My Life as a Newsie, Mariachi Band Member, and a Penguin…
This semester I have been an intern at Allied Integrated Marketing, which has given me invaluable experience working in the real world. Allied is located in Center City, Philadelphia and works to promote new films and productions through word-of-mouth advertising and publicity. The most common ways we promote productions at Allied are through street teaming and early screenings of films. My supervisor, Ann-Marie, has been with Allied for 25 years and really knows what she is doing. Ann-Marie is in charge of Allied Philadelphia’s 20th Century Fox account as well as the Broadway Philadelphia account. The first half of this semester, I helped Ann-Marie with Broadway Philadelphia’s NEWSIES, 20th Century Fox’s The Book of Life, and 20th Century Fox’s Penguins of Madagascar.
Broadway Philadelphia’s NEWSIES is a musical of Disney’s 1992 film Newsies. The film was based off of the Newsboys Strike of 1899 in New York City. NEWSIES was at the Academy of Music from October 28th through November 2nd. We did several street teaming events for the promotion of this performance. Street teaming, or “flyering,” is when reps from Allied, usually one or two, go to festivals and other events to hand out flyers, posters, and other giveaways to attendees for whatever film/production is being promoted. On October 29th, we had four members of the NEWSIES cast come to Philadelphia Performing Arts: A String Theory Charter School. Channel 3 did an interview with the cast and recorded the event. The newsboys (and one girl!) interacted with the String Theory students asking them questions about their favorite healthy snacks, activities, and hobbies. At this event, I was in charge of taking photos for us to send to the Kimmel Center, who represents Broadway Philadelphia.
Since Ann-Marie is in charge of 20th Century Fox, we also worked on promotions for The Book of Life. The Book of Life is a children’s film that relates to Mexican heritage. The first thing I helped out with for The Book of Life was an early screening at the University City Rave Theater. At the screening, I was in charge of scanning tickets, watching the film, and then asking viewers their reactions of the film. After the screening, I went home and wrote a report with people’s reactions including who their favorite character was, what their favorite part was, and whether or not they would recommend the movie to others. Seeing the film helped me come up with ideas for other promotions for the film because I knew what the movie was all about. In addition to early screenings of The Book of Life, we coordinated a mall promotion event at the Christiana Mall. At the event, we had a mariachi band, balloon arch, giveaways, churros, cookie decorating, face painting, coloring, and much more! This event was extremely successful and we were able to get lots of great pictures for the production company.
Another film I helped promote was Penguins of Madagascar. In addition to early screenings and street teaming for this movie, I helped coordinate an event for Penguins of Madagascar at the Camden Children’s Garden. Throughout the semester, I have been in touch with different Girl Scout troop leaders because we have invited them to some of our early screenings. Through these connections, I was able to tie into an event at the Camden’s Children Garden that some of the Girl Scout troops were having. At the event, we had coloring sheets for Penguins of Madagascar, cookies & milk, and one of our interns taught the Girl Scouts how to do the Penguin Shake from the movie. This experience was fulfilling because it went so smoothly and I was in charge of planning it.
Overall, this experience has shown me that it is important to work or intern in an office before graduating. I have gained so much just by being in an office environment. This experience has taught me that good communication skills are needed when planning an event. If there is lack of communication on either side, then an event will not go as smoothly as it possibly could. This internship has inspired me to do my best in every situation I am thrown into because it is important to have strong connections for the future.
