Watch this…
You know that Spotify’s infamous “Spotify Wrapped” campaign was created by an intern? The young intern was Jewel Ham, a pioneer now responsible for Spotify’s most successful and likely most profitable marketing campaign:
Ham represents the feelings of many ex-interns after contributing to companies much larger than them:
If not being directly hired, Ham certainly earned the right to receive praise for this contribution. However, it’s known that Spotify did not employ or compensate her fairly for such an enormous contribution. Knowing the way many corporate internships operate, the idea for Spotify Wrapped likely spawned from her ability to exceed expectations. When supervisors give easy, hand-me-down tasks to stellar, driven interns, expect the interns to make magic.
Magic was apparently what another entertainment giant needed heading into 2020… Luckily, I was seeking an internship at the time.
My internship at Live Nation Entertainment
In January 2020, I was selected to be an intern at Live Nation Entertainment, the world’s largest concert promoter. This was surely icing on the cake, having won the 2019 Live Nation Service Excellence Award just a few months earlier. I was set on making the most of this opportunity to serve Boston’s largest and best venues, aiming to transition into a full-time job with Live Nation after the internship.
Before we go any further…
I owe so much thanks and praise to my supervisors at Live Nation for the opportunity to learn and grow. Marissa and Chris were very kind and accommodating, talented, and taught me so much about behind-the-scenes at LN. Not to mention they were my best advocates in my final year of college… They went out of their way to support me in my aspirations… Love them dearly.
As the VIP Sales Intern for Boston’s boutique venues, I managed all social media marketing for the VIP Sales clients of Boston, LinkedIn lead generation, and assisted in the customer success and order fulfillment for clients. Over the 6 month period, my contributions included:
- Collected over 30 qualified leads per week, placing #1 amongst over 50 sales managers in LinkedIn Navigator KPIs
- Created first ever interactive “concert guide” for VIP clients, planned immersive pre-concert events like mini golf installments
- Designed graphic slideshow games for VIP lounge like “name that musician”
- Storyboarded a video series about the history of the venue and the VIP sales program experience
However, there was one contribution I made that *shook* the VIP Sales division NATIONWIDE.
My video…
A late afternoon in February with nothing to do, I said, “Might as well do something…”
It was simple and actually took a matter of minutes to create. At the time, even I thought it was unimpressive! If you didn’t know, concert promoters are only allowed to use media authorized and provided by the artist or their representatives. So I couldn’t do much more than adding the date in the bottom corner. Apparently that was enough for my supervisors’ boss.
They wanted every venue Sales Manager making these videos!
The Regional Director of Venue Sales Managers directly reached out to me, instructing me to teach him how to make the videos. I produced the video in Final Cut Pro X, software that I guarantee the sales managers did not have. So instead of teaching him, I recreated the video in Microsoft Powerpoint, built a template out of it, and recorded a short online learning module with downloadable materials. It was ready to scale. In a matter of weeks, all venue sales managers were directed to make their own videos. It was so cool seeing so many unique versions of the video from different parts of the country. Contrarily, it was less awesome seeing similar videos made a year later…
Live Nation’s video…
This launched in 2022 for the same boutique venues I marketed for. It was on all socials, including LinkedIn…
Heh? What do you think? Yeah, that looks way more produced and developed than the original video. But that’s when it’s planned and part of a budget! Had I been assigned this project or was given a budget or resources, I might have thought of the video first…
It’s fine… I’m fine!
My colorful experience at Live Nation fell victim to the 2020 global pandemic, dulling hopes of getting hired… I will admit that I did receive some interest from other regions seeking to hire a Sales Coordinator, but those leads ran dry upon the hiring freeze. Regardless, I was flattered to have achieved some acknowledgement from the higher-ups and might have reached the desk of some senior level leaders. If anything, I walked from this experience inspired to do something like this again…
So I did it again. This time, at Berklee!
Have a look at Berklee Virtual Open Mic Nights, a pandemic project that turned into an online radio show!
