About Taylor: Taylor Campbell grew up in Northern Virginia, just a stone’s throw away from the Nation’s capital, but headed down south to UT Austin for college. While deep in the heart of Texas, she studied PR and business and searched for the best queso Austin had to offer. After graduation, Taylor headed back up to the East Coast, this time to New York City, where she spent five years working in corporate communications and crisis management. She chose UCLA Anderson for its collaborative community, proximity to the beach, and resources for pursuing a career in entertainment.

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As a Licensing Intern on the Fashion & Living team this summer at NBCUniversal, I was exposed to the full lifecycle of product development for licensing partnerships. My primary project focused on overseeing the build of an onboarding website for new Universal Products & Experiences (UP&E) licensees to provide the resources and support they will need after signing their contract with NBCU. My role was largely project management and strategy based, as I was responsible for meeting with various teams across the business unit, gathering content for the website, coordinating reviews, and managing the web design intern.

The primary skills I used over the summer include:

Project Management: Leading the day-to-day execution of the website build was my primary responsibility. I managed up and down by connecting with my manager on updates and next steps, managing the web design intern’s progress and providing her feedback, as well as overseeing the inputs and reviews of other internal stakeholders. My role also required that I managed our deliverables timeline and ensured that the project stayed on track to be completed by the end of summer.

Market Research: I learned this is a critical skill for managing a licensing category. Outreach to prospective licensees starts with research into the company, its products, and the potential fit with different NBCU properties, as well as who the proper contacts are in order to begin outreach. I also had to research current market trends, competitor activity, and new companies/products to brainstorm creative ideas that can help extend the lifecycle of NBCU properties and franchises with its consumers.

Cross-Functional Communication: Through my primary project, I had the opportunity to meet with all different teams across UP&E to strategize and plan for the website. This included coordinating between legal, finance, other licensing categories, product development, product safety, and more. I spent countless meetings with other teams this summer speaking to the website objective, walking through the strategy and flow of the content, discussing the details of each section, and responding to questions.

Presenting / Public Speaking: Roughly half of my week was spent leading calls with various internal and external stakeholders. For the licensee website, this largely focused on providing updates to my manager and different teams, but it also included presenting to the business unit’s leadership team and established licensee partners to receive feedback on the website’s progress in real time. I also had the opportunity to lead pitch calls with prospective licensees, speaking to the different franchises, NBCU’s licensing process, and our creative concepts.

I really enjoyed my summer at NBCU, largely due to the fact that the company has an incredible focus on hands-on learning. In addition to my main project, my manager also ensured that I was exposed to the different responsibilities of a Licensing Category Manager, including discussing the creative rollout across NBCU’s core properties for the upcoming quarters, strategizing on marketing concepts with different licensees, ideating on product concepts for key franchises, and pitching prospective licensees. I was even given the opportunity to lead the pitch for a new licensee, from initial outreach through creative concept generation and material development, to the pitch call.

NBCU has an incredible internal culture, which was a huge contributor to how much I enjoyed my summer. It’s an open, people-oriented company that thrives on fun and creativity. UP&E in particular champions this mindset. I was encouraged to take on new challenges, contribute ideas, and be creative throughout my internship. The company also holds different events over the course of the year to recognize its employees and celebrate its latest releases. My favorite events were Despicable Me 4 day (complete with Minion meet and greets, Minion ice cream, and a DM4 screening), the Paris 2024 Olympics watch parties on the green, and the National Intern Day celebration (which included a Twisters screening and Q&A panel with members of the production team).

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• Student Blogger: Taylor Campbell ‘25
• Undergrad: The University of Texas at Austin ‘18
• Pre-MBA: Corporate Communications at Brunswick Group
• Leadership@Anderson: President, Admissions Ambassador Corps; Executive Vice President of Marketing, Communications, & Admissions, Entertainment Management Association; Vice President of Alumni Relations, Anderson Student Association; Entertainment Coach, Anderson Career Teams
• Instagram: @tcamp_30