As the world’s largest branding consultancy, Interbrand is proud to offer global opportunity to rising talent. With a multitude of disciplines, our internships allow undergraduates to gain hands-on experience in a branding environment. Interbrand’s unique program fully integrates the students into their respective departments and helps them gain an understanding of the branding world.

Our global offices host different programs tailored to their individual location. Internships range from Korea’s competitive BDVL (Brand Design Vision Leaders) course, which is a mix of full time and part time periods, to Zurich’s six month challenge.

Around the world, Interbrand interns are gaining valuable experience, helping to shape their future careers. Brand strategist intern at the London office Libby Clifton-Astley recalls, “Starting at Interbrand I was immediately placed on a project for Topshop. I think this is where I learned the most -sitting in on client calls and experiencing every part of the process, it was all so impressive.” The chance to work directly with different clients is a benefit of the intern program.

The opportunity to travel to intern internationally is also a possibility with Interbrand. Cincinnati resident Jessa Strayer, who interned at the Singapore office, observed, “Being from America, I've learned how different aspects of design (color, pattern, shapes) can have different meaning for these brands than what they might have back home.” Interning abroad can be an exciting endeavor and an important tool in fostering new perspectives on the branding industry.

At Interbrand New York, our interns participate in a ten-week program where they split their time between working as a team for a non-profit client and on billable deliverables. Last year, the interns of IBNY worked with Per Scholas, an organization dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty through their Bronx-based IT training program.

Former BMS/Implementation intern Sam Schulman shares, “Working with Per Scholas was an amazing experience. Because of such a positive partnership, the work we did has actually been implemented." The team worked on solutions for re-shaping the Per Scholas brand and as of February 2013, the efforts of the intern team are now actualized on the organization’s website.

Interbrand New York is gearing up to welcome its Summer 2013 interns and Interbrand offices around the world have openings for interns throughout the year. To see our current international list of open internship positions, please visit our Careers Page. Interbrand across the globe is dedicated to providing an educational curriculum to students interested in the future of branding.

For more photos and quotes from our internship program participants from around the globe, please see our full album on Facebook.

Last week, Interbrand Australia Creative Director Mike Rigby spoke to a sold out crowd at the Brisbane State Library on 'Life Beyond Logos.' The Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA), a national organization for professional graphic designers founded in 1988 with a mission to "facilitate the advancement of the graphic design profession in Australia."

The talk discussed the transition from an industry once fixated with logos and corporate identity, to one now fully embracing the full power of branding. In an era of exponential change and unprecedented financial / environmental crises, Mike discussed how brand designers have had to re-think how we create and manage brands, and even our own role within society.

He shared some recent examples of brands that have – with the help of their creative partners – managed to completely reconfigure their businesses in order to contribute more meaningfully to the world.

He shared his belief that design and branding can – and indeed should – be a transformational force, not simply a lick of paint. That it can reshape businesses, challenge perceptions, unite culture and on occasion, change the world.

Last Friday, I finally managed to have dinner with a good friend of mine. We hadn’t seen each other in months, so we had lots to talk about. I was particularly interested in hearing about his new job in Amsterdam’s flagship Apple store.

During the starter course, I discovered that my friend had been on Apple’s payroll since January -- more than two months before the official store opening in March! This was the case because my friend had been involved in extensive training sessions since the beginning of the year.

Before being faced with hordes of Apple enthusiasts in Amsterdam, my friend was required to work alongside international colleagues in the Apple stores of Covent Garden and Regent Street in London. During the rare occasions when he was actually in Amsterdam, my friend spent his days in a Hilton hotel participating in employee engagement training. In those two months prior to the Amsterdam Apple store opening, my friend learned everything about the Apple brand, its products and services, its communications, its retail environments, its channels and, of course, its people.

As our main course arrived and my friend continued to discuss how helpful his training time had been in London, I realized why Apple employees have such strong internal clarity around -- and great commitment to – the Apple brand itself. Apple seems to innately understand that great brands start from within.

As dinner continued, I brought up another leading brand, Nike. I asked my friend if he knew what an ‘Ekin’ was (Nike spelled backwards). He did not, so I explained the story about Nike and its ‘Ekins.’ To be an ‘Ekin’ means one is a true Nike brand ambassador -- someone who spreads the gospel of Nike around the world. After intensive training, each ‘Ekin’ is invited to have the well-known Nike swoosh symbol tattooed on his/her ankle -- a true sign of devotion to the brand.

