Georgetown MBA Internship Diary: Monica

It's like I never left the Car Barn!

So its been over a month since my last post. I am back in school, starting my third week of classes and I feel like I never left! My last official day at Disney was August 17th however, I officially completed all of my work over the labor day weekend.  The weekend before classes I had the opportunity to travel with my boss and the head of our department to Orlando to see the opening of one of the shows that I helped market all summer, "Playhouse Disney Live", a live show catered to the pre-school segment featuring popular Disney properties such as the Little Einsteins and Winnie the Pooh.  It definitely brought my experience full circle as I was able to actually see the consumer reaction to everything from our themed merchandise to our show.  Watching the little kids' faces light up when Mickey came out on stage was quite amazing. 

Overall I had a really positive experience at Disney.  I had an awesome boss and a really dynamic team that I learned so much from. For a career switcher like myself, I was quite lucky to gain exposure to the many different facets of marketing including promotions, advertising, international marketing, and synergy strategy.  After 3 weeks of school, I already can relate my experience to cases in my marketing classes. 

 

Spoiled at Disneyland!

Last week I joined other Disney interns at Disneyland.  We were given a backstage tour which meant that we got to see where the parade floats are made and most importantly, we did not have to wait in line for any rides!  I feel so spoiled and don't know how I will ever stand in line in Disneyland again!

Last weekend one of my best friends from MSB (who is currently interning at the IFC) came to visit. We stayed local one day and ate amazing food and on Sunday went to Malibu.

Work has been busy as usual.  I have helped manage synergy programs for my boss and am also working on a competitive analysis project.  School starts in 3 weeks, I can't believe it!

Time is flying!

I can't believe a month from now, my internship will be over! I am definitely enjoying myself and even though my internship is quite demanding, I feel like I'm on vacation!

With my boss in Europe for the past two weeks, I had the opportunity to manage many marketing programs my unit has with other lines of business within Disney. I was able to work more closely with the international marketing manager and the promotions manager which was great as I start to understand the business.  I am currently working on creating a global branding guideline for one of our upcoming shows which was an opportunity I jumped at.  I'm learning how challenging it can be to market a brand overseas.  You definitely need a fine balance between maintaining brand consistency and meeting the needs of local markets.  I am also helping our Public Relations manager plan one of our premieres which is to be held at none other than the Kodak theatre.  I have also helped my colleagues critique our radio commercials and tv spots, which is definitely a lot of fun!  This week, I'm off to Disneyland again, but this time, I'll have a backstage tour!  I don't exactly know what that means but I'll be sure to fill you in soon.

   

My travels up the coast...

I definitely took advantage of the July 4th holiday falling mid week.  Here are some pictures from my trip up the coast and some local pics of Hollywood.

Hearst Castle and the beautiful coast of San Simeon

Here are some pics from Hollywood. I visited a day after the Harry Potter premiere, their hand and footprints are still drying!

I finally visted the happiest place on earth!

The past two weeks have been quite busy.  Last Friday I attended an intern event where we watched Ratatouille at  El Capitan Theater which is Disney's own movie theater and also known as "Hollywood's First Home of Spoken Drama".  The movie was really funny and of course the animation was amazing.

Yesterday, my awesome boss Kim, hooked me up complementary tickets to Disneyland. I got to experience "Space Mountain", the new "Finding Nemo submarine ride", among others, and my favorite of all, the Hollywood Tower of Tower. I was really impressed with the creativity of the "imagineers".  The "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride was so spectacular.  The pirates looked so life like, it was a bit freaky! Although the day was purely for entertainment purposes, I couldn't help but observe the Disneyland consumers around me from a marketing perspective. Specifically I wondered, how can I help market the shows Disney Live Entertainment creates, within the park itself?  Disney has so many different lines of business and as I work closely with the Director of Synergy, I am learning how unique Disney can be in terms of creating marketing synergy opportunities.

Press events, film shoots, a tiny bit of finance, can't complain!

Each day at Disney is definitely different.  Last week I was invited to a press event where I got to hear from the director and see an exclusive sneak peak of an upcoming Disney film along with the actual costumes that the actors wear (sorry too early to reveal the film!).

