Advertising senior Kendall Buzzelli relocated to the Big Apple for the duration of summer to further her career in the marketing industry. With minors in public relations and arts and cultural management, Buzzelli was well prepared to take on an internship with Situation Interactive. The opportunity allowed her to combine her love of theater and passion for advertising and she thrived in the city. Situation Interactive is digital marketing agency specializing in media planning and buying, analytics, creative strategy and creative development for clients.
Working for a large-scale marketing agency comes with exclusive perks like the opportunity to attend events put on by clients and experience in-house vendor visits. Buzzelli sat in on meetings with Snapchat and NBC to discuss new digital platforms and attended the dress rehearsals of the Tony Awards. Being amongst the celebrities and theater professionals was the highlight of her summer.
“Situation Interactive was the perfect mix between digital marketing and my love for arts,” Buzzelli said. “Attending the Tony’s rehearsals was a surreal experience that I would have never had the opportunity to attend without my internship.”
The Learning Curve of Digital Media
As the media and insights intern, Buzzelli worked on a variety of clients every week. She worked with Meals on Wheels and broadway and off-broadway shows including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She worked with media platforms like Google AdWords and Facebook Analytics to assist in running digital campaigns.
“The media department’s job is deciding where to place ads and the duration of a placement through target audiences and analytics, “ Buzzelli said. “My role was finding all the data to ensure the campaigns were as effective as possible and the client’s spending was in full.”
Meals on Wheels was an interesting client for Buzzelli to work on because of the potential for the government to cut their funding. She would target Facebook users who were liberally minded to gain support for funding and those who were in districts with conservative representation to change their mindset on the issue. The agency would target these audiences to increase awareness of the program.
At the start of her internship, Buzzelli had a surface level understanding of digital platforms thanks to her internship at the Wharton Center. There, she worked more with traditional media including print, and dabbled in digital from time to time.
“Learning about digital media planning and buying was a lot to take in at first,” Buzzelli said. “The media department were really patient with me and trained me before I began my work.”
Collaboration with Interns
Alongside interns from various departments, Buzzelli conducted two final presentations to clients and the senior staff of the agency. The first and second presentation were for the Roundabout Theater Company for their off-broadway season and Broadway’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
“I served as the media planner on both projects and collaborated with other interns to create the best campaign we could,” Buzzelli said. “The experience was really hands-on and eye-opening on how an agency really works.”
At the end of the internship, Buzzelli walked away with two successful presentations, knowledge of digital platforms and memories of her once-in-a-lifetime experience. She believes with passion and excitement for an industry, you can get the best out of an internship.
With graduation approaching, she is applying for future opportunities where she can continue to blur the lines between arts and advertising.
By Brooke Segal