Summer is in full swing and so is our Sprockets program!  Three interns were chosen in early June; Jay, Andrea and myself, and we have been working at the Spoke office since June 14th.  We have chosen the Sprockets winners from over 40 worthy applicants and although the decision process was not easy, we are very excited to be working with five amazing non-profit organizations.

After a week of reading and sorting through applications, and another of phone interviews and meetings, the five organizations we will be offering free marketing services to are Habitat For Humanity, The Wellness Community of Saint Louis, The Mission Continues, Aim High Saint Louis and Partners for Pets.  These final five organizations have strong missions and support five very worthy causes.  We look forward to fulfilling each organization’s marketing needs while also getting a feel for the agency world.

Habitat for Humanity’s Sprockets application was one that the team was eager to read.  We were familiar with the name and wanted to learn more about this nationwide organization whose local dedication is focused on eliminating substandard housing in Saint Louis.  Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis’ mission is accomplished through a comprehensive program that helps families who are determined to proactively better their lives by investing their time and effort into actually building a home, owning a home, and becoming a contributing member of our community.  The organization is asking for our help in creating general presentation materials, such as a presentation book and brochure which will be used when the CEO, Development Director or Major Gifts Manager meet with companies or individuals to solicit financial gifts.

The Wellness Community of Saint Louis is a non-for-profit offering professionally led support groups, educational workshops, nutrition and exercise programs, and stress reduction classes to empower and educate individuals affected by cancer.  All programs are free of charge to cancer patients, survivors and their family members and caregivers.  Spoke will be helping launch a new awareness campaign for the organization as well as producing advertisements and a general marketing plan in an effort to make The Wellness Community Saint Louis a more well-known support center for cancer patients and their loved ones.

The Mission Continues really intrigued us because of their unique mission.  The organization’s Fellowship Program empowers wounded and disabled veterans by challenging them to serve once again in their communities through volunteer projects.  It rewards the soldiers by allowing them to leverage the strength and leadership skills they’ve gained while serving our country and apply them to the traditional workforce.  The program also has a profound benefit on communities throughout the United States who are improved because of these projects.  The organization also has the Warriors in Service Initiative, which encourages all veterans and other citizens of all backgrounds to perform service projects in their communities.  Jay, Andrea and I, along with the guidance of the partners of Spoke, plan to help The Mission Continues by creating a cohesive look for all or the organizations marketing materials, including a new logo, brochure and design templates.

Aim High Saint Louis is a great organization that not many people in the Saint Louis area are familiar with.  Aim High offers a four year, tuition free program to 300 rising 6^th-9^th grade public school students from economically disadvantaged communities who show academic potential.  The program includes an intensive five-week enrichment summer session along with monthly meetings on Saturdays throughout the school year with a goal of inspiring the kids desire to learn, stay in school and become responsible members of their communities.  We are eager to get started on our project for Aim High, in which we will provide them with a new marketing plan, updates for their current website, a new brochure and a possible advertisement.

Partners for Pets is an organization that pulled on the heartstrings of all of the interns, including myself.  This non-for-profit goes into animal shelters and rescues animals who have used up their maximum allotted stay and are on the verge of being euthanized.  Whether the animals have health or behavioral issues, or they have simply “used up all their time,” at the shelter, Partners for Pets comes to the rescue and helps the animals become ready for adoption.  We cannot wait to spread the word about this organization through new merchandise designs, a new logo and new marketing materials.

We are itching to get going on all of these fantastic projects.  We have held preliminary meetings with all of the organizations and are just getting started on each individual project.  We look forward to the experience and will keep you updated as the summer progresses.

Emily Steinhauser-Project Manager for Sprockets 2010.

As Spoke gears up for year two of our Sprockets program, people have asked us why we do it…what’s it all about.

The answer is pretty simple. We saw a couple of things that sucked, and tried to fix them.

The first one is probably obvious to most people; nonprofits and early stage start ups generally don’t have the time or resources to execute effective marketing programs. They end up either going without, or asking for pro bono work.

While we love doing free work for worthy causes, it doesn’t pay the bills. As our accountant likes to remind us, Spoke is NOT a nonprofit.

The other problem is probably obvious only to someone who’s interned at a marketing agency; most marketing internships are worthless. At agencies across the US this summer you will find interns spending an inordinate amount of time doing grunt work (getting coffee, making copies, filing, running errands, etc.). These interns won’t get a feel for the agency world, except for the view from the bottom.

When I did it, my bosses told me that I had to ‘pay my dues’.

Pay my dues??? I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to join the club! By the end of the summer all I knew for sure was:

• I didn’t like doing mindless work
• I knew the alphabet and was pretty good at working a copy machine
• I would never treat interns like that

The goal of Sprockets is to solve these two problems by letting our interns work on pro bono projects for nonprofits, and early stage start-ups. The clients get free marketing help, and the interns get a meaningful experience, a portfolio, and case studies to show future employers.

Don’t worry…we don’t just throw our interns to the wolves. We work with them on each of the projects, point them in the right direction, ask the right questions, and help them make the right decisions. But, at the end of the day (summer), the decisions are theirs, the work is theirs, and the success is theirs.

They might learn that they hate marketing, and that they should go to dental school. But at least they won’t learn it basking in the glow of a copy machine.
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Here’s a sampling of the work our Sprockets interns did last year:

Blessing Basket: Refreshed the logo, and designed point-of-sale elements that helped increase same-store-sales by more than 300%.

The Mission Center: Created their logo and brand collateral, and provided ‘visual storytelling graphics’ that enabled them to explain their unique business offering, and innovative corporate structure to prospective clients and investors.

The Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club: Developed an annual marketing plan, and outlined several innovative, low-cost marketing tactics that enabled them to communicate key messages with their stakeholders.

Connections to Success: Created an annual report that was used to reinforce their accomplishments with existing donors, and to solicit new ones.

StudioSTL & STLArtworks: Developed a corporate gift pack program, including a sell sheet and unique, low-cost packaging that reinforced their commitment to artists and the arts.