The Moderns, Translation, McCann Erickson

The third day of tours consisted of visits to three very different agencies: The Moderns, Translation, and McCann-Erickson.  At The Moderns, Jenine James gave our group an intriguing lecture on her unique approach to brand strategy and marketing.  The Moderns employs a multidisciplinary approach and emphasizes environmental sustainability in all projects that they pursue.  Jenine talked to us about a variety of trending social ideas like permaculture, free universities, and edible gardens in schools (just to name a few).   She was a very fascinating woman and, although The Moderns does not operate with a traditional agency approach, taught me many things that I can utilize in my future endeavors in the industry.  I was so captivated by the next agency of the day, Translation.  Translation makes brands relevant to young adults by connecting them with pop culture.  It was encouraging to me that many UGA grads work at the agency, and they even gave us some pointers on how to get our foot in the door.  One thing that the employees at Translation really stressed was that they each have passions outside of advertising.  Throughout our weeklong tours, it seemed that many of the agencies look to employ people with a variety of interests and personality traits.  At Translation, “social experts” work to develop consumer research and insights.  This realm of advertising is something that particularly interests me, and I hope to acquire more information about this division of Translation by following up with our hosts.  I also didn’t mind the free Bud Light Platinum that Translation provided for us… The last agency that we visited on the third day was McCann Erickson, the world’s largest agency network.  This business has been around for over a century, and it was so cool to see how it has developed over time while still maintaining its core values.  Although I wish that we could have been able to see more of the McCann Erickson building, our host, Keisha Kellman, did a great job in explaining the agency’s philosophy: Truth Well Told.  McCann Erickson is a very global agency and has recently broken off into many sub-companies.  We had the opportunity to visit one of the agency’s smaller sister companies, Momentum, the next day, and it was really interesting to see how the two differ.