First Day
As the trip began we visited one of the advertising world’s most respected agencies: Wieden+Kennedy. Being the first visit of the trip, W+K offered us brilliant insight that inspired all students on the trip to be there best. Here are some of the brilliant takeaways that W+K taught us:
1. Create an environment that inspires the best work possible; you want your employees to be passionate about what they do.
2. Try to retain a positive balance of rigor+chaos.
3. Find a hole and fill it; work hard and don’t be a spaz.
4. When producing work think to yourself, am I going to be proud of this.
5. Your relationship with your client is the most crucial aspect to a healthy business. Create a relationship where they trust your decisions with their money.
5.16.18
Will Parker
Post NYC
I stayed with some UO alumni on Saturday night and was able to get some advice and recommendations from them. The best way to take on NYC is with people who live there. They definitely know of the best places to eat, socialize, shop, and explore- so thank you Lauren Wells and Kerry Merrill! Overall, I met some incredible people on this trip, from my ambitious peers to inspiring alumni to successful creatives. I am so thankful for all of the connections and friendships I developed in this big city. I’ll say it now, tomorrow, and until I graduate, I will be moving to New York. So, referring back to my first post, the Big Apple treated this young creative pretty dang well.
AW // 5.14
A shift in drive. I started the New York trip with the title art director and left a creative project manager. Although I will continue to use and cultivate the skills I have learned as an AD, I realized that being a project manager is a better utilization of my skills as a whole. I discovered job titles and positions I didn’t know existed. It got me so excited. There IS a perfect job out there.
Speaking of the perfect job - I met a copywriter at an agency who is in his late 30′s. He told me that he still only puts work in his portfolio that position him to get his dream job of working for a skate company. Coming from the SOJC where some students get their dream jobs right out of college, It was refreshing to hear from someone later in the game still pushing to get where they want to go.
It won’t come easy, but I am leaving New York fired up and ready to position myself to one day get my dream job. Anna Rath | 5.15.18
Strategic Curiosity
The foundation of communication at the intersection of brands, culture, and consumers is a strategic curiosity to unravel the underlying influences that evolve human behavior.
Our fundamental means of understanding experiences that subtly motivate human behavior is our own curious questioning of who people are and observations of how their environments affect their response.
Strategy is this, constant identification of the social forces that move people, and through this process of questioning and observation, one learns how to learn.
Ultimately, in order to evolve with the times as communicators, we must constantly learn how to continue learning about the experiences that motivate people’s perspectives and emotions.
@benkitoko
05.15.18
(via uonyc2018)
When it came down to the creative industry / finding a job, the idea of interviewing a place just as much as they interview you stuck out to me the most. With the job hunt it’s super easy to get caught up in what’s trending and just running towards that, who’s doing what and where, and just needing a job to begin with. I agree that it’s key to pick a place that fits your personality the most, even if it’s not the exact title or position you’re looking for at the time. No one wants to go to work everyday if they hate it, and nobody wants to work with someone who hates their job.
Duane Harris 5/9/18
In terms of Culture, New York is the most diverse place I have ever been. It also one of the busiest. The streets are constantly echoed with sirens and horns, and let’s not forget roar of the constant crowd. But after being there for a while, the chaos of the busy streets become decipherable. The ambient sounds split from the from noise to words, and the majority of those words aren’t in English. There were neighborhoods filled with multiple cultures, and food from every corner in the world on every street. It definitely gave us the brief chance to have some cultural exploration and exposure if you were up to it.
New York, you exceeded all my expectations.
I’ve always believed that I was going to stay on the West Coast after I graduate. However, something about this trip changed my mind. I definitely can see myself here. Either it’s the fast pace of the city or how much culture I can consume in a day, there was something that made me realize that this was my place.
Whether or not I’ll end up here within the next year, I’m forever grateful for this trip and for being able to live that East Coast life for a week.
Counting down the days till I’m back again. I’ll see ya later.
-Lynn Nguyen
Top Three Takeaways
- It is essential to believe in yourself in order to achieve your dreams. There is no room for self-doubt.
