NYC Trek

This past week, I along with 14 other of my peers were given the opportunity to travel to New York. We were able to get first hand experience of life in the city and visit 10 different marketing firms in two days! Huge thank you to Marisa Allen and Eller College of Management for presenting us with this great opportunity. I also wanted to thank Jet.com, Abasi Rosoborough, Sakara Life, VaynerMedia, NBC Universal, Cognito, GAP, HAVAS, Usabilla, and Simplifeye for hosting us and giving us insight to what different careers in marketing look like. The following are pictures, a brief description, and my personal thoughts/experience with the company.

Jet.com is an E-Commerce shopping site worldwide that aims to simplify online shopping. A rising star in the industry, they sell a variety of products all in one place to target consumers across the market. We were given the chance to visit their office in Hoboken, New Jersey. It was very modernized and appealing with an atmosphere of being rewarded for your work. Something interesting about Jet.com is it is encompassed in the Walmart umbrella, yet its target markets are different. Thank you to Mr. Evan Woods, Mrs. Eva Herman and Mrs. Stephanie Ho for sharing your stories, experiences, and advice with me and my peers.

Abasi Rosborough is an elite fashion brand that focuses on the trends of society to fuel its work. The company was co-founded by UofA alumni Greg Rosborough, who kindly enough invited us into his home to share his 'American Dream' story. It was truly inspiring and his advice were words I will never forget. The clothing is awesome, and is revolutionizing the market of business fashion. Thank you to Mr. Rosborough for inspiring me to follow my dreams.

Sakara Life is an organic meal plan delivery company that prides itself on all-natural ingredients. Thank you to Hannah Shankan for showing us the office and sharing her personal experience with us. This was my first start-up visit and the atmosphere compared to a larger corporation is much different. There is more of an edge for a fast paced enviroment with always something new to do. I thought it was interesting how much Sakara Life focuses on social media and influencers on these platforms to raise awareness for their product. With the company growing, new products are being introduced and the company is taking a turn towards to health and wealthness industry, not just food delivery service.

Vayner Media, founded by Gary Vaynerchuck, is a full service digital advertising agency. The firm shared its works with us such as the Harry Carry World Series piece. The connectivity within the different branches of the company showed how integrated the company is. With the average age of the office at 28, the atmosphere was lively and busy. Thank you to Dannie Valenchis, Chris Caldwell, Jenn Bang, and Christopher Maddox for the stories and advice.

NBC Universal is a multinational media producer that is a division of Comcast. Thank you to Hayley Schwartz for showing us around and sharing her incredible story with us. Also, thank you to Kelly McGarrity for giving key interviewing tips and ways to get into the entertainment industry. Being such a big company, I could feel the intenseness and standard it is held at. It was much more official than some of the start-ups we visited and much larger. I thought being in the Rockefeller Plaza was an awesome location and such an experience to see it!

Cognito is a full serviced Communications agency. They focus on Public Relations, Marketing, and everything in between. Their main clients are finance, with the critical job of communicating with reporters and keeping a healthy relationship for the client. We were able to hear from Jazmin Beltran, an Eller graduate who packed up her stuff to move to New York with a one-way ticket. We also met Diana Alickaj, a VP of Cognito, who explained the importance of having ongoing relationships with their clients. I had always been unsure of what a PR company focused on, but after hearing from these ladies it was clear that was an interesting and exciting field of marketing.

GAP Inc. suprised me. I am not huge into retail and never worked a job in the industry, so I knew very little about it. The most profound thing to me was how large this company is as it holds the following brands: Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta and Intermix. We had the opportunity to meet with Sean Rhude, a Eller graduate, and Elizabeth Barrett to learn about their roles within Gap Inc. and how they have been so successful to this point in their careers. Their stories and day-to-day tasks were nothing I expected and got me interested in the jobs available at GAP Inc. Everyone was incorporated with another job positioning in some way, and it was awesome to see them work together an answer the questions we had together. Thank you to Sean and Elizabeth for their insights.

Havas is a worldwide advertising agency that has over 330 offices around the globe. Their motto or goal of "breaking things" within their advertisements was something I found to be genius. From the moment I walked into the building and watched their company video to hearing from Lindsey Bagg, Katie Hughes and Shane O'Brien; I was amazed. Such a big company makes it hard to be connected with everyone, but the employees seemed to find new ways to integrate with one another such as the sticky note war they had with the building across the street. I believe it was covered on the news if anyone was interested in checking it out! With works such as Dos Equis, they truly are an elite advertising agency. Thank you to Lindsey, Katie, and Shane for sharing their stories and how to get started to be apart of the Havas team.

Usabilla is a start-up firm in the digital feedback market. They use user feedback to help companies improve themselves from product to website formatting. We were able to talk with Mat Friedman, an Eller graduate, and he gave us a tour of WeWork. He also explained how Usabilla works with Clients all over the globe, and follows the hockey stick 5-year plan. This was an interesting company and one that I have never heard of before. Therefore, I thank Mat for giving us the insight on the company and how startups function.

Simplifeye is a start-up that provides mobile healthcare to medical professions. Their current market is mainly dentists, as they hope to fix the problem of time wasted and the customers not feeling connected with. Joe Brown, one of the most energetic and exciting people I have had the pleasure of meeting, shared his story with us and gave us insight to what expected from the company in the next few years. They are a growing sensation and the atmosphere in the office confirms that. The fast-paced workplace with dogs and smiles filling the area is somewhere I could see myself working in the future.