For 10 weeks this summer, Ithaca College student John Jacobson has worked as an intern to develop a strategic marketing plan for a financial literacy program run by U.S. Bank in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Jacobson is one of a handful of students selected for the American Advertising Federation’s Vance and Betty Lee Stickell Student Internship Program. Stickell Interns are placed in media organizations, advertising agencies and client and supplier companies, and receive a salary and stipend for their work.
At U.S. Bank, Jacobson has had the opportunity to gain experience performing marketing and advertising-related work in a corporate setting, which is often more structured than an advertising firm.
“It’s a chance to learn about how to work in a corporation, especially one that you don’t always think of when you think of advertising,” said Jacobson.
Working with a team of two other interns, Jacobson helped create a strategic plan to improve the student experience at U.S. Bank. That strategy included a marketing plan for Student Union, a financial literacy program for high school and college students that offers opportunities to win academic scholarships.
Jacobson says working with other interns was a rewarding experience. “We’re all from different parts of the country and have different perspectives on how to create a strategic plan.”
Jacobson says his coursework as an integrated marketing communications major in the Roy H. Park School of Communications was vital to successfully completing his internship.
“Across advertising and P.R. classes, I’ve really learned how to work with a team of people and create a high-level strategic plan, along with tactics that can be realistically implemented over the course of a couple of years or business quarters,” said Jacobson. “I also used skills I learned in research classes to moderate a focus group.”
Stickell interns must be nominated by an advisor of an AAF college chapter. Out of about 40-50 nominees, 20 are chosen to be interns. Jacobson wasn’t originally selected as a nominee for the Ithaca College chapter, but was chosen after another student declined a nomination.
“What sets John apart is his willingness to take risks, to engage in the unfamiliar, and challenge himself,” said Integrated Marketing Communications Associate Professor Scott Hamula, who nominated Jacobson for the program. “He's an exemplar in that way.”
John H. Murphy, program coordinator of the Stickell Program, said that Jacobson stood out as a talented individual. “I am confident that he will be a trend setter and at the forefront wherever his career path leads him.”