Enter Alteredu & The Southern Italy
I am based in a town named 'Terranova da Sibari': a traditional Italian town located upon a hill in the Calabria region. I work for a company called Alteredu (created by Future Digital) which sells online courses to consumers and creates promotional digital material to sell to other companies. Unlike Amsterdam, Terranova is much more remote, but unlike Bookingpetz, Alteredu under the support of Future Digital is a more established company.
Moving away from the city life I was of course nervous about how my first week would be here in Terranova. Alteredu does however promotes itself as an Erasmus internship so basic English is a necessity, but that doesn't mean to say that I won't learn Italian myself. In my first week, I was greeted by my very friendly co-founders and interns.
Immediately my skills were put to the test for an important task for I was to design 'Thank You' cards for local Italian companies that are to be provided when a product is purchased. The task also required the language to be in Italian so I had to do the best translation I possibly could. With my designs and with help of the co-founders’ I was able to complete two cards that pleased Alteredu.
It was a good feeling having been given the chance to prove my skills and to earn the trust of Alteredu. The co-founders were also very good in giving me advice as to how to settle into Terranova. There is much I need to learn about living but many others have been in my position and have thrived. I feel I too can thrive here.
More Projects For Alteredu
Alteredu had more projects lined up for me to contribute to, most recently being completing the Valentine's Day campaign for a local company: Preziosità. The other major project which is still ongoing is a poster redesign of the various courses Alteredu offer.
For Valentine's Day the intention was to present new products and strategies to increase sales for not only Valentine's Day but for the shop in general. This required analysing the company's current methods and researching how Valentine's Day is celebrated in Italy.
Looking at Preziosità's current methods, they operate everything on one Facebook page with Facebook Messenger being the main source of contact. It's necessary for businesses to expand their network by making use of other social media platforms so we suggested a new Instagram page. As for their current Facebook page, we recommend utilising other useful features including 'Story' updates, polling features, leaving reviews and studying analytics for future strategies. We were pleased to see that our recommendation of a new Instagram page was taken into account.
As for our own rebranding, I was tasked with rebranding the posters for the courses. It’s a big task as there are almost 200 courses that Alteredu offer. I needed to find appropriate background images to suit the title as best as possible which will then be reviewed by my line-manager.
I feel as if the trust in my abilities is getting stronger as I am being entrusted with more senior roles and encouraged to pursue other projects of my own. I have been here roughly a month now and I and feeling more comfortable working with Alteredu.
New Projects & Greater Responsibility
Within a month and a half, I have grown to become more comfortable with the internship, taking on greater responsibilities and longer projects.
In regards to collaboration with Alteredu's current partners, I have been given the responsibility to help run Preziosità's new Instagram page. My role is to populate the page with recent updates from the Facebook page, check the analytics of the account and make the profile look as appealing as possible.
I am in the process of a major marketing project for a local Calabrese dairy company called: 'Caseificio Presila'(http://www.caseificiopresila.com/homepage/). They are in need of a marketing boost to present themselves better in the region of Calabria. It is up to me and other members in the team to develop a good advertising strategy. Before any strategy can be developed, research must first commence and the research began with finding relevant competitors.
The next phase will be to research a wide variety of advertising strategies used for new Italian companies. With sufficient research, it will allow our team to analyse effective new strategies. It will be a good challenge to see how my abilities and experience can be put into a new industrial project.
Adapting To Lockdown Life
With the outbreak of the novel coronavirus causing a lockdown in Italy, many businesses Alteredu work with have had no choice but to work from home, postpone work or shut down services. In times of great uncertainty, developing new strategies is crucial!
In regards to my work being implemented into Alteredu's online platforms, the work for the poster redesign is now live on Alteredu's Twitter page and is due to be live on all of Alteredu's platforms where necessary. It also helps the company to keep engaged with the customers. With the same strategy used to keep engaged with customers and followers, why not apply the same to Caseificio Presila?
My line-manager had similar thoughts on how Caseificio Presila can continue engagement. It will of course mean a change of approach and developing a new strategy, but in these times of great restriction, it is the most adaptable companies that will have the most profitable benefits. A new marketing strategy that companies who are experiencing lockdown are doing is offer messages of solidarity. New offers can also be a major pull factor for when Caseficio Presila can finally re-open. My line-manager and I thought of competitions via social media for prizes to use later and new special discounts to use in store once the store reopens as example ideas.
Despite the major inconvenience of the novel coronavirus outbreak, what is most important is that people stay safe and keep others safe in the best way they can. Whilst we all must adapt to a drastic change of lifestyle, it doesn't mean we need to stop entirely.
Alteredu: Departure & Reflection
My 3-month internship at Alteredu ends today and ends the amazing Erasmus journey I have been on. To apply my skills to an international environment with limited starter knowledge of the culture of work would prove to be a great challenge, but with a great challenge comes a brilliant opportunity to improve!
My internship title was 'Digital Media Intern' which focuses on digital design but also opens up the opportunity to apply critical thinking into business strategies involving design projects. The role was not only a good chance for me to apply skills but also a great for encouraging in-depth thought processes.
Perhaps the biggest challenge I faced overall was adapting the culture and lifestyle. Even though the job was in English, the English language is rarely spoken. I had to teach myself Italian which still needed vast improvement, but living in Italy was perfect for improving my spoken Italian.
I'll admit being a city-born person I wondered whether I could thrive in a workplace in such a remote location, but with this being an Erasmus placement I need not worry. All of my concerns entering the internship were natural and the employers understand the concerns from newcomers fully.
As my time at the internship continued, I adapted better to my role. Whenever planning or suggesting a strategy, however creative it may be must have practicality and environment taken into account. It's not just enough to have a creative idea because some markets don't have a demand for specific approaches. This role in particular has taught me about how crucial it is to apply this method of thinking.
It's been a fantastic conclusion to my Erasmus experience and I have gained valuable skills to apply in the future!
