This past summer, I took advantage of Annenberg’s International Program and interned at Edelman’s Hong Kong office. Having never traveled to Asia before, I was immensely excited (and nervous) for the opportunity.
As a leading firm in the industry, Edelman had always been high on my list of places to apply for work experience. Better yet, the program offered the unique chance to learn and operate in a culture completely foreign to me. I wondered if Twitter would be as ubiquitous or if Kimmy K’s name would have any sway on product promotion.
Upon arriving in Hong Kong, I was astounded by the harbor’s skyline and the deliciousness of the street-served barbecue pork. I had never seen a city that is such a blend of modernity and custom – where western influences are very obvious in building structures, but traditional Chinese culture continues to flow through the streets.
I was assigned to Edelman’s Digital Practice Team. My day-to-day tasks included scanning the web to find and create relevant written and multimedia content for client’s social media pages; writing and reviewing content calendars and compiling reports detailing engagement on client’s Facebook pages.
One of the most exciting and educational projects I worked on was for Tencent. If – like me – you haven’t heard of Tencent, it is a significantly large holding company in China that owns social media platforms Weibo, WeChat and one of the largest web portals in China. Due to its prominent position in China and its continuous innovation, it is currently one of the largest Internet companies in the world and definitely a force to be reckoned with. The Technology, Digital Practice and Studio X teams were preparing SY Lau – President of Tencent’s Online Media Group – for his acceptance speech at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Knowing very little about the company, I heavily researched everything online and in Edelman’s archives to attempt to draft press releases for the event. After displaying interest in video editing, the Studio X Team started to give me more responsibility in creating basic edits of internationally influential figures congratulating SY Lau. My edits were sent to the client and they selected the parts they wanted the Studio X Team to use in the promotional video that would play during the acceptance speech. It was such an honor to be part of the creative process – and though I can’t take any credit for the incredible final video they produced, it was an invaluable learning experience.
Another project that I really enjoyed and benefited from was the creation of a social media playbook for a Chinese technology company. By creating a set of guidelines, I gave recommendations to how they should conduct themselves on social media. I researched and scored all of their international social media pages and concluded that the main problem was inconsistency in content. I suggested a brand voice, tone and the language that should be implemented universally and created four content pillars for them to base their posts around. I also advised that images and videos should cohere with the same set of rules so that their audience could navigate seamlessly across all pages.
The experience taught me so much and far exceeded my expectations – both in terms of career development and cultural understanding. To anyone who is considering the program – I would absolutely recommend it. However, words can only say so much, so, in true digital fashion, I will finish off with a video I made compiling my Hong Kong memories (apologies for the unsteady camera holding!).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZTyD1MNqtc