ASI recently announced the names of two college students who wrote winning essays about participating in ASI’s 2020 industry-wide internship program.

Cameron Dubin won a $1,000 scholarship from ASI and Katelyn Drake won a ThinkBook 14” laptop courtesy of ASI Business Savings Program partner Lenovo. Dubin is a student at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business who interned at Axis Promotions (asi/128263) this summer. Drake is a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who interned at Proforma Surf City Promo (asi/491356).

The ASI Summer Internship Program is free to ASI members who hire one or more interns to work at their company for the summer. This year, owing to the pandemic, most of the promo industry interns worked remotely. Since ASI started its program in 2016 to attract more young professionals to the industry and get them excited about the power of promotional products, over 1,100 interns have participated. During the summer of 2020, 174 interns worked at 13 supplier and 125 distributor companies.

“While facing unprecedented challenges, our winners persevered, figuring out new ways to learn about our industry while mastering job skills that will serve them well into the future,” said Timothy M. Andrews, ASI president and chief executive officer. “All of the promo companies who hired college interns this summer are also to be commended for participating in ASI’s intern program while conducting business during a global health crisis. Together, we found a way forward.”

ASI supplies participating interns (#PromoInternASI) with training webinars, free access to ESP^®, digital subscriptions to ASI magazines, a gift pack, certificate of completion and the chance to compete for a scholarship by writing about what they learned over the summer.

Below are the winning essays, which offer unique insights into experiencing the promotional products industry through an intern’s eyes:

Cameron Dubin (winner of $1,000 scholarship), of Newton, MA, student at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. Interned at Axis Promotions (asi/128263) 

This summer has been one of constant change and adaptation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has ruined plans for students all across the world. I went into 2020 excited for my dream internship working in the ticket office for my favorite sports team, the New England Patriots. However, by mid-March, my internship (along with countless others across the nation) was canceled due to the destructive path coronavirus caused across the United States. This pushed me out of my comfort zone and in search of a valuable and educational summer experience at the last minute. After talking with a close family friend in the branding industry, I ended up working remotely for Axis Promotions as a Sales Intern. This role exceeded my expectations tenfold and offered more valuable knowledge and experience than I ever expected.

My internship has been a holistic and multifaceted experience under the guidance and tutelage of Susan Boles, Vice President of Sales for Axis Promotions. I have had the pleasure to learn from her thirty years of experience in the marketing and sales industry. My mindset going into this summer was to be a sponge and soak up as much knowledge, information, and skills as possible.

This internship has provided me with the unique opportunity to learn the entire sales process from start to end using a hands-on approach. To start, Ms. Boles and I went through different prospecting techniques to gauge what companies would be interested in our promotional services. COVID-19 has placed businesses all across the world in unchartered territories due to mass closings and an unprecedented number of employees working from home. Ms. Boles and I adapted our strategy to relate to the current state many businesses are in. Thus, we were pushing customized and unique personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, etc. Our goal was to sell “Back to Work” packages full of PPE that companies and organizations can offer their employees to enhance their brand awareness, while also making their employees feel safe in the office. One industry that we focused on was colleges and universities returning to campus. Ms. Boles instructed me to use my personal connections as a college student to try and generate business by selling PPE to various student organizations on campus. One industry sector I found successful was fraternities and sororities. These groups desired face masks with their logo to offer members this fall.

Once these groups expressed interest in our services, this led to another component of the sales process: meeting their unique needs and wants as a client. I quickly learned this was the most crucial aspect of the sales process in order to satisfy your client and create a long-lasting, successful relationship. This was also my favorite aspect of my internship because it provided me with the opportunity to be creative and find the promotional products best suited for the client. Ms. Boles taught me how to navigate the ESP database, find trusted manufacturers, and search through their catalog of products. I also learned how to send clients samples of various products. Finally, once clients knew exactly what they wanted and ironed out all details such as the product color, logo placement, quantity, etc., I placed their order.

There are several key components of my internship that have made this experience so enjoyable for me this summer. First, I truly enjoyed and appreciated the community feel that was cultivated between all interns in the ASI Program. Due to universities shutting down in mid-March, it has been difficult to connect with other business majors in an academic and professional setting; my internship at ASI has again allowed me to submerge myself in a similar environment. Obviously, nothing can compare with face-to-face human interaction, but via the ASI Intern Facebook Group and digital events, I had the opportunity to interact and learn with many other peers my age across the country. For example, I recently had the opportunity to join a webinar hosted by EvaMarie Kailian, a recent college graduate in the ASI Human Resources Department, about Adjusting to Post Graduation Life. Several other interns and I joined the call and received firsthand information from Ms. Kailian’s personal experience. Moreover, the same can be said by the activity within the ASI Internship Facebook Group. Senior Marketing Manager Christine Shaw has created constant conversation and buzz in the group by asking trivia questions, posting interesting articles, and creating a dialogue among the interns. This was significant because even in a pandemic, ASI offered the opportunity for interns to come together and learn collectively as a group.

I have learned a lot in my time as a sales intern with Axis Promotions. One tidbit that I quickly picked up on was the vast array of products that are available for branding in the promotional industry. Going into this summer, water bottles, sunglasses, and drawstring backpacks came to my mind when I thought of promotional products. However, I learned early in my internship that promotional products have a wider range of possibilities than I ever could have imagined. Bottle openers, beach towels, calendars, keychains, bandannas and so much more can be labeled with a unique logo for a company to use as a promotional tool. The possibilities are truly endless and always increasing, as seen with the COVID-19 pandemic. Six months ago, face masks, hand sanitizer, and face shields were not everyday items. However, flash forward to March of 2020, masks are essential everyday objects. Furthermore, their location on peoples’ face presents a blank canvas of opportunity for businesses to place their logo front and center to enhance their brand. The promotional industry is constantly evolving and adapting to fit the needs of clients, even in a pandemic.

