MY DREAM INTERNSHIP
By Martin Shittu
At the age of eleven I suffered a brain haemorrhage, trying to live a successful life has been challenging with bumps and turns along the way. I studied a BSC in Management and Marketing at the University of Essex, which I believe has given me many skills to be successful in this field. I chose the degree because I wanted to become a well-rounded businessman and be able to know about all aspects of the business. Ever since I was young and watched The Apprentice, seeing the candidates in their marketing tasks, I knew marketing was the industry for me.
Working towards a successful graduation was extremely difficult because of the reality of having had a brain injury and the challenges I had with learning - also the stereotype of being a young black man with a disability never went unnoticed. Nevertheless, I graduated with a first-class degree. Finishing University amid COVID- 19 presented challenges for all graduates, with a massive backlog in the availability of jobs but also the absence of workers. A double-whammy. The negative shift in the supply and demand scales and the rate of self-employment has increased, and for many students including me, it has been very frustrating. The vision of a new lifestyle which we’ve worked incredibly hard towards feels out of reach.
I initially had a summer internship confirmed but that was cut short by the nationwide lockdown in 2020, which was disappointing given the valuable experience I’d collected at an earlier work experience, such as presentation and research skills. I had a few months of rejections and no luck in finding a job when I met The Space Between Co– Founder Lisa Parfitt in a professional networking session on the Diversity in Digital programme run by Livewire Sport. A breakthrough finally, I was so pleased that I impressed Lisa when she offered me an internship with The Space Between as a Project Intern working with The FA on a Commercial Strategy project. My dissertation at university researched ‘Arousal and different factors that influence our decision making’ which is why I was excited to work for an agency that puts this into practice. The agency has done brilliant work in the past and has created a name for themselves in a short space of time, so it was great that I was able to join the journey.
During my time with TSB, I worked closely with Creative Strategist Patrick Stileman to create brand propositions, and used my creativity to thinking to come up with ideas that would benefit both the brand and the rights holders. I undertook interviews with clients and different target audiences to understand them and their perspective on coaching and working within the football world.
A real highlight for me was the opportunity to go to Wembley stadium to experience a content shoot for Vitality to promote the 50th anniversary of the Women’s FA Cup, with brand ambassador Alex Scott. As an Arsenal fan I feel incredibly privileged to meet Alex at Wembley, the home of English football. The power of celebrity endorsement is real, I left the shoot and experience knowing more about Vitality and inspired by its sponsorship of women’s football – they’re the insurance brand for me! At the end of the day, I got to lift the Vitality Women's FA Cup trophy which was an overwhelming emotional experience for me.
It’s been a great learning experience where I learned about client projects and have developed an array of skill’s including my presentation and communication skills and social media content creation. I was able to contribute to the agency’s marketing, creating Instagram and Twitter social media content from behind the scenes of activation campaigns. I wrote website copy and by writing this blog I’ve published once again.
During my time at the agency, the team working on the campaign to promote 150 years of The FA Cup were finalising the launch content. I previewed the content created with Ian Wright and I can truly say that it was an honour. Ian Wright played for Arsenal and their old stadium used to be opposite my old flat, furthermore, Ian Wright is even more relatable because he is a black man from London just like me.
In summary, I just wanted to say a massive thank you to the amazing team at The Space Between for being for being such a great help and for the valuable skills they have taught me. Working in Sports Marketing is an absolute privilege because sport has been a constant factor in my life having played a key role in my recovery, but also because marketing is my passion.