Blog

Brittany Harshbarger, Media Planner

When I was interviewed for an account internship just weeks after I graduated college, I didn’t even know that digital media was a “thing.” Yes, I knew digital, and I knew that media encompassed TV, radio, billboards, and all of those other classic media outlets that come to mind. Then I was asked if I would rather intern for the media team because the account interns were a dime a dozen. I took a chance and decided that I was going to learn the art of placing ads online.

It was not easy at first- I had to solve for X, learn which sites day traders use to check stock quotes, and learn so many 3-letter acronyms that I was like, “WTF did I sign up for?” It was a challenge. I quickly decided that I had to either commit to this fully or go do something less brain intensive- like start my own bakery.

I committed to my job as Assistant Media Planner and took every opportunity to learn. My supervisors and Director saw something in me that I hadn’t yet seen. In the wise words of Rebecca Weiser, “you don’t even know what you don’t know.” I commuted to and from Connecticut and had many late nights at the office and long rides home with plenty of time to think. I wasn’t sure if I was cut out for this job, which needed me to think strategically, mathematically, practically, and creatively all at once. I decided that my 2014 resolution was to shed my college girl persona, buckle down and get damn good at this job that I felt lucky to have been given.

Now, 9 months into my time at Proove, I shed my college girl persona as well as the “assistant” in my job title. I could not be more thankful for those late nights. I was lucky enough to be trained in how to take a media plan, traffic ads, pull reports, create dashboards, report to the client, make optimizations to said media plan, and then start planning for the next quarter. The training I received and still receive every day is invaluable.