Wednesday, May 8, 2019
I’m going to apologize in advance for my lack of pictures today.
I don’t know what it is about London, but every place we visit has amazing hospitality. Today, we visited Battenhall and Burson, Cohn & Wolfe and both places had beautiful spreads with breakfast pastries, fruit, juices, and water. They took so much time out of their busy days to talk to us.
Battenhall is a very successful communications agency founded by a man named Drew Bervie. They are hired by other companies to help with social media and PR. Even though they have only been around for six years, the company has won TEN Agency of the Year awards. TEN! I guess when companies like Google want to work with you, you gotta be good.
Their office building was small, but super chic and members from almost every department presented powerpoint us. (I am so very impressed by the quality of all these powerpoints I am seeing)
It was really cool hearing all of the professions telling us things that were not surprising. It reinsures me that my money is going to goo use at school. They told us about their day-today- jobs like media monitoring and news jacketing as well as tools they use to study their target market like TalentScouts and HyperAuditor. I like knowing the business standards that are used for analytics. I want to start learning how to master them now so I can improve my resume.
Burson, Cohn & Wolfe helps companies with creative support, brainstorming, creative production, and creativity training. I liked this trip because not only did they show us a cute video advertisement with a variety of dogs, but it was also very hands on. We all got handouts to guide the class in creating a brief targeting a new audience for a butter brand that is made with 100% milk. We were told to think outside of the box and find a target market that the brand’s normal campaigns do not reach. Then, they had us switch briefs with another group and create a media plan for the other groups brief. It was challenging, but still so much fun.
The coolest thing I was told by the Creative Director at BCW, Pete Way, was that you can learn how to be creative. I guess I had never really thought about it like that. I would love to go to one of BCW’s creativity training sessions. I feel like I’m a pretty creative person already, but one can always expand on their craft, right?
After the media visits, a low-key night was needed. My friends and I went back to the hotel, took small power naps, and then just decided to Oxford St. Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster and is one of Europe’s busiest shopping street. Of course, I had to go to the London Disney Store which happened to be on this road. Everything was all done up for the Aladdin live action movie. The location also has Cinderella’s royal carriage! I’m so happy my friends still want to talk to me even after my major geek out over Disney. I know you can buy the stuff at the Disney Store anywhere, but it’s kind of like going to the Hard Rock Cafe. All of the displays and memorabilia are different and amazing to see.
After some more shopping, we got dinner at an Italian chain called Zizzi and then I was out. I am so unbelievably tired, but that is not going to get in the way of my trip. I plan on taking advantage of every opportunity I can.