Rebecca Woodcock, a senior Marketing major completed her internship at AdSpace Networks in Burlingame, CA.
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As a late addition to the Retail Studies Program, I feel extremely lucky to have had an internship offer at AdSpace Networks, a high tech startup company in Burlingame, California. AdSpace offers an advertising content management solution to companies wishing to advertise on electronic displays in public places. The content created often includes video, sound, and other graphics and is presented on devices such as televisions or flat plasma screens. Companies use these systems to reach audiences that are highly targeted by time of day and location, since people are increasingly mobile.
When I began the internship, AdSpace had just negotiated with Macy's West to run a pilot test of these systems in one of their flagship stores. Eleven flat plasma screens were installed in the Macy's store in Hillsdale Mall, San Mateo, and my duties involved tracking the sales associated with the advertisements played. This allowed me to spend quite a bit of time at the Macy's West corporate headquarters familiarizing myself with the inventory and sales tracking systems. I am fortunate to have been able to witness how business is done in a large company such as Macy''s compared to a startup like AdSpace.
Because the industry for this digital signage is in its infancy, my study of the pilot at Macy's provided groundbreaking information regarding the effects at the customer's point of purchase. I had little instruction as to how to proceed, but once I developed a procedure to follow, I was allowed quite a bit of freedom to execute it. The importance of this information also granted me a great deal of responsibility since the results were presented to the VPs and CEO of Macy's West and forwarded to top executives at Federated. I also assisted the sales team at AdSpace by summarizing the data so that it could be included in the Request For Proposal (RFP) to expand the use of these innovative signs into other Federated stores.
In addition to gathering sales results, I was able to research the target audience at Macy's Hillsdale. Through surveys and interviews, I learned how the customers received the information in the advertisements and what their general attitude toward the signs.
Overall, the best part of the internship was being able to get to know the people in the small environment at AdSpace. Discussions with the founders gave me an insight into how the company was started and what their vision for the future includes.
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