The BLÜ Crew Internship Experience By Lydia Shriver
Going into this experience I really had no clue what to expect. Since I had just finished up my Freshman year at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, I was (and still am) unsure of what I want to do with the rest of my life. In high school I was very involved in DECA and I loved the presentations and group dynamic of the club. This ultimately evoked my interest in the communications field and led me to pursuing a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism with an emphasis in Professional Strategic Communication. I knew that over the summer I wanted a job where I could learn more about my major and enhance my skills. After researching jobs in the La Crosse area, I decided to contact The BLÜ Group – Advertising & Marketing to see if they had any summer internship opportunities, and they did.
Right from the start Tony (the president of BLÜ) was welcoming to the idea of a summer intern. He truly wanted me to get the most out of my experience, asking me what skills I wanted to work on and specifically what I was interested in within the advertising and marketing field. I was incredibly surprised by this because I had no clue what I wanted to do specifically. I wanted to learn anything I could about communications and what happens within, and sometimes outside, the walls of an advertising agency. Social media was something I have always taken a specific interest in and as a result I was able to create various social media posts for many of BLÜ’s clients. Learning more about the odds and ends of what a successful post entailed, I was able to effectively select wording and hashtags for each individual post. Along with social media, I also learned how to create, update, post, and code (somewhat) websites on WordPress, making me realize taking a computer science class is probably in my best interest.
Being a part of the BLÜ Crew has allowed for me to see how crucial it is to give clients options so that they get exactly what they envision for their business. I have seen first hand how BLÜ treats each one of their clients’ projects as if it were a project for the agency itself. Sitting down with clients to listen to what they want/see for their business and then actually taking what they say into consideration while coming up with a plan. This makes the client’s experience with BLÜ memorable. Not settling for average, always taking it one step further, checking and rechecking each aspect of a new website and researching deeper to fully answer a client’s question, makes BLÜ stand out from other agencies. It is what allows them to create successful projects and client relationships.
Looking back on this summer and all I have learned from the BLÜ Crew, I am incredibly grateful to have worked with such an amazing group of mentors. Tony, Amanda, Lucy, and Tim, I thank you not only for all you have taught me these past few months, but for the laughs and random conversations that transpired. Working with The BLÜ Group was truly a one of a kind experience.
Lydia Shriver | Summer Intern