My internship with Axis Promotions has been invaluable and provided me with practical hands-on experience that better prepared me for a role within the sales industry.

Katelyn Drake (winner of Lenovo laptop), of Huntington Beach, California, student at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Interned at Proforma Surf City Promo (asi/491356)

Growing up, I watched my parents start and grow their promotional products business from the ground up. They began working in a small back room of our house with a dozen customers. After countless hours of hard work and dedication, over the last several years they have built a successful business serving hundreds of happy customers, delivering quality products at a great price. Given this, from a young age I was exposed to different parts and moving pieces of the promotional product industry. Despite the exposure, I didn’t truly understand the business and industry until this summer when I became an official employee for Proforma Surf City Promo and an ASI intern. Although diving into the world of promotional products was a daunting task, these past few months in ASI’s Internship Program and working in Proforma Surf City Promo’s office has taught me countless new skills and given me copious amounts of information about varying aspects of this industry that will benefit me for the rest of my life.

During my time as an intern, I have been able to grow and progress more than I ever imagined. I started as an office assistant, organizing, running errands, filing, and helping out with a variety of jobs and tasks that were needed. My simple assignments were upgraded as I began my internship with ASI and as I began expanding my knowledge and skills to be of greater value to the business. From the first day of my internship with Proforma, under the ASI program, I was learning so much. Not long after joining the internship program, I was promoted to an Administrative Coordinator. With my new title and duties, with the help of ASI, I began expanding my knowledge and experience with business and marketing concepts as well as learning new technology. I grew in the areas of professional communications, customer service essentials, and the state of the industry by watching lots of the incredible webinars and educational videos posted on the ASI intern website.

With my new knowledge and skills, I began working with Prostores (Proforma’s e-commerce platform), setting up and editing client webstores, sending out advertising packages, working with suppliers and customers, contributing to the company’s social media pages, doing product research in ESP, and continuing to expand my knowledge and learn new skills all along the way. As I learned more about programs such as Proforma’s Prostores, Excel, Proforma’s management tool known as Provision2, and sites like Order My Gear, I got the privilege of working with Proforma Surf City Promo’s biggest customer, CKE Restaurants (Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s). I was able to assist and lead in setting up new products on their websites, billing different franchises for orders, and collaborating with other employees on new ideas for promotional products and advertising items. I took on the major project of updating the CKE webstore with new items that make it easier and more convenient for the franchises to adapt to the different times we are in due to COVID-19. I also added new items to the site that are useful promotional products for daily or regular use.

In addition to working directly on different customer sites, I took the initiative in running some of Surf City Promo’s social media pages. This summer, I was able to help create and brainstorm ideas for launching our own personal YouTube channel, become an editor and post on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, and assist in creating any social media posts aimed at grabbing potential customers’ attention and advertising what Surf City Promo can do in a clear, simple way. I was able to work with my fellow intern Ashley Drake and learn new skills in social media advertising and how to target certain demographics and markets through social media in order to increase sales. With social media advertising, I was also able to assist in a marketing program to gain additional new customers. We created and distributed mailers as well as small promotional packages for masks, pens, and business cards, resulting in additional new sales. It was so exciting to see hard work pay off as new orders came in from people who received the promotional packages. As an intern, I have been able to observe so many aspects of the promotional products industry while learning the ropes myself. It has been a busy summer full of learning, growth, and opportunity that I am incredibly grateful to have experienced!

When I first joined the ASI Internship Program, I began by learning what ASI is and what the organization does. As a leading member of the promotional products industry, I saw how ASI brings together suppliers and distributors acting as both a mediator and educator in order to make two sides of an industry cohesively work together as one functioning whole. I learned how ASI empowers the industry by educating suppliers and distributors, keeping members informed on the state of the industry, and the newest technology or resources in order to help both suppliers and distributors.

Additionally, I learned how ASI has created a platform that further brings together both sides of the promotional products industry – ESP – which allows suppliers to advertise and display their products while allowing distributors to research and find exactly what their clients are looking for. In addition to learning so much about ASI, I also expanded my knowledge about the promotional products industry. This summer, I came to realize the power of promotional products, how many items truly are promoting a brand or company, as well as the importance of creating a solid brand for one’s company.

Before this summer, I could go through my day-to-day life only identifying obvious promotional products such as banners or signage, whereas now I notice everything from pens to polos to branded stickers. The exposure to the inside of the promotional products industry brought to light the commonality and presence of so many promotional products I had overlooked and unknowingly been influenced by. It is incredible to be able to identify and understand the promotional products I see now, and having the ability to either recognize a good promotional product versus critiquing one that could improve. Finally, over my time participating in this internship, I learned the importance of branding for a company. Branding has the power to make a name and reputation for one’s company, which can have monumental impacts on sales and business. Through the use of promotional products, I learned how one can build and create a brand that will lead to success, no matter what business one owns.

All in all, this summer has not only impacted my knowledge about ASI and the promotional products industry, but has helped me become a better employee and helped prepare me for a successful career ahead. I am so grateful to have had the privilege of participating in every aspect of the ASI Internship Program, from Trivia Tuesday to all the different webinars, and even discovering the excellence of the Joe Show! This summer has enabled me to grow into a more educated, experienced, and evolved version of myself thanks to the incredible resources and opportunities presented by the ASI Internship and Proforma Surf City Promo!