fulfilling and beneficial experience so far.

I have been working on the launch of familiar brands that are being launched into China with the help of the agency, it has been fun to give my input on how they can seamlessly enter China after doing well in other countries such as the US or Spain. It’s an interesting concept, as foreign brands often lag entering Shanghai due to the restrictions and tariffs, so the concept that they might not have one of your favorite candies is an interesting (and often frustrating) one.

Last week I also attended the public launch of Interbrand’s 2018 Best China Brands at the St. Regis Shanghai, while the entire event was in Mandarin, it was still a great event to experience, plus I’m getting better at understanding content based off facial expressions and tones. After the event, the media followed with a Q&A and everyone mingled with each other.