Author Archive

Happy Mosaic Holidays

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010

Ashley Johns is an Assistant Account Executive at SaatchiNY. Outside the office, she also an organizer for the AAF’s Mosaic Alumni & Friends) Association (MAFA), which is an extension of the Mosaic Awards Luncheon & Career Fairs. Today she was kind enough to provide us with some information (and an invitation!) to their Annual Holiday Happy Hour.


WHAT’S MAFA?
The Mosaic Alumni & Friends Association (MAFA) connects advertising and communications professionals who are alumni of the AAF Most Promising Minority Students Program , the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC), Mosaic Career Fairs, AAF College Chapters, Alpha Delta Sigma Honor Society and supporters of AAF’s Mosaic Center. (Not connected to any of the above? No worries, you’re in advertising, so join us!

Our focus is to bring MAFA members with opportunities to maintain and build new relationships with a network of over 300 advertising and communications professionals, participate in career development initiatives, support minority youth aspiring to enter the business and stay knowledgeable and involved in industry diversity and inclusion efforts.

HOLIDAY HAPPY HOUR
As an agency member of the AAF, the MAFA team invites you to join us for a festive night of networking and reconnecting at our annual Holiday Happy Hour, this Thursday, December 16 from 6-9pm at Sidebar Union Square! We’ll also be revealing our 2011 Events Calendar that includes a sleigh of seminars, panels, and professional development opportunities.

You can find MAFA on our Tumblr page, on Facebook , or on LinkedIn. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Ashley Johns at ashley.johns@saatchiny.com.

Category: New York, Our People

Gusher for an Eye

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

DID YOU KNOW TODD HAS A GUSHER FOR AN EYE?
Saatchi & Saatchi New York and the General Mills Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks team recently launched the latest SISOMO idea for Gushers Fruit Flavored Snacks.  The integrated campaign is a result of winning a General Mills marketing competition and has been a highly anticipated project within the General Mills and Saatchi & Saatchi New York communities.

MEET TODD. BE TODD.
The first step in the campaign lets you “Meet Todd,” a kid born with a Gusher for an eye.  We make the introduction through a 90 second music video that’s screening on TV and in Cinemas around the country. Following the introduction, you’ll get the chance to “Be Todd” through an online interactive experience that allows you to control Todd eye’s.

WHERE IS TODD?
Find Todd on the Gusher for an Eye website & on YouTube - where visitors can control Todd and his eye to discover a gush world!

Screen shot of the Gusher for an Eye Website

Category: Clients, Digital & Interactive, sisomo

Saatchi Way: Be Great +1

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

Ashley Johns (center) with the MTP group

Ashley Johns is an assistant account executive at SaatchiNY who recently completed the Saatchi & Saatchi Management Training Program (MTP). MTP is renowned across the Saatchi & Saatchi network as being one of the most difficult and intensive training programs in the advertising world. Knowing this, we asked Ashley to provide us with an insider’s look at the ins-and-outs of MTP. The below is her third and final post, looking back at lessons learned from the program as a whole.

On what we learned

As my final debrief from the Management Training Program, I’ve asked my fellow (now) ex-MTPers to share their lessons learned from the experience. Below are some of the answers I got from the group, followed by a breakdown of the six most important lessons we took away from the program.  Enjoy our answers!

This is a Circus Folks!

The first response I got from nearly everyone who went through the program was that at the beginning, we had no idea what we were in for. Since this is the Management Training Program, we all came from an account management desk. We understand our role in conceiving, presenting, and managing an idea from paper to screen. But learning and experiencing research, strategic planning, creative development, traffic, and media planning was, for most, a new venture.

Lesson # 1 – Advertising is larger than account management. Be understanding of other people’s schedules and needs and use this knowledge to plan ahead to ensure your project stays on schedule.

Write with Pictures

We all loved our day-long presentation skills seminar with Saatchi & Saatchi’s Worldwide Director of Creative Learning Neal Foard.  We learned that it’s important to make every presentation conversational – people don’t want to be bored with paragraphs and graphs.  They want to be told a story.

Even better than words are images. Our minds naturally respond to imagery. Images are translated into emotions. Emotions lead to action and results.

Lesson # 2 – 15 words or less to a slide. Period. If you break this rule, you better have a VERY good explanation for Neal (who we affectionately dubbed “the ninja”). Action and results lead to Lovemarks.

Strategic Planning is hard work.

