My final two days working in the social selling department, I worked on finishing my projects and continuing to get a feel for environment. It was really cool to be able to collaborate with Alli and Courtney to understand their experienced perspective. While the project of analyzing 1500 professional LinkedIn profiles seemed monotonous at first, it did end up very interesting in the long run. After Courtney’s explanation of how using social media can be such a building factor in business, it was really surprising how underdeveloped most of the employee’s profiles were. Pulling up each profile brought a sometimes very surprising profile picture, for a corporate setting. Not a day went by that I wasn’t overwhelmed by the incredibly welcoming environment of SAS. I didn’t run into a single person that didn’t match the friendly and personable traits that seemed to fit every employee. Aside from learning about the specifics of Courtney and Alli’s jobs, it was very interesting to learn about the social selling/marketing department as a whole. It’s very much a team atmosphere – what one person manages for a personal account, there’s a whole team of employees working on a company’s online presence. I didn’t really have an expectations going into my first day in the social selling department, and I’m very happy with the experience that I ended up with!
Author: Marketing, Advertising, & Design
The Necessary Evils – Day 3, Reaghan
Today was relatively laid back with not as many meetings to attend. Most of our day consisted of editing & uploading the video from Courtney’s social selling class, which has to go through an approval process before being sent out to all of SAS’s social selling department. There were a few meetings after lunch with Courtney’s co-workers, but it was really interesting to hear how the team is putting the program together. Social selling is a fairly new department for SAS, so it’s a building process. SAS locations all around the world have social selling reps, and one of Courtney’s responsibilities is to travel to these other locations. She uploads really cool pictures of her travels to the Facebook page linked, it’s definitely worth checking out!
New Week, New Mentor – Day 6, Reaghan
Today I started working with Alli Soule. Alli works on a different level of social networking than Courtney, whereas Courtney’s expertise is in social selling. I really appreciated Alli’s interest in what I do with social networking and how she can help me grow my platform. Alli is a trainer for SAS and teaches employees how to use social media to their advantage, and to the advantage of the SAS reputation. There are 6 people on her team, each with a specified job; one is in charge of posting on the SAS social media platforms, one is considered the “graphic designer” and creates picture tiles for the online sites, and so on.
Working with Alli has me on the 6th floor, close to Dr. Goodnight’s office. It’s quite intimidating, but also serves as extra encouragement to put my best foot forward. Coming out of the elevators, the “lobby area” for this floor are lined with Dr. Goodnight’s unique rock collection. I wish I could have gotten more pictures to show how extensive this display is, but I didn’t want t
o disturb the conference rooms that they were next to.
Aside from continuing my project of analyzing the 1500 profiles belonging to social selling employees, Alli started me on a new project to help write the “what it is” (example for twitter shown) for the social media help center on “Slide Share,” which is a type of social media that is owned by LinkedIn which allows users to search and find a presentation on any subject. The Social Media Resource Portal gives a description and help to employees looking to use social media.
Today was a really exciting start to the week, and I’m looking forward to finishing my internship with Alli!
Employees or Family? – Day 4&5, Reaghan
On Thursday, I was able to experience the incredible manner in which SAS treats their employees. Courtney and I made our way over to the food truck rally, where there were many options for different food than the delicious choices that are normally offered in the SAS cafeterias. It was wonderful to be able to eat outside and people watch to see what else was going on, such as a dance class and a mapped run through the campus. I have come to realize how SAS treats their employees so well and suits them with a very positive environment, and in return the employees are happy to work there. A few weeks ago, SAS also celebrated 40 years with a spring festival that was a few hours of giving back to the employees. SAS is very compatible with their families, and I think that’s what creates such positive employees!
We were also able to eat at a different cafeteria from the normal building we go to on Friday, and it was really cool to see how different options of foots are offered at different buildings.
Thursday and Friday consisted of more meetings and videos to be pushed out for oncoming sales students to SAS, and Courtney getting prepared to leave for her trip.
Links & Connections – Day 2, Reaghan
We started today at SAS’s other location, 940 Cary Parkway. Courtney led a “workshop” on social selling to new SAS marketing employees and helped them use LinkedIn and other social networks to their advantage. I was in charge of recording the video for the workshop, which she would later put online for a bigger audience across the world. The employees were newly hired to the marketing /selling teams at SAS, and are given hundreds of companies that they need to try to sell the SAS technology to. They all made comments about how amazed they are about being able to connect and find people on a new level through social media. One of the most interesting things that Courtney talked about was how to connect with people through social media on a personal level, rather than just through an online presence. Through LinkedIn, she was able to pull up connections that she shared with her potential “targets,” as she called them, which would make it easier to make a direct and personal contact. For example, one of the students in the class was working on closing a deal with Pinterest. Courtney was able to pull up an employee of Pinterest who had experience working with SAS and had worked at Target, another business that uses SAS technology. There are so many tools to use in social media that enhance the ability of sales employees, it was very cool to learn about it today!
First Day in the Social Selling Department – Reaghan
The first day of shadowing Courtney consisted of mostly meetings, but I was able to meet some interesting people including someone who was in the first graduating middle school class from Cary Academy. Courtney travels every other week of the month, so it was cool to see her planning with people all over the world for her upcoming travel plans. She filled me in about her current focus being on setting up public profiles on business-type accounts such as LinkedIn and how businesses and individuals connect with it. I was then set on a project of analyzing the 1,500+ employees involved in the social selling aspect of SAS, and considering how professional their profile looked. It was surprising to see how many people had a very sloppy profile but a very important title, and Courtney reinforced how much those individuals might be missing out on because potential business investors will look for their information online and not find it.