After dinner, my friend and I parted ways. We agreed to meet up again in a couple of weeks. I won’t be surprised in the least if he shows up sporting Apple tattoos, one on each ankle.

In the City of London, £60,000 is spent every year to scare off pigeons from around Trafalgar Square, with the use of a Hawk. With the fabled British High Street strip of stores facing tough times, there’s a new flock that points the way to a brighter future.

Obviously it’s not actually our feathered friends that can save the day, but a brand that has taken the bird as its mascot — Funkypigeon.com. Owned by British bookseller WHSmith, Funky Pigeon joined the high-street brigade by moving from the web to brick-and-mortar stores in 2011 as Smith’s saw profits rise across the business. It stands as a fantastic example of how the face of the high-street must and will change to survive. In truth it’s an evolution, dispelling the negativity that grips the media to concentrate on the opportunity before us.

It’s not just a case of strong online brands moving on to the high-street. It is the innovation they can bring with them. Apple is a great example of a brand that truly expresses its values through its retail stores. As consumers we all want something different, something new and something of value. We also want to experience the brands that we build an emotional attachment to, as Apple expertly achieves with the layout of their stores. Consider the assistants that can process payments on the spot, within seconds of a product demonstration, and then provide theatre style educational classes, which are open to all, to inspire creative ways to use their software, apps and devices.Other examples of innovation in-store range from the most simple and accepted self-serve tills to the more tentative exploration like Topshop’s augmented reality mirror in Russia. Tesco’s even tried to bring their shops to the people with a virtual grocery store in South Korea. But what can we learn from all this?

Fundamentally, it’s that businesses need to react to the times and ensure their brand sits at the heart of their organisation to drive innovation that is manifested on the high-street in a new and engaging way. This is the only way to keep consumers emotionally attached. Another good way of looking at this is to question how well some online brands would do if they moved into a high-street near you. The likes of Wiggle, Blurb and ASOS could redefine consumer expectations by delivering a brand experience in real life that has driven their success online. Running tracks and static swimming pools could replace shelves and hanging rails for Wiggle, while Blurb hold creative writing classes and print production sessions to educate their audience and help them build their attachment to the service and the brand.

There are so many creative retail opportunities for brands to explore. The high-street will be back, bigger and better than before. We just need to remain eagle-eyed for what consumers want and how they want to relate with brands, both online and offline.

Graham Cox is Senior New Business Manager, Interbrand London

When it comes to branding, what gets measured gets done.

One of the clear benefits of brand valuation is that it provides a scorecard around a brand, provoking actions and strategies that build brand value. In principle, this is done through a vigilant understanding of the levers of brand value.

The financial element of a brand valuation is largely a forecasted EVA (Economic Value Added). While this is a key component of a brand valuation, it is usually out of the remit of most marketers.

Assessing a brand through a Brand Strength scorecard illustrates its connectivity and importance to the whole enterprise. Brand Strength dimensionalizes brand management above and beyond more cosmetic aspects and drives brand-led behaviours into the organisation. A stronger brand will also enable it to play a more important role within the purchase decision process, thereby creating further opportunity for the brand to increase its overall value.

Beyond brand valuation, it’s important for the brand to live in a framework that provides a context for its success within the business. Giving the brand the domain it deserves within the business is vital for its ongoing health. A brand is “a living business asset which comes to life across all touchpoints to deliver identification, differentiation and value.” The key elements of this are ‘living’ (i.e. value can be affected up or down) and ‘all touchpoints’ (i.e. recognises that everything the business does can have a positive or negative impact on the brand’s health). Brand management, therefore, is a job that cannot be taken lightly.

So, if we are to embrace all touchpoints, staff satisfaction surveys and customer satisfaction surveys need to be viewed alongside the business’ financials. Determining the dependencies across these three crucial measures of a business’ ongoing health enables the moments of maximum impact to become more clear across the customer’s journey. By undertaking this measurement through your people, your customers and your financials, the objective business case behind every action is locked into the business/brand agenda. This provides vital insight into the levers that connect and make brand success a replicable process – and one that can define hallmarks at the precise moments of maximum impact.

Graham Hales is the CEO of Interbrand’s London office.