My Time At Cowley Associates: Intern Recap

By Jenna Bordy, Marketing Intern at Cowley
04/16/2013

In my last week at Cowley Associates, I was asked to reflect on what I have learned during my time at the agency. My overall experience was fantastic: I was able to work with many of their clients and found a new friend in #PoeTheGnome!

Working with Clients

Cowley has a wide range of clients with a variety of needs. Their assortment of clients gave me plenty of work to do in all areas of advertising. I was also able to work with all the employees, getting a taste of how each department works.

In such a small company, I was able to pick up any extra work, giving me a plethora of things to do at any moment. My work ranged from researching and compiling data on new clients to uploading information to the websites Cowley was creating. Beyond my deskwork, I got the opportunity to sit in on the weekly Monday production meeting and a few client meetings.

Poe Dressing Down with JennaMy New Best Friend

One of my main responsibilities at Cowley was to work on the company’s social media profiles. It was my job to help update Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Vine and Instagram. With these responsibilities, I grew an intimate relationship with #PoeTheGnome. Poe was introduced to me in my first week at Cowley. At the time, he was a desk gnome whose main job was to remind the employees of Cowley to do their monthly blog assignment. Poe was a fledging Instragram personality who was known for getting into trouble around the office. 

Since I met Poe, his responsibilities have changed greatly through the work of Internet Marketing Manager (Joe Cunningham) and myself. Joe and I began to take Poe around the Armory Square area of Downtown Syracuse, where Cowley Associates is located. We would take him into local businesses and take pictures of him getting into his usual trouble.

Getting Poe out of the office, while extremely embarrassing, was one of the most rewarding parts of being at Cowley. Poe’s Adventures started to gain traction and have become a source of major advertising for the firm itself. Local businesses, like Landmark Theatre and Lakeland Winery, have begun to reach out to Cowley asking to meet Poe. Poe now has many new looks and is a source of new contacts for the company, a necessity in advertising. Poe has opened doors for Cowley and myself. 

Poe Sleeping Through the Monday MeetingTakeaways

What Poe has taught me is that it is important to leave your inhibitions aside. Sometimes the silliest action can lead to something much more important, so it is important to not do something because you feel uncomfortable about it. It is important to take risks and get out of your comfort zone; otherwise there is no way that you can succeed. Poe could have continued being a desk gnome, but Joe and I took a chance, embarrassed ourselves a little (ok, a lot) and Poe has now become a social media star, on the rise.

Cowley gave me hands-on experience in all aspects of the company, something that I do not think I would get anywhere else. My time at Cowley has been very memorable and I thank Paul, Gail, Tracey, Chris, Jesse and Mary for making me feel so at home throughout my internship!

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Thank you Jenna!  Cowley Associates was so greatly helped because of all your hard work.  Best to you in your future endeavors.  You will go far!  Poe will miss you.

Follow us on social media to learn more about #PoeTheGnome (links at the bottom of this page).

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