Lead Marketing Intern - Gopher Sports Marketing
Dates: December 2015 - December 2017
​University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

As an intern for Gopher Sports Marketing, I was responsible for helping coordinate and execute in-game promotions, giveaways and fan relation activities that are geared towards increasing the overall experience of Gopher sporting events.

Highlights
  • Managed a team of 25 interns with the responsibilities of scheduling, communication and discipline
    • Oversaw their development with the creation and budgeting of an Engagement Plan, including monthly meetings, team outings and a reward system
  • Constructed and implemented a Marketing Plan to promote student season ticket sales to over 6,100 new students and 2,300 transfer students at Summer Orientations
  • Was responsible for the marketing and promotional activities at all 2017 home Women’s Volleyball matches, including the management of an intern team and group sales touch-points
    • ​Produced a number of select number of matches, including 3 NCAA Division 1 Regional Tournament matches
  • Facilitated the 2017 Tackle Cancer donation event at a home Gopher Football game, coordinating over 40 volunteers and over $8,200 in donations
  • Orchestrated the 2016 Kids Field Trip Day at a Women’s Basketball game with the attendance of over 1,600 elementary and middle students

Gallery

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2016-2017 Intern team following a team-bonding game of soccer, planned and play in TCF Bank Stadium.
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Myself, center, leading an orientation meeting with the 2017-2018 Intern team leading in to the opening Gopher Football game.
A large part of this internship where I really grew and developed was within my role as a Lead Intern within the program. As mentioned in the highlights above, I oversaw the performance and development of 25 student-interns in everything from scheduling to problem-solving and then even a rewards system built into my Engagement Plan in order to motivate team members. This was a challenging experience, especially when they were fellow students and I had good friends that I was managing, yet it was extremely rewarding for my personal and professional growth. 
*Below are some files providing examples of work done in this leadership role, including slides for meetings that I led. 
intern_orientation_2017.pdf
File Size: 5638 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
november_huddle.pdf
File Size: 4004 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
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Fall semester Intern Engagement Plan, featuring outlined activities and a budget.
fall_2017_plan___budget.pdf
File Size: 9542 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
During the 2017 Gopher Women's Volleyball season, I was in charge of planning, coordinating and executing the marketing and promotional activities for all home matches, which included the Event Production for a number of matches. Pictured above is myself on headset producing a NCAA Division I Regional Tournament match, one of the more stressful and challenging tasks that I have had in my development. Although challenging, this experience was incremental in my knowledge and expertise on the flow of a sporting event, as well as being able to keep up with the fast-pace of live event production. 
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An on-field fan experience touch-point that I turned into an unforgettable experience for some lifetime Gopher fans.
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New student Summer Orientation booth where I was responsible for promoting Gopher Sports and student season ticket sales.
As part of this position, I completed a large variety of duties. One, shown on the left, was to assist in the delivery of fan experience touch-points during Gopher Athletics events. This experience allowed a family to spectate from field level where they made some new friends and a memory that they (and I) will never forget. Another included the marketing plan for promoting student season ticket sales at New Student Summer Orientations. Working within the limitations of a budget, I created a Gopher Sports booth that included live ticket purchasing, a Gopher Sports video montage, giveaway items and a guest interaction touch-point, which is the map shown in the picture that allowed guests to track where they and their new classmates were coming from.  Overall, this promotional effort secured an additional 761 student season ticket packages bought right there on-site.
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University-wide Summer Orientation booth overview, including materials needed and budget.
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University-wide Summer Orientation booth display idea; was accepted and implemented (see above picture).
Continuing with variety, one such duty had me [Enter Stage Left] and get on the microphone, acting as the On-field Host for Gopher Baseball home games during the 2017 season. The beginning of the season opened up the first baseball games played inside of U.S. Bank Stadium where we attempted to blur out a little of the purple for some Maroon & Gold pride. Shown here, I am leading an on-field promotion with contestants that I pulled from the crowd. This experience gave me insight on yet another aspect of Event Production, in addition to being incredibly fun. 
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Shown attending the 2016 NCAA Div-I Women's Volleyball Final Four as part of the student section within Gopher Sports Marketing.
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Shown in full Gopher Football gear for a commercial shoot, promoting Cub Cares Round-Up event benefiting the Masonic Children's Hospital.
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Shown giving Goldy some love following the completion of a special Season Ticket Holders' event for Gopher Men's Hockey. Who doesn't love Goldy?
Mr. Alexander L. Johnson
(262) 441-0586  //  alexander8johnson@gmail.com​