With love from The Netherlands.

…or Southampton if you please. It has been nearly four months since I have left Marketing Mechanics and ten months since I first set foot in the office. The fact that I am still prepared to write a blog about my time at MM might give you an indication of my fondness for the place.

If you are thinking about starting your internship at MM, go for it! You will never find anything like it. There will be times of laughter, there will be times you would like to rip the hair out of your scalp but there will always be a great team to work with.

Marketing Mechanics provided you with hands on experience in the ever-changing industry of marketing. Interns mainly work individually whilst being supervised by management. The company has an open door policy and provides feedback and guidance where necessary.

My internships has provided me with a diverse range of marketing skills but has also contributed to my professional conduct.

All in all it was an amazing time and if I had the chance I would do it over again.

Yvonne Lemmen

My name is Julia Stark, I am from Germany and study Information management in Neu-Ulm, which is located in Bavaria. My studies are split in 3 different parts, information technology, economics and design. Last July I got the chance to study for one semester in Sydney, Australia at Mac Quarie University. I took 2 subjects, Public Relations and Organizational Planning. In addition I undertook an internship at Marketing Mechanics twice a week from 21.08.2007 until 31.10.2007 . At Marketing Mechanics I hade the chance to deepen my theoretical knowledge into practical knowledge. My main tasks were Website reviews, writing Marketing plans and designing different advertisement for their clients. I got the chance to see Marketing from a different angle. I am very glad getting to know the Australian working environment which is very different to the German one. People are very friendly, helpful and appreciate your work. I really enjoyed working with the Marketing Mechanics team and I will always remember them in a very positive way! End of January I will go back to Germany finishing my studies but I am sure that this wasn’t my last time in Australia!Thank you for your encouragement! I enjoyed a lot working in your team!

Suling van Roy

Hi there, my name is Suling and I'm from the tiny country that people call the Netherlands /Holland/Dutchland (according to the French).

When I first got the opportunity to do an internship abroad, I thought to myself: ‘I have to get away from home as far as possible.’ At the time, I wasn’t sure if I was being adventurous or just plain suicidal.

But luckily, my adventure began when I received the opportunity to do an internship at Marketing Mechanics. When I finally got off the plane in Sydney (alive, thankfully), I knew I was never going to return home the same after 4 and a half months.

First off, I’d to thank Diane & Bonnie for their help, encouragement and feedback. It was great working with you guys and thanks for accepting my awkwardness. I’ve learned so much from this experience, being in such a different working environment(the Aussie 'No Worries' motto) and getting to know so many different clients (it was definitely intimidating to be in such direct contact with some of them)

Thank you Andrew for introducing me to the company on my first day and showing me how everything works in Marketing Mechanics (and for saving me from my very disorientated second day -___- )

I will miss making coffee (soup) for my lovely coffee-addicted colleagues, Marcel & Giorgia. Thank you guys so much for your insight in marketing and design.(thanks Marcel for curing my phobia for html, I still hate it, but not as much as I did before =D) Thanks Giorgia for introducing me to the Frankie magazine, another thing to look out for when I'm back in Holland. I wish you guys all the best!

Special note to former fellow intern: Bianca, if you’re reading this, du bist toll!!!(Please don’t laugh at my german) It was great working with you and thanks for being such a good friend!

Now that my time in Australia is coming to an end, I feel like I’m going back to a different world I don’t really recognize anymore. I might pick up my old life back in The Netherlands, going back to the same old routines, but Australia & MM will always have a great influence on me, no matter where I am. I will remember it as the place where I grew up and as a turning point in my life. I seriously can’t think of a better way to enter my twenties and leave my teenage years behind.

Thank you guys so much for everything!

Suling van Roy, The Netherlands

We'll miss you Anne!

