My (Remote) Experience in Entertainment Publicity

Hi! My name is Zoe Kocis and I’m a senior Advertising major concentrating in Media Planning and Account Management. This spring, I had the opportunity to work at Allied Global Marketing here in Philly as a Marketing and Public Relations intern. Allied Global is a full-service marketing agency that has some of the world’s largest entertainment, consumer, and lifestyle brands as its clients. Some clients that I’ve had the opportunity to complete projects for while at Allied include: Disney, Hulu, Lionsgate, and Netflix.

Working at Allied, almost every day is a new project. One day I can be working on an upcoming film release for Netflix and the next I’ve moved on to promoting a new series release for Apple+. An experience like this means that I’m always learning day-to-day and with this internship being primarily in publicity, I’m learning almost an entirely new skillset to what I’ve been introduced to while studying advertising. Having an advertising degree means there are a number of different paths for graduates after leaving college. This internship has introduced me to marketing and public relations in a way that I’d never experienced taking my regular advertising courses at Temple. I now have a new found interest in public relations and while I’ve never before considered going into the entertainment industry, I now see it as a potential path for me after graduation.

My biggest takeaway from this experience? Never be afraid to ask for help. For me, coming into a publicity-focused internship, I wasn’t always sure what I was supposed to be doing on certain projects. I didn’t have the necessary background to complete tasks, so I learned very quickly to simply ask for help or for clarification on things. I’ve since learned so much more by asking than I would have by trying to figure out everything on my own. When I first started this internship, I had no idea how to find influencers that fit the demographic for a project, or how to write a pitch to a business with whom we were interested in partnering. These are skills that I learned over the last few months and will be able to use for years to come.

Overall, this internship has been an amazing experience and I’ve learned so much about the entertainment industry, publicity, and marketing in under five months. While this internship has been remote thus far, I’ve been fortunate enough to learn a number of new skills both relating to my professional career and my personal life and I’m excited to take these new skills with me after graduating. I’m very grateful for the opportunity I had to be a part of the Allied team and I look forward to putting to use all the knowledge and experience I’ve gained.