The Richards Group

This summer I had the lovely opportunity to intern at The Richards Group. If you’re in the advertising industry, you know them. If you’re anyone else, you know their clients. Patrón, Bridgestone, Ram Trucks, Chick-fil-a, Summer’s Eve, The Home Depot, and the team I was on, Fruit of the Loom (to name a very, very few).

The best part about interning with the brand management team is being able to work so closely with every other division of the agency. My team was also integrated, meaning they worked closely with both traditional and digital advertising which was great exposure. I went to meetings with creative directors, public relations, and digital production. Through these types of experiences I gained such a better understanding of how all departments work together and the important role that brand managers play in regards to timing, strategy, and pretty much everything. I prepared materials for focus groups, collected and cataloged products for video shoots, and was fortunate enough to work directly with various publications regarding merchandising opportunities. I attended a print shoot for a new ad campaign and saw all of the steps that go into making a new commercial. We also went to seminars each week and heard from people with different roles within the company, complete with a creative poetry session about female products.

Although I learned way more than I could have even thought, the most rewarding part of the summer was how much fun I had doing it. Stan Richards ends every speech with “let’s go have fun”. It is also the first thing you see on the website, what people reference in meetings, what clients expect and truly how the entire company operates. Whenever people ask me about my summer internship, literally the first thing I say is, “it was so much fun!” because that is really what made it for me. I had the most amazing team of brand managers to work with and a very exciting “pod” as well. The company culture is what defines The Richards Group and makes it such a unique and inspiring place to be a part of. I’m pretty sure I’ll be pressed to find this type of environment anywhere else. 

Corley, Dennis, and I

More of the Fruit team - Mark, Me, Shayna, Crystal, Lindsay

With some of the other interns in Austin - Stephen, Me, Andrea, Joe