Jake Friedfeld, Sales Communication & Event Coordinator, Marvel Entertainment
Jake is a Sales Communication & Event Coordinator at Marvel Entertainment, one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies. He is responsible for a variety of marketing functions, including press releases, ad copy, convention planning and trailer production.
Jake’s team recognizes that conventions and events are the perfect opportunity to connect Marvel’s entertainment offerings to all levels of fans - ranging from casual readers to expert mythologists and avid moviegoers. Event marketing plays a large role in Marvel’s overall business strategy and helps the company capitalize on its increased pop culture profile, which grows with the success of its film franchises. Read more about Jake’s role at Marvel:
On internships:
In college I took a class on comics books. The course wasn't necessarily focused on creating comics, but rather the appreciation, critique, and study of the art form. I think the professor was way out of his league though. He didn't know half as much as I did. And there was only one other student in the class who knew what he was talking about. It turned out that this student was a temp at Marvel. When the semester was over, I reached out to him to see if he could get me an interview. A week or two later I had the interview and the job was mine.
The internship at Marvel absolutely both prepared me for and helped connect me to my first job because my first job was at Marvel. I went straight from being an intern to being an employee. As a matter of fact, I was walking in my graduation ceremony when I got the acceptance letter (which isn't a letter at all because it comes in an email).
On department structure:
Like any other company, interns start at the bottom. Working your way up you've got coordinators, managers, directors, SVPs, and then the top brass, which is like 3 or 4 people. You have to remember that Marvel is part of a huge corporation (Disney); there are corporate structures within corporate structures here.
Advice:
Learn actual vocational skills. English Lit is for the birds (in the corporate world). I would've told Past-Jake to take any and every class involving programming, Photoshop (and every other Adobe program), graphic design, book design, Web & App Development, marketing, advertising, publishing, etc. You can read the classics on your own time (Hint: they're not that good anyway. Read Gibson or Haldeman or Bret Easton Ellis instead. Hell, read comic books.)
On the biggest news in his industry and how he gets his news:
I don't mean to sound glib, but anything we do is news. Spider-Man is going to be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That's this week's news. Next week we'll have more news. To keep up with the industry all you have to do is entrench yourself within the Internet, but that's not exactly a unique protocol. Everybody lives inside the Internet now.
Jake’s team recognizes that conventions and events are the perfect opportunity to connect Marvel’s entertainment offerings to all levels of fans - ranging from casual readers to expert mythologists and avid moviegoers. Event marketing plays a large role in Marvel’s overall business strategy and helps the company capitalize on its increased pop culture profile, which grows with the success of its film franchises. Read more about Jake’s role at Marvel:
On internships:
In college I took a class on comics books. The course wasn't necessarily focused on creating comics, but rather the appreciation, critique, and study of the art form. I think the professor was way out of his league though. He didn't know half as much as I did. And there was only one other student in the class who knew what he was talking about. It turned out that this student was a temp at Marvel. When the semester was over, I reached out to him to see if he could get me an interview. A week or two later I had the interview and the job was mine.
The internship at Marvel absolutely both prepared me for and helped connect me to my first job because my first job was at Marvel. I went straight from being an intern to being an employee. As a matter of fact, I was walking in my graduation ceremony when I got the acceptance letter (which isn't a letter at all because it comes in an email).
On department structure:
Like any other company, interns start at the bottom. Working your way up you've got coordinators, managers, directors, SVPs, and then the top brass, which is like 3 or 4 people. You have to remember that Marvel is part of a huge corporation (Disney); there are corporate structures within corporate structures here.
Advice:
Learn actual vocational skills. English Lit is for the birds (in the corporate world). I would've told Past-Jake to take any and every class involving programming, Photoshop (and every other Adobe program), graphic design, book design, Web & App Development, marketing, advertising, publishing, etc. You can read the classics on your own time (Hint: they're not that good anyway. Read Gibson or Haldeman or Bret Easton Ellis instead. Hell, read comic books.)
On the biggest news in his industry and how he gets his news:
I don't mean to sound glib, but anything we do is news. Spider-Man is going to be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That's this week's news. Next week we'll have more news. To keep up with the industry all you have to do is entrench yourself within the Internet, but that's not exactly a unique protocol. Everybody lives inside the Internet now.