I spent most of this week learning about marketing promotions and also working on some international marketing initiatives.  With one of Disney's 3 strategic goals being to focus on international markets and expansion, I definitely came to Disney at an exciting time.  I spent one morning proofreading a Spanish version of one of our upcoming show's websites, which I was more than happy to do as I love practicing my Spanish.  I also found out Disney is teaming up with one of the biggest productions houses in India to make an animated film in Hindi. How cool!

On Wednesday, I attended a graduate intern lecture where we heard from a high ranking Disney finance exec.  I thought my ears were free from hearing the acronyms "CAPM" and "IRR" (two terms you will get to know very closely in Finance 1 and 2) for at least the summer but I was wrong.  However, I must say, it was definitely pretty cool to actually understand what the speaker was talking about and also use what I learned in my accounting classes to analyze Disney's performance. 

Tomorrow, I will be attending my first commercial film shoot. I'm very excited and look forward to reporting back!

Celeb Sightings on Day 1, not bad!

I arrived in LA on Saturday, May 26th and had a week before my internship started to explore the area and get situated. I got lucky and was able to arrange to stay with a mutual friend who lived in LA. I was definitely pleased with my living arrangements! Can’t beat waking up to a view of palm trees every morning!

With a few days until I got my rental car, I explored LA via foot which as I’m sure you all know, is not very common! Getting my car that following Tuesday was such a relief!

First thoughts, the weather is great! Always breezy and not as humid as the East Coast!

That Friday, I attended an event hosted by GEMA, the Georgetown Entertainment and Media Alliance where I was able to network with other Georgetown alumni working in the entertainment industry. During the breakfast we heard from Erin Ruane ‘87, a Georgetown alum and Vice President of Content Acquisition at Netflix, who gave us her words of wisdom about following the right career path.

That Monday, I arrived at the Walt Disney Studios for my orientation. During the orientation I was able to meet other interns, learn about the history of Disney, the different business segments within Disney, and also went on a tour of studio lot. The highlight of the tour was being momentarily star struck! I saw John Voight who was on the lot filming National Treasure 2! I also saw the Raven Symone who stars in “That’s So Raven,” on the Disney channel.

Tuesday marked the first day of work. With my actual boss, the Director of Synergy, not in until Friday, I spent the next few days immersing myself in learning everything I could about the company. I also had the opportunity to sit in on some meetings and hear some advertising pitches promoting some of Disney’s upcoming shows.

With my boss in the office on Friday, it definitely was a busy day. I attended some meetings and learned more about cross promotion arrangements currently being negotiated. I was designated the point person for many of the deals and am so excited to receive so much responsibility so early on.

Can't Wait to Begin!

This summer I am very excited to be interning at The Walt Disney Studios in Los Angeles, California. I will be interning in the Live Family Entertainment Group which is the business segment of Disney that covers all of Disney’s live ice and theatrical shows. Specifically, I will be working on their marketing initiatives and may have the possibility of working on the marketing of their shows abroad.

After working in the non profit sector for more than 4 years, I was interested in exploring different industries and career options. I really wanted to combine my personal interest in theatre arts/entertainment with my professional interest in marketing. During second module, I researched the children’s consumer segment for a marketing research paper and really became interested in learning more. I learned that marketers predict that children under 12 will spend $35 billion of their own money this year. Working in children’s marketing is definitely an exciting place to be!

When conducting my internship search, I looked for companies that employed unique marketing strategies to reach its consumers. While attending the NSHMBA conference in Cincinnati, I attended Disney’s corporate presentation and networked with recruiters at the Disney booth. I expressed my interest in working on global branding initiatives for Disney and talked about my transferable skills that could be applied in a summer internship. I was really impressed with what I learned about Disney. With a brand equity worth $22 billion, I knew Disney would be a great place to learn not only about children’s marketing but gain insight into how such a huge corporation creates marketing synergies within its different business segments. At the conference, I made sure everyone I met had a copy of my resume and I followed up with them once summer associate positions were posted online. After going through the interview process and the grueling waiting period, I received the great news and now can’t wait to start in June! This will also be my first time in California!

This summer, I look forward to marketing a show from start to finish and also learning about the cultural sensitivities and other challenges the entertainment industry faces when expanding abroad.

Last week I finished Module 4. I can’t believe how quickly this year went by! I am definitely going to miss all of the great friends I made this year. We are already devising ways to find time to visit each other over the summer.

My internship does not begin until June 4th, so be sure to stay tuned for updates!