Reaghan – Day 2 at SAS social selling

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!

Evie Day 2- Coffee Shops and Local Celebs

My second day at centerline was certainly up my alley! For the first couple hours of the day I talked to a woman here who works as the head of marketing for Centerline itself. By that, she explained, she is responsible for getting Centerline’s name out into the world as much as possible. The job entails finding gigs for the CEO to speak at, nominating the company for new titles and awards, and really just marketing Centerline in a way that attracts as much positive attention as possible. She is also responsible for much of the marketing at devolve- a Coffee shop and urban retail store hybrid created by the CEO here at centerline. One of the projects she has been running is a Haul Series, where she recruits popular figures from the area and invites them to choose some of their store favorites. These favorites, along with a photo shoot and casual interview, come together to create a post for the website. The incentive, beyond simply attracting cool people to the store, is the hope that these figures will share the post and the experience via their own social media platforms. Today I got to tag along to one of their meetings with the next figure of their series: Scott Crawford, former executive chef of standards foods and creator of Crawford & Sons. I sat at a restored wood bar table with my lap top and watched the meeting. They spoke to scott about his career and future endeavors over coffee and then proceeded to take him around the store. The photo shoot is likely to occur later on within the next few weeks and will definitely be a cool opportunity to experience! I think today my greatest take away was seeing how many opportunities there are within the world of marketing. Not only does it open doors to meet so many successful and lovely people, but it also provides you with some of the coolest environments to be surrounded by.

Dr. McElreath you were right- this place really is cool ( I wonder how many times I’ll be using that word over the next couple of weeks).

Reaghan – First day in the social selling department at SAS 

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 1: “The Intern”-Coming To Theaters Near You

Today was such an educational and successful day at McKinney Advertising in Durham! As soon as I walked into the office, I was given my own desk, a MacBook Pro to use for the next two weeks, and a personal key card to get me in and out of the space. They welcomed me as one of their own with lots of assignments and tasks to complete! Josh Eggleston, the VP Executive Producer, introduced me to the staff and updated me on McKinney’s current projects. We had a meeting at 11:30 to discuss the 14 commercial rips McKinney is currently preparing for a new pitch. Although I’m not allowed to discuss the content of the commercials until they are complete, I did have the opportunity to work with their real scripts and search for stock footage to use for their rips. This is an essential process of creating a commercial because it is what an advertising agency presents to their clients before actually going out and filming the commercial. I used a website called Getty Images to gather hundreds of clips and create a “mock” commercial which would be sent to the editors and then presented to the possible client as an outline.

Around 3:00, I realized I was getting pretty hungry, so I walked across the street to Only Burger and ordered a delicious Veggie Burger. McKinney’s location is phenomenal as it is right across the street from DPAC and the Durham Bulls Stadium. I’m walking distance to such fabulous cafes and restaurants, so I know I’ll never go hungry working at McKinney.

I decided to stay a little later and continue working on my assignments, so the day ended around 6:00 pm. I’m looking forward to continuing the pitch and starting a documentary later in the week!

-Liza

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Evie Day 1- Learning how to ‘ adult’

As my first day at Centerline comes to an end, I believe It’s safe to say that things are looking promising. Entering the professional world was daunting to me, and for a multitude of reasons. My age and lack of direct experience with the marketing industry especially, are two examples that probably make me the most apprehensive. That being said, however, I think the opportunity to learn about something beyond anything I’ve experienced Is far more important than my anxiousness for being pushed out of my immediate comfort zone. Fortunately for me, centerline didn’t make the transition difficult. On my first day I’ve already seen some of Centerline’s strongest attributes in all their glory. The unique architectural style, urban vibe and welcoming employees stand out the most to me. Work spaces here are surrounded by white board walls, and egg shaped chairs dangle from the ceilings. The building is devised pretty much into departments, ranging from animation and video production to editing and client recruitment. As my first day was ultimately focused on getting settled in I got to do a bit of research on Centerline’s marketing work as well as watch one of their round table discussions on retargeting. I learned quickly that centerline’s largest focus and almost mission statement, if you will, is on content based marketing and creating a product that tells a story. I’ve gathered that the work that goes on at centerline is an absolute synthesis of department upon department that eventually results in one cohesive product. Throughout my day I also had the opportunity to sit down for a thai curry, walk around downtown raleigh and talk to one of the agency writers about her time at NYU. Throughout my weeks it looks like I’ll potentially be doing a Snap chat takeover on the Centerline account and maybe even go to one of the production shoots. From the wise words of Annie- I think I’m gonna like it here!  IMG_2510IMG_2503 (1)IMG_2499

Claire’s first day! 

Today I worked primarily in the warehouse, packaging, shipping, cuting, and folding fabrics. ​I was glad to learn the  nuts and bolts of the business, before I enter into marketing tomorrow. Spoonflower is such a fast growing, forward thinking, progressive company. It reminds me of the buzzfeed office, plus the snacks are A+. I appreciate the time Dr. McElereath took to find such a good fantastic fit for me. 

Claire @ Spoonflower

For just shy of two weeks, I will be interning at Spoonflower. Spoonflower is a durham based company that creates customized wallpaper, fabric and giftwrap. I will be working in the marketing department, specifically with social media marketing for the 18-24 demographic. I am looking forward to this amazing oppertunity, and cannot be more greatful to Dr. McElreath who generously set this up for me.