- Success does not happen overnight. You have to be willing to make sacrifices for the things you want. You have to constantly be learning how to understand the world.
- Culture is power.
(Bonus takeaway: Always make sure your phone is either in your pocket or hand before leaving an Uber.)
- Phillip Quinn
It’s About the Little Things
Out of so many brilliant and thought-provoking pieces of advice, one thought from Brittany Castaneda stuck out to me throughout the week. At the Flock panel on Monday evening, Brittany talked about one of her career-defining moments, when she was almost in a car accident that might have taken her life. To paraphrase, she said that the experience made her think “What if I died right now, driving to a job I hate?” I took this story with me and translated it to broadly mean: “If you were to die right now, would you be happy doing what you’re doing?”
This isn’t a foreign concept as I’m sure we’ve all heard before to “live like you’re dying.” However, it did remind me to think this way when considering where I want to work, live, and invest my time. It also reminded me to stress less throughout the trip because, at risk of sounding a bit morbid, if I were to die soon, here’s what I’d want:
-I’d want to stress less about the entire job search process. At the end of the day, each and every one of us is more prepared than we think, and many times, we’re more prepared than students coming from other programs and schools. This isn’t to say that we should leave college with big egos; rather, we should move forward humbly but keep in mind that we are smart, talented, and capable individuals who can take on more than we think. I’ve always known that the job search process is sort of like the lottery, in the sense that it’s all about being the right person in the right place at the right time. As a creative who doesn’t have a job yet, it’s easy to worry about where I’m going, but I think that my future self would want me to trust the process and know that I’ll end up happy, in the right place, eventually.
-I’d want to absorb everything about the NYC trip. This week was my second time in New York so of course there were times when I felt like I needed to do everything, especially all the touristy things. However, UO NYC Creative Week is a completely unique experience and I wanted to make sure that I took it and all of its events in. New York tourist spots will always be there, but never again will I be able to walk into 7+ famous advertising/design agencies in one week. It won’t be as easy to meet up with so many alumni for coffee, and I’ll probably never attend another UO alumni networking event as a student again. My advice to next year’s trip attendees would be: go to every advertising/networking event possible. Go to every panel offered, attend and immerse yourself in everything the award show night has to offer, schedule coffee with at least one alumni or professional, and be fully present for every single agency visit. You (or someone else) paid for you to go on this trip and, while the sites of New York will always be there, you’ll never be able to have this UO NYC Experience again.
-I’d want to stop and embrace each little moment. Every time I’m in New York, I’m in awe by the diversity of faces and experiences around me. I think that one of the best things to do in New York is people-watching. The little things around me were the best and most inspirational, heart-warming moments. It was the woman in Central Park who was singing “Wheels of the Bus” with her small children in another language. It was the young parents on the Subway with their son who looked like he had just performed in a play, from the bouquet of flowers to his school uniform and stage makeup. It was the conversation I had with two designers from SVA before the award show started, only to find out that one of them was the winner of the social brief competition.
By the end of the trip, I realized that I don’t need to be in New York to notice these little things every day. I want to challenge myself - and I think everyone should challenge themselves - to embrace the little moments in Eugene, our hometowns, and the cities we go to after college. Embrace the craziness of advertising and don’t stress too much about where you stand in the job hunt. Just like it seems to in New York, everything will fall in place eventually, but time will pass you by if you don’t pay attention.
Emily Foster
5.15.18
Strategic Curiosity
The foundation of communication at the intersection of brands, culture, and consumers is a strategic curiosity to unravel the underlying influences that evolve human behavior.
Our fundamental means of understanding experiences that subtly motivate human behavior is our own curious questioning of who people are and observations of how their environments affect their response.
Strategy is this, constant identification of the social forces that move people, and through this process of questioning and observation, one learns how to learn.
Ultimately, in order to evolve with the times as communicators, we must constantly learn how to continue learning about the experiences that motivate people’s perspectives and emotions.
@benkitoko
05.15.18