she is really smart

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IMCC3901INTERNSHIP REPORT

Intern: Laurelle J. Taylor

ID Number: 620042751

Supervisor: Mr. Conrad Mathison(CEO/MD)

Lecturer: Dr. Livingston White

Due Date: March 10,2014


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Laurelle J. Taylor ID 620042751

INTRODUCTION

As part of the Integrated Marketing Communications program, students are required to complete

an internship course in order to gain hands on experience in the fields of public relations,

advertising and social marketing. The internship is to be a minimum of 4 weeks. It gives IMC

students the opportunity to get a foot into the working world with the possibility of being asked

to return to the organization, full-time, after the internship is completed. The following is an

evaluation of my internship experience at Its Pixel Perfect (IPP) in 2013


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BACKGROUND

Its Pixel Perfect is a young multi-media organization that is the brain child of Mr. Conrad

Mathison (CEO), who won a entrepreneurs competition while attending the University of the

West Indies in the faculty of Social Sciences. A lot of companies outsource a lot of services such

as graphic and web page design from multiple entities. Mr. Mathison jumped at the opportunity

and ran with it. He saw the need for there to be a single place where organizations can go to

make their brands social.The companys mission is to make your brand social.

Services Offered

Its Pixel Perfect offersthe following services to companies and individuals:

Social Media Marketinginclusive of(but not limited to) Twitter, Facebook, YouTube,Instagram, Vine

Social Media Management Photographyinclusive of photo editing for print and online use Graphic Designfor print and online use Web Page Development Web Page Management Video Direction - inclusive of creative direction and capturing video Video Editing

In addition to these services IPP offers additional services depending on the goals and objectives

of the client.


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Clients

Its Pixel Perfect has a steadily increasing client base of influential organizations and individuals.

The following outlines the clients that I was exposed to during my internship period:

Azans Supercenter household shopping center Xtras Jewelery Store June PlumFemale apparel store BabeeliciousStore that sells baby necessities

Petals & PromisesBridal Store & Florist

Digicel (sub-contract) - telecommunications Rough Ridercondom company National Environmental Planning Agency (NEPA) SLEEK - Magazine UWI Mona Sports Department UWI Mona Visitors Lodge ZJ Bambino(local celebrity) Radio DJ/Personality on Zip 103fm Randy Mclarren(local celebrity)Jamaican Dub Poet

Structure and Location

IPP is situated within an external place of business in the form of Material Productions located

on the University of the West Indies Mona Campus. IPP occupies an estimated 20 feet by 9 feet

area of which 50% is occupied by furniture. This furniture includes 4 chairs, storage drawers, L-

Shaped wall table with drawers, filing cabinets and a white board. The office has one Mac


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Computer with the Adobe Suite, Microsoft Office, built in speakers. There is additional table and

drawer space for staff to setup their personal laptops and connect to the available WiFi.

Staff Members

At IPP the staff is referred to as a team. This fosters unity, family spirit and ensures that team

members share and support the vision of Its Pixel Perfect.

Its Pixel Perfect Staff Hierarchy

The table above depicts the chain of command within the organization. As you can see, without

the interns IPP has 6 staff members inclusive of Mr. Mathison. The staff members that are in

bold font work from home, one of which is in Trinidad & Tobago. Additionally there is a

vacancy in the form of the secretary.

ConradMathison

(CEO/MD/CFO)

Social Media (1staff member)

Laurelle J. Taylor(Intern 1)

Photography &Video (1 staff

member)

Intern 2

Graphic Design(2 staff

members)

Intern 3

Web Design &Development (1staff member)

AdministrativeClerk/Secretary

(Intern 3)


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Office Hours

IPP operates from MondayFriday with staff meetings on Saturdays. Given the fact that the

social media and web development services offered to clients are around the clock services and

the graphics, photography and video a based upon need, IPP office hours are dynamic. Mr.

Mathison is work rate oriented. He places little emphasis on each staff members work hours,

provided they are performing up to standard. Social Media pages can be managed anywhere

there is internet access and a computer. Also, the departments outside of social marketing are

highly creative. As such Mr. Mathison encourages staff in these departments to work when their

creative juices are flowing (eg. if you work better at night). For the purpose of the internship

my office hours were MondaysFridays 10am6pm.


