Saatchi & Saatchi and Love Marks

Today was my favorite so far. We visited Erin Lyons, a communications team leader at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising. I was really looking forward to this meeting since marketing and advertising is the field that I intend to enter after graduating from college, or with some luck and hard work, before I graduate. The office was on the sixteenth floor of this amazing building in Manhattan. The view from the wall of windows was spectacular. It felt like we could see the whole city. The hallway was lined with colorful art and a seemingly important meeting was ensuing in a peek-a-boo conference room behind the reception desk. Erin was extremely inviting and seemly truly pleased to meet with us. She showed us down to a conference room where we watched a short video of commercials, or “spots,” that Saatchi & Saatchi had done. They had some very well known clients, like JC Penney and General Mills. There was one commercial for Pillsbury that I remember seeing multiple times during Christmas break. It was weird to be sitting in the office of the company that made that advertisement.

She took us on a tour of the entire office. It was a really beautiful, open space. Erin said that it was so open because it facilitates more team work between the employees. She took us up to the roof to see an absolutely beautiful view of New York. We could even see the statue of liberty. During our Q & A session, we got some good information. One concept that I found really interesting was the idea of “Love Marks” that their CEO, Kevin Roberts, has come up with. It’s the idea that we all have brands that we emotionally connect with on a deeper level than just liking it. She also mentioned that for their commercials, they almost always film outside of the United States because it costs less. I would have thought that it would be cheaper here, especially with the insane airfare these days.

Overall, I really enjoyed this meeting. I know that I want to go into advertising, but this helped solidify that fact in my mind. I could see myself working in that environment, and it was especially encouraging to find out that she had gotten that job without a college degree! It gives me hope that I will be able to find a good job that I’ll enjoy once I graduate.

The amazing view from the rooftop

Maddie Hayes