28 Apr Hot take: The best internship for a Marketing student is abroad
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When you specialize in Marketing, it’s hard not to live it. You learn to turn your experiences into captivating stories, find the beauty in small everyday things, and understand people on a deeper level so you can connect with them better. And where better to do all that than abroad?
Allow us to explain further with Maddy Atchley’s story.
@Maddy Atchley, a Business Administration student specializing in Marketing at @Ohio State University, pursued an internship all the way in Tokyo last summer. She worked at @OTO, a sourcing and product development company focusing on Japanese craftsmanship, where she got to work on various marketing projects.
Even outside of an internship, she still lived and breathed marketing. She created content about her experience abroad and gained a deeper understanding of Japanese culture, which tied back into her internship.
A quick trip to Kyoto. Why limit your experience to just one city?
“I learned so much about marketing, about Japanese culture, and about myself,” she wrote in a LinkedIn post. “I got to work on so many creative projects. It was so fun getting to share the artistry while also having creative freedom to showcase what OTO can do.”
Here’s how being in Tokyo made this experience more special:
Understanding a whole new audience
When you pursue a Marketing internship abroad, you’re looking at a completely new market. Living in Japan, Maddy was not just learning marketing in theory. She was surrounded by a different consumer culture every day. From the way products are packaged to how brands communicate with customers, everything required a closer look and a more thoughtful approach.
At OTO, this meant researching trends more carefully and considering perspectives different from her own. What sounds exciting to one audience might not resonate with another, and what feels normal in one country might be completely unfamiliar in another. To be successful in Marketing, you really have to know your audience and understand how to communicate with them.
“I’m passionate about brand storytelling, digital strategy, and creating content that helps people feel connected to a brand, not just marketed to.”
Understanding a whole new audience pushes any student to become more observant, more adaptable, and more culturally aware. These are marketing skills you just cannot fully develop when you stay in your comfort zone.
Adapt your messaging to a new culture
Once you understand your audience, the next step is figuring out how to market to them. When you are in a different country, you are forced to think beyond what you personally know, and Maddy had to do exactly that. Learning how to market across cultures pushed her to be more creative and strengthened her critical thinking skills.
“Living and working in Japan pushed me out of my comfort zone in the best way.”
She had to think more carefully about tone, visuals, and storytelling in the content she created, whether it was social media posts, blogs, or articles. She also had to consider how Japanese craftsmanship could be presented to global audiences in a way that still felt authentic, while bringing in the perspective she has from the U.S. when it made sense to do so.
Working in another country teaches you that good marketing is not just about having a creative idea but making sure the message makes sense for the people you are speaking to.
Turning experiences into stories
Marketing majors know that every small moment can be turned into a story. When you’re doing an overseas internship in a place where many things are unfamiliar, the stories come naturally. Every day gives you something new to notice, learn from, and talk about. For Maddy, the opportunities to tell stories were everywhere, from her work days to her weekends.
At OTO, for example, she had the chance to attend a workshop on Tokyo Ginki bangle making. Together with her fellow interns, she learned from artisan silversmiths and helped create content that told the story of a tradition that dates back to the 1600s.
With the iconic Hachiko statue
Outside of work, she found herself documenting everything, from the streets she walked through to the food she tried to the small cultural details she noticed every day. Living in a new country naturally makes you more curious, and that curiosity translates perfectly into storytelling.
Here are some incredible “everyday” photos that Maddy took:
She was also able to use that content in a meaningful way. During her internship, she was an Absolute Creator, which meant she documented her experience and shared it online to inspire other students to pursue an international internship.
This kind of experience is invaluable practice for Marketing students. You learn how to capture moments, how to frame experiences in an interesting way, and how to turn ordinary situations into something people want to watch, read, or share.
Building an international industry network
Networking is a huge part of Marketing. Almost every organization has a marketing team, and marketing itself has many different roles. Having a wide network of people you can reach out to for ideas, collaboration, or opportunities is incredibly helpful.
Maddy had a hybrid setup and worked remotely twice a week
At OTO, Maddy had the opportunity to work directly under the company’s CEO, @Hana Himura. In a LinkedIn post, she thanked Hana for the experience:
“[A] big thank you for trusting me with your brand’s story! I’m incredibly grateful for the chance to learn from such an inspiring leader and to be part of a company so deeply rooted in culture and creativity.”
Building connections in another country makes your network more diverse and more global, which is especially valuable in a vast field like Marketing.
Building a stronger resume and marketing portfolio
An internship already gives you real industry experience where you get to work on actual projects and apply what you learned in class. An internship abroad takes that even further because the work you do happens in a global context, and recruiters notice that.
In an increasingly global world, having international experience can make your applications stand out right away. Maddy’s interest in global experience did not start with Tokyo either. A year before her internship, she took a course on International Business, which shows how her academic interests connected to the path she chose later on.
“I’m so thankful for the mentorship, the friendships, and all the little moments that made this summer so special.”
An internship abroad also gives you more than just something to write on your resume. By the end of the program, Maddy did not only have internship experience. She had photos, videos, written stories, and real campaigns she could show to future employers.
That kind of portfolio proves not just what you learned, but what you can actually do.
Marketing students, an international internship is not just about traveling. It’s about learning how to see the world from different perspectives, tell better stories, and create work that connects with people everywhere.
Send us a message today to get started on your internship abroad!
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