Honolulu—PacRim Marketing Group’s (PRMG’s) international internship program is the focus of a weekly morning Korean television show, Se Gye Leul Bo Ra, meaning “Watch Your World.”  The show’s camera crews followed Destin Kim (Kim Seung Sup), a student intern at PRMG since the end of January 2013, as he worked with the PRMG team and clients during the first week of May.  The show focusing on young Koreans pursuing international careers, will air on either May 28 or June 4 during a one-hour episode on MBC, one of the top 3 television stations in Korea.

Kim, a School of Travel Industry Management student at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, was selected by the show based on the work he is doing with PRMG.  Kim has been working with PRMG’s web portal and social media team that produces the Korean language website, www.MyHawaii.kr, which promotes Hawaii to Korean International Travelers by providing news, entertainment and resources about Hawaii in their language.  Kim has been following the MyHawaii team, learning about the Korean market, working with clients and the team on projects, including interviewing and recruiting a student reporter, the interview process, and visiting clients to write articles about them for the website and Naver blog. PRMG’s own social media team featured his internship on its Korean website as well  http://www.myhawaii.kr/id_2442
 
“Destin has been helping our team a lot, providing fresh ideas, creativity, and project assistance,” said Jiyeon Kim, Korean Market Specialist and Director/ Editor of www.MyHawaii.kr (Korean website about Hawaii).  “He also helped bridge relationships with the students and School of Travel Industry Management at UH Manoa.”  
 
While PRMG gains a youthful and international perspective from interns, the company fosters their desire to learn about international marketing.  PRMG’s summer internship program helps college students and graduates from around the world, especially the U.S. and Asia, get experience in multicultural marketing, specifically to the Asian International Traveler.  They assist with a variety of jobs, including video production and editing, advertising and media—both online and print—and providing support for integrated marketing clients, as well as working directly with clients.  
 
Students begin applying for jobs and internships at PRMG prior to graduation in December or May.  Most have a wide range of experience and education, with interests in international business, cross cultural communications, and Asian studies. They are all fluent or studying at least one Asian language—Chinese, Korean, or Japanese.   
An avid supporter of student internship programs, Dave Erdman, PRMG President and Chief Executive Officer, participated in multiple internships at UH Manoa’s School of Travel industry Management – and in one of the first overseas, if not the first, international internship working for JAL Hotel Group, at the JAL Nikko Hotel in Ginza and JAL Nikko Hotel in Kawasaki for 3 months during the summer.
 
In an MBC interview for “Watch Your World,” Erdman told reporters that internships are a valuable part of the learning process in business.  He said internships helped him understand and love marketing and the hospitality and travel industry.
 
“I owe a lot to my mentor, Steve Boyle, who was then marketing director at the Hotel InterContinental Maui, where we worked on marketing plans, for giving me the opportunity to learn, and delegating lots of assignments to me. That internship led to my role as the first Japanese Market Account Executive for the property and was truly my career start in the hotel, resort, and sales and marketing business.”
 
PRMG has been actively recruiting talent from Korea and developing marketing programs on behalf of clients to attract market share and spend of travelers to Hawaii from Korea.  As part of an integrated marketing effort and to increase awareness of the MyHawaii brand, specifically the Korean website (www.myhawaii.kr), PRMG recently launched the Korean “Hawaii Style” video on YouTube, which had nearly 35,000 views by May 10 (6 months after its initial launch) and got top mention at the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA), the Premier K-pop Award Ceremony – broadcast in more than 85 countries.
 
As part of an integrated online marketing strategy for clients, PRMG uses YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, websites, and blogs such as Korea’s Naver and China’s Weibo and YouKu to post appealing and timely content in Asian languages.  The online strategy helps PRMG clients who want to increase the Asian International Traveler portion of their customer bases.