A few Fridays ago, about 25 students (including myself) went on a tour to three advertising- related organizations in New York City. We started the day off early at around 7:45am and took a bus to the city. The ride went by quickly, and then we reached our first stop: an ad. agency called Agent 16. The agency's office was really cool - take a look at some pictures! There are also more pictures from the tour on the Clay Center's Facebook page (search for "Clay Center at VSB" and become a fan!)
We heard a great presentation from some of Agent 16's employees, including the President of the agency and members of the creative team. They first spoke to us about careers in advertising, and all of the different jobs one can pursue at an agency. There are so many different roles at an agency: creative, account management, strategic planning, traffic, art buying, production, studio, and so on. They also discussed how Agent 16 is unique - the agency adheres to the belief that "culture is our business" - and differentiates itself by using culture branding while developing campaigns. Next, the team presented various case studies about successful campaigns they have worked on in the recent past. These cases included advertising campaigns for Three Olives Vodka, 1800 Tequila, Atari, and Zappos.com. The team shared television commercials, magazine advertisements, and other forms of media with us, and discussed the success factors of each of the campaigns. It was really interesting to learn about the process it takes, from coming up with an initial idea to shooting a television commercial. To finish up, we were told about internship opportunities with the agency...which is something I definitely wanted to hear!
Next we visited RJ Palmer, a media buying agency. Whereas an agency like Agent16 creates a message and produces the advertisement, a media buying agency like RJ Palmer uses planning, buying, and analytics to place the advertisement in the media. For example, say Company X creates an ad targeting mothers, RJ Palmer would figure out what television channels, magazines, etc. to run the ads in, in order to best reach these targeted consumers. We also were fortunate to hear from representatives from Turner Broadcasting (a division of TimeWarner), who are clients of RJ Palmer. The speakers included the Senior Vice President of CNN Digital Sales, and associate account executives and planners from various divisions of Turner. They discussed where they started in the company and how they moved up into the positions they fill today, as well as what it takes to "break in" to the industry. Their main points were to network and keep contacts, reach out to alumni, use social networking, and sell yourself! The SVP of CNN Digital Sales pointed out that when he interviews potential employees, he wants to here how they can help him, and what new ideas they can bring in order to help his team stay relevant.
Lastly, we visited a company called EUE/Screen Gems Studios. The NYC studio features multi-level production facilities for shooting television shows and commercials. EUE/Screen Gems is the full-time host of the Rachael Ray show, so we had the opportunity to walk around the set! This is something I had never seen before, so it was really interesting to get the chance to walk around the "kitchen" and see what it takes to produce a show like Rachael Ray. On our tour of the studio, we also got to see other stages that are used to produce a variety of media, from television commercials to viral videos and more.
The agency tour was a great experience that helped me to learn more about advertising and the different types of agencies that are involved in the process. From creating the advertisement (ad. agency), to actually producing the commercial (production studio), to placing the advertisement on tv channels (media buying agency), we were able to gain an excellent grasp of how all of these organizations relate and work together to successfully execute an advertising campaign. It might have been windy and cold, but it was a wonderful day that was definitely worth the trip! In terms of my personal job search, the agency tour helped me to build contacts and find out about possible job opportunities that I will definitely be taking advantage of. If you have the chance to take a tour like this, I strongly encourage you to do it!
Until next time, adios!
No comments:
Post a Comment