GVSU PRSSA TAKES ON CHICAGO

DePaul University’s chapter of PRSSA was gracious enough to allow PRSSA chapters from around the mid-west to join them on agency visits in Chicago. It was apparent throughout the entire trip that DePaul’s e-board worked extremely hard to provide a great experience for all attendees.

While many GV PRSSA members decided to stay the weekend, for other members, the day started off around 6am and the three hour drive commenced. Members had the option of choosing a pairing of agencies to tour; Ketchum and Zeno, FleishmanHillard and Krispr, Starcom and Henson Consulting, or Ogilvy PR and MSL Group. I choose the latter.

Ogilvy PR is one of the largest PR firms in the world, with offices in 125 countries. Their office allows for constant collaboration and innovation. Their office culture is very founder centric, as David Ogilvy has been considered the Father of Advertising. There are many different areas of work under the Ogilvy umbrella. Working across multiple teams, Ogilvy has done amazing work for hundreds, if not thousands of clients. After showing us a short video compilation of their work, they then showed us advertisements from some of their most impactful campaigns. Take a look:

Did that make you cry as much as I did? I’ll take that as a yes. Seeing our watery eyes, representatives from Ogilvy then told us that it’s their goal to make us cry today and then they played the following video:

Sobbing, right? Ogilvy does amazing work. By the end of the tour, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.

Once our tears dried and we learned more information about their internship program, our journey continued to MSL Group.

My experience at MSL Group was much more interactive. While they are a much smaller firm than Ogilvy, their work is equally impactful. Representatives from each of MSLs teams gathered and gave presentations about what they do: digital, corporate and consumer.

The best part about touring MSL (besides the food) was the individual case studies that we completed. MSL taught me that it is important to be creative. They do not have a designated creative team coming up with ideas rather it is everyone’s responsibility. Their clients come to them with unique problems and opportunities and they then turn them into amazing campaigns. We were given the prompt of a client coming to us with the desire to showcase their new engineer of transportation’s experience to comfort investors about this transition. What do you do?

Discussions of our visions continued and great ideas were born. From creating an infographic, to publishing a backgrounder, the public relations students and professionals in the room were able to easily determine potential solutions.

After touring multiple agencies, attending break-out sessions and a total of 6 hours of driving, my first trip to Chicago was a success. 

Jaclyn Ermoyan is a junior majoring in advertising and PR and minoring in nonprofit administration and international relations.  An experienced member of the GrandPR team, Jaclyn spent her summer working as a Brand and Business Model Public Relations Intern at Amway.  She currently works for GVSU’s Career Center and University Communications, maintaining their social media accounts and assisting with marketing. An avid learner, Jaclyn is always looking to expand her knowledge and apply it in new ways.  She loves to innovate, create and problem solve. Upon graduation, she hopes to work in an advertising agency or public relations firm.