The entire SAS environment is very welcoming and I’m looking forward to the week ahead!
Liza Day 8: Don’t Cry Because It’s Over, Smile Because It Happened :)
All good things must come to an end, but I sure am glad I got to spend my Discovery Term Internship at McKinney!
We started off our morning in a conference call with other Production members, Habib and Chau, who were in LA working. As our focus for today was HB2, we reviewed the possible cast list, script, and location options. I enjoyed observing how a story board/vision can come off paper and become a reality.
Later in the afternoon, I had the opportunity to research the cast and locations to create a presentation board for the team. This was posted on one of McKinney’s magnetic boards, which can be found all over the office to give the staff the opportunity to pin up their ideas and collaborate with one another.
By the time I finished doing this, it was time to head home. I said my goodbyes and thanked everyone for giving me the opportunity to experience their life at McKinney and introducing me to the current projects. As I was heading out, I had the chance to meet with Nick (editor Nick) and ask him questions about the programs he uses to cut and create movies. I’m planning on making a documentary this summer on my trip to Europe, so it was helpful to have a professional to discuss the best way to execute this. He even gave me his contact info and said he would be happy to help me in any way needed. 🙂
This was a great way to end the day, and hopefully I’ll be able to come back and spend more time at McKinney again!
Liza Day 7: A Whole New World
Today, I experienced a new perspective going from Production to the Creative Strategic Department! It was a whole new world.
To start off the morning, Regina and I were crunched on time so we didn’t scout for possible HB2 locations. Instead, I continued updating Smart Sheet and reading over the new script.
Around 1, I was called for lunch duty. I ran over to Only Burger and grabbed the team’s lunch for the day. Everyone has to do lunch duty at some point!
After snarfing down my delicious Veggie Burger, I got to sit in on a meeting conducted by 3 members of the Strategic Department at McKinney. This was SUCH a cool experience and I was so fascinated that my interests (psychology and media) exist right here at an advertising agency! Chris Walsh, the Director of Consumer and Business Insights, introduced me to the “model” McKinney has used for the past 13 years and how it needed to be updated. In addition, we watched a video called “Marketers Are From Mars and Consumers Are From New Jersey”, which nailed the psychology around consumer preferences. I encourage you to check it out, it’s hilarious!!
Later in the afternoon, I attended a team debrief “Tune In.” This is the meeting where they review McKinney’s current projects and track each department’s progress reports. This furthermore gave me an insight into how complex, yet integrated the world of advertising really is.
Regina and I stayed late to miss the traffic, so I continued working on the Olympic Project and HB2.
-Liza
Spreading Positivity and Final Goodbyes
Well there you have it- just like that I’ve finished my last day of interning at centerline! I woke up this morning just a touch earlier than usual so that I could attend another one of the thursday morning agency talks. I’m not sure if I mentioned this before so I’ll fill you in anyway- this time is typically when the entire building has the chance to come together and watch an employee deliver a talk and share some of the cool stuff they’ve been working on. Today was also the day of my Snap chat takeover where I captured a bit of a day in the life of a student ambassador ( the snap feed is inserted above). However, because it was my final day, I wanted to do something where I can leave just a wee mark of who I am on Centerline one last time. Throughout my weeks at centerline I’ve seen some exceptionally talented individuals who work incredibly hard to put out the best content that they can. Whether it be Valentina and her leadership and communication skills, mike with his artistic abilities, brittany with marketing concepts or Tyler and his infectious creativity, every individual at Centerline has something amazing to contribute. Often in the mix of the fast paced agency environment it seems that maybe people don’t get the time to just sit back and recognize someone that they’re thankful for. So because of that I wanted to focus my Snapchat thread today on going around and asking people who they’re thankful for at centerline. Of course I wanted to make the feed interesting so that people would tune in, but I mainly wanted to just spread a bit of final positivity. Hopefully with that I was able do the best I could with this little opportunity of fun I was given. Throughout the day I also got to work with Courtney, a graphic designer, on making a phone background and some headers. Seeing as I find fonts and colors extremely therapeutic this was absolutely my cup of tea. As the day winded down I chatted with some of the employees that I’ve gotten to know one last time before I headed on back to High School life. It was bittersweet to leave as I’ve met so many wonderful people, had so many opportunities, and have had an experience that has been absolutely invaluable.
Sam and the other Centerliners, as I know you are probably reading this, Thank YOU! I appreciate you all and recognize just how hard you work, and that work goes towards making really amazing content. Thank you for the opportunity.. you have been so generous and friendly to let a 17 year old be a part of an agency for a couple of weeks.
Evie.
Liza Day 5: It’s Friday!!!
Today was such a chill and relaxing day at McKinney. We presented the possible rips to Jonathan, the head of Creatives at the agency, and it was a success!! After hearing Jonathan’s positive feedback, the team now feels good about the business pitch and will continue editing and putting together the rips. 🙂
Every Friday afternoon, McKinney has an event called “Pub” where everyone gathers, eats pizza, has some drinks, and celebrates the work accomplished in the past week. It’s also a time to get excited for the weekend ahead! I think having a balance between work and enjoyment at any business is crucial because it lets the staff take a break from their busy schedules and socialize with their colleagues. The pizza was delicious btw !!
I continued finding rips and sitting in group discussions until it was the end of the day. I’m looking forward to seeing Regina Tuesday and I can’t wait to hear about her trip to LA!
-Liza
CA Work Experience Program 2016 