What’s it like working at Flourish?
A few weeks ago, Flourish welcomed University of Bristol History undergraduate Hannah Forster for a week’s work experience in our Bristol office. At the end of her time with us, we asked Hannah to write a short piece about her experiences, reflecting on what she’d learned and her preconceptions vs the reality… so here it is in her own words.
“Hello, my name’s Hannah and I’ve recently completed my work experience at Flourish, a specialist Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM) agency based in Bristol. The stereotype of an intimidating office environment completely departed once I entered Flourish’s Bristol office. I was delighted to be surrounded by intelligent individuals who had innovative and creative ideas, yet also held fun conversations and supported each other as one unit. As a result, this has changed my first naive preconception of a working day and perpetuated my desire to go into marketing after finishing my degree… or maybe it was the complementary Friday lunch takeaway!
“This opportunity for work experience was extremely valuable to me, as I am going into my third and final year at the University of Bristol studying History. I have always enjoyed writing and doing analytical tasks which I encountered during my education and jumped at the opportunity to use this in a working environment. History has taught me to the value the uniqueness of an individual’s perspective, with sources often telling a different story from others, despite the fact they all witnessed the same events.
“This work experience has shown me marketing holds similar traits, the journey of each business can be completely different to its competitors and yet this contrast elevates its unique selling and marketing points. A significant way of tackling this is through brand archetypes, creating a brand identity for a client by finding its characteristics, looking at the brand’s voice and the overall message the brand hopes to convey to its customers. This brings the brand to life, creating an invisible character to spark ideas off to retain strong brand image and identity.
“A prominent example I have explored this week is Flourish’s client Hey!Broadband which has adopted the brand archetype ‘The Everyman’ – this means their brand tone of voice is friendly, humble and authentic and it means they believe that ‘everyone’ deserves fast affordable, and reliable broadband. This archetype helps keep the brand’s image intact and as a result strengthens customer retention and allows Hey!Broadband to remain within their unique journey.
“Marketing has been something I’ve been interested in throughout my life, from a young child watching adverts through to a young adult becoming absorbed in Instagram adverts and emails with catchy prompts. I now understand how much work goes into the messages we see. From the creative team designing eye-catching moments for the brand to strategic planning and customer service, each part of Flourish reinforces the brand for its client’s customers.
“During my week with Flourish I have explored a few different marketing roles. I found I was most engaged in the task of writing copy for a brand awareness leaflet for Hey!Broadband that related to the Olympics. I also enjoyed proofreading the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) Autumn newsletter. I liked these roles as it combined my interest in writing and analytical research with an additional creative side I had yet to unlock. While the proofreading came naturally due to consistent re-reading of university essays, I found correcting someone else’s grammar and spelling more challenging and I think it has helped me improve my own writing as a result.
“My interest in marketing led me to emailing Flourish as a curious student who lives a stone’s throw from their main office in the hope of an opportunity for work experience in the summer. I wanted to explore marketing as a potential career, see if I had some transferable skills, and gain experience in a working environment. I was really pleased and, to be honest, a little surprised that they replied as I’d sent so many emails to so many companies looking for work experience. I am so glad that Flourish replied and let me into their world, even for a short time. My experience has taught me that marketing is a career that I am interested in, and if I could get a role at Flourish or an agency like it, I would be very happy!
Many thanks to Flourish, it was a pleasure.
