We’re thrilled to welcome Kate back to the Reid team! Kate first joined us as a Marketing Intern during her placement year at Bournemouth University in 2022, and we’re excited to have her return as our new Marketing Executive. We can’t wait to see the fresh ideas and energy she’ll bring to the team!
Read on to learn more about Kate’s journey with Reid and what it’s like for her to be back at Reid!
What drew you to apply for an internship with us back in 2022?
When I began my search for an internship I was fearful of the ‘intern’ stereotype and had visions of being stuck doing coffee runs, so I was so relieved to see that companies like Reid existed, that actually want you to get stuck in! Reid’s internship opportunity was a breath of fresh air because it gave me a chance to learn valuable skills and apply practice to the theory I had studied in the first two years of my degree. I also thought that Reid’s mission was incredibly admirable, making the cycling world, which can be exclusive at times, more accessible to everyone with high quality affordable bikes.
What were some of the highlights of your internship experience?
I was incredibly lucky to have been asked to attend Eurobike Show 2023 in Frankfurt, Germany - one of the biggest bike and mobility trade shows in the world! I had so much fun capturing the social content of our team, booth and 2023 models. I remember feeling so proud seeing a brand video I had edited playing on the stand and handing out brochures I had helped to design. It was a real ‘pinch me moment’.
I also had the chance to attend two photoshoots at Reid: a shoot in the Dorset forest for our 2023 electric mountain bike range and a city shoot for our 2023 electric commuter bike range. I loved capturing behind the scenes content for our socials, while also shadowing the logistics of organising a photoshoot from my supervisor, Beth.
These were really great milestones from my internship, but the greatest highlight I took away was realising how fun post-uni life could be with the right team and working environment!
How did your academic experience complement the practical skills you gained during your internship?
Choosing to do a year Internship as part of my degree at Bournemouth University was, hands down, the best thing I could have done to enrich the skills I had learnt in my previous 2 years of study, and give me a sense of what post-graduate life could look like.
My internship was all about putting my academic experience into practice, swapping mock-up campaign plans and strategies for the real thing! I also went from working independently on projects for uni, to learning how to collaborate as a team, share ideas, and work towards wider company goals with my marketing content.
How has your perspective on marketing evolved since your internship?
Something I’ve learned from working in this industry is that the marketing world is ALWAYS evolving. During my internship I saw new social channels come into play, trends come and go and our approaches grow with these changes.
A key takeaway that I now apply to any marketing communication is VALUE. This has helped me ground my approach to marketing, leading with the content that will deliver the most value to our audiences, while sharing our brand values. This means, not jumping on random trends for the sake of it, but being more intentional with content.
How did your marketing degree prepare you for this role?
My degree was incredibly varied which I believe has given me quite a well-rounded approach to my marketing role. I developed skills across different forms of communication: creative writing, digital design, social media management, advertising and public relations. The individual learnings I have taken from these modules have helped me to think about our marketing in quite a holistic way. Going forward in my role as Marketing Exec, I'm hoping to diversify Reid’s communication mix by implementing some fresh ways of giving back to our community, utilising the different skills I picked up from my modules.
Do you have any specific goals you hope to achieve in your first six months in this role?
If there’s one thing Reid is hot on, it’s goal setting! Which is why, every year everyone in the team sets at least three goals. I would really love to focus on increasing community building activities for Reid, focusing on nurturing and increasing our community of Reid riders. I’m also really looking to focus on our relationships with influencers and content creators, increasing the amount of partnerships and collaborations we get involved in. There’s so many incredible content creators out there that we would love to share the Reid vision with. And a more personal goal for me, I want to become more skilled in digital design software such as Photoshop and Illustrator. I was introduced to these tools during my internship and now that I am back I would love to build on this skill. Beth, our Marketing Manager is my inspo, I want to get to her level of wizardry!
What excites you most about returning to the company?
The people! Returning to Reid is such an exciting time for me, getting to work with everyone again from my internship and also meeting the new people that have joined since I left is what I’m really looking forward to. The working environment at Reid is just such a fun one to be a part of, everyone is so supportive, helpful and hard working, it’s truly a pleasure to be back.
What’s something you’ve learned about yourself since your internship?
My internship has really taught me that I can do anything I set my mind to. It sounds cliché, but it's true! At the beginning of my internship I never would have thought I would be achieving follower milestones on social media, attending trade show events and speaking confidently in team meetings. I think the journey to being confident in your abilities is all about letting yourself be ‘uncomfortable’ and doing new and daunting things. Every time you do something that challenges you and you come out the other side, your confidence shoots up!
If you could give advice to your intern self in 2022, what would it be?
I would say to 2022 Kate that she should have more confidence in her abilities and what she is capable of!
Going into a workplace as an intern can be daunting. At the time I hadn’t completed my degree and there was a little part of me that thought I didn’t deserve to be there - pesky imposter syndrome! As an intern you can make so many valuable contributions, you’re bringing a fresh perspective that is so important and really wants to be heard by the rest of the team!
What’s your dream marketing campaign you'd love to work on someday?
Ooo what a question. Recently I’ve been loving the introduction of more in person/out of home marketing events and activations, especially in the sport sphere. I think as a society, especially after Covid, we are starting to realise that as well as spending time online engaging with brands, we still want that more tangible, personable experience. I would love to execute a marketing campaign that includes ‘out of home’ activations, and one that really engages a brand community IRL! Watch this space for Reid campaigns in 2025…