Interbrand
2026
A summer of creating iconic brands
Assisting client relations, project management, and B2B brand strategy as a Summer Fellow at Interbrand New York
Overview
Translating user and cultural insight into brand strategy
Interbrand is a global brand consultancy specializing in B2B brand and design strategy for Fortune 500 companies. The agency began with product naming specialties and pioneered brand valuation.
As a New Business Fellow on the Growth team in New York, I worked at the intersection of strategy, project management, and client relations, contributing to competitive pitches, brand audits, and RFP responses for clients across industrial, sports, EMT, and financial sectors.
My Contribution
I coordinated new business development across portfolio teams, built past experience case studies for pitches, and contributed to strategy development sessions alongside senior strategists and C-suite leadership. I conducted competitive audits, led prospect research for CFO and CMO qualifying calls, and managed pitch preparation sessions with teams of 15–20 year veterans. Because of NDA, I can't share the details of my major projects, so please reach out if you're interested!
cheryl_yan@gsd.harvard.edu
Lessons
Contributing in a flat-hierarchy creative environment, I learned that contributing meaningfully requires asking the right questions, communicating clearly under pressure, and confidently naming what feels off in the narrative. I also learned that good strategy requires holding ambiguity productively rather than forcing early resolution.
Key Takeaways
Cultural analysis underpins strategy
Understanding what a brand should say requires learning its tensions, histories, and unspoken values.
Transparency = professionalism
In a fast-moving agency, proactive communication about process matters as much as the output quality.
Trust is earned through initiativey
The most meaningful recognition came not from praise but from being handed consequential decisions.
Clarify and infer together
Clients rarely know exactly what they need. I must infer, clarify, and build a response around that inference.
