{overview}
Our first visit of the study tour was Engauge and what a great way to kick the week off! I was especially excited for this visit because I already had the opportunity to meet one of the employees in my summer topics in PR course. Chad Bryant, a KSU graduate, gave a presentation on personal branding in social media. It was a great presentation and I was able to take away a lot of valuable information with me. You can follow our wonderful tour host on Twitter for updates and to see what Engauge is working on.
When we entered the conference room, (the tables formed the shape of an A) we were all taken aback by the gorgeous view of Atlanta. The windows were huge and stretched from the floor to the ceiling. Chad gave us another great presentation all about Engauge. He talked about the history of the company, the different jobs that make up the agency, daily happenings, and client projects. We were encouraged to tweet, Facebook, and Instagram during the presentation and tour.
Chad really emphasized that Engauge always strives to think outside of the box and to think creatively. He gave us a recent example of how they are always innovative. They were in a competition to win Honey Baked Ham as a long-term client and came up with a clever idea to bus the entire office of about 200 employees to the Honey Baked Ham headquarters, located only 20.2 miles away. Everyone held signs and they even had a giant ham to great their future clients after a meeting. They received the client account through one of their key messages, “We can be your local partner.”
He also noted how important working as a team is in their company. In order for their employees to successfully work together, they must know each other outside of work and do a great job organizing activities for their employees. Every Friday is “Beer Cart Friday” and they occasionally have Happy Hours at work and have several special interest clubs inside the agency. They even have a “Fitness” room in the office complete with a ping-pong table and a dart board!
{Engauge Jobs}
Part of the presentation consisted of the job descriptions that are offered at Engauge. It was really helpful to be able to see what type of jobs make up an agency.
1. Account/Project Management- Assigns tasks
2. Email- Creates email campaigns, like the Food Lion Bake-Off
3. Social- Everything social media (Chad’s position)
4. Creative- Creates traditional and digital images, etc.
5. Technology- Developers create the websites, apps, etc. and the ‘Dig Team’ are the digital innovators
6. Crux- Focuses on the user experience
7. Analytics- Develops reports, looks at trends, works with social, email and web
8. Connections- 3 members who focus on new business and laying everything out for the clients
9. Research- Research! They use focus groups, surveys, and develop papers
10. Enterns- Engauge’s interns. They work with social, analytics, research, and more.
{the actual tour}
Everything I could ever imagine and more! This office is straight of out my dreams, I swear. It was bright, open, personal, and so inviting. Each cubicle displayed each employee’s personalities and you could feel all of the creative vibes as you walked around. Every window was covered in lists, drawings, and words of inspiration. Each section of the office is organized by client instead of by department so that everyone is able to work together more efficiently. I loved everything about the office and could see myself being working in a place like this someday soon.
{final thoughts}
I learned so much on this tour that I could have never learned in a classroom setting. I am more motivated than ever to secure an internship for the fall and can’t wait to get my feet wet in the world of public relations and marketing. I have gotten a lot of tips and advice on being an intern but I want to know what you think! What is one thing you wish you knew before becoming an intern?
Thank you to Chad and everyone else at Engauge for allowing us this great opportunity!