So the Big Red exhibit is up and open!  The staff had a great time installing and think that it looks fabulous!  We’ve got several fun interactive elements that Gabe and Sammy put a lot of hard work into.  Mary Beth and I worked with our exhibit design firm on graphic text panels and fun designs used throughout the exhibit.  Our marketing interns, Lillian and Amber, worked with Jennie to make sure that the media knew all about the exhibit.  And of course, a big shout out to Big Red Executives, Gary Smith, Scott Jackson, Thomas Oh, and Kendall Haynesworth for their help in pulling together information, product, images, and artifacts for use in the exhibition!

If you missed out on our tweets for the lead up to the exhibition opening, check out the hashtag #bigred75 to see our tweets and pics about its installation.  We’ve also got pics from our opening party on our Facebook page.

As you raise a glass of Big Red in celebration, keep reading now to learn more about what happened over the last few weeks leading up to the opening of Big Red’s 75th from a different point of view.

Hey all Dr Pepper and Big Red fans! This is Amber, the new summer intern working with Jennie in visitor services. As the spring semester was coming to an end, I realized that I wanted to put my PR skills to the test and offer my services to anyone who was willing to take them. I had worked with not-for profit institutions before and knew that they were something that I really enjoyed. I also had just finished a semester long PR campaign working with the Historic Waco Foundation, which owns a series of houses turned museums.  So the Dr Pepper Museum seemed like a perfect fit, right? I was very fortunate to get to know Lillian, who is also an intern here, throughout the year and helped me land an interview, which brought me here today.

Since I had never actually been to the Dr Pepper Museum, I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into. However, I knew I was in for a lot of work- something I was really excited about. I’ve only been at the museum for about three and half weeks now and have gained so much more experience than I had expected! I’m always nervous when I start a new internship because I never know how I’m going to fit in with the system they already have running, but I was relieved to find everyone was super inviting and helpful and were ready to get me involved with what was going with the museum.

As the summer begins the museum was opening a new exhibit celebrating 75 years of Big Red- the other Waco native.

To me the best part about a new event- or in this case an exhibit- is the marketing and planning for it. I love design and anytime I can put a little color on a page, I’m all for it. So for the Big Red exhibit, I had the opportunity to put together invitations that were sent out to the media-Lillian and I hand delivered these invites that were tied to a bottle of Big Red to local TV and radio stations around Waco- and to members of the board. I also had the opportunity to design a flyer that was handed out at a few businesses around Waco to publicize the new exhibit.

One thing I didn’t expect to do when I got here was get to help with set up. However, around here, when it’s crunch time, everyone gets involved. I got down and dirty… and painted the floor; and it was actually pretty fun. While I didn’t physically set up the exhibit I did take a few pictures that show the hard work these people put into creating a great exhibit that celebrates Big Red.

Through all of the preparation for the new exhibit I also got to learn a lot about the drink itself, for example there’s only three flavors that make it up (Visit the museum to see which ones those are!), Big Red used to be green, and Big Red, Inc.’s hope is to have a rainbow of colorful soft drinks in its brand. Pretty cool huh?

Now that the exhibit is open, I’ve started to work on advertisements for our next big event- Dog Days of Summer– a free and fun day for the community right before school starts. Food, games and prizes for the whole family, plus admission to the museum is free; you won’t want to miss this. Don’t forget to mark your calendars for August 18, 2012.

My hope for this internship is to not only be able to better my writing and design skills, but also to help Waco and the surrounding communities realize that they’ve got a great piece of history right in their backyard!