Chicago: Golin encourages students to ‘go all in’
By Tori Lawhorn
Middle left to right: Catherine Huynh, Marah Harbison, Allie Hitchcock
Front: Tori Lawhorn
IU Journalism students visited Golin on Friday afternoon. (Erin Johnson | The Media School)
On one of the afternoon site visits, several IU Journalism students visited Golin, a large public relations agency. Their main philosophy is to “go all in” in terms of their work and dedication to their clients. Writing director Ben Lincoln, BAJ’03, frequently spoke about how Golin wishes to inspire and create change with each campaign they do.
This attitude was further solidified when he showed us recent examples of their work, specifically the PetSmart: #InspiredByPets Inspiration Waggin’ Tour, a 3,500 mile journey across six cities in the U.S. and Canada that resulted in 335 million people being exposed to the program.
Another example is the launch of Magnum’s mini ice cream bars at New York Fashion Week in February that inspired a line of miniskirts designed by Stacey Bendet and resulted in 1.22 billion media impressions.
One thing that sets Golin apart from their competitors, Lincoln said, is its unique G4 model, a program designed to create experts in specific fields of public relations. This model consists of four specialized areas: explorers, catalysts, creators, and connectors.
The job descriptions for each are below:
- Explorers: use data and research to serve as business analysts
- Catalysts: use best practices, partnerships, and other methods to keep clients ahead of the curve
- Creators: generate ideas and stories
- Connectors: function as the channel experts, reaching audiences via more than a dozen “touch points”
For their internship program, associate Nina Kumar spoke about how, unlike other internships she’s had, she was put on an actual account at Golin: Unilever. After graduation, Kumar was hired full-time at Golin, saying that the retention rate is very high.
Senior ambassador Eliza Williams liked the communal feel of Golin.
“I love Golin because it is a large agency with a powerful list of Fortune 500 clients, but it has the feeling of a small, close community,” she said. “There’s definitely a family feel, and a strong work hard, play hard attitude, which I appreciate. I had a lot of fun on the visit and felt that the team truly took an interest in us and wanted to hear our questions and perspectives. You can’t beat the office location or views.”
Freshman Ernie Pyle Scholar Allie Hitchcock said she liked the passion of the Golin employees.
“I loved Golin,” she said. “I was really impressed by turnover rate of interns becoming full employees. It was clear in the presentation that Golin has a work environment the employees really love.”