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INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE

Job Duties & Description

While serving my internship at IPP I was given the opportunity to gain experience in the

companys administrative, social media, video, graphics department and web development

departments. The following is an outline of my various roles and functions while at Its Pixel

Perfect in no particular order:

Compile Potential Clients Directory- I was given the task of documenting contactinformation for all business place in the Liguanea area in Kingston(See Apendix).

Included was telephone number, email address, name of managing director, marketing

manager or CEO. In addition a brief assessment was made of the organizations social

media presence, web site, graphics and photography to determine what areas needed

assistance. This was done in an effort to determine which of the organizations were most

ready for the services offered by IPP. Subsequent to submitting this list, myself and

another intern were asked to think about all organizations and entities in the Kingston

area that could use IPPs service. Specific emphasis was placed on wholesale distributors

(eg. HD Hopwood) and motor sales companies (eg. KIA Motors).

Compose and Send Proposals to Potential Clients- Upon completion of the previouslymentioned list of potential clients, I was given the task of formulating a 1 page

proposal(see appendix). This proposal was to be as concise as possible and not overly

verbose. The letter was to be personalized (rather than generic) and convey the tone and

persona of Its Pixel Perfect. It also needed to be structured in a way that it could be

easily viewed on a mobile phone.


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Administrative Assistance-Make follow-up phone calls to potential clients regardingproposals. Contact existing clients. General administrative assistance.

Social Media Management- I was made content creator for the companys Facebookpage and given control of the companys Twitter account.

o Faceboook-I was given the task of posting snippets of mini-infographics everyWednesday. The social media calendar at IPP participates in Infographic-

Wednesdays. These infographics were centered around social media marketing

strategies and techniques. They were also expected to be current and relevant.

After locating a suitable infographic (which is usually vertical) each week, I split

the graphic into 5-6 subsections under overriding topic by capturing screenshots.

These 5-6 snippets were scheduled to be posted strategically spaced between the

hours of 8am8pm each Wednesday. The captions for these posts would include

the topic of discussions along with #SocialMedia, #Infographic, #ItsPixelPerfect,

#IPPLimitlessLikeWeOnNZT and any other suitable hashtags. This was done in

order to populate the Facebook page and allow for interested Facebook users to

search and locate the post (linked to IPP) because at the time Facebook had

recently launched its hashtagging feature.

o Twitter-I was given the responsibility of managing the companys Twitter page(@ItsPixelPerfect). I was given a weekly quota which was broken down into daily

obligations. This included ReTweeting tweets about social media marketing,

interacting with followers, following social media marketing practitioners in

addition to tweeting information about and related to IPP and its clients. This

would all be supported by the Facebook posts which are linked to the Twitter


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account. Upon the approval of Mr. Mathison, I was given freedom to deviate from

the daily obligations to include Motivational Monday tweets in the form of quotes

and pictures, Hump Day tweets on Wednesdays, T.G.I.F. tweets, current affairs

and humor. Additionally, the companys blog posts were shared via Twitter

tagging any accounts that may have been mentioned quoting an excerpt from the

post. This resulted in an increase in followers and follower interaction.

o Vine-The companys Vine account was managed by another intern however,ideas about what to post were a team effort. I came up with the idea for a

humorous Vine which depicted an image of a dog gradually being formed after

which a speech bubble appeared and the audio Yaaaaaow was recorded.

o Instragram-The companys Instagram account was managed by another internhowever, while in the office I made behind the scenes posts on the IPP Instagram

account. These included single photos and insta-collages. These posts were also

linked to the Twiter account.

Blogging-The companys blog featured posts from all staff members on various topics. Iwas given a blog topic by the head of the Social Media Department to be posted weekly. I

was given a week to do my research on the topic and send in my posts. The blog topics

assigned to me were How Businesses Use Vine, 10 Jamaican Brands to Follow on

Twitter, 10 Jamaican Brands to Follow on Facebook, 10 People to Follow on Twitter,

How to Start a Facebook Page, Scotia Bank Jamaica vs NCB (who does social media

better), and LIME vs DigiCel (who does social media better).

