At first glance, a marketing agency may not seem like a company that spends its spare time helping others. But for Think Integrated, the company co-founded by Mark Freid and Noah Talesnick, supporting the community is the cornerstone of their work.
Think Integrated is a local marketing agency that helps businesses reach more people and expand opportunities with services such as branding, writing, and website building. Apart from its typical services, the company also serves the community with “Think-a-Thon,” an event aimed at devoting his 26.2 hours of marketing time to local non-profit organizations.
“We spend those 26.2 hours doing whatever we can,” Freed said.
Think Integrated has now spent nearly a decade supporting a variety of nonprofit organizations. central florida mustard seeds to ideas for us. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, Freed said the team at Think Integrated felt there were more ways to help the community. Instead of finding a larger nonprofit to support, the company launched Made by Me, a scholarship program for first-generation college students.
“What we thought about was, instead of supporting individual nonprofits, what if we did something more impactful for individuals in the community?” Freed said.
At Made by Me, each participant learns key marketing tactics including web design, writing, social media, and more. From there, Freed said, participants will take what they learned and apply it to a personal project to present. At the end, one lucky winner will win her $1,000. However, Freed said donors have been generous enough to give scholarships to everyone in the past.
Fredo, whose father is a first-generation college student, said he remembers the support he had when he too was ready to attend college. But he didn't realize how much easier his life would be if he had someone who knew the processes involved in college life.
“I didn't understand the support you get when you have a parent who went to college,” Freed said. “Understanding the process made a fundamental difference for me, but I didn't realize it at all until I started hearing people talking about those challenges.”
Although the company has introduced a new program, Freid said this does not mean the end of Think-a-Thon. He said both campaigns would be held in rotation each year and would be big events to look forward to. At the end of the day, Freed said the team always wants to offer something to people. — This is a chance for at least one person to share their story and set themselves up for success.
“Some of these people are going through serious challenges in their lives, and it's powerful and important for us to hear those stories and be able to support them in some way,” Freed said. . “This is our way of sharing what we know with those people.”