Researching and picking out that nugget of truth called an insight is not easy work. Neither is re-wording and editing language to fit in a creative brief. Kudos to the awesome planners who do this everyday at Saatchi & Saatchi! Amy Martin’s (SVP Strategic Planning Director) strategic planning session was one of the most enjoyable seminars in the program and was definitely a guiding light as we  stepped up to the planning plate.

Lesson # 3 – Allow time to step away from the creative brief and revisit with a fresh mind. Challenge each other (in a constructive way) to think outside the box.

Friends are Helpful

During our case study, everyone called in favors from creative teams, strategic planners, new business leaders, maintenance personnel and account directors, just to name a few. Having a positive/friendly work relationship is helpful when you need to call in those last minute requests. Plus, it feels great when you can return the favor yourself!

Without leveraging great work relationships, I’m sure we all would have had a harder time completing our presentation.

Lesson # 4 – Be a likeable and helpful person in the office. You never know when you’ll need help or be called upon to lend a hand to someone else in your career.

Be Great, +1

Manage up. In everything that we do, we have to assume no one knows the next steps. Going one step further to remind/update your team on the status of the project or team schedule helps keep the ball rolling, keeps everyone on the same page and makes life easier for everyone.

Lesson # 5 – Be brilliant in your current role. Be willing and ready to cover off on the role above you.

Hind Sight is 20/20

They say you don’t know what you don’t know. But if knew it then, I’d have put our presentation into a storybook format (shout out to the winners -Team #1)!

Ok, just kidding! But there is something to learn here….

Lesson # 6 – Put your presentation in a storybook. Deliver your presentation in a remarkable, unexpected way that relates back to your key message without distracting your audience.

This is it from MTP Class of 2010. And here’s a big “Good Luck” to next year’s kids! MTP will give countless amazing memories . . . and it will teach you even more.

One Team. One Dream.
Nothing is Impossible
-Ashley Johns

Cover Image from Soul Amp

Category: Creative, Management, New York, Our People, Strategic Planning

Learning the Saatchi Way Part II – The Pitch

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

Ashley Johns (center) with the entire MTP Group at the SaatchiNY Offices

Ashley Johns is an assistant account executive at SaatchiNY who recently completed the Saatchi & Saatchi Management Training Program (MTP). MTP is renowned across the Saatchi & Saatchi network as being one of the most difficult and intensive training programs in the advertising world. This is Ashley’s second post on going through the MTP process. Today’s post takes us through the long hours and the (in-the-end) satisfying process of prepping for MTP’s final, agency-wide pitch.

Dear Readers,

It’s been nearly two weeks since the conclusion of the 2010 MTP program. Whew, time flies when you have it! Now that the dust has cleared and I’ve had a week to catch up on work and emails, I’ve put together some thoughts and reflections on the MTP process.

The Process 

The last time I posted we had just learned what our case study would be, who the client was to be, what the marketing challenge was. Everyone in the program was excited to get under way, but I don’t think there was any way to be prepared for how intense the final portion of the program is.

In the weeks leading up to our final presentations, each team worked feverishly into the night to complete communication plans and coordinate presentation designs. Only the best would do – so keynote presentations were reconfigured, deleted, and shot down several times. Insights were often lost in translation, replaced, and reworded what seemed like hundreds of times. We were (all things considered) our own agencies for 5 weeks; each of us playing the role of creative director, account manager, strategic planner, and interactive producer . . . often wearing more than one of those hats at once. 

The Satisfying Exhaustion

The double-life required for managing this project and our regular work-life was exhausting, to say the least . . . but it built an amazing sense of camaraderie between everyone in the program (yes, even between the competing teams). There was a LOT of smack talking at the start of the program, but it didn’t take long for the boisterous bragging to die down.

By the time we neared presentation day you were more likely to hear a “how’s your team coming along?” from an opposing team member than a “you’re going down!” Although we’ve all been working within the Saatchi Family for months, saying the magical words – “Thank You. Now for Q&A” at the conclusion of our presentation officially initiated us into the Saatchi World.

The Presentation

D-Day finally came. On July 22 and 23, each of the teams stood before a panel of seven senior-executive level judges (and a slew of agency supporters – thanks everyone!) to present our labors of love. The anxiety and adrenaline rush that goes hand-in-hand with presenting your ideas and being judged on them is an appropriately intense ending to the MTP experience. I can only imagine how our faces looked as the boardroom filled with people minutes before each presentation!

We’re All Winners

At the end of the day, all of the teams pulled off amazing presentations. The strategies were well thought-out. The content presented was great. The insights we offered amazed our judges (so they tell me :)  ).

Everyone that took part in the challenge came out a winner, but (just like in a real pitch) only one team could take home the prize.

