From East Lansing to the East Coast: How Ad Creative Major Turned a North Carolina Internship into a New Perspective
By: Alexis Muno
Advertising creative student, Hadley Lovell, spent her summer far from Michigan, in Pinehurst, North Carolina. In this quaint, quiet golf-centered retirement town she was one of the only few residents under the age of 50. It wasn’t the typical college summer, but for Lovell, it was exactly the challenge she needed.
Lovell accepted an internship with Golf Pride, a national golf equipment company, and decided to relocate for the opportunity she really wanted. She wanted to challenge her creativity by experiencing the benefits of a new environment.
“All my friends were going to different places, and I didn’t want to stay home,” she said. “To add, my grandparents live in North Carolina, so it felt like the perfect way to get away but not be totally on my own.”
Lovell worked on promotional design materials for Golf Pride along with contributing creative concepts used in stores and magazines.
Her internship pushed her creatively in ways she didn’t anticipate. This was the exact challenge she was looking for to further her creative process and work ethic. Working with a sport demographic, she wasn’t deeply familiar with completely shifted her design approach.
“I realized how much placement and simplicity matter, the guidelines were strict, but it taught me how to work within a style while still thinking creatively,” said Lovell.
With background knowledge in software’s like Adobe and Illustrator from classes on campus, Lovell worked on multiple real-world projects, including magazine ads, window signs for stores, and a personal fall promotional campaign that featured a custom-designed golf towel. It became one of her proudest pieces and taught her the importance of being in tune with the brand and target audience.
“For that project, they let me choose any colors or layout,” she said. “It was exciting but also nerve-racking. I had ideas that I loved get rejected, and that was a new experience for me.”
Lovell had the opportunity to connect with Golf Pride’s Chicago-based creative advertising agency, The Escape Pod. The agency flew her to Chicago to work with the agency on this project. Watching the different roles within marketing and advertising teams helped Lovell understand where she wanted to fit in the creative process.
Even though she enjoyed her work, the main obstacle she faced was finishing her final project, the duty to come up with a theme for Golf Prides Training Modules. Toward the end of her internship due to communication delays between teams, agencies and time zones. Lovell’s final week at work was stressful since she frequently found herself waiting for comments and unsure of how to go about things.
Despite challenges, Lovell walked away with a better sense of direction because of the experience. She proved her ability to adapt to being far from home and thrive in new settings by moving to a whole new city.
