Hearst
At the end of October 2019, I completed a four-week internship at Hearst in their Branded Content Studio where client-based content is produced across all the Hearst brands including Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Good Housekeeping and Esquire.
Whilst on placement here I was presented with lots of fantastic opportunities. Firstly, I was trained to use the CMS and build stories according to each brand and their styles. Furthermore, I was responsible for producing ideas that the studio could pitch to clients, my idea of: ‘Europe’s most Instagrammable places’ made it to print for a double-page spread created for Euro Tunnel. Finally, every Friday I was responsible for showcasing the content the studio had produced that week on their Instagram page, for this I had to produce small amounts of copy for the Instagram stories and captions for the posts.
One of my highlights whilst on placement at Hearst consisted of working alongside one of my editors on an Always campaign for Good Housekeeping. For this piece I interviewed three women on the topic of bladder weakness, preparing, conducting and transcribing the interview. I then got to assist on the shoot for the story. Here, I gained a professional insight into the industry, acquiring skills in shoot management, creative direction and working with talent. Finally, the story came out in March’s issue of Good Housekeeping, and it was amazing to see the story through from start to finish.
Whilst at Hearst I also spent two days with the digital team at House Beautiful and Country Living. During this experience I produced four articles, working on my headlines, SEO skills and sourcing imagery. You can find some of the stories I wrote here:
When my fantastic month at Hearst came to an end, I was sad to leave the lovely Branded Content team. I gained a huge insight into a side of writing and journalism I had never considered before and I think branded content is something I would consider in the future. I was lucky enough to be invited back to work on another video shoot for Women’s Health, assisting the content editor.
This experience taught me so much in one month and I had the best time. I do not doubt that the experiences, contacts and skills I gained from this placement will be invaluable to my future career.
