FleishmanHilliard

My name is Andrew Lucas and I am a Senior Animation major. Over the course of the spring 2013 semester, I acquired an internship at FleishmanHillard’s Creative Studio in Washington D.C. as a motion designer.

 FleishmanHillard is a Public Relations Company that claims to be the company that made public relations into the business it is today. They have 88 offices across 6 continents. Their headquarters, where the company started, is in St. Louis. The company is predominantly focused on the business side of public relations and would hire other advertising agencies and artists to make the video/website/print etc. to make the brand/face/look and feel of their client. What set FleishmanHillard apart from other PR films is that a while back they started putting in house print designers in their St. Louis office creating their first in-house, creative studio. This became a huge success, which led to other offices starting their own creative studios. St Louis is still the headquarters for the creative offices especially when it comes to print and still imagery. However, the D.C. studio, where I work, has become a central hub for motion design and video as well as the Boston office and a few others.

I came back from Christmas break 3 weeks early with two goals: to work on my thesis and to get an internship. When I went to FH, I walked into a building insulated in marble with people coming in and out dressed in suits in downtown D.C. I wasn’t sure what FleishmanHillard was going to offer me but after getting past the formalities and into the creative suite and talking with the team and the creative directors for over an hour and a half, I felt right at home. The 
hourly rate also was convincing. 


At the D.C. studio, I’ve worked on all kinds of projects. My work at FH ranges from video, stop motion, motion graphics, graphic design, idea brainstorming, 3D modeling, going on video shoots and much more.  Often, I am in in direct contact with the client and after the first few weeks I was treated simply as an employee losing the title “intern.” I’ve worked with Airports Council International, Glass Production Incorporation, the American Chemistry Council, Dunkin Donuts, Novartis, Abbott, the Kennedy Center, Abbvie, Kaust, South x Southwest and many more. One of the biggest accomplishments I did was help make the video that won us the Abbott Vascular contract of over 3 million dollars.

I came to the office full days on Mondays and Tuesdays and then worked a ¾ day on Thursday so I could make it back to Baltimore for my Thursday night class. Projects come and go quickly. FH has a very fast turnaround with their work, which taught me a lot about compromise and quick thinking in the art industry. I found it tough to work the internship during school not because I thought it took away from the work I did at school too much but I felt that I could be a much more valuable asset had I been working full time. That put aside, I enjoyed the work I did and the fast turnarounds were incredibly rewarding compared to the slow 3D animation process I was attempting for my thesis back in Baltimore.

Overall the internship, which is still ongoing, has been a great experience. I would be very content in working for FH after school and am pursing it currently. I have made several great portfolio pieces and have made some great contacts and even a few friends.