Vlogging-The blog post with the highest views each week was made into a video blogpost (vlog) on the IPP Youtube channel. The 10 Jamaican Brands to Follow on Twitter


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was made into a 5 Jamaican Brands to Follow on Twitter video which I was in. This

video featured a randomly selected 5 from the 10 and provided a link to the original blog

in the videos description.

Learn Elevator Pitch- I was required to learn the Its Pixel Perfect elevator pitch. Thevideo department recorded the IPP team saying the elevator pitch and put together a

video featuring the team members saying the pitch (including bloopers). This video can

be found on the YouTube channel.

Website Content Provider-Its Pixel Perfect client Rough Rider was revamping theirwebsite while I served my internship. Mr. Mathison gave me the sole responsibility of

providing the content for the website. I was given a template for the website for which I

was to come up with all the text on the site. I had to come up with the text on the

homepage and all subpages. This information included About Rough Rider, Our

Condoms (which included a description of each product offered), Play Safe: How to Use

a Condom (which I designed an Infographic for), How to Enjoy Sex with a Condom,

Frequently Asked Questions and Terms & Conditions (See Apendix). After Completion

of this task I was then given the opportunity to do the same for another client SLEEK. I

was unable to fulfill this task as my internship period was up.

Infographic Designer- While working on the Rough Rider website I suggested thepossibility to Mr. Mathison, of using an Infographic to depict Play Safe: How to Use a

Condom for said section of the website. After giving me the go-ahead I came up with a

sketch of what I envisioned for the Infographic to look like. It was vertical and depicted

Right vs. Wrong condom and safe sex practices. It featured cartoon drawings of people

along with statistics and facts. I was asked by Mr. Mathison to sketch an infographic to


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be used along with the proposal to potential clients (previously mentioned). Using a

before and after concept the infographic showed the potential client(represented by a

building) having a pile of money and a long line of customers(homogenous group)

seemingly, doing alright and, with the help of IPP, the pile of money grew and the line of

customers(now multiple kinds of people) increased.

Represent IPP-I accompanied Mr. Mathison to NEPA for a brief meeting. AdditionallyI attended the monthly event Corporate Mingle to practice my elevator pitch and seek

possible new clients.

Participate in Dream Board Exercise(See Apendix)

Attend Weekly Staff Meeting- There is a general staff meeting every Saturday at IPP.The basic line items for the meetings were a team building exercise, review of the

previous week and outlining the coming weeks activities.

Personal Gain

My experiences at Its Pixel Perfect are ones that I will not forget as I learned a lot.It was the

first time I had ever worked for someone I had no affiliation with. As such I value Mr.

Mathisons opinion of my work ethic.I was able to learn to navigate a modern Mac computer,

utilizing more of the built-in software. I learned how to schedule posts and utilize the admin

panel on a FaceBook page. I also truly valued the opportunity to develop the content for a

website by myself. This is something that I believe has upped my skill set. Blogging is

something that I had to do as part of Organizational Communication. I was able to adapt well to

providing content for the companys blog as the approach used was the same in practice and in

theory. Participating in the video shoots allowed me to see that because cinematography is art,


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and is subject to the directors creative approach, while there is a proper way to do things such a

lighting and framing a shot size, the manner in which your content is captured is not limited to

theory. IPPs style of doing videos takes a behind the scenes, inside scoop approach which

captures human nature which is dynamic. When compiling the list of potential clients I was able

to put together a spreadsheet which could be approached by anyone. I acted as gatekeeper when

composing my blog posts. Additionally, there was some amount of agenda setting in the

inclusion of IPP clients in the brands to follow posts. In classes agenda setting was depicted as

something negative. However, I have come to appreciate its value. I was especially appreciative

of the theory discussed in Communication Planning An Integrated Approach by Sherry

Devereaux Ferguson. Audience Analysis aided in my effective management of the Twitter page

along with structuring the proposal letter and Infographic and Message Design helped me to

appreciate the value of making communication as visual and graphic as possible. These two

aspects are at the core of IPPs mission to make brands social.

