Hanson Dodge Hosts Summer BIPOC Intern Program
It’s no secret that addressing the challenges of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are of utmost importance and urgency to the advertising industry. Afterall, creating a more diverse and inclusive workforce is not only critical to attracting talent, but also essential to delivering the best work for clients to reach multicultural target audiences.
At Milwaukee-based Hanson Dodge (HD), diversity and inclusion is a bedrock principle. About 20% of the staff identifies as minority-represented. But the agency acknowledges it has far more work to do.
Fortunately, the agency backs this commitment with deeds, and not just words.
One way HD is attempting to attract more diverse talent is via its continuing partnership with the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) and its BIPOC student program. HD helped design this program, which is now in its third year and which, this year, was expanded to include 60 students across eight local businesses. HD alone hosted 13 interns – not bad when it is remembered that the agency counts less than 50 full-time employees.
The two-week program took place in June. In addition to learning the 'ins and outs' of how an agency works, students also had the chance to do real work on behalf of a real Milwaukee client: The Milwaukee Pretzel Company. Their challenge: to create a campaign that could help build awareness and social media excitement for the company heading into Oktoberfest, with an emphasis on the German heritage of its quality pretzels.
Commenting on their ideas, Allie Halloran of Milwaukee Pretzel Company, said, “We were beyond delighted with what we saw and extremely impressed with how quickly the students understood our brand. They have such bright futures ahead.”
Added Stacie Boney, president of Hanson Dodge and one of the architects of the MIAD partnership, “Our hope for the interns is that through their participation, they got a true sense for what life and work at an ad agency is like. A great diverse workforce in the future demands in person exposure and opportunity…now.”
But perhaps Alanna Gazian, one of the participating interns, summed it up best when she said, “Through this internship, I was not only able to see that this career is a good fit for me, but it further ignited my passion and interest for graphic design.”