Thru this blog I'd like to thank Bonnie Senior, Diane Costa and Sandy Leong for the amazing time I had. I have learned allot, actually more than I could ever imagine learning from an internship. Marketing Mechanics has given me all the opportunities to learn what I want and has trusted me in the ideas and things I have done for the company.

Becuase of this internship I really found out that I want to run my own business. I learned how to work together with other people, and taking care of projects, working with real deadlines and challenges to improve myself.

The last five months were the most exciting, most instructive and most fun months of my life and I really hope to return some day to Australia and hopefully with a good running business!

I can recommend an adventure like this to everybody and I am going to miss the team!

Anne, Nederlands. Dec 2009

Jaap from the Nederlands - Graphic designer

Jaap looking like a young punk Rod steward at Sydneys famous Gay & Lesbian MardiGras!

After the first day of his internship, Jaap already thought he was the boss :)

Today is my last full day in Australia (for the moment), and I’m having a lot of mixed emotions. I’m really happy I can go back to the Netherlands and see my friends, family and girlfriend again but on the other side I’m really sad I have to say goodbye to everybody here, however, I wouldn’t feel this way if the past six months would not have been as good as they where.

Like fish and chips or… peas and carrots, or………… Friday night and football, some things just go well together, and I felt like that with Marketing Mechanics. It all worked very well and I learned so much, and not just about design. I just couldn’t have asked for a better company.

I’m very grateful for the freedom and influence Bonnie and Diane gave me, in order to make my work a lot more pleasant, and the end result to be good. Brainstorming with Diane was great and Bonnie’s critical eye, however sometimes a little bit frustrating, especially when you think you’re done, improved the end result many many times and I learned a lot from that ;-)

Many thanks to Sandy as well, traveling alone to Australia and a city as big as Sydney can be intimidating so having such a friendly colleague is really a big relief ;-)

Aaron, Asa, Jurjen and Silke completed the team and I had a great time with everybody. Thanks heaps guys.

I don’t know when I will return but I’ll definitely come back to Australia, because the last half year was just amazing. Will it be as tourist or as a employee? Time will tell ;-)

Thanks all, and we’ll stay in touch.

Jaap

Aaron from the UK and Asa from Sweden

diane

From left
Jurjen, bon, Jaap, diane, Aaron
Asa and Sandy
A good aussie Lunch!!! Fish & Chips. MMMmm

Aaron and Asa

A Note From Aaron......

Having managed to navigate my way from the UK via the US, Fiji and New Zealand I arrived into the land of opportunity that is Australia, determined to start my career.

Diane and Bonnie gave me that opportunity to begin my marketing career with the innovative and charismatic marketing and advertising agency that is Marketing Mechanics!

Under the careful mentoring of Di, Bonnie and the watchful eye of Sandy, (who deserves a special mention for putting up with me for so long) Marketing Mechanics certainly gave me a well rounded insight into how a marketing agency should be run, simultaneously developing a number of key skills which I will take into my career upon my return to the UK.

Add this, to the creative brainpower of fellow colleagues Jaap and Jurjen and you really have a team driven to succeed.

According to many sources, “Variety is the spice of the life” and at Marketing Mechanics, you get that in abundance! From writing proposals for new and existing clients to baby sitting celebrity dogs, there’s never a dull moment!So I wish Di, Bonnie, Sandy, Jaap, Jurjen, Asa and Silke all the best in the future!

Kind Regards

Aaron

dec08

Hey there,
My name is Vanessa and I’m from Germany. Currently I am studying International Business at the European Fachhochschule Fresenius in Idstein. Since my study requires me to do an internship overseas I decided to come to Australia. and that is how I was lead here to “Marketing Mechanics”.

My internship at Marketing Mechanics was a great opportunity for me to gather new knowledge in the field of marketing. Some of the tasks included things like marketing proposals, competitor analysis, designing layouts and templates, working with adobe photoshop and illustrator.

Bonnie, Di & Sandy are fantastic and a lot of fun to work with.
Thanks again for everything!
Vanessa