I wasn’t on the winning team, but I’m still happy to say Congratulations to Team 1 for a job well done!

(left to right) Lynn Rossi, MTP winners Ikiah McGowan, Matt Libbey, Jenna Peragallo, and SaatchiNY CEO Mary Baglivo

On top of that, congrats to all my fellow MTPer’s for completing an experience that I’m sure we will all remember for the rest of our careers! 

Looking Back

Even though we were running all over the agency for 15+ hours a day, the camaraderie and friendships resulting from the time we spent together is priceless. MTP is the survival of the best. It’s a program that forces you to rise to the occasion and let your passion for this business and this agency shine beyond your day to day work. It is intense. It is intimidating. It is hard. But so is this business. I love it. You love it. And it’s these types of opportunities that force us let our brilliance shine more brightly! 

One Team. One Dream.
Nothing is Impossible
-Ashley

PS: Stay tuned for one-last post on MTP, where I’ll be sharing some of the lessons learned from our awesome presenters during the program.

Category: New York, Our People, Thought Leadership

Learning the Saatchi Way

Monday, July 12th, 2010

Ashley Johns is an assistant account executive at Saatchi & Saatchi NY who is mid-way through the Saatchi & Saatchi Management Training Program (MTP). MTP is renowned across the Saatchi & Saatchi network as being one of the most difficult and intensive training programs in the advertising world. Knowing this, we have asked Ashley to provide us with an insider’s look at the ins-and-outs of MTP. Today’s post will be the first of four, taking us through the painstaking work of creating a case study and later, sharing her thoughts on giving an agency-wide pitch.

What is MTP?

Each year, Saatchi & Saatchi offers Management Training Program “to entry-level employees in order to provide them with a solid understanding of the Saatchi & Saatchi way of doing business, develop the skills needed to ensure long-term professional success and build strong professional and personal relationships with others throughout the agency” – and, yes, that was taken directly from the program kick-off slide.

We MTPer’s describe it as “a kick-a** opportunity accompanied with extreme exhaustion!”

Birds Eye View

From day one, this experience has been nothing shy of amazing.  The entire program lasts 14 weeks (currently in week 11) and concludes with a case study and pitch (yes, to the entire agency!)

This year, there are 16 of us embarking on this journey. I think we are referred to as the brightest, most ambitious & creative minds from Saatchi & Saatchi, Conill, Saatchi X, Saatchi LA, and Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness. Maybe not, but having worked closely with everyone, I’d have to agree with the hype. Getting to know people from other agencies has been awesome. After all, what better way to experience “One Team – One Dream” than through this collaboration of agencies?

What We’ve Done So Far

Each week, we’ve attended seminars taught by our senior level executives on the Saatchi & Saatchi advertising process. I can’t say I have enjoyed one seminar over another, but I can say each has made a lasting impression on me. Here are a few subjects we’ve covered:

  • How to Read a Room by Rabia de Lande Long and Maureen Falvey
  • Finance: An Advertising Industry Perspective by James Orsini
  • Leadership on Paper by Jean Plumez
  • Multicultural Marketing with Bromley and Burrell
  • Presentation Skills by Neal Foard, Alexi Megas and Sarah Overman (this experience was not powerpoint 101 and really deserves an entry of its own – that’s how mind-opening it was!)

The Case Study

Now that we’ve covered the basics, it’s time to look at the case study portion of the program. For those of you who don’t know, it’s a big part of the MTP each year; where the MTPer’s are broken into groups, given a client-related task and charged with creating a case study around the topic. As the program progresses, MTPer’s work themselves into a frenzy trying to guess this year’s topic. The 2010 group has been gossiping among ourselves on who/what the subject would be for weeks, and of course, we were all wrong!

This year we are charged with developing an integrated communication campaign connecting a Saatchi & Saatchi client with one of their most important demographics. With a total of five weeks to research, strategize, plan, execute, and present, we are in for a wild ride. We’re currently halfway through the development of our communication plans. It’s been quite a feat to nail down a strategy and an organizing idea. The strategic planners here make it seem so easy!

I’ve been placed on Team 3, which we’ve taken to calling “Team Take No Prisoners.” We’re working hard on putting together a study that will hopefully wow the people in charge. After all, the winners don’t just get bragging rights for the year, but also a cash prize! Come July 22 (that’s D-Day for the study), I’m confident we’ll be the ones bringing home the spoils.

So until my next entry, take care and wish us luck!

(Not that we need it – Nothing is Impossible!)

Category: Management, Our People