Start to Finish Satisfaction

Over two months ago, my publicist asked me to begin looking at racing events in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh markets for an upcoming Disney movie. Back then, the movie was simply known as “McFarland” but Walt Disney Pictures decided to change the name to “McFarland, USA”. The races needed to be set before Disney even released the trailer. I informed the event coordinators as best as I could by using any information available. And so began my cross-country run with the film.

I was able to get The Philadelphia Marathon and The Ugly Sweater Run on board. They agreed to have us attend their events to do a small promotion for the film. I was unable to participate in The Philadelphia Marathon event due to the race falling on Temple’s Thanksgiving/Fall Break. The promotion for The Ugly Sweater Run consisted of a basic tent and table. We had drawstring bags and collapsable canteens to hand out to the race participants. The run was this past Saturday, December 13th and was an excellent day to showcase the triumphant story of the movie.

The day before, I gathered all of the bags and canteens in preparation of the race. I put a canteen in each bag and packaged everything up to be delivered to the race site. Along with these items, we had signups for a chance to win screening tickets to see the movie before it comes out in theaters this February.

Initially, I wasn’t sure how everything would pan out. It took some time for the various event coordinators to email me back and I have yet to hear back from some of them (seriously). Disney’s window to have this promotion has long passed so I’m pretty thrilled that two major Philadelphia runs signed on to the proposal. A proposal that was initiated by myself with fairly minimal help from my publicist. I enjoy the freedom I am given at Allied Integrated Marketing. Although it can be a bit stressful at times, it is shaping me to become a strong communicator and an initiative taker.