Two
marketing majors get an internship of a lifetime in the Florida area.
It all started over a year ago when de la Rosa was
searching on Google for an internship in Orlando, Fla. The first company that
popped up was Your Brand Voice, a digital marketing agency, which “was more
than an advertising agency,” de la Rosa said.
“Essentially they were involved with taking an integrated
approach to digital online practices when it comes to marketing campaigns, which
was huge because a lot of marketing agencies now are catching on to this trend
of internet marketing,” said de la Rosa. “This includes anything from social
media to email marketing and even text marketing.”
Though the client list is impressive- the agency has
worked with Disney, Sonic and Marriott- the company was fairly young, giving de
la Rosa and Vadhera the chance to help it grow from the ground up. The Indiana
State seniors saw it not only “as a challenge but an opportunity to be a
catalyst for the company,” de la Rosa said.
The Indiana State students quickly impressed Your Brand
Voice owner, Bryan Bruce, as de la Rosa and Vadhera “immediately embraced the challenge and took ownership of
our brand, our business, our customers,” Bruce said.
“They were
engaged. They had so much energy and zest to learn that we got energized
as a result,” Bruce added. “It was a catalyst for our small but growing
business and we needed it at that exact time.”
The company was based out of Bruce’s home for the first
year and a half. Then he realized the business needed to grow, once he brought
de la Rosa and Vadhera on board, he saw the need for an office.
“Since there was
no set direction of what we were going to be doing, we basically were ‘hands on
deck’ putting every bit of effort we had into the everyday operation,” de la
Rosa said. “We thought it was really cool because we had the freedom to shape
this business into what Bryan had inspired it to be in the future. We even
opened up the very first offices for Your Brand Voice.”
Since they started from square one, the ISU students
were more excited because they were helping the business grow.
“To me that was much more than an internship program,”
de la Rosa said. “It was an experience that taught us how to run a business and
the ins and outs of internet marketing.”
The company’s philosophy is to have fun – which they
were told repeatedly. “The funny thing was we took it literally,” said Vadhera.
“That kind of attitude was fearless in a way, and at the same time promoting quality,
because we were enjoying that and we wanted the best enjoyment for everyone.
“The thing I
liked most and we did was, apart from being interns, we were being exposed to
these clients on a first hand basis, so we use to take it personally that this
is our commitment,” said Vadhera.
Vadhera and de la Rosa also had the opportunity to meet
and become acquainted with the company’s clients, which made them work even
harder for the company, Vadhera added.
“This is one of the few things I realized that I wanted
to do all the time, I used to like my own Twitter and Facebook accounts. Now I
have over 20 different accounts for a whole bunch of clients and its fun
thinking about new things all the time,” said Vadhera.
The company has a very integrated approach; de la Rosa and Vadhera learned how it applies to market campaigns.
“We are learning
as marketing to be the media which is now. The last 30 years it has always been
something like a television ad or billboard. Everybody sees it, but not
everyone buys into it,” said Vadhera. So I feel the roles have been reversed,
with people using social media promoting the products through compliments and
flattering comments, Vadhera added.
“It was really cool because we came into this
experience thinking we were going to be like alright, here is your job
description, you are going to stick straight through it, but no it was far from
it,” de la Rosa said.
“The other thing that I noticed about them both was how well
they worked well together. They were almost an ideal match in terms of
complimenting each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Ishaan was the dreamer,
the negotiator and Miguel is the keeping things on track, the much disciplined
kind of guy. Without each other, things would not have progressed for
them individually, or for us as a company as rapidly as they did,” said Bruce.
The business has expanded beyond marketing for businesses,
restaurants, hotels and golf courses, to events, which is even more appealing
to de la Rosa and Vadhera. Their studies at Indiana State have helped prepare
them for the challenges they encountered at Your Brand Voice.
“Classes at ISU help me build a foundation, a basic
concept of marketing. With marketing it is more than just sales. There are a
lot of interactive and digital aspects to it,” said de la Rosa.
They still continue to work for Your Brand Voice as
social media managers and they are involved with the Student Government
Association at Indiana State.
“Two of the biggest things I have taken away from my
coursework here is the personal connections with the professors and a direction
on where I want to go by my interests and skills, and the university focuses a lot of hands on
learning instead of just test and quizzes,” said de la Rosa.
“This internship has completely changed my idea about marketing
was about. We are getting to touch base on every aspect of digital marketing. This
generation is not newspaper, its phones,” said Vadhera. “It’s like just being
ahead of the game. That’s why I feel like this is what I want to do. This is
the field of marketing I want to do.”
Contact: Migel de la Rosa, ISU student, mdelarosa@sycamores.indstate.edu
Ishann Vadhera, ISU student, ivadhera@sycamores.indstate.edu
Bryan Bruce, Founder of Your Brand Voice, bryan@yourbrandvoice.com
Ishann Vadhera, ISU student, ivadhera@sycamores.indstate.edu
Bryan Bruce, Founder of Your Brand Voice, bryan@yourbrandvoice.com
Writer: Beth Pickerill, media relations assistant,
Office of Communication & Marketing, at bpickerill1@sycamores.indstate.edu or
812-237-3773
About Your Brand Voice
About Your Brand Voice
For the past several years, Your Brand Voice has successfully managed the interactive marketing of some of the top brands in the world, not only to support these top brands, but for the benefit of independent owners and operators as well.
Your Brand Voice assists in bringing ideas and business ventures to life in the most efficient manner possible. Through the implementation of time-tested processes, Your Brand Voice navigates the complexity of all planning, developing and launch phases of each interactive project.
Your Brand Voice uses its considerable expertise in the digital and social world to provide measurable "real dollar" value for the owners and stakeholders.
Your Brand Voice’s proprietary Reputation Management System is complete with design specifications and can be customized to meet the exact needs of each of our partners. Our goal is to identify and create marketing efficiencies that will enhance the profitability of every client for the life of the relationship.
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