If I said “JK, LOL” to your face, would you look at me like I was crazy?

This past week I did a little of this and a little of that, some filing, organizing, writing, editing, talking, meeting. I also did some learning (imagine that!).

One lesson in particular stands out. It is a lesson that encompasses both advertising and life. It is nothing new but just needs to be relearned from time to time in this Internet age.

As the interns were talking after work the other day, some of us mentioned that we probably would never have been friends if we went to the same school. We all have different interests and different personalities, but put together as a group of Liggett interns, we get along great. We laugh and joke and have a good time, and we all work hard. When we advertise ourselves as “intern” we all realize that we have the same fears of the future, and the same sense of indecisiveness regarding what we really want to spend the rest of our lives doing. Heck, some of us are worried about marriage, and one of us is already engaged!

Yet, at school we wouldn’t necessarily be friends. Why? Because our effectiveness at advertising ourselves the way we want to be perceived gets somewhat jumbled in college. It is interesting to me that by taking away Facebook and parties, and adding personal communication and Liggett Stashower, we all are forced to evaluate the way our peers advertise themselves in ways that are foreign to us in the Facebook generation. No longer can we look at pictures of our fellow interns in Halloween costumes, peruse lists of our peers’ interests and favorites, and pass judgment based on something that could or could not be true. At least, we haven’t yet…

While Facebook can be an effective way of advertising yourself and/or a product, nothing is trustworthier than a good old face-to-face conversation when trying to foster a relationship. Here at Liggett, new avenues of cutting-edge advertising are constantly being explored, as they rightfully should. However, sometimes we need to forgo the distanced communication methods of email, and even telephone, and just sit down with a person and have a face-to-face conversation. So much more can be accomplished when you can see a person’s mannerisms and expressions. Maybe I’m an old timer, yet I just can’t help but notice that nothing beats a good personal relationship, be it an agency-client relationship or an intern-intern relationship.

In which case, I have re-stumbled upon a very important lesson of life…and advertising.

BBL!

Ashley H.