What are the odds that three women in a 10-person office would all show up in black and white sweaters on the same day? Patty had the inspiration to take a photo, post it on the blog and invite your captions. So hey, it's audience participation time!

Love it or hate it, advertising IS and forever will be part of our daily lives.

As a recent graduate (the ink still fresh on my diploma) of Michigan State University, I have had the opportunity to work at Blohm Creative Partners as an intern since my undergraduate courses ended. Originally a journalism major, I have seen my career prospects shifted by the collapse of the print newspaper model and my burgeoning interest in advertising and public relations.

My previous experience has been doing writing and video production for PR materials that fronted one specific organization. Never have I had the chance to experience life at an ad agency managing (or juggling) the projects of multiple clients.

So, you may ask: what has this experience been like for a trained journalist? What has your job experience entailed working for the “dark side,” as those in news circles call it? To be frank, I have been extremely pleased with my experience here at BCP. And that is not just because of the scrumptious cake provided at weekly meetings.

Here, the day-to-day environment is quite special and incomparable to any place I have ever worked. There seems to be a constant energy in the office as creative ideas are formulated and marketing strategies are born. Everyday brings new challenges, new clients, that pose unique situations for the team here at BCP.

And that’s not to say that everything is always peachy around the office. But there is open communication between all members of the BCP team allowing for constructive criticism and sharing of ideas. The traditional hierarchical nature of the office setting is nearly non-existent. This model seems to provide a recipe for success, something more companies, in my opinion, should embrace.

For me, being able to find creative solutions to tell the story of a client’s brand is extremely enjoyable, more so than objective reporting. As a journalist, my education was primarily writing-based. Here, design, graphics, photos and video are the name of the game.

In my limited run here, I have had the pleasure of getting to know the entire staff and can truly say that I come to work each day with a enthusiasm to help getting the best out of each project. And while it may not be as glitzy and sexy as Mad Men, AMC’s award-winning show about the New York City ad world, I still have been impressed by the quality of work and fun had here at BCP.

So, if this truly is the “dark side,” then baby, it’s good to be bad.

It's not quite as clear-cut anymore–a realization that usually hits me when I'm writing a proposal and trying to describe our capabilities without it sounding like we do everything but hang drywall.

It's not just that the Internet has changed everything (although it has). I think it's also that the arts of communication, marketing and advertising overlap more than they used to. Let's face it: every organization, large or small, public or private, is selling something. And every written, spoken, video, web or other communication that comes from an organization either contributes to that selling effort or detracts from it.

That means that the people in charge of influencing their organizations' target markets (those influencers would be our clients) are charged with ever more complex responsibilities. You can't just build a website and assume people will go there. No longer can you do a brochure or a TV spot and expect them to do all the heavy lifting. And "reaching your target audience" may leave you staring at more potential ways to do that than you ever thought possible.

Here at BCP, our capabilities have continued to expand to meet the expanding challenges facing our clients. "Traditional" advertising–creating print and broadcast and buying the time and space to put them in–is still very much a part of the mix. Web design and development, banner advertising and social media now occupy a large and fast-growing segment. People still need brochures and posters and trade booths and annual reports and data base management and corporate videos and even help writing their letters and emails, and we do all those too. Thanks to the judicious choosing of the players by the guy whose name is on the door, we all bring a lot to the table and we fill in each other's gaps.

But perhaps the best thing we do is not just "do stuff" for our clients, but help them figure out what they should do. Not just respond to their requests, but anticipate them. Not just create the deliverables, but create a context for them. But so far we don't hang drywall.

Prior to MSU, she got her marketing and advertising experience working on both client and agency side. “I worked for AAA Michigan and was responsible for membership and insurance marketing, I worked on the inception of “Show Your Card and Save.” At that time, AAA heavily used direct marketing, TV and Radio. “I think the most memorable part of that experience was the television ad we made about ‘Stop, Drop and Roll’ and lit a man on fire to demonstrate it. The AAA Board of Directors were a little shocked but they did approve the ad,” said Lynda. From AAA she went to Campbell-Ewald and was Account Supervisor for the Continental Airlines account. She flew a lot, but unfortunately did not earn any Frequent Flyer miles. “At Campbell-Ewald, I developed a program for European Continental One Pass members to use their miles at exclusive resorts in Europe,”  she said. “The Europeans had trouble using their miles on flights because the Americans planned ahead and took all the reward seats. It was an interesting example of a cultural difference.”

At MSU, in addition to traditional marketing tools, Lynda worked with colleagues in the college to develop a social media strategy and was active in reaching students, alumni and peers via all the new social media tools. We are happy to have Lynda join us at BCP and look forward to the marketing ideas and social media experience she can lend our clients.

So, on his last pre-vacation day, we took the opportunity to trash–I mean, decorate–his office. Such teamwork. It's amazing how much stuff five people can accomplish in 19 minutes, especially when it has nothing to do with work. Tim's talents came in particularly handy, being the only person in the room tall enough to tape balloon strings to the ceiling. And Jeff, ever the good sport, left the balloons up all day and proudly wore his plastic "50 is better" medallion. At least until he left the office again.