WILD and Crazy for Nat Geo

By Dean’s Intern Maeghan Crociata at National Geographic

Maeghan and her friends go WILD at National Geographic

Being an SOC Dean’s Intern is an awesome opportunity and one that Kogoders rarely get. Yes, you read that correctly: I’m a Kogoder. So what am I doing in Dean Rutenbeck’s program? I’m an SOC minor and have a little bit of a different experience as an SOC student, but regardless, I am so lucky to qualify for this recognition and be a Spring 2015 Dean’s Intern.

This semester, I am interning with National Geographic in the Ad Sales Marketing and Partnerships department and I cannot get enough of it. Interning for one of the most recognized television networks worldwide means a lot of projects and a fast-paced environment that I am loving and thriving in. I am fully immersed in the department and participate in conference calls with big brands who want to advertise with our programs, both on the National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo WILD. Based on these calls, I have been able to work on creating a few pitchable advertisement concepts, tying in the product’s messaging and National Geographic’s programs and branding. This has been my favorite project to work on so far, because some of my original ideas have been sent to the clients and are potentially going to be used as real advertisements in our shows!

In addition to my content creation projects, one of the biggest tasks I work on is the Competitive Social Media trend report. This semester-long report is a compilation of all of our competitor networks and the sponsored and partnered content they are pushing via social media channels. This report also includes innovations in social media trends and a deeper look into the impact these innovations are having on the viewers of our programming. Earlier this semester, Snapchat rolled out its new “Discover” platform, where ten brands create special content exclusively for snapchat users that can be viewed for 24 hours before new content replaces it the next day. National Geographic is one of the ten brands to be included in this new endeavor and shares content that includes videos and stories from all over the world. These publications about humans, animals and plants integrate the channel’s message by continually inspiring the public to care about the planet, take action and make a difference.

At a programming-wide meeting last week, we heard from all of our content managers about the air dates for the new seasons of some our returning shows and got a “sneak-peek” at our new shows that are premiering throughout the year. We watched the sizzles for the new shows and as I watched each clip, I found myself taking notes on which brands I could see fitting with them, based on their storylines and the values of each channel.  To me, this was my moment of realizing how much I have already learned being here and how excited I am to continue in this department throughout the semester.