Working closely with a small group of persons allowed forced me to respect other individuals

space and the flexible work hours ensured that I developed a high level of respect and

understanding for other persons work ethic. Though the work environment at IPP is casual, I got

the opportunity to put my knowledge of professionalism to the test in the form of my attire,

conduct, deportment and expression. I learned that I have a strong personality that may clash

with persons with a more submissive personality. As such, I learned that it is sometimes better to

allow others to voice their opinion before you state your stance. This especially aided in my

development as a student leader as upon completion of my internship my tenure as Guild

councilor began. The weekly staff meetings taught me the value of effective communication

within any organization because this was the one day of the week that all Staff was present. The


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communication in these sessions were of great importance as that is the point of convergence of

knowledge and information within Its Pixel Perfect. I found myself taking the initiative to aid in

the internal public relations within the organization as I was one to voice arising concerns

regarding breakdown in communication offering a possible solution.

Critique and Recommendation

Upon completion of my internship I was able to do an objective review of Its Pixel Perfect

Based upon my experiences there.

Strengths

Persons are strategically hired. Work environment encourages individuality. Opinions are always welcomed by Mr. Mathison. Mr. Mathison is actively involved in all aspects of the organization which shows team

that he is appreciative.

Flexible work hours. Staff members (and interns) are treated as equals regardless of age and experience. The environment strikes the balance between a professional and casual environment. Staff members dreams and long term goals are appreciated and an effort is made to

incorporate them into the companys goals (eg. speech lessons for a staff member who

wanted to master public speaking.

The clients are treated as family and inter-client connections are made in an effort toboost clients revenue.


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The company is hungry for information as team members are always up to date oninformation related to their departments.

The work environment fosters individual and collective development.Weaknesses

Clients are ignorant to the benefits of the services offered by IPP. As such they areunwilling to pay a realistic cost for the services.

The office location and size is too crowded. The Rough Rider website content that I provided was not proof-read by Mr. Mathison nor

was the Terms & Conditions approved by a lawyer.

Mr. Mathison does not have as strong a grasp on the Social Media department. All the staff members think their ideas are the best. Interns were asked to be present for work at 10am each morning however, more often

than not, neither the supervisors nor Mr. Mathison were present until in the afternoon.

This left interns sitting inside the office with no direction as to what to do at the onset of

the internship period.

Often, interns were asked to stay after their shift was over to continue working.Sometimes Interns worked 12 hour days.

Interns were promised a stipend of JMD20,000 at the end of 4 weeks (Monday toSaturday). However, we did not receive payment until working for 6 weeks(because Mr.

Mathison was busy) and we were not compensated for overtime hours or additional two

weeks.


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At the end of the internship period I left feeling as though I may have been exploited andtherefore do not wish to return.

Staff meeting scheduled to start at 2pm often dont commence until 4pm. Resulting in awaste of an entire day for staff. This causes delinquency among staff members.

Opportunities

Relocate office to the corporate area in an effort to boost credibility. Potential clients outside of the Kingston area for example in Montego Bay, Mandeville,

Negril & Ocho Rios.

There are quite a bit of firms locally that are in need of the services offered by IPPespecially social media management.

Growth in number of staff members to offset work load of others which will result ineach person doing an 8 hour shift and IPP have respectable office hours.

Ensure that all staff members have accounts with the same bank as IPP so that salarydeduction can be put in place.

Have an open house day where clients are invited in to the office to see first-hand thework done at IPP. This will foster appreciation (better financial commitment) of the

services offered by IPP.

A reward and demerit system to ensure that the level of delinquency decreases. A Secretary for meetings to ensure that the Agenda is sent out each week along with

circulation of minutes.


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Threats

Competition, such as SKKAN Media & Ishango is more popular and has higher reach. Staff members are young and may view Its Pixel Perfect as a stepping stone rather than a

career opportunity.

Inconsistent payment with no compensate with result in resignation of workers. Staff members will leave IPP and take skills and expereice gained and start a similar

company to compete with IPP.

Inefficient communication among workers, specifically absentee workers can result in abreakdown of the organization.

Small number of staff members leaves the company vulnerable if multiple persons resignaround the same time.


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Conclusion

The internship course is one that teaches IMC students valuable lessons through work

experience. Not only does it boost your resume but it enables students to put theory into practice

making a comparison and ultimately deciding what aspect of integrated marketing

communications they would like to work in. I learned the value of tolerance, endurance,

initiative and communication while working at Its Pixel Perfect and will bring the skills and

experiences gained with me into the world of work.

she is really smart

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