Be you. NYC Edition.

Haley K. King
Mar 16, 2016
5 min read

I would like to begin this post by saying thank you.

Thank you to everyone who was involved in planning the NYC Agency Tours, orchestrating the logistics, and supplying us with the tools necessary to succeed on the trip. If I named names this post would quickly be labeled "TLDR."

I do want to extend a special thank you to all of the employees who took the time out of their busy work days to give 13 burgeoning COM students the 4-1-1 on what it's like working for their respective agencies.

To say that the experience was insightful is an understatement.

Collection of business cards courtesy of the NYC PR Agency Tours

After 52 hours, nine agencies and my wallet 17 business cards thicker,

I finally hopped on a Boston-bound bus and had some time to reflect on the whirlwind that was the BU College of Communication NYC PR Agency Tours.

The BUCOMNYCPRAT if you will?

We really need to work on a better acronym.

The premise? 13 COM students—myself included—were given the opportunity to meet with working professionals across nine separate public relations agencies in New York City and gain insights on what they loved about their jobs, their agencies, and their workplace cultures.

The goal of the trip was to provide us all with a stronger understanding of agency life at all levels, supply us with a behind-the-scenes look at NYC’s agency giants, and to meet and gain new professional contacts to keep in touch with throughout our careers.

And I'm happy to report that's exactly what happened.

The trip started off with a bang at Ogilvy PR. Being the first stop on the tours, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but Ogilvy blew my expectations out of the water and set a precedent for the remainder of the trip.

The key? Authenticity.

Michael DiSalvo began his pitch with an anecdote detailing one of the first student presentations he had ever given. In his story, he begins his job at Ogilvy, and in one sense or another, forgets about a scheduled student presentation, is reminded of said commitment the morning of and, in a frenzy, frantically jots down “the ten things they don’t teach (but you’ll probably learn) in college.”

The result?

The self-reported “best presentation he has written to this day.”

His ten tips were so raw and authentic, and really drew on the fact that you should find a job that you love, and a company that is stacked with people that will make your job enjoyable, engaging and fun in the long run. He encouraged us not to settle for the first job offer that lands in our mailboxes if we don’t see ourselves thriving in that company’s work environment. Rather, he encouraged us to be patient but persistent and go after jobs we felt passionate about, because that’s where we would succeed best—which I think really spoke volumes to us all.

After Ogilvy, our trip was officially underway as we sprinted (one time literally) from agency to agency, receiving vastly different vibes from each one. Where Ogilvy was authentic, Weber Shandwick was educational, Ruder Finn strategic, FleishmanHillard analytical, Ketchum empowering and Burson-Marsteller collective.

The second presentation that really resonated with me was one by James Fortsch of Cohn & Wolfe. The conference room table was littered with what looked like giant trivia cards displaying pictures of everything from a crowd of Giant Pandas to Superman. Each posed different questions like, “Superman fought some 413 villains head on, how can going head-to-head against one of your competitors make the news?”

It was apparent James wanted to get us thinking. He encouraged the 13 of us to stimulate our senses by brainstorming different facets of a fictitious campaign for Carnival Cruise Line. My group tackled the digital portion and came up with the idea to create a series of videos portraying the chaos associated with the beach, juxtaposed with the repose nature of a Carnival Cruise.

Our vision included one video in particular that would show a scene at a crowded beach with two parents chasing runaway umbrellas followed by a scene of those same parents sipping on some fruity concoction, complete with little drink umbrellas, atop Carnival's pool deck. (You read it here first).

By sparking creativity and generating new ideas, I felt as though the activity really boiled down to one of Cohn & Wolfe's mottos—don’t be afraid of sharing new ideas and failing every now and again. No one produces great ideas without taking risks, and I think James wanted to portray that concept and encourage us to make that jump.

"Experiential marketing is the only form of marketing that can stimulate all five senses"

-Blair Dempster, Associate Creative Director at Jack Morton Worldwide

Two other notable agency stops—at least in my mind—were those at Jack Morton Worldwide and Edelman.

Jack Morton was such a different beast compared to the rest of our stops. Sure they aren't a PR agency, but they're still really freaking cool. Essentially, Jack Morton was built upon the idea of publicity stunts, and believes in fostering and generating experiences that will resonate with people for years to come, at times when they least expect them.

The idea of surprising and delighting customers was something I first heard from my boss during my first marketing internship and Jack Morton is all about creating live customer and brand experiences—especially their New York office. After all, how can an agency whose office sports a Ping-Pong table and a wall of company business cards with hand-drawn mustaches on all of their employees not surprise and delight people?

Edelman—the world's biggest PR agency—was exactly what one would expect. The building was state-of-the-art, trendy, complete with a penthouse that overlooked the Hudson River, and had a killer view of the Freedom Tower.

Their presentation was the fan favorite, for the entire meeting was Q&A style, with representatives across a variety of departments complete with BU grads. For me, the greatest part of the panel was Alessandra Cappellino, a Senior Account Supervisor in Edelman's health practice. Alessandra answered every one of our questions in a "no bullshit" manner and told us exactly how it was working at Edelman, and honestly she had all great things to say. The best part for her? Edelman is full of hard-working, dedicated, motivated people who push you to be better every day.

The end all be all

After talking to representatives across all nine agencies, it seemed to be a unanimous belief that great people are the key to finding a truly enjoyable work place.

But I think the key to landing the "dream gig" with the “perfect” company is finding the job and the community of people that is right for you. In my mind, there is no such thing as a perfect job—but there are jobs that are perfect for certain people. The good news is, through COM we’ve all been given the training and insight we need to land our own dream jobs, we just need to go out and find them.

The NYC PR Agency Tours brought us all one step closer to doing just that.