On the Road: Charlie's 5-Week Internship Experience

This autumn, we welcomed Charlie Jackson to FourthWall for a 5 week internship. Fresh out of university with a degree in Sport Management, Charlie joined us to explore the world of brand activations and experiential marketing. During his time here, Charlie worked across multiple teams (including 10 days on the road with Mark!), gaining hands-on experience across the full breadth of what we deliver at FourthWall.

As Charlie wrapped up his placement, we sat down with him to reflect on what he learned, what surprised him, and what it’s really like to join FourthWall at the height of the autumn season.

Here’s what he had to say:

Can you start by introducing yourself?

Hi, I’m Charlie, I just graduated from uni this July. This is the penultimate day of my five-week internship at FourthWall. Having studied sport management, and getting into events, and understanding how you can use technology and AI in events - FourthWall is the perfect place to come to build my skills in that environment

What were you most excited about when you first joined? Definitely just being in a new environment. I love meeting new people - whether that’s in the pub or in the workplace - I love just chatting to people. For me, I was going to be able to meet new people, network, and that’s what excited me.

What were you most nervous about when you first joined?

I like being chucked into new situations and doing new things, and I quite like to just try and get on with it as much as I can but I was probably most nervous about not understanding how some of the tech works.

You’ve had a chance to work across a few different teams, what’s one thing you’ve learned from each?

I’ve definitely learnt lots of things! Something that didn’t take me by surprise, but I understand a lot more now, is how important building relationships is. In terms of marketing, something I really enjoyed was the competitor analysis stuff and identifying the target market context (what students want, what they want to get out of an activation and how you identify the gaps with what’s working, what’s not working, and what needs to be explored more). 

And production: I really like talking to people, so putting on the events and actually doing it, and trying to engage people. Speaking to students - a lot of them are my age and in the same boat I feel like I’ve been in where you don’t know what you want to do, so it was really interesting trying to give my advice as well as talking to them about their experience.

You spent 10 days on the road with Mark - what was that like?

My first two days were launching the Lloyds flagship campaign in a film studio which was nice, I had the chance to meet a few people and meet the client. And then I guess my first full week was on the road with Mark, and it was busy. I think that week and the following week on the road just merged into one, and I was in every big city in the UK putting on the events. I really enjoyed it but the travelling… oh my word! 

[Being in the van with Mark for 10 days] We joke that I couldn’t keep up with his dad jokes and that I couldn’t put on the fact that I was enjoying them for too long. But actually, it was really interesting. I liked learning from him, he’s a really intelligent guy who had a lot of interesting stories in work and outside of work; which I quite enjoyed sharing my similar experiences with. We kind of have the same interests weirdly enough… talking about a guy who’s just had his 50th and I’ve just come out of uni and we seem to be at the same stages of life, or he was anyway when he was my age. We’ve both done the same big cycle ride and both into the same sports and that sort of stuff.

How has this internship shaped your understanding of experiential marketing or brand activations?

It’s completely changed my understanding. It’s nothing like I experienced when I was a student even though I graduated 5 months ago. At my uni in particular - FourthWall weren’t there - I didn’t see any activations that were so engaging and so innovative where you’re engaging for 5 minutes, you’re talking about stuff, but you actually bring something personal away from it. That’s something I’ve found really interesting and really enjoyed learning about while I’ve been here.

What’s one thing about working at FourthWall that surprised you?

Definitely how serious but relaxed the workplace is. Everyone clearly takes their job seriously, everyone does it well but also everyone gets on so well and everyone is having a good time. I always leave the office feeling happy rather than feeling like “Argh I’ve got to go back in tomorrow”. That’s something that surprises me, having thought of the workplace as something that I don’t want to rush into from uni, something that I want to stay away from for even a few years and just enjoy myself but actually you can enjoy yourself in the workplace as well.

What’s been your go-to snack while on tour?

Premier Inn breakfast. Couldn’t get away from it. Everyone will be like “it’s time to go” and I was like “one more sausage!” I don’t know if it’s good, it’s just all I could get at the time…

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